• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

4770k Unstable at stock

vanilla guerilla

Senior member
new 4770k, antec kuhler 620 push/pull, asus z87i deluxe, 2x4gb team 2166 cas 9 1.5v, hd7870 , corsair rm750 haswell ready, 3x 120gb muskin chronos deluxe raid 0.
put it together a couple weeks ago, would crash or hang waking from sleep, 1 of the drives would always fail in the raid array. so i turned off some of the strorage enhancements in bios, irst, isct, and seems to be ok. BUT i am getting random blue screens and restarts. i am at default settings, i turned off multi-core enhancement, i turned down the ram speed to 1333. intel burn test runs for about 1 minute, then i get message that cpu is unstable. my idle temps are around 22c, during itb they went up to maybe 68c. latest bios, win7 sp1. furmark ran successfully. my ram worked perfectly for 18 months in my socket 2011 rig at xmp settings (2166, cas 9, 1.5v). i have a new motherboard on the way, the gigabyte gaz87n-wifi. in 16 years of building and overclocking intels and amds, i have never had a cpu that was unstable out of the box. this is over probably near 100 cpus. any help?
 
You should still run a memtest. Just because it was error free last 1½ year doesnt mean it is now.

But Memory or motherboard is my bet. I assume latest BIOS?
 
You should still run a memtest. Just because it was error free last 1½ year doesnt mean it is now.

But Memory or motherboard is my bet. I assume latest BIOS?

yes, latest bios. i will try memtest, but its a 4 stick set (board has only 2 slots) and i have tried every combo to no avail. majority of blue screens are memory probs, so first thing i tried was putting in the unused 2 sticks. n/g.
 
do you figure its mushkin in particular (my drives are chronos deluxe)? or ssd drives? i dont have any hds around anymore. maybe its the raid 0 array?
 
do you figure its mushkin in particular (my drives are chronos deluxe)? or ssd drives? i dont have any hds around anymore. maybe its the raid 0 array?

There's an issue between the Z87 chipset and certain Sandforce controllers.

So no, it's not a Mushkin issue. There are some Intel SSDs that are affected ironically.

If your board has any ports that are not driven by the Z87, you can plug it in to them and see if you still blue screen. No RAID, but it should be OK for elimination purposes.
 
i googled and found that there is no problem with sandforce 2xxx controllers, only 1xxx. my mushkins are sata III and have 2xxx controllers.
i have run several passes of memtest with no errors. i am now running occt 4.4.0 large data set for the last 90 min without errors. max temps 65c, max vcore 1.538v. but intel burn test (high level) still fails after 60 to 80 seconds, and i have no reson to think that my blue screens and random restarts have ended, i just havent had one in a few hours. i have been getting between 3 and 6 per day.
 
Last edited:
i googled and found that there is no problem with sandforce 2xxx controllers, only 1xxx. my mushkins are sata III and have 2xxx controllers.
i have run several passes of memtest with no errors. i am now running occt 4.4.0 large data set for the last 90 min without errors. max temps 65c, max vcore 1.538v. but intel burn test (high level) still fails after 60 to 80 seconds, and i have no reson to think that my blue screens and random restarts have ended, i just havent had one in a few hours. i have been getting between 3 and 6 per day.

Check your Vcore again, that can't be right.

Regarding your SSDs, I found people on boards talking about other Sandforce chipsets having issues with Z87. Feel free to test how you see fit however.
 
Bad CPUs are very rare, but they do happen.

Best attempt to confirm would be to grab a spare old HDD, a single stick of 2GB or 4GB DDR3 1333 (whatever you can scrounge up), a spare PSU from another unit if you have one, and then do a non-activated test install of Windows on that setup. If your mobo has onboard video option, use that for testing. If you find that it's stable, add one thing at a time until you discover what's causing the instability.

Anyway cliffs :

Simplify, try to exclude as much hardware as possible, then add in items until you find problem.
 
when my new motherboard comes on monday, i am going to set it up on my desk with cpu, 1 stick ram and 1 ssd. i will load win 7 ultra sp1 and run it for a few days and see what happens. if its ok i will add in the other stick or ram for a few days, then the vid card. if all is well i will try with a raid 0 array. if its not ok with just cpu 1 stick ram and 1 ssd, i am going to swap out psu for another haswell ready psu. if its still bad, its the cpu. i wish i had another cpu around.
i just saw an evga super nova 650 80 plus gold 10 year warranty haswell certified psu for $55 at the egg. i will pick one up to swap in, if i dont need it i will keep it for a spare. great price.
 
Back
Top