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Motherboard makers apparently to blame for high-end Intel Core i9 CPU failures | Ars Technica (arstechnica.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/technology

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Earlier this month, we wrote that some of Intel's recent high-end Core i9 and Core i7 processors had been crashing and exhibiting other weird issues in some games and that Intel was investigating the cause.

An Intel statement obtained by Igor's Lab suggests that Intel's investigation is wrapping up, and the company is pointing squarely in the direction of enthusiast motherboard makers that are turning up power limits and disabling safeguards to try to wring a little more performance out of the processors.

"While the root cause has not yet been identified, Intel has observed the majority of reports of this issue are from users with unlocked/overclock capable motherboards," the statement reads. "Intel has observed 600/700 Series chipset boards often set BIOS defaults to disable thermal and power delivery safeguards designed to limit processor exposure to sustained periods of high voltage and frequency."

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[–] GuStJaR 49 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I was having issues with crashes in multiple games but rdr2 was the worst. I had a rig built with an i9 14900k and Asus hero z790.

I think I finally found the solution and it was to do with the default bios settings for my Asus MB and my i9 14900k.

In the document linked here...

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/content-details/743844/13th-generation-intel-core-and-intel-core-14th-generation-processors-datasheet-volume-1-of-2.html

Page 98, Table 17, Row 3: Reveals the stock turbo power limits for the 13900K and 14900K CPUs are 253W, not the 4,000+ my MB's Bios settings default to. Page 184, Table 77, Row 6: Lists the maximum current limit at 307A, far below the MB's default of 500+A.

I found this information in a Reddit post (https://www.reddit.com/r/overclocking/comments/1axepvu/optimizing_stability_for_intel_13900k_and_14900k/) and followed the settings as follows:

ASUS Z790 Motherboards:

Save your current settings into a profile so you can return to them later if you want.

Reset your BIOS to default settings. Ai Tweaker tab:

Disable MultiCore Enhancement.

Enable XMP(if your RAM supports it).

Set SVID behavior to Typical Scenario.

Set short duration turbo power = 253

Set long duration turbo power = 253

Set max core/cache current = 307Amps

Doing this immediately stabilised the CPU temps as well as bring down the average temp by ~10 to 15c. It's been a few months now with zero crashes.

Hope this helps someone

[–] JackFrostNCola 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

This is not a typo right, 307Amps?!
What creative maths have they done to get this number?

The PCB tracks on the motherboard are what, about 0.5mm thick and about 2mm wide (for the larger channels)? I can absolutely guarantee you arent getting 300+ Amps through those tracks.

Update: Thanks for the replies, it makes sense when dealing with these extremely low voltages and TIL a lot. Cheers!

[–] TechNerdWizard42 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Oh but you are. It's at 0.8v to 1.2v range so it's high current.

This is what all the VRM design is for. The motherboards are generally 20-30 layers nowadays with 2oz copper in the power layers. The traces are short and you do get hundreds of amps.

And yes, I've designed them on the silicon side.

[–] JackFrostNCola 1 points 7 months ago

Thanks!

[–] AnyOldName3 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's a 250W+ part running at around 1V, so it's going to draw a lot of current. Power is supplied via many pins on the back of the CPU, and they're connected to many traces, so it's not putting all that current through just one. It still puts out a lot of heat anyway, which is why modern motherboards have large heat sinks, sometimes with fans, on their VRMs.

[–] JackFrostNCola 2 points 7 months ago

Thanks!

[–] RedWeasel 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That is 253watts at 1.21ish volts. Multiply those together and you get around 307. Divide 307 by 253 to get the exact voltage based on those number.

[–] JackFrostNCola 1 points 7 months ago

Thanks!