Overclocking/hardware nightmare, convince me to return to the game.

[strea]

First off, let me say I appreciate the time and effort from everyone who has helped me along the way and continues to help. This is a wonderful community.

I have a hard time understanding if this was my fault or hardware malfunction.

Here's my story.

I saved for 2 years, I bought my dream computer. (5820k, h110i gtx cooler, asus x99 deluxe, 980 ti hybrid, ssd, the works). I read the forums for months prior to this learning the basics of overclocking and prepared for the day when my system was finally ready. I had heard stories of 5820k's hitting 4.4 - 4.6 ghz with ease, I was ready for mine to do the same.

After lots of testing, I finally achieved "stability" at 4.1 ghz with 1.28v. In the beginning my temperatures were good, 30c to 70c (stress tested with Aida 64), but over time they got worse and worse. I used compressed air to blowout my radiators, fans, etc, to no effect. There came a point where rendering video with Sony Vegas got me to 100c. I took off my OC and decided to just be happy with 3.3 ghz and 1.0v. (Same exact cooler is now in my "newer system" working perfectly, it was not the cooler or thermal paste.) To continue, my temperatures fluctuated greatly day by day. Ambient remained the same, but sometimes I would see 20c idle and sometimes I would see 50c idle.

Fast forward a few days, I'm watching a Twitch stream and my computer powers down with a sort of woooosh sound. It doesn't power back up. I bring it to my friend who runs a PC repair shop and is more knowledgeable than myself. He determines that the motherboard is at fault. My power supply is working fine in a different system. I order the brand new ASUS X99 Deluxe II, as I heard ASUS RMA is horrible and I do a lot of work on my computer, I couldn't have 3 weeks downtime. My friend installs the Deluxe II and my 5820k, the chip is fried. He puts in his own 5820k to test, computer powers up and enters windows. Great, my original X99 deluxe fried my 5820k. I do an Intel cross-ship and receive my new 5820K. -700$ in the hole so far before Intel refunds me. My computer is now working again, on stock turbo settings I believe, CPU-Z reads 3.6 ghz, 1.059v, bus speed 100, 30c idle, 22c ambient.

It is important to know that the only settings I ever touched in the BIOS were CPU Core Clock (4.4ghz max), CPU Voltage (1.3v max), SLIGHT adjustment to CPU System Agent Voltage, EPU Power Savings Mode, Intel Turbo Boost, EIST, C-states, and using XMP profile for ram.

Here are my questions...

Is it simply that I was extremely unlucky and got an "underperforming chip"... then a lemon, defective motherboard... that in turn fried my 5820k? Or could my "Overclock adjustments" be at fault?

Do you have be willing to ruin hardware to do "safe overclocking" aka below 1.3v or is my story one of extreme rarity?

I do quite a lot of video production and editing and will benefit from an OC'd CPU. Please let me know if I went wrong somewhere or if I was just very unlucky. I like to think I understand the basics of OC and I would like to OC again, but not at the cost of 700$ and no computer for 2 weeks.

If I do OC again, do you think 4.0 ghz @ 1.15v is a good starting point considering I am at 3.6 ghz @ 1.059 right now?

Thank you all for your time.

 

[thx1138v2]

Overclocking is always a gamble. I doubt you got an "under performing chip" or a "lemon motherboard" for the given specifications. They are built to specific specs. Overclocking is, by definition, overloading them above those specs and once you get outside the specs it's hard to say what you will get. Sometimes you get luck and sometimes you don't.

Even if you get a "stable" overclock the added heat will reduce the longevity of the system so it's a question of "stable" for how long?

I quit overclocking. Yeah, it's fun to see a system humming along...until it smokes. You end up with a system that is running on the edge of its possibilities but once over that edge things go bad, really bad, fast.

Keep the system within specs and you'll have a productive system for a longer period of time.

 

[strea]

Really, so you believe mild OC's killed my mobo and 5820k?

I mean no disrespect, it just seems far fetched.
The chip is "unlocked", the motherboard has an "OC socket", it just doesn't seem practical. If anything just the CPU would have died, not the mobo?

Anyone else have an opinion on that?

 

[Airbus580]

I have my 5820k @4GHz 1.128V max.

 

[scuzzycard]

It's not your fault. ASUS's X99 motherboards have been randomly overvolting chips for years now. No one knows why, and ASUS has been silent on the issue. It's even happened to people running at stock settings. Just google "Asus X99 overvoltage"

That being said, your 5820K was a rather poor overclocker, but that has nothing to do with why it fried. Myself, I'm now on my 3rd 5820K, and 4th X99-A, and I finally got a good overclocker of a chip for my troubles.

The motherboard I have now tried to overvolt my "golden" 5820K twice, but I was able to catch it before it was too late. I normally run it at 4.5@1.20V, which cache at 4.2@1.12, and it shot up to 1.36 Core and 1.45 Cache. Even worse, my first 5820K got blasted with 1.68-1.82V! BIOS updates haven't helped, so I uninstalled AI Suite, and the problem has not returned yet. So far, AI Suite is the prime suspect.

 

[strea]

It's not your fault. ASUS's X99 motherboards have been randomly overvolting chips for years now. No one knows why, and ASUS has been silent on the issue. It's even happened to people running at stock settings. Just google "Asus X99 overvoltage"

That being said, your 5820K was a rather poor overclocker, but that has nothing to do with why it fried. Myself, I'm now on my 3rd 5820K, and 4th X99-A, and I finally got a good overclocker of a chip for my troubles.

The motherboard I have now tried to overvolt my "golden" 5820K twice, but I was able to catch it before it was too late. I normally run it at 4.5@1.20V, which cache at 4.2@1.12, and it shot up to 1.36 Core and 1.45 Cache. Even worse, my first 5820K got blasted with 1.68-1.82V! BIOS updates haven't helped, so I uninstalled AI Suite, and the problem has not returned yet. So far, AI Suite is the prime suspect.

Thanks for the reassurance scuzzy.

I've done a lot of reading, but perhaps you could answer some more "basic" questions for me. Or if anyone else would like to.

1. Is it necessary / does it increase stability to OC the CPU cache to a ghz near the CPU clock? What are the performance benefits of OC'ing the CPU Cache?

2. How much does overclocking affect daily tasks, such as opening programs or for example, closing a chrome/firefox window with 20+ tabs? I searched google as I thought this would be a commonly asked question, but did not find much.

3. Is there a point of diminishing returns as far as performance goes when it comes to overclocking? Under 100% load with Aida 64 stability test I only hit 58c (CPU clock: 3.6 // CPU core voltage: 1.059v (stock turbo "auto" voltage)) so I have a good amount of thermal headroom.

Thanks all.

 

[scuzzycard]

Thanks for the reassurance scuzzy.

I've done a lot of reading, but perhaps you could answer some more "basic" questions for me. Or if anyone else would like to.

1. Is it necessary / does it increase stability to OC the CPU cache to a ghz near the CPU clock? What are the performance benefits of OC'ing the CPU Cache?

2. How much does overclocking affect daily tasks, such as opening programs or for example, closing a chrome/firefox window with 20+ tabs? I searched google as I thought this would be a commonly asked question, but did not find much.

3. Is there a point of diminishing returns as far as performance goes when it comes to overclocking? Under 100% load with Aida 64 stability test I only hit 58c (CPU clock: 3.6 // CPU core voltage: 1.059v (stock turbo "auto" voltage)) so I have a good amount of thermal headroom.

Thanks all.

You don't actually *need* to OC the cache - it does give a small boost in performance, but it can destabilize your core OC by adding more heat to the package. That's why I recommend finding a stable core OC first. 100MHz of core is worth more than 1000MHz on the cache. The cache is also more susceptible than the cores to degradation. Based on what I know, I recommend keeping the cache below 1.15V.

Overclocking is not going to affect your performance in Chrome - that should be lightning-fast with a 5820K whether you're stock or OC'ed. Unless you're using your computer to do something CPU-intensive that takes minutes or hours at a time, like a huge video encode or a huge 3D render, there's no point at all in maxing out your OC. Even if you are, it makes more sense to keep it conservative. I would find the highest stable clock speed at 1.20-1.25V and then the highest stable cache speed at 1.10-1.15. You'll end up 25-35% faster than stock with no worries about shortened component life.

 

[Melonious]

Really, so you believe mild OC's killed my mobo and 5820k?

I mean no disrespect, it just seems far fetched.
The chip is "unlocked", the motherboard has an "OC socket", it just doesn't seem practical. If anything just the CPU would have died, not the mobo?

Anyone else have an opinion on that?

You said you got up to 100 degrees. At that point for even short times you can wipe out your system let alone editing video for hours and hours for days on end. I don't know why you are surprised it died.

Now the question of why you got there is not so clear cut though.

You probably wouldn't have gotten there without overclocking but you can't know for sure. Most likely it is combination of shitty motherboard and trying to overclock it and overheating the motherboard and making it malfunction which then kills everything, but there is outside chance it is truly bad motherboard and nothing else, I guess.

If you do overclock again remember cooling the cpu is just one part of things. You want to keep your system temp well down as well, too much heat in wrong place and it's game over. A couple 20 dollar case fans added to your system might have made things much different. But then maybe not.