Dying 2500k or motherboard

Middenacht · 19 Feb 2015 at 12:29

Guys

I have a 2500k (was o/c to 4.3 but now back to stock speed) sitting in an Asus motherboard and 8 gb ram

either the ram, cpu or motherboard is borked. Ive done 2 weeks of fault funding and diagnostics and all I can say is tests are inconclusive but my system is utterly unstable and freezing without event logs being generated.

I dont want to derail this thread with fault finding. I want to move on and get a working pc again as I'm frustrated to bits. I know the 2500k is well respected but no longer available new.

Can you guys please suggest a cpu and board I can buy which will allow a reasonable (but not earth shattering) overclock. Honestly I'm so sick of the instability I would settle for a non over clock able chip but would prefer to have comparable performance to my 2500k at 4.3ghz.

I play heavy games ( bf4, skyrim etc) at 1920x1200. I gave a gtx980. I also record play and do a lot of video editing. 50/50.

I just need help with moving on as I'm out the loop. I'd rather not spend more than £350 on motherboard, cpu and 16 gb of appropriate ram. Less if you guys have good bang for buck suggestions.

Thanks for any help, I really appreciate it

Dave2150 · 19 Feb 2015 at 12:49

4790k and your choice of Z97 motherboard would be my advice.

You could go x99/5820k/ddr4 route if you want to spend more, to have a much more futureproof setup.

Devrij · 19 Feb 2015 at 12:51

While I think you could probably fix your issue, I'm going to take your word and go straight to the fun bit.

This would fit the bill, although you could compromise on the board and maybe stretch to an i7

Middenacht · 19 Feb 2015 at 13:04

Guys,

Really appreciate the cutting to the chase.

One slight issue I have with my current asus board is that my sound card (xonar) sits right against my 980 due to where the tiny pci slot sits with respect to the main graphics card slot.

I am a single card solution guy (mmicro stuttering makes me angry and my eyes are sensitive to it) so I won't ever be using sli.

Is the gigabyte board suggested still sensible given that?

Also what's the dif in real terms between a 4790k and a 4690k?

Really appreciate the help guys

I'm not sure what to do with the parts I will displace. I'm convinced one or two of the 3 parts is on its way out, so I wouldn't feel moral selling them on.

Devrij · 19 Feb 2015 at 14:21

If you never plan on going multi-gpu, then yeah you could cut the board spec down and bump up to a 4790k.

Don't be fooled by the seemingly small number increase. An i7 will make a significant difference to video encoding times and will help negate the cpu overhead of recording in games. It will also help increase minimum framerates in games like BF4.

I still think it's worth troubleshooting your existing kit, even if it means you can sell the working bits with a clear conscience.

r7slayer · 19 Feb 2015 at 14:42

Middenacht said:
Guys,

Really appreciate the cutting to the chase.

One slight issue I have with my current asus board is that my sound card (xonar) sits right against my 980 due to where the tiny pci slot sits with respect to the main graphics card slot.

I am a single card solution guy (mmicro stuttering makes me angry and my eyes are sensitive to it) so I won't ever be using sli.

Is the gigabyte board suggested still sensible given that?

Also what's the dif in real terms between a 4790k and a 4690k?

Really appreciate the help guys

I'm not sure what to do with the parts I will displace. I'm convinced one or two of the 3 parts is on its way out, so I wouldn't feel moral selling them on.

the difference between the 4790k and 4690k is the 4790k cpus have been cherry picked by intel which will overclock better, and they come overclocked higher out of the box.

4690k is 3.5ghz and boost to 3.9 ghz while the 4790k runs at 4ghz out of the box and boosts to 4.4ghz so its like having a 4690k overclocked for you really without worrying about getting a bad clocking cpu.

edit - confused my self
whoops ignore that above i got confused with different models. the 4690k is a i5 and not a i7 and isn't anything what i said above

Dave2150 · 19 Feb 2015 at 14:50

Middenacht said:
Guys,

Really appreciate the cutting to the chase.

One slight issue I have with my current asus board is that my sound card (xonar) sits right against my 980 due to where the tiny pci slot sits with respect to the main graphics card slot.

I am a single card solution guy (mmicro stuttering makes me angry and my eyes are sensitive to it) so I won't ever be using sli.

Is the gigabyte board suggested still sensible given that?

Also what's the dif in real terms between a 4790k and a 4690k?

Really appreciate the help guys

I'm not sure what to do with the parts I will displace. I'm convinced one or two of the 3 parts is on its way out, so I wouldn't feel moral selling them on.

The audio quality on the Asus ROG z97 boards is top notch - I'm no longer using my Xonar D2X card, as I found the onboard audio far superior. Was really nice to not need to install the modular power cable for the floppy power requirement of the xonar also

Would always recommend the 4790k over the I5 if you can afford it. As others have said, it comes clocked much higher, is a better binned chip and has hyperthreading.

Middenacht · 19 Feb 2015 at 15:12

Guys this is gold dust advice as far as I am concerned. Thanks so much.

So given my single gfx card focus and I think I will plug for the i7 4790k what board would you recommend? The asus rog z97? Are there variants?

I'm trying to figure how to compensate for the increased price on the 4790k.

Devrij · 19 Feb 2015 at 16:19

Well, if you aren't trying to overclock the nuts off of it and just want a mild overclock, you can get away with pretty much any board you like. that has the expansion slots you need. Doesn't have to be z97 and certainly don't splash for a ROG board if you want something on a budget!

Davedree · 19 Feb 2015 at 18:00

when overclocked what was your vtt voltage,

Middenacht · 19 Feb 2015 at 18:09

@Devrij: ok. when you say it dosnt have to be a z97....er what boards must i use on the i7 4790k? there must be some restrictions?

@Davedree: If you are asking me what my vtt voltage was when i overclocked my 2500k well you are asking the wrong person.

I went into my shiny asus bios and selected "go fast please" lol. it then auto overclocked the chip for me from 3.3 to 4.3 without me doing a damn thing. I just made sure i had a good cooler and good temps after (which i did, and still do)

But since all the crashes (i am lucky to last 10 mins at just my desktop) i reset it to no overclock to rule this out. it aint the OC. I dont even think its my cpu.

i suspect its my ram, SDD with the OS on or the motherboard chipset.

Wished i could solve this. If anyone fancies giving some "how to fix it" advice im willing to listen but i have tried:

Prime 95 for 5 hrs: no promlens
2 separate mem tests: no problems
chkdsk on the SDD: no problems
upgraded the firmware on both my crucial SDDs (one m4 one m5) - made no diff.
run HDD sentinel on all my hdd's - all game back green and in perfect condition

unless someone comes up with something i just havent thought of i shall be using money to solve my problem cos i work hard and my time at home on my PC is limited having a family and i dont want to frig about with this unstable PC any longer lol!

Doogles · 19 Feb 2015 at 18:14

Couldn't you get a cheap motherboard for the i5 2500k? You can get them for £50 EOL but still available. If it isn't that then you can send it back, but make sure you check return policy. It is what I would do anyway.

Davedree · 19 Feb 2015 at 18:29

My 4.5 ghz 2600k which i've had since 2011, very recently started becoming unstable on me at random times, especially from a cold boot during post. I run it in stock mode and it still did it but less so.
After a lot of mucking around my Vtt voltage in the bios needed to be bumped up from the 1.05v to 1.17v. Since then it's been rock solid even when clocking back to 4.5ghz.

Usually if your memory is failing you'll still get event logs or Blue screens, well it did for my gdads htpc, 1 stick of ocz was failing, causing random lockups.

I'd run your setup at stock and post up the voltages you are seeing on here,
I know you strictly asked for a system upgrade, but could be something simple.

Middenacht · 19 Feb 2015 at 18:32

its the faf mate. to change a motherboard requires a full system re-install and if i find its not that then i have to put my old one back in and reinstall again.

i just want to replace the componsnts i suspect, know ill only have to reinstall once and move on.

the displaced components i will then test at my leisure or just sell cheap to someone who has the time to test things properly

I know this sounds awful, and i feel bad, but when you get to a certain age you just havent the time to arse about

Middenacht · 19 Feb 2015 at 18:34

@Davedree: happy to do that both stock and clocked. what monitoring tool would you suggest? I have HWInfo installed.

@Dave2150: What is this ROG Asus board you are speaking of? Ive looked at every Asus board OCUK sells for the 1150 chipset and not one has the word ROG in it. Im probably just not knowing what ROG means. Apologies?

Davedree · 19 Feb 2015 at 18:39

hwinfo is fine yeah

Dave2150 · 19 Feb 2015 at 18:50

Middenacht said:
@davedree: happy to do that both stock and clocked. what monitoring tool would you suggest? I have HWInfo installed.

@Dave2150: What is this ROG Asus board you are speaking of? Ive looked at every Asus board OCUK sells for the 1150 chipset and not one has the word ROG in it. Im probably just not knowing what ROG means. Apologies?

RoG = Republic of Gamers, higher quality motherboards from asus.

If your wanted to ditch your xonar soundcard and go with an onboard solution, the Maximus VII Hero sounds fantastic out of the box. I haven't personally tried the other models, so can't tell you if they are as good. It even includes a built in headphone amplifier, something my xonar d2x didn't have.

Whilst the RoG boards are known for great overclocking potential, it's more about the features you get on the motherboard these days, since the overclocking is mostly limited by the CPU (since intel starting incorporating more and more directly onto the CPU), so I'd choose a z97 board that matches the features you need the most.

Devrij · 20 Feb 2015 at 07:35

Middenacht said:
@Devrij: ok. when you say it dosnt have to be a z97....er what boards must i use on the i7 4790k? there must be some restrictions?

@Davedree: If you are asking me what my vtt voltage was when i overclocked my 2500k well you are asking the wrong person.

I went into my shiny asus bios and selected "go fast please" lol. it then auto overclocked the chip for me from 3.3 to 4.3 without me doing a damn thing. I just made sure i had a good cooler and good temps after (which i did, and still do)

But since all the crashes (i am lucky to last 10 mins at just my desktop) i reset it to no overclock to rule this out. it aint the OC. I dont even think its my cpu.

i suspect its my ram, SDD with the OS on or the motherboard chipset.

Wished i could solve this. If anyone fancies giving some "how to fix it" advice im willing to listen but i have tried:

Prime 95 for 5 hrs: no promlens
2 separate mem tests: no problems
chkdsk on the SDD: no problems
upgraded the firmware on both my crucial SDDs (one m4 one m5) - made no diff.
run HDD sentinel on all my hdd's - all game back green and in perfect condition

unless someone comes up with something i just havent thought of i shall be using money to solve my problem cos i work hard and my time at home on my PC is limited having a family and i dont want to frig about with this unstable PC any longer lol!

You can use any motherboard with the same socket (1150). Just keep in mind different chipsets will have different features. Z97 is the best if you can afford it, but it isn't essential.

McGraw · 20 Feb 2015 at 09:20

A 4790k is a 4690k with hyperthreading, 2mb more cache and clocked at 4ghz (4.4ghz max turbo on single cor)..

Middenacht · 20 Feb 2015 at 10:26

Have to say following dave's post about the ROG asus board (he cited the Hero) I'm tempted.

The idea of having on board sound at the same quality as my xonar dx2 is tempting without the need for the additional card. Fact it also has a built in amp to drive headphones is great. I game only with good quality audio technica headphones.

Anyone able to vouch fir the on board sound quality? I was also looking at the Ranger asus board which is 30 quid cheaper and wondering if it has the same on board sound?