Question Overclock Bricked PC

Jul 22, 2021
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System Specs:
I5-8600k
MSI Z370 Carbon Pro AC
GTX 1080 Ti ASUS ROG
G.Skill 3000MHz 16GB
NZXT AIO
Corsair RM650X

For a long time I had a OC of 4.8GHz on my cpu and a factory OC on my gpu those were both stable and never caused any issues. But a couple days ago I overclocked my cpu to 5GHz at 1.29V after some stress testing I found the system to be stable however today the overclock became unstable as programs and games kept crashing at launch or a bit after launch.

Once I started noticing crashing I attempted to stabilise the system by increasing the voltage and I incrementally increased it by 0.05V each time and checked if programs continued crashing. I stopped at 1.36V because I didn't think there was any point so I reverted the clocks to stock and the crashing continued then I reset the BIOS to default settings and no change. My last step was shorting the CMOS pins for 10s but programs still crash.

Temps were always below 80'c for the CPU.

I'm quite worried that I've damaged something can I get some help with how I can resolve this?
 
Last edited:

punkncat

Champion
Ambassador
I wouldn't count it as "for sure" the CPU, as it could well be the motherboard VRM. Might inspect it for damage, burned marks, etc.

I actually got a free 8600K and Gigabyte board from a guy who was dead set on it being 5ghz, damaged it a bit but was able to make it work on auto voltage @4.8. It emitted a funny smell for quite a while.
 
Jul 22, 2021
6
0
10
The Issue seems to have been resolved. Programs no longer crash and I have launched multiple games and they work properly now. below are the steps I took and there is definitely no visible damage anywhere on the motherboard:

So I was looking around the internet for a similar issue and turns out that an OC can corrupt windows but I never saw anyone say anything about restoring Windows using a Windows restore point so I thought maybe I should give it a shot and by possibly some miracle I had a restore point right before I started overclocking or around the time but I couldn't actually begin the restore because windows explorer kept crashing.

I went into the start menu held shift and selected restart in power options which allowed me to restore windows from there.

I have had to re-install some programs that weren't working like Google Chrome by using Microsoft Edge.
 

Phaaze88

Titan
Ambassador
I do remember changing it but not to what I changed it to. I'm very sorry that I couldn't be of help. Since I reset my BIOS I don't think there is a way for me to check right?
Unfortunately not. Thanks anyway.
I was asking because users unfamiliar with OC'ing or following some online guides tend to crank the LLC higher than necessary.
It's a quick way to kill/damage cpus.