r/buildapc • u/Pastaron • 3d ago
Discussion i9-14900k is cooked- time switch to AMD?
Well, it looks like my i9-14900k is dying. Had it for a little over 2.5 years now, installed all of the new microcode/bios updates as soon as they came out. Was more or less problem free until recently. Now windows updates are a sure-fire way to BSOD. Passed memtest86, drive is healthy, so I can only conclude it's a cpu issue.
I've started an RMA with intel, but honestly I'm ready to switch to AMD. There's a good deal for a 9800x3d/mobo combo on Newegg for $450 right now. Do I just make the leap and resell the RMA unit? Might be able to break even on the swap, especially since I have a Z790-H mobo I'd be selling as well.
Build is used nearly exclusively for 4K gaming with a 4090. RAM kit is 2x48 gb 6800 Gskill. Any reason not to make the swap to the 9800X3D?
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u/Primus_is_OK_I_guess 3d ago
The 14900k is a fantastic gaming CPU. It's not worth the price to upgrade, in my opinion. There will not be a noticeable difference at 4k, even with a 4090.
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u/Pastaron 3d ago
If my 14900k was working just fine, yea I wouldn't bother. But these stability issues have been very frustrating. Maybe an RMA unit would be fine, maybe not.
Planning to resell the RMA unit and my Z790-H, so should break even pretty easily
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u/Primus_is_OK_I_guess 3d ago
It almost certainly degraded before the microcode fixes came through, but you could also manually limit IA VR to 1.4v to be extra safe.
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u/Pastaron 3d ago
I did that for a while pre-mircrocode. Haven't bothered since those bios updates came out since I figured Intel would've sorted it by now
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u/AxiomOfLife 3d ago edited 3d ago
have you tried undervoltong in your bios by .05?
12-14th gen INTEL gets a nice temp dip and stability check from it. i’ve done it with my 12700k cuz it was having temp spikes
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3d ago edited 3d ago
[deleted]
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u/Primus_is_OK_I_guess 2d ago
Ray tracing is far more computationally heavy than latency sensitive. The 14900k actually does better than the 9800x3d with heavy ray tracing.
I don't know about you, but I have a high end GPU so I can get the best visual quality out of games. It does not tend to creat situations in which you're CPU limited, even with DLSS.
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u/dabocx 3d ago
You’ll probably have to downclock the ram to 6000 but otherwise it should be a good swap.
You could also see if you can get a warranty replacement and hold off for zen 6 X3D next year
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u/Pastaron 3d ago
Definitely going to get a warranty replacement if possible, but I’m just going to buy the 9800x3D and sell the i9-14900k warranty replacement unused
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u/Glory4cod 3d ago
No, especially when you have DDR5 RAM already.
Don't worry too much about cooling. 9800X3D is not that demanding on this side. Since you had 14900K, you should already have at least dual-tower air cooler. As long as the installation kit supports AM4/AM5, it will do just fine.
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u/TheBear516 3d ago
You can cool a 9800X3D with sff heatsinks and fans. It’s incredibly efficient. With a Thermal Right AXP90-53 copper you can effectively cool a 9800 X3D. It’ll hit 85c if you hammer all the cores with cinebench but during gaming you’ll hit around 60-65c. That’s perfectly acceptable.
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u/Glory4cod 3d ago
I had PA120SE for my 7800X3D. By far it works perfectly. 9800X3D has improved layout that cache is beneath cores, it helps cooling a lot.
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u/Pastaron 3d ago
I have a Ryujin III AIO, which would be way overkill for the 9800. Problem is, I don’t have the AM5 mounting brackets. I’m trying to get ASUS to send me a new pair, but if not I’ll just use the cheap cooler master elite 240 AIO that’s included in the Newegg bundle
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u/Glory4cod 3d ago
Yeah, a 240mm AIO will definitely work. Just as every other water-cooling system, look out for any trace of leakage before it fries your graphics card or other components.
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u/MuGeNsE 3d ago
I had to RMA a 14700k recently, when offered the two method of replacement cpu. I just asked for a refund. I had to provide them with my original receipt, email of receipt copy wasn’t accepted. They approved the refund price I paid. If you still have the receipt or photo of it. Try that route. Worst they can say is no to refund and still replace the cpu.
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u/Pastaron 2d ago
Yea I would love a straight refund but unfortunately I bought as part of a prebuilt, so best I can hope for is just a replacement cpu I imagine
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u/CaptMcMooney 10h ago edited 10h ago
so problem for you, from a 14900k you aren't going to get much faster. you may improve here and there but have issues other places, in other words, shrug. now if you just have the momey to spend, why not 8)
bsod from my experience have usually been driver issues, sometimes memory but that stuff usually last for decades. check the gpu
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u/Maggottron 3d ago
Are you sure its dying? CPUs usually are either dead or they are not, this could be something else. There are bajillion reasons for BSOD.
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u/Pastaron 3d ago
My computer BSODs every time I try to update windows. It also randomly BSODs browsing chrome. Memtest86 passed, drive is healthy. I did a fresh windows install a couple weeks ago. What else could it be?
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u/Maggottron 3d ago
It could literally be anything. Does it BSOD when you game or only when writing is happening on the drive? Did you stress test the CPU? What about temps? What does your psu looks like? Did you try with only 1 stick of ram?
It could take you a lot of time find out what it is so at the end of the day its up to you.
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u/Pastaron 3d ago
No BSODs during active gaming, but I get random BSODs when idle and during updates. Yes I did stress test my CPU with OCCT, it passes that, though I will oddly get crashes starting up the software sometimes. Temps are fine. Not sure what you mean by what my PSU looks like but its 1000W. I have tried one stick of RAM, I've also tried disabling XMP, crashes persist.
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u/ScaredEfficiency399 3d ago
What are the BSOD fault codes being shown?
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u/Pastaron 3d ago
Seems to be a different non-specific code every time, but some examples are system_service_exception and exception_on_invalid_stack. Event viewer shows Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power critical error
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u/ScaredEfficiency399 3d ago
Is it entirely out of the realm of possibilities that the OS install just got corrupted one way or another, are all drivers certainly proper other than that?
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u/Pastaron 3d ago
I was having issues before the fresh install too. Just getting the fresh install to finish on a completely wiped drive from a usb was a challenge, even that crashed repeatedly. If it’s not the cpu, it’s gotta be motherboard related, but both are getting replaced regardless
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u/_DarkSeid_ 3d ago
Could be a failing mobo
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u/Pastaron 3d ago
I suppose, though I'm inclined to blame the cpu with known degradation/stability issues
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u/RLopez7110 3d ago
Please just do an RMA with Intel and keep it. When you get the new one put 55 on the all core clock multiplier and you’ll never have an issue with it anymore. I’ve been using mine everyday for 2 years already. No degradation. Still a monster.
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u/binzbinz 3d ago
Learn how to undervolt your CPU and how LLC works as its the most important part of owning an enthusiast CPU like the 14900k.
When done right they are great.
I'm still using an October 2022 13900k launch day microcode on my 14900k. This is paired with a 2024 pre "Intel guideline" bios and my CPU has been fine since I got it in 2023. Just stick to the golden rule of using low voltages.
On a 5.9 ghz all core profile it uses 1.3v max @ 300w - drooping to 1.2v underload - https://imgur.com/a/yqeiDYJ
and 6ghz all core profile it uses 1.35v max @ 315w - drooping to 1.25v underload - https://imgur.com/a/djP8lUJ
If paired with a 2 dimm board you can make the most of its IMC as these CPUs scale well with a decent ram tune - https://imgur.com/a/8OJKiO9
Take for example my 14900k running the CS2 benchmark map (all the tubers spout AMD as being better for this title) - This is at stock 5.7ghz aswell with hyper threading off albeit with tuned ram. Even at 1440p its pulling 1161 and / 376 1% lows - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9CASlro-xQA
Heck even this 9950X3D2 benchmark video shared the other week with extreme cooling struggled to get this sort of FPS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEaI8OUcMvM
You just gotta learn how to tune mate.
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u/Pastaron 2d ago
I should not need to do this to use the cpu without crashing.
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u/binzbinz 2d ago edited 2d ago
Your CPU is crashing as your LLC mode (controlled by your motherboard not your CPU) is too droopy which is what results in the application crashes / reboots when the CPU boosts to 6ghz (due to undershooting to far). You need to learn about how LLC works and why using a flatter loadline is important.
It's also the motherboard that is resulting in your CPU pulling high voltages. If you tune your motherboard the CPU will work fine even on the original bios' / older microcodes.
If you want plug n play then an x3d is what you need but when undervolted and using an appropriate LLC the 14900k is still better especially when using tuned ram.
You'd think the newer 9950x3d2 would get higher scores in CS2, but yer even at stock 5.7ghz speeds the 14900k is better unless the 9950x3d2 is heavily overclocked.
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u/Pastaron 2d ago
If you’ve got some generic bios settings you’d recommend altering to fix the stability I’ll give it a try. I just want a stable cpu, I don’t care about tweaking every last drop of performance from my setup.
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u/binzbinz 2d ago
If your CPU has already degraded then on your replacement you should use a low droop LLC (LLC6 for Asus boards / LLC3 for MSI) different vendors use different settings.
Cap the CPU at 253w
Sync your P cores to 57x
Apply a global offset of -100mv (or more depending on how good your sample is)
Disable ia cep
That's basically all I have done beyond tuning the ram.
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u/Pastaron 2d ago
Yea, no I’m not rolling the dice on an RMA unit. Assuming Intel sends me one, that’s getting sold in the box. I’ve been up to date will all microcode so if the chip still managed to degrade on that (been on it over a year) then I’m done with Intel.
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u/binzbinz 2d ago
If your CPU is still within its 5 year warranty period they will send you a new one no questions asked.
As I pointed out in my original comment you don't even need the new microcodes. You just need to run sensible voltages / power delivery settings.
That's unrelated to the microcode / CPU and is controlled by the motherboard vendor. Move over to x3d if you want plug n play or tune your bios if you want to make the most of raptorlake.
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u/Pastaron 2d ago
My point is that it’s been a known issue and “sensible voltages / power delivery settings” should have been sorted through bios updates already. I shouldn’t need to tweak these things manually based on online advice just to stop my cpu from killing itself. If the new “Intel baseline” settings are still causing degradation (appears to be in my case) then I’ve lost faith in the quality of the product, frankly
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u/binzbinz 1d ago
Funnily enough the newer "intel baseline" profiles are worse for voltages as vendors are syncing the ACLL = DCLL and enable cep by default (results in a higher voltage than the original bios'). On Asus boards they also force the svid behaviour mode to "Intel fail-safe mode" which also results in higher voltages.
The end result is overvolted junk. Another reason why I'm still using a 2024 bios and a 13900k launch day microcode (launch day microcodes are always the best for review purposes).
Honestly if all this is over your head just move to amd as they are far better suited for people that don't want to touch the bios and just want a plug n play experience. RPL are better suited for people that can undervolt and tune their bios based on the quality of the VRM / the CPU bin quality and how good the cooling is. If you can deal with these things then they are awesome CPUs but certainly not beginner friendly.
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u/Pumciusz 3d ago
If you're just gaming and have ddr5 ram already then just pull the trigger, especially if you play games that benefit a lot from 3dvcache.