Unable to run Prime95/OCCT

[mitsuharu]

Hey guys, I just got my computer two days ago and have been plagued with this problem ever since then. Whenever I run Prime95, I pretty much get an instant BSoD, usually with a seemingly random error. If I run OCCT, I either BSoD, get an error message less than a minute into the test, or the computer freezes. The temperatures I'm seeing are around 45°C idle and they get to 70°C before I get the errors. I have run Memtest for 20 hours and received no errors, so I believe I can count out bad RAM. I'm using Windows 7 Professional.

My Specs
CD: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive
CAS: * AZZA Solano 1000 Full-Tower Advance Cooling Case w/ Dual 230mm Fan + Extra 3 Fans
CS_FAN: Maximum Enermax 120MM Case Cooling Fans for selected case (Maximum Silent Operation) (1,000 RPM Black Color with No LED Enlobal Magnetic Barometric Bearing 17 dBA)
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-975 Extreme Edition 3.33 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1366
CARE2: CoolerMaster Thermal Fusion 400 Extreme Performance CPU - Thermal Compound Optimized for Thermal Dissipation
CARE3: Professional Wiring for All WIRING Inside The System Chassis - Minimize Cable Exposure, Maximize Airflow in Your System
FAN: Xigmatek Dark Knight-S1283V Gaming CPU Cooling Fan (Double layer H.D.T. technology for maximum cooling)
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
HDD: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (1TB x 2 (2 TB Capacity) Raid 0 Extreme Performance)
MOTHERBOARD: * (3-Way SLI Support) GigaByte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Ultra Durable™3 Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 Dobly Audio, eSATA, GbLAN, USB3.0, 2 x SATA-III RAID, IEEE1394a, 4 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1 & 1 PCI
MB_ADDON: Asus U3S6 True 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x SATA-II PCIe X4 Expansion Card
MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module(A-Data Gaming Series with Heat Spreader )
MULTIVIEW: Xtreme Performance in SLI/CrossFireX Gaming Mode Supports Single Monitor
NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OS: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional (64-bit Edition)
OVERCLOCK: Extreme OC (Extreme Overclock 20% or more)
POWERSUPPLY: Corsair Gaming Power Supplies (* 1,000 Watts HX1000W Power Supply - Quad SLI Ready)
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 1.25GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+311] (EVGA Superclocked)
VIDEO2: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 1.25GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+385] (EVGA Superclocked)
WNC: PCI Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Interface Card


CPU-Z

 

[tecmo34]

Check your heat sink and make sure it is full seat / applied!!!

Based on your CPU-Z screen, your i7 975 has down clocked to 1.8 to protect it's self from thermal issues. I would expect that the heat sink has loosen during transportation and needs reapplied.

 

[mitsuharu]

Check your heat sink and make sure it is full seat / applied!!!

Based on your CPU-Z screen, your i7 975 has down clocked to 1.8 to protect it's self from thermal issues. I would expect that the heat sink has loosen during transportation and needs reapplied.

Thanks, I'll try it out and let you know how it turns out. I actually have a cooler installed over the cpu, but I'll try taking that off and see if everything underneath is seated correctly.

 

[mitsuharu]

Well, the core speed idles around 1.8 but after reapplying the cooler, Prime95 does not bluescreen. Now it just crashes. So I guess I'm getting a little closer to stability.

OCCT is still giving me errors. Latest one was detected on Core #3.

 

[tecmo34]

Question: When you took off the cooler, did you clean off the old thermal compound and reapply new thermal compound (here is a good method... http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=5 ) before putting the heat sink back on? If not, you are not getting good thermal transfer resulting in overheating issues.

Does the i7-975 jump back up to speed (or your overclocked speed) when you put it underload? I just want to make sure your CPU-Z screen isn't showing an energy saving function when the board down clocks the CPU at idle.

 

[mitsuharu]

I did not remove what was already there. The 975 does jump back up to 4.0Mhz when under load.

 

[tecmo34]

You will need to take the heat sink back off, clean off the thermal compound on the CPU & heat sink and reapply thermal compound & heat sink.

Since you didn't reapply thermal compound, you have created air voids between the heat sink and CPU, so it isn't getting proper thermal transfer of heat.

 

[mitsuharu]

After doing all of that, I'm still getting bluescreens running Prime95 within seconds. Could it really be that my CPU is bad? I haven't even tried running anything on the machine except Prime and OCCT. I've been using HWMonitor + CPU-z to monitor things. The idle temperature is around 48C and I see them jump up to 72 when prime starts.

 

[tecmo34]

I think it is time to contact CyperPower or whom ever you bought it from. It sounds like either there is something defective or the "overclock" you paid for wasn't actually sent stable.

 

[mitsuharu]

Yeah, I'm waiting on them to get back to me. But it's only been a day + holiday weekend + I've been at work all day today so I couldn't catch them before they closed.

*Edit* Jul 4: I cleared the cmos, loaded the optimized defaults, and have successfully run OCCT (Stopped on a CPU too hot error instead of core error) and Prime95. The OC CyberPower did was unstable, but the components are fine. My CPU does run a little warmer than I want (Still hitting 70C almost instantly under load and around 43C idle). I'm going to try reapplying the thermal paste again.

*Edit 2* After cleaning the paste off and replacing the cooler again, temps are fine running OCCT. Max is about 72C, which is still pretty high, but doable. But I'm really glad I don't have to send this computer back. Everything else about it is perfect.

 

[mitsuharu]

Best answer selected by mitsuharu.