Question What would you do if you were me?

dank69

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
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I've been limping along with an old 6th gen intel that has been crashing more and more often. I have to do something. I am 99% sure the CPU is the problem. Current specs:

asrock z170 extreme7+
intel 6700K
980Ti

I can't handle the crashes anymore. Memtest is fine. GPU is fine. CPU stress test dies almost immediately. Has to be CPU, right, not the MB?

Assuming it is CPU, best I can replace with is 7700K which runs about $400

Or, I can upgrade MB/CPU/RAM (and case while I am at it since the front panel is broken). I tried the AMD route once and did not enjoy it so I will stick with Intel moving forward which means:

11900K + Z590 + RAM + CPU cooler = $1200 (+ case)

I'd love to upgrade the GPU but you know how that goes these days so I'll stick with the 980Ti until I can find one.

So if you had to choose between those two options, which would you choose and why?
 

solidsnake1298

Senior member
Aug 7, 2009
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IMO, it depends on how satisfied you are with your gaming experience. I am like most people here, hankering to upgrade to the latest and greatest. But the prices for EVERYTHING are out of control. GPUs, especially.

If you are mostly satisfied with your gaming experience, personally, I would hunker down with what you have and try to get through this chip shortage until prices and availability start to normalize.

So let's figure out why your system is crashing.

Have you checked your CPU temps at all? What kind of cooler are you using? If you are using an AIO to cool your CPU, it is quite possible that the pump has failed and what you are describing is overheating and thermal shutdowns. My Corsair H100iV2 had a pump failure a couple years ago and I experienced similar symptoms.
 
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dank69

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
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IMO, it depends on how satisfied you are with your gaming experience. I am like most people here, hankering to upgrade to the latest and greatest. But the prices for EVERYTHING are out of control. GPUs, especially.

If you are mostly satisfied with your gaming experience, personally, I would hunker down with what you have and try to get through this chip shortage until prices and availability start to normalize.

So let's figure out why your system is crashing.

Have you checked your CPU temps at all? What kind of cooler are you using? If you are using an AIO to cool your CPU, it is quite possible that the pump has failed and what you are describing is overheating and thermal shutdowns. My Corsair H100iV2 had a pump failure a couple years ago and I experienced similar symptoms.
No, I'm using air and the temps aren't bad. Honestly I think I might have damaged it slightly way back when I first bought it and was working on OC and it overheated briefly. I've been running it at stock speeds ever since and it was mostly fine with a crash here or there. The last year or so the crashes have been getting more and more frequent and are now pretty much unbearable.

I started keeping an eye on load and temps to diagnose and that has nothing to do with it. It sometimes gets into a cycle where it crashes and then will crash a few more times just during startup.

As for gaming I don't push it very hard currently because I just don't have the time I used to have. My kids are just getting into gaming now so I do have plans for the near future. That's why I started looking into upgrading but it seems like from my limited research that this isn't really a stellar Intel generation. Then again, brand new 11900K is only $170 more than 3 generation old 7700K, and the ABT looks interesting.
 
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solidsnake1298

Senior member
Aug 7, 2009
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Have you tried going into your BIOS and doing an "Optimized defaults" reset? I don't know what settings you've manually changed in the past, forgot to set back to "auto", etc.

Not saying that it can't be a problem with your CPU, in the end. But we are trying to eliminate variables and get you to a place where you can get by until you pull the trigger on an upgrade at sane prices. Also, its unfortunate you didn't have this problem 2 months ago. I had a 6700K laying around that I sold to a friend.

AMD Ryzen 5000 is definitely killing it on the desktop. Intel isn't bad in terms of performance. But even 10nm Intel chips run hot and are power hungry. Another thing to consider is that every AMD processor is unlocked and both the X and B series motherboards allow full CPU and memory overclocking. With Intel you HAVE to get a K processor and a Z motherboard to do any manual overclocking of either memory or CPU.
 
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alexbirdie0

Member
Feb 19, 2020
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I tried the AMD route once and did not enjoy it so I will stick with Intel moving forward which means:

How many years ago?

Time changes, and ZEN2 were good, and the current ZEN3 are really great. I do have a 3950x, and I am very satisfied with it( my last system was an intel-3770k-system, which was great, too).

Fewer heat, fewer energy usage, as fast as and partially even faster than the current Intel-generation, ....

Title of this thread is "What would you do if you were me?".

I would go with AMD.
 

deustroop

Golden Member
Dec 12, 2010
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I still like Intel. My system is a 9900K / good air cooler and I run it at a mild oc ~ 5 ghz on 2-3 cores with very little heat, ~ 36 deg at idle. All core/full load is another story of course.
Your uses do not encompass high gaming so significant oc will not be involved.Like comparable ( and slightly less expensive) AMD products, an 11900K is a beast and would do fine .
I would however first find the cause of the crash cycle. Have you tried another psu ?
 
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dank69

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
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Have you tried going into your BIOS and doing an "Optimized defaults" reset? I don't know what settings you've manually changed in the past, forgot to set back to "auto", etc.

Not saying that it can't be a problem with your CPU, in the end. But we are trying to eliminate variables and get you to a place where you can get by until you pull the trigger on an upgrade at sane prices. Also, its unfortunate you didn't have this problem 2 months ago. I had a 6700K laying around that I sold to a friend.

AMD Ryzen 5000 is definitely killing it on the desktop. Intel isn't bad in terms of performance. But even 10nm Intel chips run hot and are power hungry. Another thing to consider is that every AMD processor is unlocked and both the X and B series motherboards allow full CPU and memory overclocking. With Intel you HAVE to get a K processor and a Z motherboard to do any manual overclocking of either memory or CPU.
I will recheck the BIOS this weekend when I get some time. I am not as concerned with overclocking as I used to be because I just don't have the time to tweak and test over and over anymore.
 

dank69

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
35,203
28,216
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How many years ago?

Time changes, and ZEN2 were good, and the current ZEN3 are really great. I do have a 3950x, and I am very satisfied with it( my last system was an intel-3770k-system, which was great, too).

Fewer heat, fewer energy usage, as fast as and partially even faster than the current Intel-generation, ....

Title of this thread is "What would you do if you were me?".

I would go with AMD.
Gosh, at least a decade or more. Don't even remember what generation it was...want to say 59xx. I remember buying the first card with 6 mini DP because I had fever dreams of running 6 Dell 3007 monitors, haha. Never did convince my wife that that was necessary. Even then it was only GPU, never tried AMD CPU, and I think that was one of the reasons I wasn't super happy, but AMD wasn't really there yet with their CPUs.
 

dank69

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
35,203
28,216
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I still like Intel. My system is a 9900K / good air cooler and I run it at a mild oc ~ 5 ghz on 2-3 cores with very little heat, ~ 36 deg at idle. All core/full load is another story of course.
Your uses do not encompass high gaming so significant oc will not be involved.Like comparable ( and slightly less expensive) AMD products, an 11900K is a beast and would do fine .
I would however first find the cause of the crash cycle. Have you tried another psu ?
I haven't. I don't have spare parts to swap out. It's an old Seasonic 650 gold. Bought it for a Nehalem, haha, back when gold rating was new and platinum didn't even exist yet. I highly doubt that is the issue though, the thing has been rock solid. I was even planning on keeping it for the new build. Not really sure how to even test a PSU, I'll have to look into it.
 
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VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
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I would:
Reset CMOS to defaults, using jumper if possible.
Re-paste CPU, being careful with heatsink mounts if using push-pins.
Try slightly overvolting your Vcore in BIOS *at stock clocks*. Test for stability, checking temps.

Your CPU may have just degraded, and needs a tiny bit of vcore boost to keep on keeping on.

Or the RAM or PSU may be on their way out.
 
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VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
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Assuming it is CPU, best I can replace with is 7700K which runs about $400
I would NOT waste any money on a Sky/Kaby -Lake CPU, unless it were a quad-core, and you were getting it nearly free.

FYI: I posted a deal for a complete i3-8100 / 8GB DDR4 / 1TB HDD slim system for $220 (now selling for $240). Oh wait, nevermind, you have a GPU.
 

crashtech

Lifer
Jan 4, 2013
10,521
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Typically it will be the motherboard's power delivery system that fails rather than the CPU itself, but that can be hard to determine without a known good spare board.
 
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dank69

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
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Update: I think my PSU is done.

Saturday I followed @solidsnake1298's advice to poke around the BIOS. It's been a while since I went in there. I saw some profiles I saved including stock settings which is what I was running. The ASRock came with a few optimized auto-OC settings. For kicks I set it to the lowest OC which took the CPU from 4000 to 4400. The thing booted fine so I loaded NMS (the game that has been crashing a ton lately) and it ran flawlessly. For reference, at 4000 the game would crash within 5 minutes even at lowest settings. I left the thing running with settings at max for an hour and it was still going strong. Couldn't believe it...

Fans were running harder than usual and the room was heating up faster than usual but the CPU temp was actually lower than it was at 4000. So I shut it off since I didn't really have time to test/play more.

Sunday I sent my 9yo up to test NMS while I did yard work. The machine would not turn on. Case power button and even MB power button completely unresponsive. Everything else on the circuit is fine. So yeah, I assume this means PSU. I have a friend who thinks he can find a spare for me to try, but I'm going to start shopping for one anyway. Any suggestions? I don't mind paying extra for a solid PSU.
 
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solidsnake1298

Senior member
Aug 7, 2009
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Edit: I misread your statement about the frequency. I am wondering if the OC profile increased voltage beyond what would actually be needed for 4.4Ghz, temporarily masking any issues your PSU was causing.

If you do find that your PSU is definitely kaput, I always recommend Seasonic power supplies. They're the ODM for a lot of power supplies from other "manufacturers" anyway. I recommend their "Prime" and "Focus" lines for their longer warranties. 12 and 10 years respectively. I had a PC Power and Cooling PSU back in the day. Seasonic was the ODM. That PSU moved from build to build for 12 years. The only reason I replaced it was because I was moving from a chungus case to a Fractal Meshify C (full ATX but on the smaller side). So I needed a fully modular PSU. But that now 14 year old PSU lives on in a friend's PC.

I use a Seasonic Prime Titanium 750w now. Thanks to Anandtech's review of it.
 
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crashtech

Lifer
Jan 4, 2013
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It's not necessarily the PSU. Accurate PC troubleshooting is difficult to impossible without at least having some "known good" spares available. Even a good PSU won't turn on if it doesn't get the signal to do so from the motherboard. Cheap PSU testers are available, but they don't do much to put load on the test part, which makes them of very limited usefulness.
 

solidsnake1298

Senior member
Aug 7, 2009
302
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It's not necessarily the PSU. Accurate PC troubleshooting is difficult to impossible without at least having some "known good" spares available. Even a good PSU won't turn on if it doesn't get the signal to do so from the motherboard. Cheap PSU testers are available, but they don't do much to put load on the test part, which makes them of very limited usefulness.

Good point. It might also be worth using the clear CMOS jumpers just to be sure it wasn't that new profile you set. I have had "stable" OC settings on one boot only for it to fail to boot the next day.
 
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repoman0

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2010
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Is your PSU one of the Seasonic “G-series” that they don’t make anymore? I had a 550W version of one of those that failed and was a nightmare to figure out. In my case all my stress tests ran fine but it kept crashing in games. PSU was the last thing I tried replacing and that was it. It died right before the five year warranty was up. I bought one of their fancy 12-year warranty ones to replace it.

Either way even if your PSU isn’t the problem, it’s probably prudent to replace it if you end up buying new hardware … which makes it a solid troubleshooting purchase, IMO

edit: saw that you asked for a rec … personally I went with a Prime PX-1000. Think it was just over $200 which is over twice what I have ever paid for a PSU, but after weeks troubleshooting a failed one I just wanted the best.
 
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dank69

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
35,203
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Cleared CMOS and the thing fired right up. Put it back to 4400 and it ran NMS no problems. When I have time I'll knock it back down to 4000 stock settings and see if it starts crashing again.
 

dank69

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
35,203
28,216
136
Is your PSU one of the Seasonic “G-series” that they don’t make anymore? I had a 550W version of one of those that failed and was a nightmare to figure out. In my case all my stress tests ran fine but it kept crashing in games. PSU was the last thing I tried replacing and that was it. It died right before the five year warranty was up. I bought one of their fancy 12-year warranty ones to replace it.

Either way even if your PSU isn’t the problem, it’s probably prudent to replace it if you end up buying new hardware … which makes it a solid troubleshooting purchase, IMO

edit: saw that you asked for a rec … personally I went with a Prime PX-1000. Think it was just over $200 which is over twice what I have ever paid for a PSU, but after weeks troubleshooting a failed one I just wanted the best.
I am 99% sure it is an old Seasonic X650 gold. IIRC it was the first gold rated PSU and one of the first fully modular PSUs.