What killed my i7-6900K?

Nutkins · 15 Jul 2017 at 19:29

Hi there,

Sorry for the wall of text, but I want to try and add some background.

So I purchased a 6900K, brand new and sealed. Installed it yesterday and all was good. Put a light overclock on it (4GHz) and stressed it under load, which seemed stable at 1.2v for 30 minutes under AIDA64 and Intel Burn Test, though it did get quite warm.

This morning I decided to re-apply some new thermal paste (this stuff: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ther...ance-thermal-paste-5.5g-1.5-ml-th-001-tg.html). Booted up, temps seemed fine at idle and under load.

After this, I started playing a game of Rocket League. I think I got an about an hour in before my PC unexpectedly shutdown. I tried powering it on again but the system would boot up, fans spin up and then it would shut off again.

At this point I tried resetting the CMOS, after this the system wouldn't even power up. Tried a different a power supply, still nothing. After all this, I pulled the board out of the case and placed it on wooden surface, hooked up the power supply to it and it actually booted. Only this time, my motherboard (X99 Strix) was showing the debug code "00". I grabbed one of my 6800Ks, and popped that in. This time it posted and booted into Windows.

I've filed a return request with the retailer (which I won't name) but I want to know, how could my 6900K have died, did my motherboard kill it?

The rest of the system: 16GB DDR4 3000MHz, Strix 1080Ti, Corsair HX1000i

Might be worth adding that the BIOS version I'm using is 1504

gavinh87 · 15 Jul 2017 at 19:38

When you say it got quite warm, how warm are we talking?
A mobo can indeed kill a CPU if it is supplying more volts than its stating. Although I have no experience on the x99 strix so I cannot comment on that.

Nutkins · 15 Jul 2017 at 19:40

At peak, I was seeing anywhere between 75-78 (after applying the new paste, it was replacing Arctic Silver 5).

gavinh87 · 15 Jul 2017 at 19:51

It doesn't sound like it was over volting with those temps.
Strange to say the least. Unless the mobo is at fault.

Panos · 15 Jul 2017 at 19:52

Nutkins said:
Hi there,

Sorry for the wall of text, but I want to try and add some background.

So I purchased a 6900K, brand new and sealed. Installed it yesterday and all was good. Put a light overclock on it (4GHz) and stressed it under load, which seemed stable at 1.2v for 30 minutes under AIDA64 and Intel Burn Test, though it did get quite warm.

This morning I decided to re-apply some new thermal paste (this stuff: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ther...ance-thermal-paste-5.5g-1.5-ml-th-001-tg.html). Booted up, temps seemed fine at idle and under load.

After this, I started playing a game of Rocket League. I think I got an about an hour in before my PC unexpectedly shutdown. I tried powering it on again but the system would boot up, fans spin up and then it would shut off again.

At this point I tried resetting the CMOS, after this the system wouldn't even power up. Tried a different a power supply, still nothing. After all this, I pulled the board out of the case and placed it on wooden surface, hooked up the power supply to it and it actually booted. Only this time, my motherboard (X99 Strix) was showing the debug code "00". I grabbed one of my 6800Ks, and popped that in. This time it posted and booted into Windows.

I've filed a return request with the retailer (which I won't name) but I want to know, how could my 6900K have died, did my motherboard kill it?

The rest of the system: 16GB DDR4 3000MHz, Strix 1080Ti, Corsair HX1000i

Might be worth adding that the BIOS version I'm using is 1504

If you got Asus board, especially X99 RIVE and you haven't flashed to the latest BIOS, welcome to the club. (see my signature).

Nutkins · 15 Jul 2017 at 19:59

I have the X99 Strix.

Panos · 15 Jul 2017 at 20:00

Nutkins said:
I have the X99 Strix.

Did you flash it to the latest bios?

Nutkins · 15 Jul 2017 at 20:02

No, still on the one before the latest, where it's been running on since I bought the board. It's seated a 6800K fine for 4months. The version number is 1504

Edit: My 6800K even had to take more vcore for 4GHz (seems my 6800K lost hard in the lottery)

Panos · 15 Jul 2017 at 20:09

Nutkins said:
No, still on the one before the latest, where it's been running on since I bought the board. It's seated a 6800K fine for 4months. The version number is 1504

Edit: My 6800K even had to take more vcore for 4GHz (seems my 6800K lost hard in the lottery)

And you have put again the 6900K and doesn't work?

Nutkins · 15 Jul 2017 at 20:14

Yes. Anytime the 6900K is on the board, the motherboard won't post and will display 00 on the debug display.

Panos · 15 Jul 2017 at 20:18

RMA the CPU then, and the board.

Nutkins said:
Yes. Anytime the 6900K is on the board, the motherboard won't post and will display 00 on the debug display.

Did you change the ram slots as per manual?

Nutkins · 15 Jul 2017 at 20:23

What do you mean change the ram slots? Not aware of what you're referring to.

Panos · 15 Jul 2017 at 20:27

Nutkins said:
What do you mean change the ram slots? Not aware of what you're referring to.

On the significant majority of the X99 motherboards, the RAM positioning is different between 6800K and 6900K
Open the manual.

Nutkins · 15 Jul 2017 at 20:29

Wasn't aware of this, I'll have a look and see if I need to change anything. Even so, it wouldn't explain why my system was working fine yesterday without any change

Panos · 15 Jul 2017 at 20:38

Nutkins said:
Wasn't aware of this, I'll have a look and see if I need to change anything. Even so, it wouldn't explain why my system was working fine yesterday without any change

I checked your manual, doesn't say anything. My Gigabyte X99 does though. And my mate said his MSI also had that.

Did you press the Q-Switch? Have you checked the overclock/voltage jumper?
Code 00 means it cannot identify the CPU. I would advice you to upgrade to latest bios and clear up the CMOS. Make sure the 6900K doesn't have any paste on it's underside and sits properly and give it a try.

The CH6 did exactly the same thing to my 1700X burning it. No overclocks or anything. Just burned it and had to RMA it to OCUK after the 4th day

BrynS · 15 Jul 2017 at 21:13

Ouch. I had the X99 Strix for a week or so earlier this month while waiting for my Gaming 5P RMA to ship back and wasn't a fan of it. Vcore voltages seemed higher than normal despite running my 5820k at stock and trying to disable every overclocking option in the BIOS and with the OC switch disabled on the board. I had quite a few corruption issues when doing a clean Windows 10 install as well. All resolved now since going back to the Gaming 5P.

Panos · 15 Jul 2017 at 21:20

BrynS said:
Ouch. I had the X99 Strix for a week or so earlier this month while waiting for my Gaming 5P RMA to ship back and wasn't a fan of it. Vcore voltages seemed higher than normal despite running my 5820k at stock and trying to disable every overclocking option in the BIOS and with the OC switch disabled on the board. I had quite a few corruption issues when doing a clean Windows 10 install as well. All resolved now since going back to the Gaming 5P.

Yeah, for my next CPU i will stick to MSI/Gigabyte/Asrock. Even if the X399 Zenith looks amazing, nah. Not gambling with £1000 CPU

Chuk_Chuk · 15 Jul 2017 at 21:30

Panos said:
On the significant majority of the X99 motherboards, the RAM positioning is different between 6800K and 6900K
Open the manual.

Why is that?

Dirk Diggler · 15 Jul 2017 at 21:31

My RVE killed a 5930k with its random voltage shenanigans. I won't be going Asus for my next Motherboard.

RSR · 15 Jul 2017 at 21:40

Panos said:
On the significant majority of the X99 motherboards, the RAM positioning is different between 6800K and 6900K
Open the manual.

I'm not sure this is correct, as I have a Strix X99. You can running the memory in single, dual and quad configurations which isn't CPU dependent, are you getting confused with the X299 platform?