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.

[dadi]

In win 8.1 pres win key+printscreen, you will find a screenshot in C:\Users\*******\Pictures\Screenshots (replace *** with your username), in the Pictures library folder. Alt+printscreen captures to clipboard just the active window; for more functionality you can use the tool described above, I personally only use the windows tools ( those buttons combinations and notepad when necessary)

[LCCF]

i didn't think to state, the snipping tool instructions are for win 7 - i never bought into win 8

[dadi]

The instruction for the snipping tool are useful also for win 8, depends on everyone needs; it does thing that windows doesn't.

I use it at work (win 7) but I often press winkey+printscreen for no result lol .

I can't figure it out how an i7 4790 (locked) stock speed with ram running at 1600 Mhz gets a higher xtu bench score (965-975 ? ) than the i7 4790k at 4.5 Ghz with ram at 1866 Mhz (947). I don't loose any sleep over it, just it's curious. I started benching more to test the temps and stability faster.

[LCCF]

not sure i understand why, but my benchmarks have dropped some from the other day - best i got this AM was 957, then 953, and just took one for the snip capture - last night same thing, each benchmark was a little bit lower than the previous benchmark test ??? and further info, when benchmarking, i've see cpu freq go up to 4.13GHz, sometimes 4.01 to 4.07GHz - not sure how, as turbo boost is supposed to only take it to 4.00GHz

but if it helps, second shot shows the mem freq

bulldoz - forgot, on the snip capture, you don't need to post to photobucket - save the capture to your desktop - when you open a "reply" box here on this forum, clik on the icon of a camera at the top, and then browse your desktop in the window that opens to select the captured image - the three below are snippet captures

and if it helps, here are my settings - default core voltage is 1.016 (shown in bios), but if i manually select it vs selecting "default", temps go up into 90s. If i lower it some, cpu freq drops

I;ve left it at these settings as when i run a video file, max temps i see are 80C for a second or two, no throttling, with general temps avging 72-76C, which i feel comfortablle with till the

new cooler shows up

on the subject of coolers, i've got an idea for one that i'm surprised no one has already built, but i need to build and prove one first

and one more, selected the profile using Ken's suggested settings with one deviation - current limit raised from 105A to 256A, notice in upper right, max turbo boost cpu speed is 4.007 and down in lower left, running freq is 4.01 - i assume it's just rounding the 4.007 up to 4.01. benchmark on this run was 958 with high temp hitting 88C

[LCCF]

not sure if i've said something offensive or am out of bounds in some way - just noticed this at the top of my post ???

[SPark48]

Sometimes when you attach pictures or a link to a website you get that message. They are just making sure you don't put offensive pictures and/or websites on your post. I get it all the time. You'll get an email afterwards saying your post has been approved.

[DBurn4]

I'm still trying to figure out how some of you have a whole bunch more options in XTU than me. I don't have core voltage, dynamic CPU voltage offset, reference clock. Plus yours show each individual core temp in XTU, I have to open Core Temp to get those. Oh, and I have Windows 7 Professional, but if you have a Dropbox account, you can just hit PrtScn and it will save it there. I only found this out because I tried what you guys had said and just hit PrtScn and a box popped up and said "Would you like to save to Dropbox" I guess my wife has a dropbox account on here! haha

[LCCF]

clik on the little wrench icon (highlited with the green arrow) and you can then select the options you want displayed

[DBurn4]

Thanks Larryccf, I had seen the wrenches everywhere else, but not down there! I'm still baffled why I don't have controls over all the same things some of you do, mainly the core voltage option. I believe I read somewhere earlier that it has to do with what your motherboard will let you control.

Anyways, so now that I clicked on the little wrench, I now see that when running XTU Benchmark I am getting a bit of Power Limit Throttling. Nothing on Thermal or Current Limit, just Power. I have my CPU Core V set at 1.170, should I set it back to default auto 1.207 is what my board came as. Funny thing is, when I run the AIDA64 System Stability test, well its been going for 15 min and CPU Throttling still reads 0%. Is this something I should be trying to remedy?

I did try clearing my CMOS before, but wonder if I did it wrong(I know, its just a matter of pressing my motherboard button) was I supposed to go into BIOS immediately after I cleared and turned on? Does it make a difference? I ask because the settings I had put into XTU were still all correct, and the CPU Core Voltage which I CAN"T change in XTU was still set at the previous setting. Does it make a difference that my board (Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H-BK has dual BIOS? as in a backup.

I did have a little luck with my STRIX 970 SLI, seemed decent at 1450/7900

[SPark48]

This is what I've been telling you... Because you have your VCore set, you're getting Power Limit throttling. You need to put this on Auto. There should be no reason to put your VCore on a static setting unless you're overclocking or you're purposely trying to undervolt your CPU due to high temperatures. AIDA64 Stability Test is just that, a stability test. So you may not get any throttling there where as the stress test in XTU was throttling your CPU.

As far as your CMOS issue, make sure you have your computer unplugged, hold down the clear CMOS button for about 3-5 seconds, plug back in, and power up. The thing about dual BIOS is that even if you clear CMOS your settings are set that as soon as you boot back up from clearing CMOS, your computer may load the settings from the second BIOS. You may need to change your settings so the same values are not reloaded.

[dadi]

"The TurboBoost Short Power Max Limit may need to be set to 160W"

Read that first post, there is a table with settings for some gigabyte boards; for power limit throttling I would just increase TurboBoost Short Power Max Limit to 160 and check again.

My ram appears to be fine. I searched the net and there are more users with abnormal low scores; for some the issue was solved by updating windows, but I already have latest updates on mine. As log as in other benchmarks everything is as expected there is no reason to change something. When I'll have the time I'll try some other bench and compere to similar systems.

I'm not touching that asus crapware again, the last time caused nothing but trouble I'm on a fresh install and I just installed chipset, lan, mei and audio drivers, everything seems fine.

[DBurn4]

Haha, I know, I know! :) I just never saw the need since I never saw any throttling because I didn't have the little box checked to monitor it. It still seems a bit odd that Ken Intel setting shows 1.108 for core voltage and that I should be on 1.207 when I technically have the processor underclocked with the 44,44,43,42 multiplier. I will absolutely try what you said, had a busy weekend of being a hockey uncle so never got to play with it that much! I will also try the 160 turbo limit, so thanks for reminding me of that!

I did do all that to clear CMOS, so yeah I will have to dig a little deeper to find out what the procedure is with the dual BIOS. Funny, the manual just said to do what I did.

[DBurn4]

Ok, So I tried just switching the Turbo boost Short Power Max to 160W and that did resolve the Power Limit Throttling! So then I decided I was going to give that dang AIDA64 another shot. Would someone PLEASE try this! I opened it, went to the 'Tools" heading, chose GPGPU Benchmark, unclicked both GPU1 and GPU2 and left CPU checkmarked. got almost to the end, BOOM! restart black screen. had to reload Optimized settings, thought hmm, ran it again, it WORKED! of course I had a couple cores hit 90 briefly and CPU Total TDP went up over 100 (around 125) CPU Core Voltage maxed at 1.251 or so. So then I tried to put Turbo Boost Power Max to 88W and Proc Current limit to 269, left everything else the "Optimized" setting, crash again.

Oh, and I ran just the GPU's and not the CPU one time, no problems, so it is something with the CPU.

[SPark48]

Maybe I'm the one missing something here Bulldogsz24. Were you having problems with your processor overheating? I'm just not clear why you are setting the vcore, turbo boot power, current limit, etc. to static settings in the first place. I just want to make sure you understand that changing those settings are ONLY if you are overheating (meaning over 85C consistently). Just re-reading your posts, my understanding was that you were getting about 60-something in the beginning and then you changed your settings to static and got 50-something. Is that the correct situation for you? Or were you getting 80+ temperatures before you played around in BIOS?

I'm genuinely trying to help without stepping on your toes here so I hope you don't take this the wrong way. Your first post said this is your first computer build and you have no technical background so I don't want you to feel like I'm offending you. Can you do me a favor and just put everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) to Auto or whatever default setting that came straight out of the box and run these same tests without changing ANYTHING?

Mine is working fine:

[SPark48]

Also, do you know where it is "crashing"? My computer goes to dark screen during "Memory Copy" for a long duration - I would say about 1-2 minutes - before continuing on with the rest of the test. Are you sure you're computer is completely crashing? Or is it just taking time to benchmark? The test is running a benchmark on your graphics card so you would expect it to turn your screen dark for a while.

[DBurn4]

No Worries Sampark1980, I am super happy you are taking the time to help! When I reload Optimized settings, that is how my computer was initially set, I had a TDP of I believe around 125 Max, my temps were high (90's) which is what prompted me to alter settings to Ken's setup with a couple tweaks. Now when I leave the CPU VCore on Auto and the 160W setting and I'm getting power throttling again.

No, it is a crash, full system shut down, reboots and gives me the option to load optimized settings or enter BIOS, If I enter Bios and just try changing a couple things, it still won't work. Have to reload Optimized, which then puts my XTU settings to like 4000w TDP and so on. I have to set VCore in Bios if I want to change it as I don't have an option for it on XTU.

I have tried resetting CMOS numerous times, but it still seems to keep my 44,44,43,42 88W Turbo power limit, 105 Core Current Limit, can't seem to find much online that tells me to do anything but hit the button

[DBurn4]

ok, this is getting silly. So I ran the Benchmark in XTU and had no Thermal Throttle, Power Limit Throttle, or Current Limit Throttle. so I thought ok, I'll put my memory back to XMP mode (G.Skill Trident X 2400 32G) and then I get Power Limit Throttle again! What the heck. difference in Benchmark score (XTU) was 878 without, 1073 with XMP

[SPark48]

It's your settings. You need to find out how to get all your settings to Auto/Default. You' ve been messing with your settings way too much. That's why you're throttling. Before you do anything else, you gotta figure out how to get settings in both BIOS to stock.

Before we go any further here, what is your main objective? Lower temperatures? Stable computer? Pass a test? Overclock? Higher benchmarks? I'm starting to get confused where we're headed with all this. If you can tell us what your main objective is maybe we can figure out how to help you.

[DBurn4]

I have reloaded optimized numerous times, which puts everything to auto as you say. I had everything on auto when I entered XTU and set the 3 settings 88W, 160W, 265A ran the benchmark. It gave me a score of 878 which is quite low, but NO throttling. So I enabled XMP. Go do it again, get a 1073 with Power throttling.

As far as messing around with my settings way to much, the ONLY things I've touched in BIOS is VCore (1.150,1.65 and default of 1.207) , I've changed XMP from disabled to profile 1, my fan settings from normal (.75% to 1.5%). So I really wouldn't say I've been messing with anything too much. The only other settings I've changed have been in XTU, and mine doesn't let me alter Core Voltage, Dynamic CPU offset, reference clock nor voltage mode like it shows on Kens screenshot. So the only place I can change VCore is in BIOS.

As far as my main objective, well I'd like a computer that is stable,scores well in benchmarks(I don't care about being the best, or for bragging rights, just want to know its using its capabilities when I'm playing a game or the wife is doing editing). Basically I want what everyone does, to know I got what I paid for. I'd like a to be able to play fps games at an above average quality. The biggest thing is to be stable. Since you can run the AIDA64 test and not crash, and I can't with stock settings, that tells me that something isn't right. Well I guess that isn't totally true, I was able to get it to complete at stock settings, but had TDP and temp really high.

So as far as TDP goes, when watching it in XTU, should it NEVER go over 88W? If it does, what is a reasonable amount?

Once again, I appreciate your help!

[LCCF]

sampark1980 - ".....you gotta figure out how to get settings in both BIOS to stock..."

can i ask what you mean by "both" BIOS? - you're confusing this newbie

[SPark48]

I was talking to Bulldog. His motherboard comes with dual BIOS. I was just telling him that he needs to reset both of his BIOS to stock settings.