[SOLVED] High End build keeps bluescreening while playing games. Possibly CPU?

[Bijuu1]

I got a new pre built about a month ago and for the first week it ran everything great without problems. High fps on high settings in 1440p. But after that first week, problems began arising.
Games would hard crash to desktop at first, then i started blue screening. Its been blue screening semi-consistently for the last 3 weeks. Only happens while playing games, not idle browsing, watching videos, etc.

The following errors have popped up:
CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT - (This one has happened the most)
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL - (Occurred a few times)
And another "system shutdown" one that I didn't fully see. - (Only happened once)

I've tried everything under the sun. Rolled back drivers, updated drives, uninstalled potential problematic programs, changed peripherals, disabled overlays, disabled overclocks on bot cpu and gpu, underclocked gpu, took out gpu and put it back in, reduced memory frequency to 3200, system restore, memory tests, and nothing so far has fixed the issue. Only thing i havent tried is clearing the cmos, im not super experienced so that one seems a little intimidating. Dont want to mess up the mobo or something.
The crashes are inconsistent too. Today i played BF5 on Ultra (& Medium after) for about an hour and nothing crashed. But it has crashed before, not even on high settings. Temps for the cpu were pretty high, around mid 80s C to 90 C, jumped to mid 90s at times but bounced back and forth. Been thinking cpu is overheating maybe? The AIO i have isnt super good i think. Gpu is cool at all times, 60s C without problems.

Its a new PC and i really dont want to lose it as soon as i got it, the company i got it from is horrid with customer service and i'd rather not deal with their clueless bs troubleshooting. Any help and suggestions would be high appreciated! Please and thanks!

i7-11700KF @ 3.60GHz
Gskill 16gb DDR4 4000mhz
EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3
1000W PSU (sorry I know)

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

Temps for the cpu were pretty high, around mid 80s C to 90 C, jumped to mid 90s at times

this is going to cause throttling and eventually crashing.

so your performance will be decreasing as it cuts back clock speeds to maintain safe temperatures and if it continues to rise it will eventually crash to prevent high-temp damage to the CPU.

Its a new PC and i really dont want to lose it as soon as i got it, the company i got it from is horrid with customer service and i'd rather not deal with their clueless bs troubleshooting. Any help and suggestions would be high appreciated

there is a good chance that you are stuck using their customer support because any attempt to change or "fix" this issue could result in you invalidating your warranty.

carefully read any included documentation and any online documents regarding warranty services.
removing the CPU cooler, removing the motherboard, or even possibly altering BIOS options could invalidate it.

so if any major components ever actually fail you would not be able to have them replaced.
can also lead to you paying a lot for shipping and then being told your out of luck and that you may have to pay to have it shipped back to you again.

one of the main reasons to avoid pre-built systems.

1000W PSU (sorry I know)

another good reason to avoid pre-built systems.
one of the most important components in any build and many times they are including cheap unreliable garbage.

 

[Phaaze88]

1000W PSU (sorry I know)

Well, you need to find out what it is and report it, even if that means opening the chassis up and finding the label with that info on it.
RTX 3080 <-These cards are rather picky about the psus they are paired with, so letting others know the make and the model of the unit matters. 1000w psu means jack - that number is not a measurement of quality either.

Then again, if you have to go that far to find the label, maybe you should just return the prebuilt, because possibly invalidating the warranty.


Aside from the above, other suspects are:
-Bad/unstable OC, but you already mentioned disabling cpu + gpu OC. I didn't see mention of you trying the ram at the default 2133mhz.

-Overheating.
No, not the cpu. That thing is designed to run at full boost, even at 98C, so that's not it chief.
I'm thinking the motherboard. What's the model of this?

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

-Overheating.
No, not the cpu. That thing is designed to run at full boost, even at 98C, so that's not it chief.

there's been many reports/threads about similar temperatures causing freezing & crashing with the entire 11th gen.
most of these instances could very well be that their system just becomes unresponsive in the mid-high 90s so they didn't see the highest temps reported.

my 11700K performs similarly.
when testing voltages and overclocks; stressing the CPU up to ~95°C applications start to freeze and system eventually shuts down.

 

[Phaaze88]

Whoa...

 

[Bijuu1]

Well, you need to find out what it is and report it, even if that means opening the chassis up and finding the label with that info on it

Will update tomorrow what model and what brand it is, but it was unnamed on the part list on purpose so it's probably some no name gold psu yeah.

there's been many reports/threads about similar temperatures causing freezing & crashing with the entire 11th gen.

I haven't seen any of these, but this would make sense. I have been suspecting it's just my cpu overheating. Today i played for an hour and watched the temps closely. They sat around low to high 80s. Would spike to 90s occasionally. Been blue screening a lot lately so today was a rare occurrence.

 

[Bijuu1]

I'm thinking the motherboard. What's the model of this?

Forgot to post that whoops, ASUS Z590-v

 

[Phaaze88]

ASUS Z590-V
That looks even more naked than the Z590-P...

Though, with what JohnBonhamsGhost posted, the cpu's still a factor after all.
What cooler did they provide - or can you at least tell us what the size of the AIO is? Hopefully not a tiny 120mm one...
What about the airflow situation?

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

ASUS Z590-v

also keep an eye on motherboard temperatures.
those seem to be pretty small VRM heatsinks for a "hot" chipset.
if the CPU is climbing that high frequently, they may also be suffering.

provide case make/model and the system-wide cooling setup;
amount of fans, their make/model, their placement, and their orientation.
type of CPU cooler, it's placement, and it's fan orientation.

Only thing i havent tried is clearing the cmos, im not super experienced so that one seems a little intimidating. Dont want to mess up the mobo or something.

there's no chance of "messing up" the motherboard this way.
it will only reset all settings to their factory default setting.

if any overclocking or personalized settings are in place those will have to be re-entered.
if you have the option to save current settings you may want to do that first.

 

[R4DIO4CT1VE]

I would point fingers at the motherboard. Your CPU temps are quite high but as far as I understand are within intels specs. I do see that other users have noted instability related to temps though.

You should clear your CMOS. Its easy and pretty much risk free. Just unplug your computer, remove your GPU if you have to, and pull the little battery, and wait for 10 minutes to put it all back together.

 

[Bijuu1]

ASUS Z590-V
That looks even more naked than the Z590-P...

Though, with what JohnBonhamsGhost posted, the cpu's still a factor after all.
What cooler did they provide - or can you at least tell us what the size of the AIO is? Hopefully not a tiny 120mm one...
What about the airflow situation?

I thought the Z590-v looked like a decent pairing, is it not? The AIO is 240mm Deepcool, which at this point isn't cutting it i think. I ordered a Corsair 4000X Airflow case but, again they're a horrid company so i get what i deserve for using them, they sent a 4000D with a solid glass front panel resulting in far worse thermals. I have been running it with the side panel off the last couple days and it has helped a bit.

pull the little battery, and wait for 10 minutes to put it all back together

Do i take the battery out? Or just pull it? Sorry, again I'm not super experienced/knowledgeable.

 

[Bijuu1]

also keep an eye on motherboard temperatures.
those seem to be pretty small VRM heatsinks for a "hot" chipset.
if the CPU is climbing that high frequently, they may also be suffering.

How would I monitor the mobo temps? What option on MSI afterburner would show me the temps while playing?

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

How would I monitor the mobo temps? What option on MSI afterburner would show me the temps while playing?

don't know if Rivatuner has motherboard stats available by default.
but if not, can use HWiNFO and add it's stats to the Afterburner > Monitoring > 'Active hardware monitoring graphs' menu and can then be included in the OSD.

 

[Bijuu1]

Afterburner > Monitoring > 'Active hardware monitoring graphs' menu and can then be included in the OSD.

Will try today when I get home, will update when troubleshoot it some more with info from here.

 

[RxdRvse]

there are a few things you can do to combat the restart and throttle. First and foremost the first thing you can do is invest in more active cooling such as better fans, water cooling and more passive cooling like a better heatsync or copper coating. Another problem with pre-built systems is the fact that they're arranged horribly so if you feel confident enough then try and move everything to where it can get the most air flow in as much as possible without constricting the parts or bending anything. Another more technical thing you can do is limit the capacity at which the CPU operates at (under-clocking if you will) To cut down performance slightly but boost heat productivity; however if that solution doesnt sound appealing then I recommend either more active/passive cooling or simply order a more efficient CPU. Another passive cooling idea is to get a metal case, not a plastic one to draw heat away from the motherboard. Hope this helps 🙂

 

[Phaaze88]

I thought the Z590-v looked like a decent pairing, is it not?

If I borrow some info from THIS, which has the similarly designed Z590-P, and THIS, which talks about some Z590s supplying even more Vcore on auto than they normally do + the 3080 + current system airflow...
The VRM probably gets rather toasty.
So yeah, I think it could be both the cpu thermals and VRM.

The AIO is 240mm Deepcool, which at this point isn't cutting it i think.

A 240mm can work on an 11700K, but you shouldn't use any auto voltage or overclocks, and it shouldn't be used as an exhaust with a blooming 3080 beneath it.
I don't believe you paid all that money on it to end up having to tinker with the system anyway...

 

[Bijuu1]

Played some Overwatch today for a little bit, no crashes no bluescreens. Temps were around 60s-70s C. Cleared cmos so maybe that helped? But its Overwatch, its not demanding at all.

Really just debating on just buying a ROG Maximus XIII Hero/ASUS ROG Strix Z590-E and a Noctua NH-D15 and just going for it. Its my mistake for picking out these parts, i might as well fix it, but will this fix the blue screening? Also, the pre-built company's customer service is literally worthless. No replies on emails and on hold on call for 30+ mins with no answer lol.

If I borrow some info from THIS, which has the similarly designed Z590-P, and THIS, which talks about some Z590s supplying even more Vcore on auto than they normally do + the 3080 + current system airflow...
The VRM probably gets rather toasty.
So yeah, I think it could be both the cpu thermals and VRM.

Yeah, after some more research i agree. Wish i would've dove deeper when i was buying it. I kinda neglected how hot this i7 11700 can get, also overlooked vrm conditions while next to it.

A 240mm can work on an 11700K

At this point i disagree. It really isn't enough by the looks of other benchmarks and my own experience. Even at stock the AIO cant keep up, hovers too high for my liking. Especially since i like to play the Battlefield series at high settings @1440.

 

[Phaaze88]

At this point i disagree. It really isn't enough by the looks of other benchmarks and my own experience. Even at stock the AIO cant keep up, hovers too high for my liking. Especially since i like to play the Battlefield series at high settings @1440.

It can work. It requires some planning and patience.
It should be a front mounted intake - none of that solid panel mess.
You have to do some trial and error with negative Vcore offsets. Stock/default Vcore always uses more voltage than necessary, and with some Z590s the way they are, it's even worse.
Balanced power plan. No need to waste power making all the cores run at their max boost all the time, especially when they're not really doing anything. Let them clock up and down as needed.
Make use of fps caps, or just use Fast Mode in Nvidia Control Panel. It doesn't look like this applies to you though - this applies more to those pushing framerates higher than what their monitor can display. This increases power consumption.

 

[Bijuu1]

It can work. It requires some planning and patience.
It should be a front mounted intake - none of that solid panel mess.
You have to do some trial and error with negative Vcore offsets. Stock/default Vcore always uses more voltage than necessary, and with some Z590s the way they are, it's even worse.
Balanced power plan. No need to waste power making all the cores run at their max boost all the time, especially when they're not really doing anything. Let them clock up and down as needed.
Make use of fps caps, or just use Fast Mode in Nvidia Control Panel. It doesn't look like this applies to you though - this applies more to those pushing framerates higher than what their monitor can display. This increases power consumption.

Im willing to go down the road of spending the extra money for the extra performance. I've went ahead and bought a NH-D15 for the better cooling, just debating on if i need a better motherboard.

 

[Phaaze88]

That's around the same tier of performance... but, you made sure that cooler fits, right?
Ram taller than 32mm means the front fan needs to be raised up for every mm over that.
So if you've got Trident Zs, which are 44mm tall, the D15 becomes 178mm tall - you don't want the ram and the fan to be touching, so another mm should be added on top.
I guess you could just move the fan... but the A15s make this audible buzzing noise when used as pull fans around 1000rpm.

 

[Bijuu1]

to be touching, so another mm should be added on top.
I guess you could just move the fan... but the A15s make this audible buzzing noise when used as pull fans around 1000rpm.

I didn't see anyone mention this, i was just counting on moving the fan yeah. Is the noise that bad?

 

[Phaaze88]

I found out just screwing around with my D15S a few times. I made sure the fan and fan hub weren't making contact with the finstack, so I can only say that there's some kind of air turbulence when the fan is used that way(pull).
It's tolerable below 1000rpm. Inaudible around 600rpm? You'd have to put your ear to the chassis to hear it then.

 

[Phaaze88]

I forgot to mention, that I'm not particularly sensitive to fan noise. I can tolerate running A14/A15 at 100% easily, but that buzzing when I tried 'em as pull fans was something else...

 

[Bijuu1]

Thank you all for your help. Looks like clearing the cmos helped a bit, then ended up getting a new cpu cooler. Temps are much better and no blue screens or crashes.