Question about possible defective 5950x

bigbluefe

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My computer used to occasionally reboot when it was idle or near idle (like if I left a playlist on in VLC overnight or something like that). Never happened during load or while playing a game. After I changed the idle power setting and disabled c states in the BIOS, it's been rock solid. Is it possible that my CPU is just weak ass? It seems weird that I had to change those things to shut it up.

The error was Event 18, WHEA-Logger
A fatal hardware error has occurred.

Reported by component: Processor Core
Error Source: Machine Check Exception
Error Type: Cache Hierarchy Error
Processor APIC ID: 0

The details view of this entry contains further information.
 
Are you overclocked?

I'm using DOCP and PBO. Basically everything else is default. The thing is, it only ever happened when the system was basically idle. The machine ran Prime95 for 24 hours successfully too.
 
So, there's an idle power draw issue on some BIOS with those chips. My Aorus Elite had the same problem (3950 instead of the 5950, but same idea) - there's a setting in BIOS for it (fake idle draw) to keep it from undervolting so far that it dies at idle. All I had to do was set that and the reboots went away. AMD isn't quite as good at power management as intel yet- and tries to undervolt too much.
 
So, there's an idle power draw issue on some BIOS with those chips. My Aorus Elite had the same problem (3950 instead of the 5950, but same idea) - there's a setting in BIOS for it (fake idle draw) to keep it from undervolting so far that it dies at idle. All I had to do was set that and the reboots went away. AMD isn't quite as good at power management as intel yet- and tries to undervolt too much.
Thanks - upgrading from a 5900X to a 5950X soon. Can you please be more specific as to the exact name of the setting, and what you set it to?
 
I had a 5800X that got WHEA errors all the time too, I eventually got tired of dicking with it and running with PBO and c-states off so I sent it in to get replaced. AMD tried to give me the runaround but eventually got me a new one that works perfectly.

I'd advise to just fight it out with them and make them get you a new one because its not likely anything you do will fix it. I ended up with 3 kits of RAM, 2 motherboards besides the 3rd one I returned to amazon, extra power supplies, etc. It was the dang chip the whole time. Like someone said above, they downvolt aggressively and not all the chips can handle it. IMO its not my problem, it should all work out of the box in the year 2022.
 
Thanks - upgrading from a 5900X to a 5950X soon. Can you please be more specific as to the exact name of the setting, and what you set it to?
Sorry for the potato pics. The area this box is in has a lot of late day sun on the screen (it’s a server that doubles as a VR box).

edit: First pic is the actual setting, second is where it is on this board.
 

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I just had a 5800X3D fail on me. Had a perfect day with it and then woke up the next morning to craziness. Replaced PSU, mobo, tried different sticks - finally it was the CPU. It is honestly the last thing that I would ever check. I've been building for over 20 years and I've never had a bad CPU.

I was lucky that it was within my return window at MicroCenter so I didn't have to deal with AMD. With my 5950X I had weirdness that eventually went away but dealing with AMD was like a brick wall.

Present your case with all of the steps that you've completed and be professional and most support people will just let you do your thing. You're asking to swap CPUs it is not like you want them to send you something for free. It's a giant PITA and one of the worst things to have to replace.
 
could be an issue with the power supply
People really need to stop going there first. If he was having issues with a power supply, it would present as a different problem. PSU issues would also generally occur under load, not at idle.
 
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I'm using DOCP and PBO. Basically everything else is default. The thing is, it only ever happened when the system was basically idle. The machine ran Prime95 for 24 hours successfully too.
I would reset to defaults including memory and see what happens. If it still misbehaves you need to try a different steps such as a different CPU, then different memory. Troubleshooting issues like this can be a PITA. If not move to Orlando and have Greg Salazar troubleshoot it for you lol.
 
what is your RAM speed? I can run DOCP with my PC4000 ram, but I do have issues when running that high due to the IMC not being able to handle that speed. I'm rock solid at 3800mhz CL16 though.
 
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