Question i7-9700k Overclock

itzhalo

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Hey guys, happy holidays! I've been trying to get a solid overclock on my 9700k for a few weeks now and it's getting a little frustrating. Currently I am sitting at 4.8ghz with around 1.32v (CPU-Z Score). I started at 1.28v and everything seemed stable for the most part. Ran it through many different stress tests for a few hours (Prime95, Aida64, Intel XTU, Burn in test) and never got any freezing or BSOD's. Weird thing is, after all that stressing is done, I'll play a few games and by the end of the night leave my PC to idle. It's usually then when my PC restarts from a BSOD or something. I've been upping my voltage since and so far am at 1.32v with it just recently doing it at 1.31v last night while idling. It's just frustrating because I'll leave it stressing under Prime95 for hours and even overnight with it on Aida64 with either my CPU being benched or with my GPU as well.

My temps are good, never exceeding 80c in any of the stress tests and not even getting over 70c in gaming. I ran some ram tests and each one came back with 0 errors. Here is my memory.dmp file from my computer if that helps.
I understand this is most likely a voltage issue, but can someone help explain as to why this BSOD is happening when my PC isn't doing anything yet passing completely on every stress test I throw at it?

Specs:
i7-9700k on Noctua NH-D15S
RTX 3070
16GB DDR4 3200mhz
750 Watt PSU
 

itzhalo

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if you still have C-States/Stepping enabled and the clocks are winding down while idle and if the crashes are coming while your system is idling then it is not the overclock that is the issue.

I appreciate the fast reply! So those C-states were the first thing that I looked for in my bios when I started OC'ing and couldn't find any options. My best guess is my motherboard is a pos and doesn't have many features (Gigabyte Z390 UD). When I go into advanced cpu settings I have these options. Currently disabled speed shift, VT-d, and turbo boost. A page back I also disabled Enhanced Multi-Core Performance. I would also like to note that prior to overclocking my CPU I had a really stable minor GPU overclock for months. Would there be too much power draw between the two causing this?

Edit: Never noticed that C-States control had a hidden menu if you set it from auto to enabled. It pulls up everything such as C1E, C3 State Support, C6/C7 State Support, C8 State Support and C10 State Support. Going to go ahead and swap that from auto to disabled to see if that changes anything and try to do some more testing!
 
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So those C-states were the first thing that I looked for in my bios when I started OC'ing and couldn't find any options
at the very bottom of the image you posted.

they should be enabled.
disabling them will only leave your CPU at max clock rates for no reason.
when your idling or just basic browsing you do not need your clocks running at full speed, but anytime the extra speed is needed the CPU auto clocks up to meet the demand.
it helps a lot with lowering temperatures and power usage when the performance is not needed.

i would also leave SpeedShift enabled unless you really notice some reduction in performance.
it shouldn't affect high clock rates when the CPU is being taxed.
disabled speed shift, VT-d, and turbo boost. A page back I also disabled Enhanced Multi-Core Performance
you should also leave Turbo options enabled.
but disabling MCE & TVB are a good idea.
 
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itzhalo

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at the very bottom of the image you posted.

i would also leave SpeedShift enabled unless you really notice some reduction in performance.
it shouldn't affect high clock rates when the CPU is being taxed.

Sure thing, I added a little edit note to my last reply because that C-states control had a hidden menu this whole time while on Auto and I'm completely oblivious apparently. I'll go ahead and turn that Speedshift back on and see if I can lower the voltage again. Is 1.32v quite high for 4.8? Thanks m8!
 
Is 1.32v quite high for 4.8?
my i7-8700K runs at 4.8GHz with 1.215v.
though my 8th gen was a bit of silicon lottery winner.

the 9th gen should use slightly more power but not really that much.
i'd expect ~1.27v would do it with a pretty good chip.
i'm sure you can easily find a lot of posts of others reporting their experience with the 9700K on Tom's and other forums like Overclock.net.

my newer 11700K needs 1.275v to stay steady at 4.8GHz and they are supposed to need quite a bit more voltage than previous generations.
currently at 5.2GHz with 1.385v.
 
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itzhalo

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my newer 11700K needs 1.275v to stay steady at 4.8GHz and they are supposed to need quite a bit more voltage than previous generations.
currently at 5.2GHz with 1.385v.
That 5.2GHZ OC is impressive. How's your thermals looking for that?

Also just curious, it would be ok to turn back on speed shift, VT-d, turbo boost, and enhanced multicore? Those wouldn't mess too much with stability? Then just keep all those C-states disabled and MCE and TVB settings being frequency clipping TVB and Voltage reduction initiated TVB?
 
it would be ok to turn back on speed shift, VT-d, turbo boost, and enhanced multicore
i would not leave Multi-Core Enhancement(enhanced multicore) or Thermal Voltage Boost(VT-d) enabled.
the only affect i ever noticed from using them was higher temperatures.
i can get even better clocks with less voltage manually.

but Turbo Boost & SpeedShift should stay enabled.
 
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itzhalo

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i would not leave Multi-Core Enhancement(enhanced multicore) or Thermal Voltage Boost(VT-d) enabled.
the only affect i ever noticed from using them was higher temperatures.
i can get even better clocks with less voltage manually.

but Turbo Boost & SpeedShift should stay enabled.

I appreciate it. @JohnBonhamsGhost truly thank you for being so helpful and informative. All of these settings get a little confusing when it comes to stability. I'm going to run a lot more tests with these other options disabled and hopefully get to the bottom of this and maybe even with less voltage.

I also might need a moderator to help move this to the Overclocking section because I might have posted this into the wrong category.
 
How's your thermals looking for that?
idles ~32-34°C, basic tasks like browsing with a lot of tabs or archiving ~38-40°C, intensive games ~58-60°C(some may reach into the mid 60s at times but not many & not often).
might need a moderator to help move this to the Overclocking section
should be fine but if you wanted to start another thread asking for definitive 9700K overclocking recommendations just start another there.

but you can just click on the red exclamation+Report button on the bottom-left of your original post to ask about moving this thread.
 

itzhalo

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Unfortunately, I was able to recreate the issue recently after doing a bunch of tests. To be fair though, I did have my PC on for about 24 hours. Ran it through intel burn in test on extreme for a couple hours, P95 for about 1 hour, and intel XTU stress test over night. Passed all of the tests and my PC restarted this morning while it wasn't under any load. I was almost certain we were on to something with those C-states being off now. It sucks because I don't want to keep throwing more voltage at it if it seems to just keep crashing while idling essentially. Any other possible reasons as to why it's behaving like this?
 

itzhalo

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can always be a low tier power supply.

"750 Watt PSU" could be any of many VERY untrustworthy models.
Right, should've specified. It's been so long since I took a look at the thing I actually have a 700watt Thermaltake Smart. It is only 80+ certified so it's nothing special which leads me to believe it's pretty . Also I would like to note my motherboard has an extra 4-pin ATX power connector which the PSU doesn't supply. I think you may be onto something with this...
 
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just confused how it would let me crank CPU benchmarks with no problem but cause power issues when idling?
if it was related to the PSU then it really may not matter what exactly is going on with the system.
some can just have intermittent problems with keeping a steady current.

but there's still no guarantee that it is actually the power supply causing the current issue(s).
I would like to note my motherboard has an extra 4-pin ATX power connector
this wouldn't come into play here due to this extra 4 pin connection being only for very extreme overclocking voltages.
 

itzhalo

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if it was related to the PSU then it really may not matter what exactly is going on with the system.
some can just have intermittent problems with keeping a steady current.

but there's still no guarantee that it is actually the power supply causing the current issue(s).

this wouldn't come into play here due to this extra 4 pin connection being only for very extreme overclocking voltages.

Definitely shouldn't have cheaped out on the PSU, probably going to upgrade it soon regardless. For now I might just keep on tacking .05V and hope my temps don't get too out of hand. It's probably just adding more fuel to the fire at this point though lol. Do you have any experience with reading memory dump files? I doubt it would point to much since this is probably a power issue but I did notice this in the file:
MODULE_NAME: win32kbase
IMAGE_NAME: win32kbase.sys
 
Is it fairly common for higher quality PSU's to have that 4-pin?
the last 5-6 i've purchased and the majority of those i've worked with over the past few years at least have all had them.
might as well look into spending the money for something good.
a good easy guide as to what, and what not to, purchase:
 
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itzhalo

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Quick update:

I was watching my Vcore on intel XTU while stress testing and noticed how it behaved. In my bios I have LLC set to turbo and my voltage at 1.305v. When idling my voltage can drop as low to 1.244v and while underload it can jump to 1.389v. Is this amount of voltage fluctuation normal or could this be something with my PSU? It seems that my voltage is dropping to something way below stable when I'm not doing anything.
 
When idling my voltage can drop as low to 1.244v...
It seems that my voltage is dropping to something way below stable when I'm not doing anything.
while idling your CPU C-State should drop clocks down to ~800MHz.
at this speed the 1.305v isn't necessary and the system reduces voltage to save power and reduce temperature.

when Turbo speeds and/or AVX instructions are being initiated voltages will jump up to compensate.
so you'll see it climb.

while my 11700K is at it's lowest C-State(800MHz) it also drops voltage to ~1.25v, as it should.
 

itzhalo

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while idling your CPU C-State should drop clocks down to ~800MHz.
at this speed the 1.305v isn't necessary and the system reduces voltage to save power and reduce temperature.

when Turbo speeds and/or AVX instructions are being initiated voltages will jump up to compensate.
so you'll see it climb.

while my 11700K is at it's lowest C-State(800MHz) it also drops voltage to ~1.25v, as it should.
That's what I was figuring, only thing is my clock seem very static, even under really low load it will float around 4.75-4.8Ghz. So even if the core voltage is set to 1.305v in the bios it won't try to consistently stay around it?