PC Processors

[Astar]

I have an (AMD 3950x) on an (ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero) *newest BIOS installed. Next I have an extremely low CAS latency RAM Kit - G.Skill Royal 3200 CL14 32GB (F4-3200C14D-32GTRG). With a Rosewill Glacier 1000w 80 Plus Bronze PSU. The video card is an MSI rx 6800 16GB. And I have two separate PCIe power connectors connected (not on the same line)

But when I enable PCIe 4.0 it seems to randomly lag / crash my AMD RX 6800 video card driver which gives me a warning message detected a "driver time out : send report?" Mostly I've only noticed it in the desktop when viewing live streams such as on Twitch especially when switching between tabs/streamers (this tends to auto switch the video resolution from 1080p to 480p when not watching - then switching back to the tab it goes back to 1080p) and or the problem happens when switching between full screen & windowed video. However today I also had the same time out error happen while just watching a stream in full screen (but another tidbit about Twitch sometimes when watching a stream the bit rate of the streamer might drop & thus the resolution also drops - again switching from 1080p to 480p). So the time out errors could be related to switching video modes or initializing a new mode. To be more specific about what is happening - while watching Twitch the video will lag/pause or look like it's buffering yet my laptop right with much lesser hardware next to it is running the same stream fine - then resume OR crash the driver - and the AMD driver might recover.

Please note : I have not had a chance to test out games/3D since I just installed the MSI RX 6800 a day or two ago... I did run FurMark MSI Kombuster & Unigin Heaven and loaded up a game or two to test the video card was working. But the issue I am having seems to only happen once or twice a day (so I did not notice the problem happen while benchmarking). I might add this is my 1st PCIe 4.0 card installed on this motherboard. Prior to this I only ever used PCIe 3.0 cards (without issue). Since I noticed this issue as soon as I moved to the rx 6800 (or a PCIe 4.0 card) I began to suspect PCIe 4.0 to be the issue. And so earlier today I decided to change the BIOS setting for the PCIe 1 slot (the video card is in) to run at PCIe GEN 3 (from GEN 4) and I have not noticed the driver time out issue happen since.

I have this feeling that there might be something wrong with the 3950x CPU... does anyone know if AMD makes a test program that might check the CPU for errors? (I'm not speaking about a benchmark program - but something produced by AMD to test/verify the various sections inside their CPUs - like testing the cores, the memory controller, PCIe bus etc etc...)

HOWEVER: 

Something else I noticed... while searching for an old hard to find app I manually chose to visit a site that was flagged as bad and blocked me from entering (I chose enter anyway). Figuring I have multiple ad blockers a hardware firewall (built in high end router) up and had turned on a 3rd party anti-virus scanner with web protection - I entered the site & grabbed the file then I scanned my PC - it found a malware/virus called "pup-optional-spigot" which I have deleted & quarantined multiple times but it keeps re-downloading itself again. I also noticed that the time out error I am having happens when using this browser. And my virus scanner keeps preventing it from accessing the web around the same time. So it could be related to this. I am going to run some deeper scans to see if it finds whatever key or entry that keeps re-downloading this file. (Kind of odd that switching from PCIe GEN 4 to 3 would fix this tho hence why I lean towards a CPU issue.)

[cpurpe91]

I do not know of any software build by AMD specifically to test your CPU for errors however you may want to try running the recommended drivers if you aren't already. 22.9.2 is optional and should be treated as beta, while 22.5.1 is recommended since it has been thoroughly tested. 

I recommend reporting the bugs as they appear and give details so they can work on it and patch it. I had similar issues where if I were watching a video on YouTube and changed the window size the display driver would crash. 

I have heard disabling hardware acceleration can help with this specific issue. However, I cannot confirm this. 

[Astar]

(I attempted to reply to your post right after you commented - but I kept getting an error that I was posting too many times within so many seconds) Here is what I attempted to post/reply: Yes I only use the WHQL AMD drivers. (unless I am testing frame rates then I might play with the newer uncertified drivers) I also tested the newest AMD WHQL Pro drivers. It happens with both drivers.

With such high end hardware one shouldn't have to disable hardware acceleration (That kind of defeats the point of paying for high end hardware)

I also submitted the error to AMD - but I am assuming it's not a driver issue but a problem with the hardware (CPU) - (I also forgot to mention the CPU got some bent pins at one point from someone else who removed it - which I very carefully corrected the pins - I am thinking perhaps one of the pins related to the PCIe bus is bent enough that it's making contact but also not quite - so maybe every so often the gap between the pin/socket is just not quite solid enough and it causes this error)

[Vynski]

I hear you.  I too have been building and fixing computers for almost 40 years now.  Everything you have done is about as much as can be done.  Like you, the hardware you have chosen is almost everything that I would have used for a build. 

The problems your addressing still cause me to consider the bent or possibly broken pins.  There was damage there and the only way that will be resolved is to try another CPU.  There are a lot of questions concerning the "used" CPU.  Was it overclocked and what kind of voltages were used in the overclocking?  

I have 1 desktop with a 3900X CPU with an RX5700 GPU and have not encountered any of these types of problems in streaming.  I'm not a hard-core gamer at all, but what games I do enjoy I have had no problems.  

This is strictly opinion now.  I have always found comparable Intel CPU's to be inferior to their AMD counterparts.  Also, with computer components, you tend to get what you pay for.

[DimkaTsv]

To test CPU - Core Cycler (basically combines P95 + Y-Cr and adds few twists with config, allowing for per core test)/ Prime95 (Smallest and Small FFT)/ Y-Cruncher
To test GPU - MSI Kombustor (artifact scanners on high FPS and memory intensive stuff), maybe OCCT, but it isn't very precise, as it tends to lower frequency quite a bit. Unigine Superposition or 3D Mark TimeSpy, then games like CoD Warzone (notorious for crashing seemingly stable setups for me)
To test RAM and/or IMC- Y-cruncher, Prime95 - Large or Mixed FFT, Testmem5 with Anta777 Extreme or ABSOLUT configs, Core cycler with large FFT setup can also trigger random errors

Also there is some known issue with idle crashes, but it is probably not your case.
GPU undervolt can kind of cause screen transition instability (sound and image freeze), more noticable on low load applications (noticed myself with MTGA). Also if GPU is heavy (and 6800 kind of is heavy one, if my 6750XT is heavy enough), then process GPU sag (you don't need much actually) can technically cause PCI-E contact instability causing image freezes or crashes up to system lockdown, but then there should be some point at which sagging should stop by tension forces. (Tbh my system is bit of jank at this point, as my GPU rests on SATA cable with port on mobo, and after my revelation i put folded paper between this SATA cable and one below it so tension will hit both of them and become higher preventing sag more easily)

[Astar]

First off thanks for the reply. The card I have is an MSI Gaming Trio - and it states right on their homepage that it has an anti-bend plate to prevent the card from sagging.

I also stated I ran MSI Kombuster and did a scan for artifacts with none found. (However since my issue happens only 1 or 2 times per day I might try running it longer)

UPDATE: I've been running MSI Kombuster for 55mins now with artifact detection on. Playing multiple Twitch streams YouTube & a NES emulator - where I keep switching from full screen to windowed mode changing V-sync filtering etc... all while Kombuster is running... I have gotten no errors and no artifacts detected. Temps hovering around 62c. Card seems fine to me... at least in PCIe GEN 3 mode. I will re-test again in GEN 4 mode later.

As for the programs recommended none of them actually check cores/mem bus etc they just stress them to see if they fail. It should be easy to program some sort of software that just checks all areas of a CPU to make sure they are functioning correctly. (Like doing a reference check that checks the die to make sure all sections of the CPU are present and functioning - passing some sort of CRC check.)

(I failed to mention that I have a 1000w Roswill 80Plus PSU that has never given me issue)

[Vynski]

I've read all of your replies and just wondered if you have all of the power connecters plugged in.   You have the 24 pin plug but should also have 1 or 2 either 6 or 8 pin plugs on the end of the board.  Make sure that all are getting power.

From one of your posts you implied that this is a used CPU that had some bent pins.  Is that correct/

With the hardware you have there is no reason other than those bent pins.  It is very possible that one or two of them may have been more than bent and even though straightened they are not making a good connection.   

[Astar]

Thanks for the reply. However this might be a bit much of a reply so read it or not. I just figure to avoid further replies I might want to clarify somethings. I am not new to hardware by any means in fact I build and repair PC's for over 30 years now... and I've almost always used high end ATI/AMD video cards.  I am a very hardcore/power user doing loads of multitasking and have been using the internet since before ISP's offered them to the public. (The Universities had internet) I've just never used Ryzen CPU's before - over the years I've had AMD systems here & there but did not like them much going back to my first AMD which was a Pentium Rated CPU and its clock rates were just a "lie" the performance was not better than an actual Intel rated at the speed stated. I got an Opteron later on and did not like that either. So I've been with Intel Xeon's until finding the AMD 3950x which I chose because I am such a hard core user.

So yes I know how to build install and setup a PC - I also repair electronics TV's blu ray players phones stereos speakers motherboards replacing caps repairing damaged sockets etc etc.... so I understand using two different power cables and not using splitters or converters.

[taskforce131]

it is not random it is windows and AMD they both forcing us to get other products... it is bad driver and windows stupid update 

[Astar]

There is literally the entire driver archive online - one can pick from any version ever released. So even if what you stated was true - I don't think it would be possible for every version to have this feature.

[taskforce131]

when dumb windows update keep updating the cheapest driver to the newer version and it force you to update the driver to the new one yes there is no way around this. 

do you think that i did not try the older drivers ??? 

[DimkaTsv]

You do know you can exclude driver packages from windows updated via group policies?

[Astar · Accepted solution]

Solution was not HARDWARE but SOFTWARE.

All games, 3D Benchmarks, 4K movies etc all worked fine. However 4K YouTube and Live streams in Twitch lagged and stuttered. Interestingly when downloading these videos they all played back fine outside the broswer. Pointing to it being some internal renderer in Chrome.

The solution was simple:

In Google Chrome type in the URL "chrome://flags" (without the " marks) then press GO (to go to that page) once open, at the top Search for the word "ANGLE", you should now see "Choose ANGLE graphics backend" which has a drop down menu that is automatically set to "default" (default is D3D11 and seems to be a specific setting designed for powersaving on Laptops). On desktop to eliminate these stutters/powersaving algorythms - click on the down arrow and select "OpenGL" or "D3D11on12" (some users might find D3D9 works better). Try each one to see which works best with your hardware. (note: it might be a good idea to reboot after making this change)