Problems with my new Threadripper 1950X and ASRock Thaichi X399 build

branskyj · 20 Sep 2017 at 20:05

Hi all,

Very painful moment for me. I just finished building my new PC, I went with ASRock Thaichi X399, AMD Threadripper 1950X, Seasonic Focus Plus 850W 80 Plus Gold and 4x8GB HyperX Predator DDR4 3200MHz. Got all the components from Overclockers except for the RAM. The only things I kept from my old build are my trusty GTX 670 4GB and a Kingston SSD.

I did a clean Windows 10 install and then wet on to install the official drivers from ASRock web-site for the motherboard. I only had to download and install the chipset drivers from AMD's web-site since I couldn't find those on ASRock's web-site.

My problem is that I get random freezes and stuttering when doing various things.
For instance, if I was watching a movie locally, from my hard drive, and then decided to open pretty much any program, the video and audio would freeze and my mouse would too. The audio would keep playing but just the last bit right before the problem occurs. Not sure if you get me.

The freeze/ stutter is just for a fraction of a second but still... I happens regularly and it's quite maddening. The problem is apparent also when I launch a YouTube video.

I tried running the system with only 2 of the 4 RAM modules and then changed the 2 modules with the other but that didn't help either. The stutter persists. I will test the RAM today or tomorrow just to make sure.

I also downloaded AMD Ryzen Master tools and tried switching to Creators mode. I even thought at first that the problem had gone away but then I realized it was still present.

Anybody with similar issues? Any help would be very appreciated.

Thank you.

Kei · 20 Sep 2017 at 21:40

Yep. Presently going through similar issues. Run latency monitor and see if there are any drivers causing excessive dpc latency. (I see big spikes from ntsokrnl and ndis)

Thus far, my troubles seem to stem from unstable ram. I'm not sure as to the cause, be it a dodgy stick, a dodgy slot or poor imc. Running HCI memtest may be worthwhile. Mine has been failing around the 3-400% mark.

Some people have found HPET can cause similar issues too.

branskyj · 20 Sep 2017 at 22:21

Thanks Kei.
I just checked out latency monitor- isn't that for testing audio related issues only? Because I am having video freezes too...

Kei · 20 Sep 2017 at 23:42

I think it can affect all things if it's sufficiently bad.

branskyj · 20 Sep 2017 at 23:54

Aha, I see, I will test the memory tomorrow and will report back.
Man, I can't believe I'm having that kind of troubles...And I was so happy to switch from Intel to AMD...
I guess it's the fiasco the original Ryzen had with RAM modules all over again, only this time with Threadripper.

Fingers crossed.
Thanks for the help non the less.

pastymuncher · 21 Sep 2017 at 13:30

Bit of a long shot but do you have both the 8 pin and 4 pin cpu power leads plugged in?

orbitalwalsh · 21 Sep 2017 at 13:55

.... What build of windows do you have ?
Always have this issue when building systems as I have first DVD build of windows 10 pro and then use key codes. Until I update it to latest build, it hates all my Ryzen builds !

branskyj · 21 Sep 2017 at 14:16

Hm, I see. I just got my new components. A Samsung m.2 ssd and 1080ti
I will install Windows 10 Pro again (well it's 8.1 to free 10 Pro update as I only own 8.1 license) and will report back in 4-5 hours.

Much appreciated.

BongoHunter · 21 Sep 2017 at 15:05

Odd that this only occurs when playing video unless ive mis-understood - is the decode done on your GPU?

d_brennen · 21 Sep 2017 at 15:18

branskyj said:
Hm, I see. I just got my new components. A Samsung m.2 ssd and 1080ti
I will install Windows 10 Pro again (well it's 8.1 to free 10 Pro update as I only own 8.1 license) and will report back in 4-5 hours.

Much appreciated.

Running that kind of setup with an in place upgrade of the OS? :eek:

branskyj · 21 Sep 2017 at 18:07

OK guys,
Great news- the problem is gone (for now at least)
I did a clean install of Windows 8.1 and then updated to 10 Pro for free from Windows web-site. This time I allowed all updates to be installed as opposed to before. That might have solved the issue being that Threadripper is a brand new CPU and Windows could have needed an update to play nice with it.

I also just replaced my GTX 670 with a brand new 1080 ti. That might have been the culprit too.

I DID NOT install any of the drivers that ASRock provides for my motherboard. I did install these before. This time around I only installed the drivers for the chipset (from AMD's web-site) and the video drivers (from NVidia's web-site). maybe one or more ASRock's drivers was causing the issue...

I've been browsing YouTube for an hour now, while installing/ opening programs and watching videos locally in the meantime- not a single hiccup. No audio or video stutter.

And yes- the 8 pin and 4 pin cpu power leads were plugged in the first time...

Anyway, I am glad the problem is no more.
Many thanks to all of you for the help and have a good weekend.

Kei · 21 Sep 2017 at 21:41

Good to hear a reinstall cured it. Hoping that will sort mine out. I think based on my testing, I probably have a rather average IMC on my cpu as the ram all tests ok on it's own

branskyj · 22 Sep 2017 at 09:58

I hope it works out for you too, mate. There's no greater pain in this life than that of a disgruntled PC builder...even giving birth pales in comparison

Although like I wrote above- I am not quite sure what solved my issue.
Just glad it's over.

Good luck.

P.S Oh, forgot to mention- I did run Latency Monitor like you suggested and DPC Latency Checker and they both came back with errors. But that was then, when I still had problems.

Jeeva · 27 Sep 2017 at 10:30

Just FYI, if it comes up again:

Currently, the Windows 10 install media will accept keys from Windows 7 / 8, so you don't need to do an in-place upgrade in the future.

It's quite handy!

branskyj · 27 Sep 2017 at 10:34

Wow, in other words- clean install of Windows 10 only? That is very handy. So, do I just download the official .iso from Microsoft's web-site, burn it onto a DVD or create a bootable flash drive, install it and then proceed with the activation?
Much appreciated, Jeeva.

ssateneth · 24 Dec 2017 at 15:45

Not meaning to necro, but I also have the same issue. Win10 Pro 1709 (Fall creator's update).

TR 1950X
Asrock x399 Taichi, UEFI 1.70
Seasonic X1250 (1250W power supply 80PLUS GOLD)
EVGA 1080TI

I've done multiple fresh installs and reinstalls of Win10, the bug doesn't go away. I had the same issue on an MSI X399 board, which I no longer have. The bug is best described as like in the OP: The video and mouse cursor freezes for a fraction of a second, but sound continues playing. I get 3 of these stutters one right after the other immediately after the desktop loads and programs are loading in. I will often get the stutter when opening a picture and when opening a video, and often during video playback (stutter once a minute or so).

The threadripper PC has these issues with both stock settigns and overclocked settings.
No RAM errors occur (HCI Memtest and UEFI version of memtest86 pro)
All power plugs are plugged in (24pin + 8pin + 4pin)
No temperatures are overheating, all liquid cooled.
HPET off or on makes no diff

I have Win10 on a very basic ivy bridge intel PC with H61 chipset as well and I don't have these stutters on that machine.

I plan on rolling back to Win7 if I can bother slipstreaming all available updates and drivers to the installer to see if it fixes these issues, as I remember Win7 being incredibly responsive and no bloat, hopefully that fixes it.

edit: Windows 7 does not fully fix the issue. The stuttering still exists and the behavior is almost exactly the same: 3 stutters one after the other on OS startup after desktop starts to load (though sometimes it doesn't happen until I open up a picture), and opening some programs causes a single stutter. But the stutters aren't as long. Instead of a full second long stutter, the stutter is only about half a second long. There are other problems with Win7 too; BSOD's (Code D1) with PCI.sys, but can be worked around by setting PCI-E speed to Gen2 instead of Auto)