Motherboard or 2 bad chips?

[andino]

Hey,

So I started a new build with a Maximus VI Formula and a 4770K. I had 32 gigs GSkill Sniper 1866 RAM from my old build as well as a Corsairs 256 SSD and a H100i.

Anyway, I pop it all together last week and install Windows, update bios 0804, and boot her up to start burn ins. Little back story about this chip. The postal employee forgot to deliver the chip for 2 days and left it in the trunk of his car. Both days the temp was 90+ and dude has a red car. The 4770k did well at default speeds at first. Then started throwing up BSODs. So I called Amazon and they one day me a 2nd 4770k.

The second chip seems to be stable at default speeds with everything on auto. If I bump it up to 4.2 at multiple different voltages all I get is BSOD. There also seems to be one core that is going to 85C with the h100i at default. I have reset the TIM and the spread looked great. I really don't think it's contact with the h100i.

Also of note, no cores are going below the default value. I have the Asus multicore enhancement setting to disable. The first 4770k went to like 800MHZ with lowered CPU activity. The second doesn't.

As far as I can tell the motherboard is fine. All the SATA connectors function and the board appears to be in fine shape. There were no bent pins on the cpu tray. The fan headers work. The only complaint I have about it is the pop sound that it sends to the speakers as it powers up and powers down.

So my question is do I have a bad motherboard or did I get 2 bad chips? Also, what would cause the second chip not to idle down? If it is a bad chip should I contact Intel about it? Because at this point I'm thinking Amazon just has bad batches....

[Chino]

Welcome to the ROG forums, andino.

Please tell me exactly how you updated your BIOS.

[andino]

Thanks for the quick response!

I went to the support site and d/led the MAXIMUS VI FORMULA BIOS 0804. Saved it to a jump drive. I then went into the bios and used the EZ Flash 2 Utility to upload the bios.

[Chino]

Perfect. Now, have you run Memtest86+ on your RAM? If not, please download that utility and run a or two cycles on your RAM. There is a guide written by HiVizMan linked in my signature if you've never used Memtest86+ before.

[andino]

Chino wrote:
Perfect. Now, have you run Memtest86+ on your RAM? If not, please download that utility and run a or two cycles on your RAM. There is a guide written by HiVizMan linked in my signature if you've never used Memtest86+ before.

2 passes with 0 errors.

[CinoMax]

I had similar problem as well, so I suspected it's a bad cpu. It just failed to pass stress test at clock speed. I used Linx and Prime95, and my rig would crash after 30 second of stress testing. Intel decided to replace my 4770k, and the 2nd work flawlessly. It requires much lower voltage for overclocking than the first one and it's much more stable as well.

[Chino]

Ok. So the BSOD was probably caused by an unstable overlock since your RAM came out clean.

The core that's hitting 85C seems alarming. Is that in idle state or full load? When installing the H100i, did you use the dot/rice/pea/etc.. in the middle method? Also did you screw the H100i in using a criss cross pattern?

For your CPU to downlock when at idle, make sure the following settings are enabled in your BIOS.

Extreme Tweakers -> CPU Power Management section
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology
Turbo Mode

Advanced -> CPU Configuration -> CPU Power Management Configuration
EIST
Turbo Mode
CPU C States

And when you're in Windows, make sure you're not running the High Performance profile as the Windows power plan.

[andino]

On CPU's I usually do the two stripe method. Also, I thought that it might have been a TIM issue so I reTIMed the CPU. When I took off the H100i the spread was even and thin. I cleaned off the TIM and reapplied.

I always tighten in a X pattern. I usually start the screws by hand and then tighten 1/4 ~ 1/2 turn on the screwdriver in the X to tighten it down making sure I don't get it too tight.

The 85C was during load testing with the Intel Burn Test program. I can get the same results with Prime95 on the Small FFT test...

Also, the High Performance was set in windows. I set it to balance and it cloced back down. Thanks. I must have missed that.

[andino]

I'm on the phone with intel right now. They had me run BlueScreenView and it showed that all my BSOD's were heat related.

They are starting the replacement process.

Doing a cross ship as well...

[andino]

Process done. I should have the new 4770k tomorrow.

I'll post more once I get it in.