£3K gaming pc issues

[stehal587]

So last Xmas, I bought a high-spec pc here (Specs below) for £3,000.

For the last 3-4 months nearly every game I play crashes to the blue screen of death total restart screen. sometimes it asks me to load optimised bios defaults.

I have tried updating all drivers and Windows updates fresh reinstalling of games / verifying files etc. Sometimes it works for the day sometimes it doesn't. I have a user benchmarck tool to test the rig and it always crashes on the CPU. sometimes I get a temp throttle failure error. im not confidnet in building or dissembling PC components but wondering if this is something i can fix or if should i contact Customer service for a warranty fix and if so how do I go about that?

I mean it crashes playing Genshin which is a mobile game i have a RTX4070ti i should be happy not crying

apologies if this is not the right thread just seeking some help.



Case
FRACTAL POP SILENT CASE TG (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24-Core Processor i9-14900K (Up to 6.0GHz) 36MB Cache
Motherboard
GIGABYTE Z790 GAMING X AX (LGA1700, DDR5, PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 6E)
Memory (RAM)
48GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 5200MHz (2 x 24GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4070 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
4TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
2nd Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H115i ELITE CAPELLIX XT RGB High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NOT REQUIRED
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Monitor
MSI 32" CURVED G32CQ4 E2 - 2560 x 1440, 1ms, 170Hz
Monitor Cables
2 METRE HDMI (M) to DVI (M)
Keyboard & Mouse
ASUS TUF K1 Gaming Keyboard & M3 Gen II Mouse Bundle
Speakers
LOGITECH Z200 2.0 SPEAKERS - 10W
Cable Management
3 x PCS 1.5M Zip Cable Tidy - Professional Cable Management
Printer
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days

 

[SpyderTracks]

Unfortunately those processors are broken, the symptoms your describing are synonymous with degraded silicon.

Intel 13th and 14th Gen confirmed defective

So there's been a lot of upset gathering steam on the inter webs with intermittent games crashes on Intel 13th and 14th gen. Workarounds range from underclocking to disabling ecores. BUT, there are a lot of people finding that simply disabling hyperthreading is a proper solution. The findings...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

It's under warranty so worst comes to the worst, PCS would replace the CPU and you wouldn't be charged

I would give them a call

 

[Scoped Badger]

Unfortunately, it's a known, widespread problem with the 13th/14th Gen Intel CPU's.

Intel 13th and 14th Gen confirmed defective

So there's been a lot of upset gathering steam on the inter webs with intermittent games crashes on Intel 13th and 14th gen. Workarounds range from underclocking to disabling ecores. BUT, there are a lot of people finding that simply disabling hyperthreading is a proper solution. The findings...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

There isn't a definite 'fix' as such, but Intel have released a microcode update that slows down the degradation. Whether that's going to help, I honestly couldn't tell you. We've had people come here with this problem many times.

This is the official word from PCS:

Intel 13th/14th Gen Notice

Dear Customers, We are aware of recent discussions regarding potential issues with Intel’s 13th and 14th-generation processors. Here’s an update from PCSpecialist on this matter: Confirmed Issues: Oxidation Issue: Intel has confirmed that a certain batch of the 13th-generation high-end...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[SpyderTracks]

Microcode can’t help fix degradation, once degradation has started you have to replace the CPU, it’s literally melted at the core

 

[Scott]

Such a shame that your thread for advice was missed. It happens from time to time as there are busy months and quiet periods. Please feel free to bump up a thread when not getting a response after a day or so. We would have helped design a very different system that wouldn't have been Intel, even before the catastrophic issues we would have steered anyone away from Intel with their platform limitations and power consumptions.

One thing to try, if it's already on there, is to remove Norton entirely. This can cause some issues and muddy the waters. My thoughts are that the CPU has degraded but it's a good idea to remove any known problematic software first.

 

[stehal587]

Thanks for the replies. appreciate it.

I'll have to call customer services next week to arrange a fix.

To avoid this happening again, could you recommend what CPU I should request as a replacement given my current set up?

I'm a complete novice at this and thought i did well last time, ... clearly not

 

[Martinr36]

Thanks for the replies. appreciate it.

I'll have to call customer services next week to arrange a fix.

To avoid this happening again, could you recommend what CPU I should request as a replacement given my current set up?

I'm a complete novice at this and thought i did well last time, ... clearly not

Unfortunately you're stuck with Intel

 

[Scoped Badger]

Thanks for the replies. appreciate it.

I'll have to call customer services next week to arrange a fix.

To avoid this happening again, could you recommend what CPU I should request as a replacement given my current set up?

I'm a complete novice at this and thought i did well last time, ... clearly not

There is no fix, that's the point. You could swap the CPU out for another one, but it's almost certain that you'll have the same problem.

As it's an Intel build, you can only choose another Intel CPU due to the socket on your motherboard. Changing to AMD would require a motherboard change, so would require a complete rebuild, and I'm not even sure it's something PCS offer.

 

[Scott]

Thanks for the replies. appreciate it.

I'll have to call customer services next week to arrange a fix.

To avoid this happening again, could you recommend what CPU I should request as a replacement given my current set up?

I'm a complete novice at this and thought i did well last time, ... clearly not

If it's just for gaming the 14600K would be the least problematic offering while still offering good performance. If it's for higher end multi-threaded applications then you may be better with the likes of the 14900, rather than the K model. You just need the voltages toned down a bit, which a new BIOS will also help with.

 

[stehal587]

Hi guys

Thanks for the responses. i've taken note to request a 14600k if it comes to getting a replacement. slight update though and I could use a 2nd opinion on what to do.

while reading through the links and articals you posted. one suggested turning off the Hyperthreading in the bios menus. I have no clue about bios but I have done this and it seems to have worked (at least for now). I haven't had a crash in 3 days and it's back to running smoothly, whereas before it would crash constantly if it started any games at all.

I'm wondering if it is still in my best interest to have PCS look over it or if this is a long term fix. im still under warranty but I'll be honest and say I don't know what hyperthreading is nor do i care so long as my pc is working.

so what would you do in my position? keep it as is and hope the issue doesn't return or go through the replacement option if this is some permanent defect that will return one day.

cheers.

 

[TonyCarter]

Turning off hyper threading is a band-aid solution, as it's basically reducing the CPU's workload by limiting each core to a single thread of work (instead of 2 threads per performance core).

Effectively you turn your multi-thread performance cores into single-thread efficiency cores - thus partially hobbling your CPU.

 

[Scott]

I would definitely still look at a replacement. Even if you opted for the same CPU and disabled Hyperthreading after receipt, at least you would be starting from a known stable position. Mitigating the potential degradation of a CPU is far better than mitigating the affects of an already degraded CPU. I would suggest the current stability is temporary.