Possible 14700k Problems

[microbyte]

System specs:
Gigabyte z790 Eagle AX
Intel i7-14700k
ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 360 A-RGB
CORSAIR RM1000e (2025) 1000w
CORSAIR VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 RAM 32GB (2x16GB) 6000MHz (CMH32GX5M2E6000C36)
WD_BLACK SN850X 2TB SSD
AMD Sapphire 9070 XT Nitro+

This is a new build for a relative using all new parts but encountering some concerning issues regarding stability and reliability. I had previously built an identical system using the same motherboard, RAM, CPU and SSD which had initial teething problems but with an updated BIOS and getting settled in has run perfectly fine.

This specific build with the above mentioned components is having issues and I hope I may get help figuring out what is going on because I am at a bit of a loss trying to isolate what is the cause and suspicious of a bad CPU.

After building it did the usual memory training, restarted and landed in BIOS. I was going to update the BIOS immediately but found it was already on the latest F3 update with all fixes related to problems found with the 13th/14th gen CPU problems. I enabled XMP 1 (only one available) and enabled REBAR, confirmed all hardware is detected.

Starting windows install from USB went normal - it coped files over and installed, then restarted, ending up back to the intallation screen as if no drive was found. I get to the drive selection and find that there are already patitions made from the last install attempt a minute ago. I try again, deleting those partitions and installing again. This time it restarts and boots from the SSD. It gets as far as setting up devices and then BSOD before restarting (I didn't catch what the error was).

I boot back into BIOS to check everything over and all seems to be ok. I boot from USB and start the install over again while carefully observing and all goes well. I get installed and land on the desktop. I install Gigabyte Control Center and install all firmware and drivers. I update Windows and then Instrall AMD Adrenaline. I have HWINFO running to observe temps and run Cinebench to check the CPU and that runs fine. I run Furmark to check the GPU and that works perfect. I then start installing requested games and then test a game for a bit to make sure it runs fine. Great framerate at highest settings with RT, perfect. I let it continue downloading games before shutting down to resume the setup the next day.

Cold boot to desktop and uninstall Gigabyte Control Center as that had proven a headache when trying to use other software to control RGB on the othjer system and I intended to use SignalRGB. After leaving it idle for a brief while I notice that the downloads are not moving and that the mouse is unresponsive from the whole system freezing and I have to hold the power button to shut down. Booting back into windows and viewing Eventvwr shows unexpected shutdown. Prior to that seemed to show entries for some random software/drivers becoming unresponsive. I assume it may be related to removing GCC and I recall having to do a reinstall for the previous system due to it, so I decide to fresh install and manually install firmware and drivers without installing GCC.

Fresh install goes fine. I install drivers and AMD Adrenaline, restarting, etc. I leave it to proceed with Windows Updates and after a only a short time the screen goes black and the system restarts on its own, which is odd. I check Eventvwr again and find a fatal hardware error had occured. While leaving the system idle to search up details I find again that the system has frozen, so I again hold power button to power off. Fearing that I may have bad hardware I boot up and check BIOS to confirm hardware is detected, then boot windows to launch a memory scan quickly and allow it to restart. That only gets 1/4 through before showing an issue was detected. I run the scan again but this time the scan is fine, as is the next scan.
I downloaded MemTest86 and did every test it offered and all passed. Ran again to be certain before powering off again to research further. I suspect issues with the CPU but the board came with the latest BIOS already installed.
I power back on and boot straight into MemTest86 but it freezes during initialisation and doesn't reach the landing screen and I have to hold down the power button again. booting up right away and trying again is successful and I begin further scans while I get the latest BIOS to reapply it. All RAM tests pass. Cold boots seem problematic.

The board came with the latest BIOS but I reflashed it be sure and enabled XMP again along with REBAR. I also followed some instructions found here (https://community.intel.com/t5/Processors/Unstable-i7-14700k/m-p/1563490#M68552) and set CPU Vcore Loadline Calibration to "Normal" instead of "Auto" and began another fresh install. GCC installed, all drivers, AMD Adrenaline, Windows Updates, everything goes fine.

Scanned the SSD and that appears fine. Ran Intel Extreme Utility to test the CPU and RAM. All tests ran and completed without problems, though it would sometimes say power throttle or thermal throttle (temps never went above 81 according to HWINFO). One test stated current Limit once at the start. Ran Cinebench twice as both multi and single core. All completed perfectly with multicore score of 1974 and single core score of 128.
Ran Furmark for an hour with no issues. Left idle for a few minutes and seemed stable. Ran Cinebench multicore once more and while leaving to complete I find that the whole system as frozen again.

That leads to right now. Apologies for the wall of text but trying to be thorough in hopes that anybody can advise what I can do. All searches that had similar issues as me with this hardware suggested issues with the M/B and CPU settings, where some have stated it is now solved but I am at a loss and would appreciate some insight and guidance on how to proceed.

[ArchieD_Intel]

Hi microbyte,

Thank you for reaching out to the Intel Community Forum and sharing the detailed account of the challenges you're facing with your new build. To assist us in investigating the issue, please provide the following details:

1. Have you considered testing the system with default BIOS settings (without XMP)?
2. Did you overclock the processor?
3. Have you tried swapping out the CPU with another compatible unit, if available, to see if the problem persists?

If you have any questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Archie D.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[microbyte]

Hello ArchieD_Intel!

I have not overclocked the CPU, no. I generally see no need to overclock and tend to avoid it.

The Gigabyte Z790 Eagle AX is configured with the default settings for everything as it arrived to me out of the box with the latest F3 BIOS update it came with. Everything identical to the previous build except for the PSU, case fans, cooler and case.
The only exception is that I read details on the linked forum post and tried setting CPU Vcore Loadline Calibration to "Normal" to see if that improved stability follwing the immediate issues experienced.

The previous build I had to update myself to the F3 BIOS version as I built that around 4/5 months ago and the only changes to BIOS was XMP and REBAR then.

I am unable to swap out to test a different CPU as I do not have and cannot afford to even buy to test, unfortunately. I also will not be able to test the previous builds 14700k as that is now a distance away and in use by the other relative who purchased it for their build and I don't think they would take kindly to having their system canabalised haha.

Something of note is that all ARGB was default rainbow effect initially, as it was with the previous identical board. However with this board when I installed Gigabyte Control Center and then shutdown/restart the case fans and cooler ARGB now have a different default effect immediately after powering on as if the setting is changed/saved in the BIOS itself, something that I was not aware was even a thing. It returns to rainbow ARGB when GCC is opened. But then back to the new default when it is not running. I do not know if that is relevant to something different with this BIOS/motherboard revision or indicative of something else.
The 9070 XT and Corsair RAM still have the default rainbow effect and is not affected by this even though they share headers.

I intend to potentially reflash the BIOS once more to see if that is reset, but I will ensure that all BIOS settings are default, without XMP or REBAR, purely stock and default, then perform some further testing to see if it exhibits the freeze.

[ArchieD_Intel]

Hi microbyte,

Thank you for your update. I've sent an email to your active email address for the next step of the process.

Please check both your Inbox and Spam folder for my email, and once received, kindly acknowledge it.

Best regards,

Archie D.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[microbyte]

Hello again, Archie.

I responded to your email and provided the relevant information.

Following your advice I have run a load of tests without XMP (and also without REBAR) enabled. I did chose to do a fresh flash of the BIOS and then checked to make sure it was all default without XMP or REBAR.

I booted into windows and checked EventViewer and the last 2 entries before the system froze was as follows:

Event 566, Kernel-power
The system session has transitioned from 1 to 3.
Reason InputHid
BootId: 17

Event 566,. Kernel-power
The system session has tranitioned from 0 to 1
Reason SessionUnlock
BootId: 17

I am not sure if this is relevant, but placing here in case it is. I also noted an entry for the following:
WLAN Extensibility Module has stopped.
Module Path: C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\netwtw6e.inf_amd64_70d493b22a8d309e\IntelIHVRouter14.dll

With numerous entries for:
"The description for Event ID 6062 from source Netwtw14 cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.

The following information was included with the event:

\Device\NDMP1
Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6E AX211 160MHz

The message resource is present but the message was not found in the message table"

Wireless has been working fine the whole time though. Not sure if relevant, but placing here.

With XMP and REBAR disabled I have run multiple memory tests and CPU/RAM stress tests and everything appears like it is stable.

Furmark ran for 2 hours without issue.
XTU CPU Stress ran for 1 hour and stable (It showed power throttled and current throttled. It also sometimes showed thermal throttled but the CPU temps hovered around 82/85 with one the highest reported by HWINFO being 87)
XTU CPU stress AVX ran for 1 hour and stable (It would sometimes show current throttled)
XTU CPU stress with AVX2 ran for 1 hour (Sometimes showed current throttle and thermal throttle - HWINFO still showed that the temps were fine and that it never reported thermal throttling)
XTU Memory stress ran for 1 hour and stable (showed Power limit throttle and Current/EDP throttle)

I then let it sit idle for about 45 minutes and noticed it started updating Windows to 24H2. That completed and restarted.
After the restart it got stuck on a long black screen but the mouse was still movable. I left it a little bit then power cycled where it booted up and finished updating fine. Not sure if it was due to me restarting with all the monitoring and testing software open but eventviewer showed that XTU had a fault but nothing else of note.

Further windows updates complete and then restarts perfectly fine. I then powered off for the night

Following day I perform a cold boot right into MemTest86 and that starts up without an issue and and performed 4 passes of the default tests for 2 hours and showed that everything passed.

Booted back into windows and ran both single core and multicore tests a few times back to back, with the scores being a little lower (related to XMP being off?).

PC was left idle for a few hours and it remained on and usable without issue. I started a load of downloads for the games the my relative wanted to play and they are still downloading perfectly fine.

Would this suggest a bad/faulty pair of RAM modules or simply not capable of the rated speeds with XMP?
Or does it indicate something is up with the board or CPU?

[ArchieD_Intel]

Hi microbyte,

Thank you for your update. I've responded to your email for the next step. Please check your Inbox and once received it, please let me know.

Best regards,

Archie D.

Intel Customer Support Technician