Cool but silent. What are my options?

[samstermax]

Hello everyone,

I'm after the right case for a new build and I can use some advise.
The PC will be placed in the living room and mainly used for gaming.
For CPY cooling I take a Noctua which seems silent with good cooling result.
I will get a GTX 1080 but still need to check tests if the is much difference in noise level between teh various brands.

For a case it seems good cooling performance means more noise.
Lots of people are using the R5 but somehow I think cooling won't be good enough with this case.

is there an other and better option.
I prefer a bigger case (like R5) with all options like good dust filter and stuff liek that.

I'm willing to spend some money on a case if it's good and silent.

Are there otehr options? What do you guys recoomend?

Thanks in advance

 

[lehtv]

For CPY cooling I take a Noctua which seems silent with good cooling result.

Are you going to be overclocking? What CPU? There are plenty of very quiet coolers that are much cheaper than anything Noctua has to offer. For example, Arctic i11 handles any LGA1151 CPU silently without OC.

For overclocking, Noctua is decent but still quite expensive, I would probably get a Thermalright cooler (Macho Rev. B).

I will get a GTX 1080 but still need to check tests if the is much difference in noise level between teh various brands.

Unless you're gaming on 4K, I would suggest GTX 1070 which is a lot less expensive but only 15-20% slower. GTX 1070 is excellent for 1440p and 1080p. In terms of noise levels you can't really go wrong with most of the dual fan solutions, given that most of them have zero RPM mode and the GTX 1070 GPU is not too power hungry. I'd probably go with Zotac AMP! (5 year warranty with registration) or EVGA ACX 3.0 Gaming which typically isn't too expensive. Palit (Super) Jetstream and Gamerock are very quiet as well, and of course there's the popular MSI Gaming and Asus Strix cards. Or if you want a beefy overclock out of the box, Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming is very good.

For a case it seems good cooling performance means more noise.

Well, it's about balancing, usually a good balance achieved with 3-4 low-mid RPM fans. Too much cooling => too much noise from case fans. Too little cooling => too much noise from CPU/GPU fans as they compensate for higher temperatures.

Lots of people are using the R5 but somehow I think cooling won't be good enough with this case.

Nothing wrong with R5, just add 1-2 fans. Any moderately overclocked single GPU setup will be fine with 2x140mm intakes + 1x140mm exhaust. Another option is Define S - it lacks a 5.25" drive slot but you can install up to three 140mm fans in the front. 3x140mm intake + 1x140mm exhaust would give you excellent front-to-back airflow while ensuring that dust stays in the front filter where it's easy to clean.

Other similar cases: Corsair 400Q, Nanoxia Deep Silence series, Phanteks P400S.

 

[nerp]

the be quiet! dark base 900 pro looks amazing. Check the Hardware Canucks review of it on YouTube.

 

[samstermax]

For a CPU I was thinking about getting a i7 6700k.

I was thinking about the GTX 1080 because I use a Dell 27 inch monitor and want to run at 1440p.
Not sure if a GTX 1070 would do?

For an indication of noise level.
At the moment I have a GTX 680. I'm scaling down to 1080p and medium settings to run a game.
My case is a Corsair 750D and CPU cooler is Noctua.
My impression is that is a bit to loud at the moment. Also when not playing games so I assume its the Case thats loud.

Are you going to be overclocking? What CPU? There are plenty of very quiet coolers that are much cheaper than anything Noctua has to offer. For example, Arctic i11 handles any LGA1151 CPU silently without OC.

For overclocking, Noctua is decent but still quite expensive, I would probably get a Thermalright cooler (Macho Rev. B).

Unless you're gaming on 4K, I would suggest GTX 1070 which is a lot less expensive but only 15-20% slower. GTX 1070 is excellent for 1440p and 1080p. In terms of noise levels you can't really go wrong with most of the dual fan solutions, given that most of them have zero RPM mode and the GTX 1070 GPU is not too power hungry. I'd probably go with Zotac AMP! (5 year warranty with registration) or EVGA ACX 3.0 Gaming which typically isn't too expensive. Palit (Super) Jetstream and Gamerock are very quiet as well, and of course there's the popular MSI Gaming and Asus Strix cards. Or if you want a beefy overclock out of the box, Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming is very good.

Well, it's about balancing, usually a good balance achieved with 3-4 low-mid RPM fans. Too much cooling => too much noise from case fans. Too little cooling => too much noise from CPU/GPU fans as they compensate for higher temperatures.

Nothing wrong with R5, just add 1-2 fans. Any moderately overclocked single GPU setup will be fine with 2x140mm intakes + 1x140mm exhaust. Another option is Define S - it lacks a 5.25" drive slot but you can install up to three 140mm fans in the front. 3x140mm intake + 1x140mm exhaust would give you excellent front-to-back airflow while ensuring that dust stays in the front filter where it's easy to clean.

Other similar cases: Corsair 400Q, Nanoxia Deep Silence series, Phanteks P400S.

 

[samstermax]

That's a case I like. Looks amazing and verry good it seems.

the be quiet! dark base 900 pro looks amazing. Check the Hardware Canucks review of it on YouTube.

 

[ClockHound]

A great case for quiet GPU and CPU cooling and excellent dust control is the Silverstone Fortress FT05. Limited drive cage space and not too much fun to work in - cable management is a puzzle. Looks a million times better than that Be!Q 900 monstrosity tho. What a giant wasteland of glass and drive racks. Jeez...personal taste in personal computing just keeps on being personal. ;-)

 

[lehtv]

For a CPU I was thinking about getting a i7 6700k.

Good choice . What's your current motherboard and CPU though?

I was thinking about the GTX 1080 because I use a Dell 27 inch monitor and want to run at 1440p.

Not sure if a GTX 1070 would do?

GTX 1070 will do nicely. It really isn't that much slower than GTX 1080, just 15%. And some models like the Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming are already 10% factory overclocked, so it performs almost at GTX 1080 FE level, plus you can OC it further. Any game GTX 1080 handles, GTX 1070 handles as well, but at slightly lower graphics settings, or at 15% lower framerate at the same graphics settings. I would say if you find the GTX 1070 lacking in performance (you almost certainly won't, but for sake of argument ) you can upgrade it to GTX 1080 Ti in 6 months. If previous generations are any indication, GTX 1080 Ti will cost only a little bit more than GTX 1080 does now, but the performance gap will be bigger than between GTX 1070 and GTX 1080.

At the moment I have a GTX 680. I'm scaling down to 1080p and medium settings to run a game.

OK. GTX 680 performs roughly the same as GTX 960 2GB. 1440p takes only about 50% more juice to run at the same framerate and settings as 1080p, but GTX 1070 is 2.5x as fast as GTX 960.

My case is a Corsair 750D and CPU cooler is Noctua.

My impression is that is a bit to loud at the moment. Also when not playing games so I assume its the Case thats loud.

I would keep using that case and cooler. Firstly the Noctua (assuming it's a tower using at least a 120mm fan) is still compatible with 6700K and capable of overclocking it, and there's really no chance that the Noctua is responsible for your noise concerns. Also, you can always replace the fan on the heat sink with a quieter one if needed.

Secondly it'd help to actually locate the source of the noise. It should be easy to locate the source by opening up the side panel and listening to the different fans. I like to use the shell of a kitchen towel roll against my ear, probing the fans with the other end

Check if it's the PSU fan (below the case) - by the way what PSU do you have? I used to have a build where I suspected the case fans of being loud and I upgraded the case (Antec 900) to Define R3 in hopes of lower noise levels, and while it did make a small difference, the PC was still loud. Turns out, the culprit was my OCZ power supply, I just always blamed the case for no reason.

It might also be the GPU fan, but that you can probably tell if it's the GPU because typically the smaller GPU fans make a distinct higher pitch noise that's easily distinguished from larger 120-140mm fans in the case, CPU cooler and power supply. But if you want you can easily test for it in MSI Afterburner. In the "fan speed" slider, turn off Auto and enable User Define, then set whatever fan speed you want and Apply. Can you set the GPU fan low enough that you can't hear it over other fans?

But it might very well be the Corsair 750D. However cases on their own aren't loud - it's case fans or fans in your components that are loud. Literally any computer case can be made silent/very quiet by choosing the right fans and components. Corsair 750D is a quality case so I'd be a little hesitant about getting rid of it. If it turns out the case fans are causing too much noise, you have a couple of options.

1. Make sure you're not running them at full speed. Any stock case fan will be loud at full speed (12V), but most fans support downvolting to somewhere in the 5-7V range. Most motherboards can downvolt fans via the case fan headers, but there are also third party controllers that allow manual control of input voltage.
2. If you buy a new motherboard for the 6700K, choose Asus Z170 as their fan controls are probably the best. They can identify the correct voltage range for any fan attached to a motherboard fan header, allowing you to run each fan at an optimal speed and with a custom fan profile.
3. You can always replace the stock fans with better, quieter fans. I like European brands like Be Quiet!, Noctua, Fractal Design, Noiseblocker, Nanoxia and SilentiumPC and but not all of those are necessarily available in the US. If you tell me where you're buying from I can suggest some quiet alternatives to the 750D stock fans.

 

[samstermax]

Thanks for your reply.

My current PC is not that old yet.
I'm running a Asus Maximus Hero VI with a 4770k and Noctua NH D14 and my PSU is a Seasonic X750.
I'm having an issue with this PC from the start and can't get it resolved so decided to get a new PC a little sooner then I normally would do.

I was thinking about using some components from my current setup like the PSU for example. Not sure aboutt the life span of a PSU and if I better replace it by a new one.
Same for th Noctua. I'm using it for a few years now.

Would save me some money but to be honest I'm done with the issues I'm having with this PC and ready to throw it out of the windows and replace all.

Good choice . What's your current motherboard and CPU though?

GTX 1070 will do nicely. It really isn't that much slower than GTX 1080, just 15%. And some models like the Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming are already 10% factory overclocked, so it performs almost at GTX 1080 FE level, plus you can OC it further. Any game GTX 1080 handles, GTX 1070 handles as well, but at slightly lower graphics settings, or at 15% lower framerate at the same graphics settings. I would say if you find the GTX 1070 lacking in performance (you almost certainly won't, but for sake of argument ) you can upgrade it to GTX 1080 Ti in 6 months. If previous generations are any indication, GTX 1080 Ti will cost only a little bit more than GTX 1080 does now, but the performance gap will be bigger than between GTX 1070 and GTX 1080.

OK. GTX 680 performs roughly the same as GTX 960 2GB. 1440p takes only about 50% more juice to run at the same framerate and settings as 1080p, but GTX 1070 is 2.5x as fast as GTX 960.

I would keep using that case and cooler. Firstly the Noctua (assuming it's a tower using at least a 120mm fan) is still compatible with 6700K and capable of overclocking it, and there's really no chance that the Noctua is responsible for your noise concerns. Also, you can always replace the fan on the heat sink with a quieter one if needed.

Secondly it'd help to actually locate the source of the noise. It should be easy to locate the source by opening up the side panel and listening to the different fans. I like to use the shell of a kitchen towel roll against my ear, probing the fans with the other end

Check if it's the PSU fan (below the case) - by the way what PSU do you have? I used to have a build where I suspected the case fans of being loud and I upgraded the case (Antec 900) to Define R3 in hopes of lower noise levels, and while it did make a small difference, the PC was still loud. Turns out, the culprit was my OCZ power supply, I just always blamed the case for no reason.

It might also be the GPU fan, but that you can probably tell if it's the GPU because typically the smaller GPU fans make a distinct higher pitch noise that's easily distinguished from larger 120-140mm fans in the case, CPU cooler and power supply. But if you want you can easily test for it in MSI Afterburner. In the "fan speed" slider, turn off Auto and enable User Define, then set whatever fan speed you want and Apply. Can you set the GPU fan low enough that you can't hear it over other fans?

But it might very well be the Corsair 750D. However cases on their own aren't loud - it's case fans or fans in your components that are loud. Literally any computer case can be made silent/very quiet by choosing the right fans and components. Corsair 750D is a quality case so I'd be a little hesitant about getting rid of it. If it turns out the case fans are causing too much noise, you have a couple of options.

1. Make sure you're not running them at full speed. Any stock case fan will be loud at full speed (12V), but most fans support downvolting to somewhere in the 5-7V range. Most motherboards can downvolt fans via the case fan headers, but there are also third party controllers that allow manual control of input voltage.
2. If you buy a new motherboard for the 6700K, choose Asus Z170 as their fan controls are probably the best. They can identify the correct voltage range for any fan attached to a motherboard fan header, allowing you to run each fan at an optimal speed and with a custom fan profile.
3. You can always replace the stock fans with better, quieter fans. I like European brands like Be Quiet!, Noctua, Fractal Design, Noiseblocker, Nanoxia and SilentiumPC and but not all of those are necessarily available in the US. If you tell me where you're buying from I can suggest some quiet alternatives to the 750D stock fans.

 

[lehtv]

Does your build have any other issues apart from the fan noise? If there are no hardware issues, no point in changing hardware. I really really don't think you should upgrade the CPU for performance's sake, there's very little performance gap between the 4770K and 6700K, especially once you've overclocked the 4770K. It will literally be a waste of money. The CPU upgrade will neither be necessarily or helpful for the GTX 1070/1080, and it will have no impact on fan noise.

If you have software issues, what are they? Reinstalling Windows will fix any software issue. If you don't have an SSD in your system yet, this might be a good time to buy one and install Windows on the SSD. Should also upgrade to Windows 10 if you haven't yet, otherwise you can't take advantage of DX12 in games.

The PSU is worth using and is almost certainly silent at idle since its fan shouldn't even be spinning. X series is quality, you can comfortably use it for almost a decade without even thinking about upgrading. Also there's enough capacity to run GTX 1070 SLI easily, which is another upgrade path you can think about in case a single GTX 1070 isn't enough (it is enough, but anyway)

Can you download HWinfo64 or HWMonitor and, see what the motherboard says about fan RPM's during idle? I read that the stock fans in Corsair 750D are AF series fans which have a maximum RPM of 1650. This is a rather high maximum RPM for a 120mm fan, and it won't be silent even at 5 volts which should correspond to about 800 RPM, maybe a little less.

Typically, 120mm fans are practically silent at about 500 RPM and under - I'd tentatively suggest just replacing the case fans and leaving it at that. Your motherboard's case fan headers don't support PWM, so you have two options

1- buy normal 3-pin case fans with max RPM of about 1200. 3-4 fans will do (2 front intake, 1 rear exhaust, possibly 1 top exhaust). You have 3 case fan headers, so for 4 fans you will need one 2-way splitter cable / Y-cable.
2- buy 4-pin PWM fans and an Akasa 5-way splitter, connect all fans including the Noctua CPU fan to the CPU fan header which supports PWM signal. Then connect the splitter's 4-pin Molex connector to the power supply. This way all your case fans will be PWM controlled according to CPU temperature from a single fan header.

See motherboard manual pages 3-40 and 3-41 for BIOS fan controls which allow you to specify fan RPM's at different CPU temperatures

 

[samstermax]

The noise is least of my problem to be honest. I just wan't to make sure I pick silent parts if I replace everything.
From the start the system freezes up in certain situations, its weird.
- It freezes up rendering a video in adobe or any other program
- It somethimes freezes up browsing inet
- it freezes loads of times watching youtube videos
- it freezes 50% of the time I strat the game World of tanks. During the logon page its shows a video in the background, somehow seems related with that.
Once i'm in the game It never freezes up, I can leave it on all day with no issues.

When it freezes nothing mouse and keyboard are not responding and I hear a loud static noise over my headphone.
The screen is frozen and I have to push the PC's power button.
The PC was build by a friend and when building it he damaged the motherboard CPU socket (found this out later, had same sort of issues at the time).
The motherboard was replaced but the problem was still there.

Made a few posts on different forums and checked a lot of stuff.
Tried with other hardisk, other PSU and other GPU but that didnt resolve it.

Kind of tired of it now and just want a PC that works so thinking of replacing everything as I dont know what the problem is causing.

BTW.. forgot to mention that it seems USB is losing power when the machine freezes. The backlite of my keyboard goes off.

Does your build have any other issues apart from the fan noise? If there's are no hardware issues, no point in changing hardware. I really really don't think you should upgrade the CPU for performance's sake, there's very little performance gap between the 4770K and 6700K, especially once you've overclocked the 4770K. It will literally be a waste of money. The CPU upgrade will neither be necessarily or helpful for the GTX 1070/1080, and it will have no impact on fan noise.

If you have software issues, what are they? Reinstalling Windows will fix any software issue. If you don't have an SSD in your system yet, this might be a good time to buy one and install Windows on an SSD. Should also upgrade to Windows 10 if you haven't yet, otherwise you can't take advantage of DX12 in games.

The PSU is worth using and is almost certainly silent at idle since its fan shouldn't even be spinning. X series is quality, you can comfortably use it for almost a decade without even thinking about upgrading. Also there's enough capacity to run GTX 1070 SLI easily, which is another upgrade path you can think about in case a single GTX 1070 isn't enough

Can you download HWinfo64 or HWMonitor and, see what the motherboard says about fan RPM's during idle? I read that the stock fans in Corsair 750D are AF series fans which has a maximum RPM of 1650. This is a rather high maximum RPM for a 120mm fan, and it won't be silent even at 5 volts which should correspond to about 800 RPM, maybe a little less.

Typically, 120mm fans are practically silent at about 500 RPM and under - I'd tentatively suggest just replacing the case fans and leaving it at that. Your motherboard's case fan headers don't support PWM, so you have two options

1- buy normal 3-pin case fans with max RPM of about 1200. 3-4 fans will do (2 front intake, 1 rear exhaust, possibly 1 top exhaust)
2- buy 4-pin PWM fans and an Akasa 5-way splitter, connect all fans including the Noctua CPU fan to the CPU fan header which supports PWM signal. Then connect the splitter's 4-pin Molex connector to the power supply. This way all your case fans will be PWM controlled according to CPU temperature from a single fan header.

See motherboard manual pages 3-40 and 3-41 for BIOS fan controls which allow you to specify fan RPM's at different CPU temperatures

 

[samstermax]

Also checked with HW info. At the moment the chassis fans 1 and 2 or running at 850 RPM, fan 3 is running at 940 RPM.
No games started, only a browser.

 

[lehtv]

When it freezes nothing mouse and keyboard are not responding and I hear a loud static noise over my headphone.
The screen is frozen and I have to push the PC's power button.
The PC was build by a friend and when building it he damaged the motherboard CPU socket (found this out later, had same sort of issues at the time).
The motherboard was replaced but the problem was still there.

Made a few posts on different forums and checked a lot of stuff.
Tried with other hardisk, other PSU and other GPU but that didnt resolve it.

BTW.. forgot to mention that it seems USB is losing power when the machine freezes. The backlite of my keyboard goes off.

Sounds like a motherboard issue, or possibly damaged CPU/memory due to running the same CPU and memory on a board with a damaged socket. Did the first damaged board cause the same freezing symptoms, or different symptoms?

Just in case, you should try first resetting the motherboard's CMOS which will purge its memory and reset all default settings, if you haven't tried that yet. You can do this with the clear CMOS jumper, see motherboard manual page 1-28.

Should also try running with just one memory module, installed in the slot nearest to the socket. If the problem persists, try with a different memory module.

Kind of tired of it now and just want a PC that works so thinking of replacing everything as I dont know what the problem is causing.

I don't think you'll have to replace everything, just the faulty component(s). Worst case scenario, you never find out if it's the motherboard, CPU or RAM, and you end up selling them for cheap and sidegrading to Skylake. Best case scenario, you get a new board from warranty (if there's still warranty left on it), and everything will be dandy.

I would probably hunt down a used Haswell set (cpu, mobo, RAM) for cheap, e.g. pentium with 4GB RAM and H81 board or something like that. Such parts wouldn't cost too much new either. Then swap out the cheap CPU to your current board and see if the problem persists. If it does, swap out the RAM too and see if it works. If there's still freezing etc., swap out the motherboard to finally rule out any issue with your other components, and if that fixes it you're 100% sure it's the motherboard and you can send it to warranty / throw it to trash, and sell your cheap test gear at near-zero loss. Then all you need is a new Z97 board. This would be a much cheaper route than the worst case scenario of paying $400+ for new parts, and personally it would be satisfying to figure out what the problem was and fix it

Also checked with HW info. At the moment the chassis fans 1 and 2 or running at 850 RPM, fan 3 is running at 940 RPM.
No games started, only a browser.

Yep, replace the fans with quieter 1000-1200 RPM ones that have low operating voltage, and your noise worries are gone. You can go to motherboard BIOS and see if it's possible to set the current fans running at even lower RPM's, but I doubt it becauase the max RPM is most likely 1650 and 850 RPM is the lowest they can go with downvolting.

 

[samstermax]

With motherboard that had a damaged socket I exactly had the same problem but it froze up more than it does now.
At the time I send in my CPU and Motherboard, got it back with the message and close up photo of the Motherboards CPU socket which was indeed damaged, the pins were screwed.
The CPU was never mentioned so I only changed the Motherboard for a new one. Perhaps the CPU was damaged also but I did no see any damage.

The RAM (G.Skills Trident-X dual kit) was tested with memtest for multiple times and long period and shows no errors.
Someone mentioned it could be the SSD or HDD. I took out both and installed using a new HDD, same problem.
Loads of things I tried over time and still no clue.

Would be nice identify the problem and to spare out money
Going to look in to what you suggested.

Thanks!

Sounds like a motherboard issue, or possibly damaged CPU/memory due to running the same CPU and memory on a board with a damaged socket. Did the first damaged board cause the same freezing symptoms, or different symptoms?

Just in case, you should try first resetting the motherboard's CMOS which will purge its memory and reset all default settings, if you haven't tried that yet. You can do this with the clear CMOS jumper, see motherboard manual page 1-28.

Should also try running with just one memory module, installed in the slot nearest to the socket. If the problem persists, try with a different memory module.



I don't think you'll have to replace everything, just the faulty component(s). Worst case scenario, you never find out if it's the motherboard, CPU or RAM, and you end up selling them for cheap and sidegrading to Skylake. Best case scenario, you get a new board from warranty (if there's still warranty left on it), and everything will be dandy.

I would probably hunt down a used Haswell set (cpu, mobo, RAM) for cheap, e.g. pentium with 4GB RAM and H81 board or something like that. Such parts wouldn't cost too much new either. Then swap out the cheap CPU to your current board and see if the problem persists. If it does, swap out the RAM too and see if it works. If there's still freezing etc., swap out the motherboard to finally rule out any issue with your other components, and if that fixes it you're 100% sure it's the motherboard and you can send it to warranty / throw it to trash, and sell your cheap test gear at near-zero loss. Then all you need is a new Z97 board. This would be a much cheaper route than the worst case scenario of paying $400+ for new parts, and personally it would be satisfying to figure out what the problem was and fix it



Yep, replace the fans with quieter 1000-1200 RPM ones that have low operating voltage, and your noise worries are gone. You can go to motherboard BIOS and see if it's possible to set the current fans running at even lower RPM's, but I doubt it becauase the max RPM is most likely 1650 and 850 RPM is the lowest they can go with downvolting.

 

[lehtv]

OK, you might try just getting a different CPU first and see if that fixes it. You can either go for the el cheapo low risk celeron/pentium, or you can get a new/used i7-4790K which you can keep for yourself at the end of the process, and sell the i7-4770K in case it turns out it's not faulty.

 

[jimbob200521]

I can personally vouch for the R5 as I just got one myself. I had a monster full size ATX case with large slow moving fans but it was too big and a tad too noisy (even with the fan controller turned to low). I picked up the R5, left the two fans where they came stock, added two more on top (for my liquid cooling), and couldn't be happier. The built in three speed fan controller allows good ranges of fan speed. I generally keep it on low or medium (both of which are or are near dead silent with my case sitting a foot or two from my head on my desk). I use high when gaming but honestly I probably don't even need that. Anywho, R5 has a TON of cooling options. Get it, put some good quite fans in it, and be happy.

 

[lehtv]

Get it, put some good quite fans in it, and be happy.

He will get more or less the same results by putting those good quiet fans into his current case.

 

[jimbob200521]

He will get more or less the same results by putting those good quiet fans into his current case.

True but he's looking at getting another case anyway so I figured I'd toss my two cents in.

 

[samstermax]

Thanks for your reply. Would be nice to get it fixed, guess I only need a new videocard and some good fans and it will last another few years before I need to upgrade.

My concern is that the freezing issue might be something with the motherboard (perhaps also).
I mentioned that when it freezes USB power drops.

Forgot to tell I have some other USB issues, more annoying then a an issue.
Like 1/3 of the time I boot my PC there is like a big delay on keyboard input.
For example typing in the password doesn't do anything and if I wait 30 secs I see the input one by one.
Same with changing the volume (have a control for that on my keyboard).

Changed it for another keyboard but same issue so releated to my motherboard I guess.
Not solved by BIOS updates also so thats why I suspect there might be something with teh motherboard (also).
If that is indeed the case and not only the CPU but teh motherboard also needs replacement I'm probably better off getting a 6700K with a motherboard and DDR4.

OK, you might try just getting a different CPU first and see if that fixes it. You can either go for the el cheapo low risk celeron/pentium, or you can get a new/used i7-4790K which you can keep for yourself at the end of the process, and sell the i7-4770K in case it turns out it's not faulty.

 

[lehtv]

Somehow I doubt there's an issue with both your motherboard and your CPU. It's most likely one or the other.