3950x stability

amarrotti

Junior Member
Feb 13, 2020
2
3
36
I just recently built a pc with a Gigabyte Aorus Ultra X570 and a 3950X. It runs fine except when I run prime95 small fft or occt small data set it will instantly stop workers or BSOD. The pc is at default setting no overclock. From troubleshooting the only thing I can do to get it to run prime95 small fft or occt small data set is if I make one change in the bios and that is changing Load Line Calibration from auto to medium. I am mainly trying to find out if anyone else has this issue if the cpu or motherboard my be faulty I'm leaning towards swapping out the motherboard or if this might be something fixed in a bios update. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 13, 2008
7,382
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146
I moved your thread to CPU section, as it was posted in the AMD video card section. You could try updating BIOS, or updating your stress test programs. I have heard that some of these have issues on Ryzen. Also, could you list your specs? Particularly RAM and PSU.
 

yeshua

Member
Aug 7, 2019
166
134
86
Update your BIOS to the latest version and load the defaults.

Then check RAM (memtest86 for a couple of hours), check temperatures, try replacing your PSU.

If nothing helps, I've no idea. Probably your CPU is faulty even though it seems highly unlikely.
 

AnnoyedGrunt

Senior member
Jan 31, 2004
596
24
81
Here is a video explaining load line calibration. I haven’t watched it, but from what I know you might be fine setting it to medium.


-AG
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,583
10,785
136
I have an x570 Aorus Master. Auto mode LLC is a bit strange on this board. I'm a little surprised you're getting that kind of stability trouble using it, though. Granted, you're using the Ultra, and you may be getting serious vdroop issues thanks to the weaker VRM setup on the Ultra (compared to the Master).

If you aren't seeing any major temp problems with your CPU running LLC Medium and if you aren't seeing any problems with VRM temps, I'd go with that.

Out of curiosity, what happens when you set LLC to Normal?
 

amarrotti

Junior Member
Feb 13, 2020
2
3
36
I have a update to the issue I was having with my pc. It turns out it was the processor that is faulty. I was able to try it in a friends motherboard and the same issue was happening in his. I then put my friends processor in my motherboard and it worked perfectly at default settings so I have a replacement processors coming to me from Amazon. Thanks to all for the help!
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
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I have a update to the issue I was having with my pc. It turns out it was the processor that is faulty. I was able to try it in a friends motherboard and the same issue was happening in his. I then put my friends processor in my motherboard and it worked perfectly at default settings so I have a replacement processors coming to me from Amazon. Thanks to all for the help!

Good deal man. I had a similar but easier to diagnose situation on Zen2 launch. It's like they felt yields were solid enough to just outright skip QC. I had a DOA 3700X right out of the box, and a 3600 that would only ever see half the ram, one from Amazon and one from Micro Center. Getting them replaced was no biggie, and the replacements have been flawless other than unrelated pains like Mobo/Agesa growing pains. Because of how rare bad CPUs have been for so long, I actually swapped out motherboard first after trying known good PSU and Ram I had on hand since everything was new for the builds. The odds usually on a defective Mobo, PSU, or Ram are astronomical compared to bad CPU.

I think it only affected the first batch to any significant degree though, it's been just going from good to awesome for Zen2 as time goes on, and I don't hesitate to recommend them for most new builds.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
25,483
14,434
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Good deal man. I had a similar but easier to diagnose situation on Zen2 launch. It's like they felt yields were solid enough to just outright skip QC. I had a DOA 3700X right out of the box, and a 3600 that would only ever see half the ram, one from Amazon and one from Micro Center. Getting them replaced was no biggie, and the replacements have been flawless other than unrelated pains like Mobo/Agesa growing pains. Because of how rare bad CPUs have been for so long, I actually swapped out motherboard first after trying known good PSU and Ram I had on hand since everything was new for the builds. The odds usually on a defective Mobo, PSU, or Ram are astronomical compared to bad CPU.

I think it only affected the first batch to any significant degree though, it's been just going from good to awesome for Zen2 as time goes on, and I don't hesitate to recommend them for most new builds.
My EPYC 7742 QS only sees 7 of the 8 channels of ram. Too bad I can't exchange it.
 
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Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,377
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My EPYC 7742 QS only sees 7 of the 8 channels of ram. Too bad I can't exchange it.

Dang brother I'm sorry to hear that. I know it's not a showstopper unusable by any means situation, but to have such an elite piece of kit and not have it 100% is certainly a thing that would just grind my gears a bit.

I'll shake some trees with the folks at the Austin campus and see what I can make happen. I can't guarantee victory, but I can guarantee I'll do my level best, no factor.
 

Hitman928

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2012
5,182
7,633
136
Dang brother I'm sorry to hear that. I know it's not a showstopper unusable by any means situation, but to have such an elite piece of kit and not have it 100% is certainly a thing that would just grind my gears a bit.

I'll shake some trees with the folks at the Austin campus and see what I can make happen. I can't guarantee victory, but I can guarantee I'll do my level best, no factor.

Such is the reality when you buy pre retail samples at a large discount. Nothing wrong with it but I'm sure Mark knew something like this was a large probability going in.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
25,483
14,434
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Such is the reality when you buy pre retail samples at a large discount. Nothing wrong with it but I'm sure Mark knew something like this was a large probability going in.
Exactly. I hate it, but... Get 100% performance for $5000, or get 87.5% performance (probably more than that) for $1000.

What would you do ?
 
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Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
25,483
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That last mem channel won't matter with DC apps, will it?
It hasn't for the last week . Its screaming !

IgbPriu.png
 
Last edited:

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,229
9,990
126
Good deal man. I had a similar but easier to diagnose situation on Zen2 launch. It's like they felt yields were solid enough to just outright skip QC. I had a DOA 3700X right out of the box, and a 3600 that would only ever see half the ram, one from Amazon and one from Micro Center. Getting them replaced was no biggie, and the replacements have been flawless other than unrelated pains like Mobo/Agesa growing pains. Because of how rare bad CPUs have been for so long, I actually swapped out motherboard first after trying known good PSU and Ram I had on hand since everything was new for the builds. The odds usually on a defective Mobo, PSU, or Ram are astronomical compared to bad CPU.

I think it only affected the first batch to any significant degree though, it's been just going from good to awesome for Zen2 as time goes on, and I don't hesitate to recommend them for most new builds.
I have a Ryzen 3000-series R5 3600 CPU, from an "early batch", got it the night of or the night after initial release date. (What a thrill!!)

After suffering through a number of boards and AGESA update versions (settling on an Asus B450-F ROG STRIX, now listed as "Ryzen 3000 Ready" on their web site, with AGESA 1.0.0.4 patch B), I still have some instability when left at more-or-less "stock" settings. (Auto-tuned OC stuff that it does by default.) I do have 4x8GB GSkill Trident Z RGB DDR4-3600 Hynix RAM, which has always worked OOTB @ XMP settings with the 3600 CPU, in both boards I tested it with. I'm also tweaking the FCLK slightly, to 1800, to be 1:1 with DRAM clock.

That said, until I recently switched to an all-core 4.0Ghz @ 1.3685V OC on the 3600, I was getting more-or-less weekly crashes, video driver crashes, appcrashes, stuff just wasn't completely happy with me.

I did, at one point when initially testing the CPU, with a PrimeGrid workload (ask @DrMrLordX about it), get it up to 127C for like two hours, before I decided that maybe the thermal sensors WEREN'T borked, and I was "cooking" my CPU.

So, I may have "weathered" my CPU a bit, and thrown off the voltage/freq. Turbo curves programmed at the factory, so perhaps that's the reasons for the crashing, or perhaps, running the DRAM at 3600, while fine with the CPU, the mobo specs only list up to 3466 for DRAM OC speeds, and then there's the FCLK tweak.

So, maybe I was just running everything a little too close to the edge.

Or, maybe, my CPU being one of the "first batch", maybe the silicon process has matured slightly, and CPUs coming out now, are more stable and better mfg'ed than mine. (But I wouldn't exchange it, I manually cooked it during OC'ing, and I take full responsibility for that, if it fails, it fails, and I buy a new one.)

So far so good, though, with the manual all-core OC to 4.0Ghz. (Which is honestly, pretty mild of an OC, but the auto-turbo thingy, would get to just below 4.0Ghz for an all-core turbo clock anyways.)

So my all-core fixed OC, is in the vicinity of what it was running with the turbo clock all-core.
 
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Zstream

Diamond Member
Oct 24, 2005
3,396
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I have a first batch 3600, and no issues. I'm running a X570 though. I don't O/C though as it's not much use in the real world for me.
 

hbsource

Junior Member
Nov 21, 2019
10
2
16
Do you have both the 8 pin and 4 pin cpu power plugs in ?

I was just browsing this thread and read this. I just swapped out my X-370 MB and 1800x and put in an MSI X-570 PRO-A with a 3950x.

It seems to be running fine. I do CAD renders that utilise all 32 threads at 100%. Temperatures are a little higher than the 1800x but not major. Maximum power draw for the CPU is about 145W accoring to HWMonitor.

But....... I just checked and I've only plugged in the 8-pin power cable! There is an empty 4-pin socket adjacent to the 8-pin. It's labelled CPU_PWR2.

Any advice here? Should I be powering that up ASAP. I have a modular Corsair RM650x PSU and I can't see there is a 4 pin outlet on there.

Many thanks.
 

Hitman928

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2012
5,182
7,633
136
I was just browsing this thread and read this. I just swapped out my X-370 MB and 1800x and put in an MSI X-570 PRO-A with a 3950x.

It seems to be running fine. I do CAD renders that utilise all 32 threads at 100%. Temperatures are a little higher than the 1800x but not major. Maximum power draw for the CPU is about 145W accoring to HWMonitor.

But....... I just checked and I've only plugged in the 8-pin power cable! There is an empty 4-pin socket adjacent to the 8-pin. It's labelled CPU_PWR2.

Any advice here? Should I be powering that up ASAP. I have a modular Corsair RM650x PSU and I can't see there is a 4 pin outlet on there.

Many thanks.

It should be fine. The extra 4 pins are really only necessary if you want to really OC the 3950x.
 

Chicken76

Senior member
Jun 10, 2013
254
40
91
I was just browsing this thread and read this. I just swapped out my X-370 MB and 1800x and put in an MSI X-570 PRO-A with a 3950x.

It seems to be running fine. I do CAD renders that utilise all 32 threads at 100%. Temperatures are a little higher than the 1800x but not major. Maximum power draw for the CPU is about 145W accoring to HWMonitor.

But....... I just checked and I've only plugged in the 8-pin power cable! There is an empty 4-pin socket adjacent to the 8-pin. It's labelled CPU_PWR2.

Any advice here? Should I be powering that up ASAP. I have a modular Corsair RM650x PSU and I can't see there is a 4 pin outlet on there.

Many thanks.

I've recently built a similar system at work, also for CAD and renderings. I've used the same power supply and it has two cables with 8-pin connectors for the CPU that can each be split into two 4-pin connectors. I've used one full 8-pin and half of the second. If you've already built it up and don't want to mess with it any more, you can leave it with just one 8-pin supplying power to the CPU, as it's enough.

What temperatures does your 3950X reach during rendering?
 

hbsource

Junior Member
Nov 21, 2019
10
2
16
I've recently built a similar system at work, also for CAD and renderings. I've used the same power supply and it has two cables with 8-pin connectors for the CPU that can each be split into two 4-pin connectors. I've used one full 8-pin and half of the second. If you've already built it up and don't want to mess with it any more, you can leave it with just one 8-pin supplying power to the CPU, as it's enough.

What temperatures does your 3950X reach during rendering?

I got a bit funky with the cooling and built a costom water loop into a 480mm EKWB radiator. The 'case' is a wall mount Thermaltake so it's not enclosed at all. It sometimes gets to 60 C but not a lot higher. That's a good 10 C higher than the 1800x on the same cooling.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
25,483
14,434
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It should be fine. The extra 4 pins are really only necessary if you want to really OC the 3950x.
No.... There have been many confirmed reports of problems, even not posting, by not using the second pin.
 
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hbsource

Junior Member
Nov 21, 2019
10
2
16
Sod it. I've bought one and will plug it in tomorrow.

I've had no issues at all with it to this point but what's the harm?

On a slightly unleated note, I'm excited to start looking out for the next upgrade. I change the CPU when it halves my render times. Since I've been rendering, I've gone i7 950, 6700k, 1800x and now 3950x.

I've stayed away from HEDT but Threadripper does look appealing. Fun times for this hobby.
 

Hitman928

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2012
5,182
7,633
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No.... There have been many confirmed reports of problems, even not posting, by not using the second pin.

I was referring to this post specifically. Electrically there is no need for it and his board boots and operates just fine without it so there's no need to go out and add the 4 pin connector. Sure it won't hurt anything, it will just be unnecessary.

As far as boards not posting with it unplugged, I believe that was only on early bios versions and was fixed with subsequent releases. Granted I don't follow every board and their BIOS revisions, but the point still remains that in this case (and all similar where the computer is already booting), the 4 pin connector is not needed unless you want to go for big overclocks.