i9 14900k randomly crashing

[Trooper1]

I recently built this Computer, and it was crashing fairly often until I updated the bios and utilized the enforce intel power option, it's crashing less often now, but still randomly crashing once every 1-2 days. I was hoping someone might be able to help me track down the issue or offer bios setting suggestions to gain system stability.

When a crash occurs, there's no blue screen or anything, PC just randomly shuts itself off, and then a few seconds later comes right back on, and lasts for another day or two before doing the same. I could be gaming or just sitting on the desktop.
Since it's doing it less often with latest motherboard bios installed and intel limits enforced, It seems to me like it may be CPU or Bios setting related.

I'm concerned that during the time the motherboard CPU power limits were set quite high in the bios by default, it may have inadvertently caused minor damage to the CPU?

I have run an Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool CPU test and it passed.
I ran a Windows Memory Diagnostic test, which came back good.
I also double-checked that PL1 and PL2 were set correctly after enforcing Intel power limits.
Most recently, I have tried setting the SVID to "Worst Case Scenario" in bios.

My PC Setup:
CPU: intel i9 14900k cpu with XMP disabled and intel power limits enforced
CPU Cooling: Corsair AIO Liquid Cooling
Motherboard: ASUS TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI
Corsair CMH64GX5M2B6400C32 32gb x2 memory sticks
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Graphics card
PSU: Corsair HX1200i 1000+Watt Platinum Cert
OS storage: Samsung 990 PRO SSD 2TB M.2 NVMe (+Various other secondary storage drives)
Case and cooling: Lian-Li 4x 120mm case fans, 3 front 1 back, (2 top attached to AIO liquid cpu cooler)

I have attached Intel SSU, Event Viewer Logs, and below is a link to my memory.dmp file (although that seems to be corrupted when I tried to look at it myself). Event logs only seemed to tell me kernel power lost, with no reason given.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/x5ss517x8ewjbwz5jd8yu/MEMORY.DMP?rlkey=io118qvsskxwycta17d3i2lvw&dl=0

Any help is appreciated!
Thanks

[CoolBook]

@Trooper1 

Regardless if that is the actual voltage or not, that VID looks extremely scary.

I would bring the top frequency down a notch or two. Possibly try some undervolting.

[Trooper1 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the idea @CoolBook ,
In addition to the previously mentioned changes, I've disabled thermal velocity boost, as well as adaptive boost, and I've lowered the V/F point for 7-11 by -0.001.
I also capped all of the performance core ratios down to 55 max from their default 60 max ratio.
So far this seems to have Greatly improved system stability and application stability, prior to these changes I couldn't even open steam or discord without them crashing immediately, I will still need another RMA to attain standard CPU speeds and stability on standard settings again, but at least with these settings I can use my PC again normally in the mean time! (So far). I'm awaiting reply from Intel support regarding another RMA. I hope they're not too short staffed after the recent layoffs.


For others: I found the information I gathered below helpful in figuring out how best to slightly undervolt and underclock the i9 14900k for stability.

Source: https://skatterbencher.com/2023/12/16/skatterbencher-67-intel-core-i9-14900k-overclocked-to-6200-mhz/#VF_Curves
(Make sure not to accidentally overclock anything with positive offsets if you're having stability issues, as this could void your warranty).

Screen capped my recent bios setting changes below:

I will continue to test and tweak settings for stability as needed.
Please do let me know if you find other/better ways to increase stability in the bios!

[xDontStarve]

The sync core ratio tweak fixed my stability issues, I'll share all my changes for anyone interested, I basically followed Intel's default in my b760-i mb running BIOS 1805 (latest).

Latest changes to bios for stability:
CPU core / cache current max 307A
PL1 125w
Pl2 253w
CPU C states enabled
IA TDC Current Limit intel default
Intel adaptive boost Off
Performance core Ratio sync all cores
All core rario limit 55x

[Nefer26]

Thank you very much for your labor and sharing. 

[Trooper1]

Just had another System Blue screen. This time a Stop code: System_Service_Exception of ntfs.sys .
I've seen this a few times with the processor system instability I've been dealing with.
I cannot safely say the issue is resolved, previous bios settings have only reduced the frequency of system crashes.
Firefox tab crashes are slowly increasing in frequency as well.
I will most likely have to make attempts at reducing maximum core voltage / top frequency as suggested by @CoolBook (cheers), and hope that the new Bios update that's in the works resolves lingering stability issues. I had been trying to avoid undervolting the processor manually thus far.
The saga continues.

[Trooper1]

Testing with Battlefield 2042, Temps are really high, but that may be because I've swapped SVID back to Intel's Failsafe which raises my temperatures by a good 20C. Will test other settings and see if PC remains stable.

Max Core Voltage isn't breaking 1.6v anymore, even at high temps / under load. Progress?

Temps on Idle for comparison after recent bios changes (SVID Intel's Failsafe)

I seem to be getting random temperature spikes just sitting idle, with no noticeable jump in CPU utilization.

[Trooper1]

I have now flashed the latest Asus BIOS, released August 7th, (Ver 1662).
The issues persist with default settings, signaling the damage to the cpu may already be done.
However, I am able to prevent application and system crashing with the bios changes last mentioned (Currently marked as solution).
For those with similar motherboard brand/type, I will post that saved profile configuration here for easy use with the Asus settings profile tool (Under Tools).
I've packaged the .CMO config file into a .rar so that I can upload it here. I've also included a .txt file uploaded straight from the bios detailing all of these settings.
Hopefully this helps someone else if they choose to try my BIOS settings. Tweaking may be required depending on degradation of processor.
Good luck to my fellow i9 14900k users!

[Bugz2find]

If you’re still having this issue loading something intensive up that will cause crashes. For me it was doom eternal or ATM10 Minecraft mod pack (I know it’s a little janky to recommend that) with a bad p core I was crashing nine out of ten times upon startup of the mod pack. Once you find your intensive program that will consistently cause a crash disable one of your P cores and repeat your intensive task. If it crashes disable the next until you find the bad Pcore. It may not be your issue but this solved my issue. Took me several weeks to figure it out. I also went through and verified I wasn’t OC’d or I had no thermal issues.

[Robinuniverse]

Subject: Assistance Required with CPU Restart Issue

Hi Intel Support Team,

I purchased a gaming PC 7 months ago, which includes the following components: -

CPU: Intel 14900k -

RAM: 96 GB (48 GB x 2) -

GPU: 4090 PNY -

Motherboard: MSI Edge WiFi Max -

CPU Cooler: Lian Li

I have installed the latest BIOS and firmware on the motherboard. Initially, I encountered a major issue where my CPU would restart frequently after 6-7 hours of use. At first, I was unaware of the problem. My drivers became corrupted, and Windows wouldn’t start, prompting me to attempt a repair. However, every time I entered the product key during installation, the system kept restarting. After conducting various research, I discovered that the issue was related to the CPU. I needed to change the CPU settings from auto to manual for both the P-cores and E-cores, which resolved the restart issue. My concern now is whether I need to initiate an RMA for the CPU, or if it's sufficient to keep the settings on manual only. Thank you for your assistance.

Best regards,

Robin

[Trooper1]

Update, May 5th 2025:

I continue to experience EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION application crashes, with slowly increasing frequency, in various applications.

This leads me to believe that my processor is continuing to experience degradation, in spite of the fact that I have had the latest firmware and microcode bios updates implemented since before even installing the last fresh chip via RMA.

It seems as if it's only a matter of time until I'll have to RMA once more.