I've been having an issue with my i7 6700k freezing/hard hanging during games.

[idata]

Hello,

I purchased my computer under a year ago and not long after I got it had random hard hangs/freezes occur when playing games. When this occurs my computer is unresponsive and I have to turn off the PC by the power button, the caps lock light doesn't even toggle on and off. I have had this happen for months but sometimes it goes away for weeks or sometimes it happens every day. I have tried to get support from people online and tried various different things and nothing has worked.

I should mention that when these freezes/hard hangs occur and I have turned my PC back on my PC works fine as if nothing happened but no error message is produced anywhere, I am just left to guess what the cause is.

I have tried updating my computer and done things such as reverting to older versions of drivers along with benchmarking and tests and trying the latest versions and can't find a fix, nor can I get the issue to occur outside of a game. The issue never occurs when not playing games or even playing low intensity games.

I have been told that this issue is due to Skylake CPU's having a bug/glitch and being faulty, is there a way I can test this?

My temperatures are fine and never too hot. I have replaced my PSU so I don't believe that is the issue.

I had HWinfo64 open along with task manager and Nvidia Inspector on my second monitor the last time the crash occurred (an hour ago) and uploaded a screenshot here where you can see the temperatures and voltages: http://imgur.com/a/8FYMi http://imgur.com/a/8FYMi - I have also included my full system specs below.

My system specs:

OS: Windows 10 home 64 bit

GPU: Nvidia 980 ti - Evga hybrid

CPU: Intel Skylake i7 6700k

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH D-15

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16 GB DDR4

Motherboard: Asus Z170-A

PSU: Evga 750W Supernova G2

Monitor: Acer XB270hu 1440p 144hz G sync

Secondary Monitor: 21" 1080p 60 hz monitor.

I tried emailing Intel themselves but the service request form keeps producing an error so I cannot get through to them.

[CCris2]

Hi Zedaso ,

Please specify the exact model of your memory. It maybe a problem with memory compatibility.

[idata]

Hi Ronin,

Thanks for your reply

Here is the exact RAM I ordered and where it was ordered from: https://www.scan.co.uk/products/16gb-(2x8gb)-corsair-ddr4-vengeance-lpx-black-pc4-17000-(2133)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-13-15-15-28-xm https://www.scan.co.uk/products/16gb-(2x8gb)-corsair-ddr4-vengeance-lpx-black-pc4-17000-(2133)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-13…

I have just found that my memory is running at 1066mhz by using CPU-Z though, any idea why is this? That seems to be an issue itself?

[CCris2]

Memory is DDR=Double Data Rate. That means that the frequency you see there is correct. (For DDR the frequency you see advertised is double then the real frequency)

What you see in HWiNFO is the real frequency of the ram and you take that frequency and multiply it by 2 and 1066.66x2=~2133 .

The problem is that Intel is set to work with 2133 15 15 15 36 on spd speed, and your memory is 13 15 15 28.

If your XMP is enabled in bios that means that the mainboard may not set some voltages correctly.

[idata]

Thank you for the information. Of course! I completely forgot about that haha.

I do have XMP enabled in bios but I don't know anything about voltages or enough about the "15 15 15 36" and "13 15 15 28" you listed, is that CAS latency? How should I go about setting voltages correctly?

[CCris2]

You can test the processor with this application: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool Download Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool

The problem is that when you have problems with the system and is not stable, I don't know how accurate are the results

[CCris2]

I sent you a message, you can see it by clicking on that /inbox @

[Allan_J_Intel1]

Please take a look at this thread for more information:

Allan.

[idata]

Hi Allan, thanks for the reply.

Interesting read, can I ask what CStates are though? No one mentions it, I will definitely try turning them off, though, but would like to know what they do first.

Thanks

[idata]

Yes, C-States are IDLE modes or states. Please check the following information for more details:

https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2008/03/12/c-states-and-p-states-are-very-different https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2008/03/12/c-states-and-p-states-are-very-differentAllan.