Posting this in OC rather than Intel since this issue has only come up since delidding/relidding with CLP. I'm hoping some of you guys with delidding experience might help me cover any troubleshooting prior to tearing it all back down again.
Build: 4790k (always stock, yes, really), 32GB Mushkin Stealth (stock XMP 1.2 profile), ASRock Z97M OC Formula, GTX 750ti, Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanium 750W. Cooler is Cryorig C1. This is all in a well ventilated MicroATX case.
This is a hackintosh, and I usually run various outboard audio gear and attached RAID over USB, since this PC is used primarily for audio production. However, Win 10 2016 LTSB is also installed for occasional gaming. All testing has been done in Windows so far. When I first set up the machine back in 2015, I tried Prime 95, but gave up when temps kept creeping above 90C, even with a Cryorig H7 (cooler at the time). Since the system ran fine for what I was doing, I let it go. The 4790k has been fine since 2015, but over the last year, I've noticed that Core 1 has been way hotter than the others under load. Idle with the C1 and about 23-24C ambient was mid-30s. Load with audio processing seldom crept above 70.
So I had to go and delid. I used Rockit's tool and followed their procedure exactly but used CLP instead of CLU. I did particular research beforehand on the amount of liquid metal to apply and watched quite a few tutorials very closely, and my application results matched the (good) pics online perfectly. To cover the sensitive areas of the substrate, I used a thin coat of liquid electrical tape instead of nail polish. I left it in the relidding clamp for about 12 hours, ran the machine normally for another 12, then at about 24 hours began testing with Prime95. And here's where we get weird.
Idle temp had evened across all cores and was now upper 20s/low 30s, Prime 29.4 started in the mid-50s, and gradually crept as high as 74, then hovered in the low 70s for about 15 minutes. Then BSOD (interrupt exception not handled). Upon reboot, the system ran for another minute or two, then another BSOD (system service exception). So I completely powered it off. Uttered all the bad words I know. Then powered back on and ran normally for a bit. Then tried Prime 26.6. Temps hovered around upper 50s/lower 60s. Awesome! Just kidding--BSOD (system service exception). Then the same BSOD shortly after reboot. Full power-off again and some more bad words and incoherent sounds of frustration. To make this story shorter, the same pattern repeated when I ran Intel's own IPDT. The initial run of that tool was a pass, so I decided to do the burn-in test and set it on a loop while I went to bed. But... BSOD again just as the second loop had gotten going.
Right now, I'm typing this on the same machine, so if I'm not stressing things, I seem okay. If I had screwed up with the liquid metal, I'm guessing that I would not be running right now, but I don't get why I can't even run Prime95 now where before I could, just with stupidly high temps. Maybe this chip has actually been a turd since 2015 and I just didn't know it? The only thing that has changed in the BIOS over the past few years was the anti-Spectre microcode update a few months back, which I am running (ASRock's BIOS update, not manually updated).
Sorry for the lengthy post, but if anyone has any ideas to offer before I get out the acetone and unlid that chip again to examine my work, I'd appreciate it. I kind of doubt that my application was a failure because I did everything so damn closely to all the guides, etc. Was very, VERY careful not to use too much!
Build: 4790k (always stock, yes, really), 32GB Mushkin Stealth (stock XMP 1.2 profile), ASRock Z97M OC Formula, GTX 750ti, Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanium 750W. Cooler is Cryorig C1. This is all in a well ventilated MicroATX case.
This is a hackintosh, and I usually run various outboard audio gear and attached RAID over USB, since this PC is used primarily for audio production. However, Win 10 2016 LTSB is also installed for occasional gaming. All testing has been done in Windows so far. When I first set up the machine back in 2015, I tried Prime 95, but gave up when temps kept creeping above 90C, even with a Cryorig H7 (cooler at the time). Since the system ran fine for what I was doing, I let it go. The 4790k has been fine since 2015, but over the last year, I've noticed that Core 1 has been way hotter than the others under load. Idle with the C1 and about 23-24C ambient was mid-30s. Load with audio processing seldom crept above 70.
So I had to go and delid. I used Rockit's tool and followed their procedure exactly but used CLP instead of CLU. I did particular research beforehand on the amount of liquid metal to apply and watched quite a few tutorials very closely, and my application results matched the (good) pics online perfectly. To cover the sensitive areas of the substrate, I used a thin coat of liquid electrical tape instead of nail polish. I left it in the relidding clamp for about 12 hours, ran the machine normally for another 12, then at about 24 hours began testing with Prime95. And here's where we get weird.
Idle temp had evened across all cores and was now upper 20s/low 30s, Prime 29.4 started in the mid-50s, and gradually crept as high as 74, then hovered in the low 70s for about 15 minutes. Then BSOD (interrupt exception not handled). Upon reboot, the system ran for another minute or two, then another BSOD (system service exception). So I completely powered it off. Uttered all the bad words I know. Then powered back on and ran normally for a bit. Then tried Prime 26.6. Temps hovered around upper 50s/lower 60s. Awesome! Just kidding--BSOD (system service exception). Then the same BSOD shortly after reboot. Full power-off again and some more bad words and incoherent sounds of frustration. To make this story shorter, the same pattern repeated when I ran Intel's own IPDT. The initial run of that tool was a pass, so I decided to do the burn-in test and set it on a loop while I went to bed. But... BSOD again just as the second loop had gotten going.
Right now, I'm typing this on the same machine, so if I'm not stressing things, I seem okay. If I had screwed up with the liquid metal, I'm guessing that I would not be running right now, but I don't get why I can't even run Prime95 now where before I could, just with stupidly high temps. Maybe this chip has actually been a turd since 2015 and I just didn't know it? The only thing that has changed in the BIOS over the past few years was the anti-Spectre microcode update a few months back, which I am running (ASRock's BIOS update, not manually updated).
Sorry for the lengthy post, but if anyone has any ideas to offer before I get out the acetone and unlid that chip again to examine my work, I'd appreciate it. I kind of doubt that my application was a failure because I did everything so damn closely to all the guides, etc. Was very, VERY careful not to use too much!
Last edited: