BSOD on hot days but temps seem ok

[MrBfJohn]

Hi there
During the recent hot weather we've been having my pc has been getting BSOD crashes after a few hours of gaming. I thought perhaps it was a temperature problem, so I monitored temps and the CPU doesn't get any hotter than usual (Peaks at about 71 degrees). I've used this machine in it's current config for about a year now and until recently it's been rock solid.

It usually runs prime 95 for hours on end with no issues, but now it crashes to blue screen after about 2 or 3 seconds.

I've run the windows memory diagnostic tool and there's no issues found.

The CPU is overclocked to 4.6ghz, so I reduced that by lowering the multiplier and still no better.

Where do I go next? Any help much appreciated.

John

Asus P8 Z77-V Le
[email protected] (antec h2o kuhler 620)
Corsair Vengeance 1866 (Overclock seems to have pushed this up by 3%)
MSI 770 lightning
OCZ Vertex 4 ssd
Corsair GS 800 PSU

 

[ExRayTed]

Remove the overclock altogether by resetting the CMOS then try again

 

[meandu229]

Might not be cpu that is overheating, My motherboard has a real problem when my cpu is overclocked that the mosphets overheat which causes bsod or throttling if Im lucky.
After a quick google the VRM that is used in the Z77 seems like it is prone to getting very hot maybe thats the cause?

 

[MrBfJohn]

Cheers for the replies. I did wonder about the motherboard. I'll try resetting the cmos and see how I get on.

 

[ShivP]

You could put a little fan on the VRM to cool it down a little

 

[wazza300]

did you catch the bsod code?

might need touch more cpu v or vccio/vccsa

 

[magicninja2010]

Try inserting another fan

 

[Devrij]

You could put a little fan on the VRM to cool it down a little

Was my first thought too. Try lowering voltage a bit on your gpu too to reduce your vrm temps.

Edit: I'm leaning towards gpu vrms here since gaming doesn't stress your CPU as much as your gpu, but maybe try some CPU benches to isolate it.

 

[MrBfJohn]

The bsod info is here

The game I'm playing is ARMA II which is really CPU intensive.
I'll try and get some more info from my BIOS settings as I'm really not sure what's ideal when it comes to voltage.

 

[ShivP]

Put a little more vcore on the CPU as wazza said, might not be getting enough

 

[wazza300]

yh 101 is not enough cpu v

 

[MrBfJohn]

OK guys. I'll take some pictures of my voltage settings shortly. I could do with some advice in the area as I have no idea what's a lot and what's a little if you don't mind.
When the system was initially overclocked I let my motherboard work out most of the settings and went from there.

 

[Devrij]

yeah please post your over lock settings. Usually auto over lock software tends to overdo it on volts, but maybe not in this case.

 

[wazza300]

you can try manual cpu/pci bclk of 100

try high loadline calibration
46x cpu multi
+0.020v cpu offset (may need more/less)
enable all powersaving and intel speedstep

then stress cpu and look to see load voltage in cpu-z

 

[MrBfJohn]

OK, I'll go through what you suggested as best as I can and try that.
Here is what I have at the moment. I hope I got all the info that would help

 

[Resa69]

Volts seem fine and if temps are good you can pump some more through it and see what happens then

 

[Devrij]

Put bclk at 100. Bclk overclocking can be mad unstable.

 

[MrBfJohn]

ok, I did as Wazza suggested. I tried +0.020 and +0.010. But it blue screened on the windows loading logo both times. the first time it came up with a hardware failure message, and the second it came up with something like IRQL_IS_LESS_OR EQUAL_TO.....

I've just updated the BIOS and let it overclock itself again. It came up with pretty much the same settings as before with a 42 multiplier. Nothing like the 4.6ghz it's ran at for the last year, but so far it's stable at that. I've run prime95 for a while and had no failures so far. Could the CPU be on it's way out?

 

[wazza300]

try with same settings but +0.050v cpu offset