How best proceed with overheating i7-4790K?

[REnso1]

I have an i7-4790K in a GA-Z97MX Gaming 5 mobo latest F4 BIOS.

I used a Noctua NH-L12 cooler rated at 95W for cooling the processor rated at 88W in a Lian Li PC V354 with 4 fans, 2 in 2 out, case closed and case open, ambient is 27-30°C.

Temperatures in BIOS and memtest86+ were high so I decided to try stress testing and in Prime95 small FFT cores 1&2 overheated to 100°C using Core Temp.

I tried reseating the heatsink and renewing the NT-H1 TIM and opening the case but it made no difference. I have a photo of the contact pattern here.

When I tested using the OCCT benchmark I was unable to complete a test due to the processor overheating so I underclocked the processor to 3.6 GHz, disabled turbo and manually set vCore to 1.1v.

With an underclocked processor I was able to get a heating and cooling curve using the OCCT auto capture, to enable me to study the problem.

Even when underclocked the processor was reaching high temperatures, rapid fluctuations in temperature with work load suggest a bottleneck in the thermal pathway. When I tested with the intel retail cooler which came with the CPU the cooling was much less effective than the NH-L12 (even when underclocked taking just over a minute of OCCT to reach the 85°C cut off point see below) indicating the NH-L12 was doing a good job of removing heat, which meant the processor was making the heat or the source of the bottleneck.

I have discussed it http://forums.hexus.net/cpus/327593-4790k-overheating-nh-l12.html elsewhere. Advice was to contact Intel due to an absence of information relating to my retailer's testing procedures. I have asked about these but am still waiting for a reply.

So my question is how should I proceed from here? Does this qualify for an RMA? If so is it possible to negotiate this with Intel direct or do I have to go through my retailer?

I have done my best to make sure I am not doing anything wrong and I would be grateful for any pointers to any mistakes I may be making.

[RChiz]

Yep, thats the main problem I think, not getting enough power. Always hit current limit unless I change current limit to 256A or more and then it hits the thermal wall immediately. Voltage goes up to 1.223V stressed and 1.289 stressed with AVX instructions. Weird stuff. Probably defective VRM mosfets or something.

Mines definitely a Devils Canyon i7-4790K, I can change the multiplier up and down. My chip is actually made in Vietnam instead of Malaysia though which is weird. My batch number is X4xxx instead of L4xxx like most people. Purchased from Microcenter. Never spoke with Intel CSR because it passes the Intel diagnostic tool and at the end of the day I'm sure the processor is fine with is working in the stripped down MSI board.

[SPark48]

I don't know... You may be right and you may have a faulty MB, but considering you have a totally different batch than majority of people, I wouldn't completely rule out a faulty CPU. I have purchased 6 different 4790Ks in the last 3 months and every single one of them were batch L3XXXX or L4XXXX and they were all made in Malay. Is it possible that the bent pins you mentioned is causing this?

If you bought from Micro Center, as long as it is within the 15 days, you can still return he motherboard with bent pins. They sell open box MBs with bent pins all the time... Just put the cover back on it - the people taking returns never check it, at least not the Micro Center I go to. It wouldn't necessarily be ethical, but it can be done! =)

Good luck!

[RChiz]

I don't think I had bent pins until I decided the mobo was bad and was going to box it up to ship to Asus and put the socket cover on wrong. It has been more than 15 days and even if not, Karma...

[jband2]

sampark1980 wich is the new lote for the new processor???

[SPark48]

I don't know the whole lot number, but it starts with: L42XXXXX.

[rtopp]

Hello

Slaveonepunx

You have to change your power supply

[kpago]

kostas pagos

just now

Hi guys. I had same problems. So everyone who has mobo Z97mx gaming 5 need to clear CMOS FIRST.then need a good water cooler system and a good paste. So now with all setting to default and cpu at 4.4 ghz I have after 4 hours stress test with Intel XMU,aida 64 77c biggest temperature.iam using h60 corsair cooler and xmp profile with memory's. I had play assanin grid unity about 6 hours and the biggest temp was 60c at cpu.and is hard game.at cpu settings all cores is x44. At mobo settings I see at bios 1 core x44 2 core x44 3 core x43 4 core x42.

[ak25]

Here is a better screen shot. Can someone please tell me what the voltage for the cpu should be set at. (not vcore but cpu). The good fellow at intel support said it should be 1.5 but my motherboard has it set to 1.71; I cannot find this data anywhere on line and I think perhaps he is confusing ram specification. Also still waiting for someone at intel to tell me if it is safe to run at the processor for long periods in high 80's low 90's...

[RChiz]

Your numbers look fine to me if you are using the stock heatsink. Temps are showing a steady climb due to inadequate stock cooling, TDP seems like what it should be, steady frequency, and 1.17V doesn't look too bad although certainly you could manually lower that. CPU core voltage is going to vary on load unless you are using a manual voltage setting. Temperatures tend to start getting out of hand after 1.29V.

[TPham17]

HI evryone, i got problem with overheating i4790k. I use mobo GA z97MX - gamming 5. I dont know why when i run stress test, the temperature almost reach 100 C. I use stock cooler and still wait for h100i. Can someone could help me to figure out? THanks so much.

[REnso1]

ken-Intel & abcanw you might be interested by the latest reply from Gigabyte.

So I made a mistake in saying in my last question to them that the GA Z97X Gaming 7 will work at 110W/105A settings when asking why the GA Z97MX Gaming 5 would not. My fault for misinterpreting the statement that the former mobo doesnt need the 160W restriction.

Gigabyte wrote:

Dear Customer, We have tried GA-Z97X-Gaming 7 and set 110W 105A as yours, the result is the same, the ratio also drop with 110W 105A and we already confirm it's not relate to phase VRM.

Their bold not mine, so this implies they are working on it and I am grateful for the clarification which is very interesting.

They appear to be disagreeing with my previous mistaken assumption that the 110W / 105A slider settings work on the GA Z97X Gaming 7. On the other hand they are saying they have tested it and it won't run at those settings without throttling the ratio / clock. However they are clearly stating (and it makes sense given that the problem exists on both mobos), that it is not related to the 4 phase VRM on the Gaming 5.

So my question is whether we can absolutely confirm that other mobo models from different brands do run with the 110W/105A settings.

[aanwa1]

That's interesting news, Thank you boolybooly for your continued help and reporting to Gigabyte !

I hope now that they are investigating and working for a solution.

[RChiz]

So my question is whether we can absolutely confirm that other mobo models from different brands do run with the 110W/105A settings.

What exactly can I check for you? I bought a keeper of a motherboard in an MSI Z97 Gaming 7 that has my 4790K working great compared to the Asus M7H. I was so happy to see the TDP go past 88W fully loaded like it should. I feel good enough about it that I'm going to take it off the test bench and install in the case followed by some overclocking. I'm so glad I finally have this sorted out.

[BSant8]

boolybooly wrote:

So my question is whether we can absolutely confirm that other mobo models from different brands do run with the 110W/105A settings.

Hey boolybooly!

I've run some tests on an Asus Maximus VII Hero - Z97 mobo with Intel 4790k cooled by a Corsair H80i cooler (which i modified by adding a reservoir and changing the tubing to red UV reactive - after i did the mod the temps went down by 3-4 degrees)

The results are pretty interesting, though i never managed to get the 88w TDP.

1. Intel XTU CPU stress test, using ken-Intel suggested settings:

As you can see, temps are good, vcore is OK, frequency is good, TDP is low.

2. Prime95 Small FFT test, using suggested settings:

Temps were OK, vcore was OK but using those settings resulted in a current limit throttle, capping the CPU at 4Ghz but with a higher TDP.

3. Intel XTU stress test with 44x/44x/44x/44x and 256A

Temps are ok, vcore is higher but OK, no throttle but TDP still very low.

4. Prime95 Small FFT test, using suggested settings except the current limit which was set to 256A.

Temps start to get a bit higher, no throttle, frequency is OK but still low TDP.

5. Prime95 Small FFT test, with 44x/44x/44x/44x and 256A:

Temps are high, frequency is OK, no throttle activated and the TDP still lower than 88w but getting closer.

These were my results. Any conclusions? Any more tests that you think i should run?

Thank you all for the continued help!!!

[RChiz]

Woolphy,

I had almost identical issues with TDP as you except I was slightly lower on my M7 Hero. I was getting much higher temps though. Will you hit current limit throttling if you set maximum current to 255A instead of 256A?

[SPark48]

I wasn't even paying attention to the TDP at all until you guys started mentioning it... I figured if temps are OK without throttling the CPU, then I wasn't concerned whether I was hitting max TDP. Tried to monitor it on my XTU, but it won't pop up in the settings to add it to graph:

Any ideas how to get it to show up? It shows up in my other computer running a 4690K, but this one running 4790K doesn't have the option. Should I try to uninstall and reinstall?

Also, I noticed on my 4690K computer that the TDP sits around 45W during the Intel XTU stress test. Does it really matter that it is not getting to max TDP as long as temperatures are within normal limits and you are able to reach the maximum frequency of the CPU? For example, if my 4790K is getting to it's overclocked frequency of 4.9GHz and it is stable at that speed with acceptable temperatures with no throttling, does it really matter that my TDP doesn't reach 88W/110W?

slaveonepunx, as you know, these tests I'm doing are all on various Maximus VII MBs (right now I have the Gene and Formula running the 4690K and 4790K respectively). I know you were having problems with TDP, but did you also have problems with throttling and high temperatures?

[BSant8]

slaveonepunx wrote:

Will you hit current limit throttling if you set maximum current to 255A instead of 256A?

Hey slaveonepunx,

If i leave the recommended settings but only modify the amps, then i get the following results:

1. Intel XTU stress test with recommended settings and 255A:

Everything runs fine, except for the TDP which is low.

2. Prime95 Small FFT test, with recommended settings and 255A:

The CPU is throttled by the current limit, TDP is low, the rest is fine.

I really don't understand what's going on.

[BSant8]

Hey sampark1980,

I don't know why it doesn't show up in graph because it should, but try to click the little wrench on the right side, maybe you can find the parameter there.

it would be interesting to know your TDP while running 48x multiplier on 4cores.

[SPark48]

I am clicking the wrench and that's what the colorful list in the middle is. It's supposed to be in that list, but for some reason it isn't there...

[BSant8]

After a simple google search, i found this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_design_power Thermal design power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

To quote:

"The thermal design power (TDP), sometimes called thermal design point, is the maximum amount of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat heat generated by the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU CPU that the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_cooling cooling system in a computer is required to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissipation dissipate in typical operation."

What i understand from this, is that it is not mandatory for a CPU to reach it's TDP all the time.

Someone correct me if i'm wrong!

[BSant8]

sampark1980 wrote:

I am clicking the wrench and that's what the colorful list in the middle is. It's supposed to be in that list, but for some reason it isn't there...

I ment the wrench on the right side. It should open another window that won't show the graph but it should show the value.