Question Unstable build with lots of crashes to Windows. Not sure how to interpret the tests. Can someone look over my post and lend a hand?

[KSNomads]

PC Specs:
Mobo: Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Hero,
CPU: 14900k,
GPU: RTX 4090 founders edition
RAM: 128GB (4 x 32) Kingston Fury Beast 5600mt/s,
SSD: WD Black 4TB M.2 2280 7,300MB/s,
PSU: 1000w
OS: Win 11 Pro

This has been my first build in 5 years. I have generally built a new PC every 2-3 years for the last 20 years. Maybe it was luck, but I've always built top-of-the-line and never encountered any issues. I don't even remember QVL tables being a thing?

I built this new PC back in October of 2023. It seemed okay for a while but recently games and applications have started crashing irregularly. The two most common errors in Event Viewer are: c0000005 (access violation error ) with c0000409(Status stack buffer overrun) as a close second.

Most recently the game I've been trying to play has been crashing non-stop to the point of being unplayable. some of the errors pointed toward memory or timing so I suspected RAM. As part of getting my RAM to work with this motherboard in the first place, I had to update the BIOS. So, I updated it again (ROG MAXIMUS Z790 HERO BIOS 2002) as well as the drivers that Armory Crate said needed to be updated. The crashing seemed to get worse as did the BSODs, which have been pretty rare.

My RAM is not on the QVL tables for the Z790. I honestly didn't even know they were a thing because I'd never used them in the past and had never had issues before. Either way, not being on the QVL made RAM a frontrunner for my concerns. The RAM has passed tests from Windows Memory Diagnostic, Memtest86, and OCCT, all with zero errors though.

Previously this build (with ram config) scored really well on 3dmark. Now I can't even get it to finish a benchmark test. It usually crashes to Windows within the first 30-60 seconds.

I'm lost and not sure where to turn or where to look. I've tested CPU, RAM, and VRAM via OCCT with no errors reported. Trying to run the 3d standard or power tests crashes OCCT back to Windows pretty quickly. The power test seems to also put a load on the GPU as it was pulling about 450w at the time of the crash. So both tests engaging the GPU Failed but CPU ran on its own without issue.

Could the testing indicate a GPU issue? Could it be a RAM issue not being caught by one of the 3 tests? Could it be CPU where it interacts with memory or GPU?

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!!

Other exceptions logged by Event Viewer (all After Updating the BIOS and Drivers):
c0000374 (status heap corruption)
c000001d (Illegal Instruction)
0x80000003 (exception breakpoint)

BSODs (Also All after updating the BIOS and drivers:

ATTEMPTED_EXECUTE_OF_NOEXECUTE_MEMORY
PROCESS_NAME: VirtualDesktop.Service.exe

CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT (101)
PROCESS_NAME: System

ATTEMPTED_EXECUTE_OF_NOEXECUTE_MEMORY (fc)
PROCESS_NAME: steamwebhelper.exe

UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP (7f)
PROCESS_NAME: Taskmgr.exe

I've reinstalled GPU Drivers, ran SFC /scannow, DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth, DISM /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth, and DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth.

I've tried dropping to 2 DIMM sticks in A2 and B2.

I've updated BIOS and Drivers

I've played with RAM Config (Timing and clock) and re-ran mem tests. The issues persisted through all the stable configurations.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I might. I think new AIO will likely tell the tale. Yes, you can bring temps down to tolerable AND keep sound to a minimum with a combination of custom settings but you might find that this was just a cooler not up to par. I think all of the decisions you've made regarding hardware changes are good ones though considering the hardware involved. What you had been using, really was not the best for the configuration.

And I don't see any flags other than CPU temperature on those screenshots, so, hopefully I'm/You're right.

 

[KSNomads]

@Darkbreeze , I was looking into troubleshooting AIO issues and wanted to go over some basics just to see if I can get it back to "running a little hot" instead of instantly throttling or shutting down apps while I wait for the new parts to get here.

I can see from HWiNFO that my AIO pump is running. The processor was never heating up like this in the past. Is it possible it's a bad processor or drivers causing excess heat?

It's like it's heating up so fast that the AIO and fans don't even have time to respond. Literally from 40C to 100C in under 2 seconds. The radiator is barely even warm. I wanted to cool it better anyway, but It ran for months without these crazy 100c heat spikes.

I guess what I'm thinking is that just about everything is crashing now and causing my CPU heat to spike. This wasn't the case at the same time two weeks ago. All of this is very new, and it doesn't look like the problem is a complete failure of my AIO.

 

[KSNomads]

@Darkbreeze,

What do you make of these temps? I blew out my radiator really good (wasn't too much dust, but there was a little), re-applied thermal paste, and reset the bios. It's definitely running better, but I still have one core that is running hotter than the rest. Is that common?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Was it doing this with one core significantly hotter than all the others BEFORE you repasted? If not, I'd do it over. It's possible you didn't get even coverage or got an air bubble or the block isn't tightened evenly all the way around. If it WAS like that before, then I'd warranty the CPU because any variance of 15°C or more between the hottest core and second hottest core is definitely enough to make it warrantable.