[SOLVED] Having issues with my CPU, one of my cores seems to die?

Mar 26, 2020
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10
Just gonna get my specs out of the way:

Windows 10
GTX 970 (Clock +150, Mem +250)
i5-4690k (Stock 3.5m althought I have the auto-OC option enabled, turboclock I believe its called)
16GB DDR3 Ram

I've been having some issues with my CPU. Between a few minutes to 2 hours after booting my PC, one of my CPU cores will just seemingly stop functioning. For example, normally when I'm playing R6: Siege, my CPU (and all of its cores) will be at 100% usage, whereas when I'm suffering from this issue, 3 of my cores will be at 100% while one of them (usually core 2 or 3) will be at 0%. This caps my CPU to 75% possible usage, and if the affected core goes above 0% my system will completely lock up for a few seconds to at-most a full minute. The only way to fix it is to reboot my computer, but that's obviously only a temporary fix.

here are some images of in-game usage during Yakuza 0 and R6: Siege, in these images core 2 is afflicted. If I'm playing other games (specifically Skyrim) core 3 is the affected core:

View: https://imgur.com/a/q2DuK6i


I've tried manually setting the number of CPUs I have in Windows 10 to 4, and have tried disable core parking in regedit. I'm at a loss at what to do. Is this a sign of my CPU dying? I don't think I can afford to upgrade right now.
 
Solution
If your cpu were failing, I would expect the 0 use core to always be the same one.
What is the make/model of your motherboard?
Perhaps there is a bios update for this issue.

Is this problem a recent thing?
Or has it happened since day one?
If recent, what might have changed since all was well.

If the problem happens after a while, that says to me that there is a temperature issue.
HWmonitor will give you the minimum max and current readings for each core.
The throttle point for Intel is around 100c.
If the cpu throttles, I think it will normally reduce the multiplier of all cores or shut down all.
I have not heard of this affecting only one core.
Possibly a chipset driver needs updating.
Or, if you have installed some strange code or...
Mar 26, 2020
5
0
10
If you are fooling with core parking, don't.
It is hard to second guess windows scheduling.

Reset all to stock and start again.

Even with stock core parking/core count settings I still suffer the same issue. I don't understand what's causing it. I've had this for about 3 months now, but before it was only occuring once every 2/3 weeks, but since this week, it happens everyday.
 
If your cpu were failing, I would expect the 0 use core to always be the same one.
What is the make/model of your motherboard?
Perhaps there is a bios update for this issue.

Is this problem a recent thing?
Or has it happened since day one?
If recent, what might have changed since all was well.

If the problem happens after a while, that says to me that there is a temperature issue.
HWmonitor will give you the minimum max and current readings for each core.
The throttle point for Intel is around 100c.
If the cpu throttles, I think it will normally reduce the multiplier of all cores or shut down all.
I have not heard of this affecting only one core.
Possibly a chipset driver needs updating.
Or, if you have installed some strange code or app it could be causing this.
CPU-Z has a simple stress test. Run a second copy during the test to check on the multiplier for each core.

Can you do a complete clean reinstall of windows?
Perhaps use a spare drive so you can experiment with.
 
Solution
Mar 26, 2020
5
0
10
If your cpu were failing, I would expect the 0 use core to always be the same one.
What is the make/model of your motherboard?
Perhaps there is a bios update for this issue.

Is this problem a recent thing?
Or has it happened since day one?
If recent, what might have changed since all was well.

If the problem happens after a while, that says to me that there is a temperature issue.
HWmonitor will give you the minimum max and current readings for each core.
The throttle point for Intel is around 100c.
If the cpu throttles, I think it will normally reduce the multiplier of all cores or shut down all.
I have not heard of this affecting only one core.
Possibly a chipset driver needs updating.
Or, if you have installed some strange code or app it could be causing this.
CPU-Z has a simple stress test. Run a second copy during the test to check on the multiplier for each core.

Can you do a complete clean reinstall of windows?
Perhaps use a spare drive so you can experiment with.

I have a Z97 PC Mate motherboard, I'm gonna look around for a bios update tonight. I've tried monitoring temps, but they've never exceeded the 65 C threshold, unless I'm doing a torture test, but the last time I did that was around 2 months ago. I'll try out your software, probably more accurate than me eyeballing my temps while in-game with the afterburner overlay.

The issue has been happening for around 4 months or so, around the end of my first semester in college. Before, it would only occur around once a day every 2 - 3 weeks, but recently it has started to occur daily.

I'll try out your suggestions and report back either tonight or tomorrow, it's been a busy week due to college final projects and I'm low on time at the moment. Really hoping that I don't need to buy a new CPU.

Thank you for the suggestions.
 
Mar 26, 2020
5
0
10
I have a Z97 PC Mate motherboard, I'm gonna look around for a bios update tonight. I've tried monitoring temps, but they've never exceeded the 65 C threshold, unless I'm doing a torture test, but the last time I did that was around 2 months ago. I'll try out your software, probably more accurate than me eyeballing my temps while in-game with the afterburner overlay.

The issue has been happening for around 4 months or so, around the end of my first semester in college. Before, it would only occur around once a day every 2 - 3 weeks, but recently it has started to occur daily.

I'll try out your suggestions and report back either tonight or tomorrow, it's been a busy week due to college final projects and I'm low on time at the moment. Really hoping that I don't need to buy a new CPU.

Thank you for the suggestions.

Ok a very late reply, been busy with school work. I reviewed HWMonitor and max temperatures reached around 67 C during gaming, and didn't reach anywhere near the thermal throttling temps. I'm thinking about reinstalling Windows 10 to see if that somehow fixes the issue.

Again, if anyone has any other suggestions I'm happy to try them.