Sorry for the late reply but I cut my thumb on a straight razor and had to get 4 stitches on my thumb today. lol. I tested some tonight. I did a manual OC last night to 4 GHz (without going through the auto one through AI Suite in windows that changes your settings in the BIOS) and came up with some weird results.
Here's the first screenshot. Notice my clock (4 gigs) and then look down one more line at the DRAM speed. 1373. Should be 1866 to match the speeds of my RAM. It's probably because I'm not in XMP mode but still odd. You will also notice I'm testing with the older BIOS from December that I mentioned downgrading to last night:
Next picture shows my core ratios (39) and the power saving mode being OFF. Nothing is odd about this picture but still figured I'd show:
This next picture is to show that both speedstep and turbo mode are disabled. Speedstep was disabled which I thought (along with the manual OC) would prevent my computer from being able to drop down clocks to save power in any state (even idle):
This next picture shows my speed as being 3303 MHz. I find this odd because it should read 4K MHz to match the clock. I'm not sure this number in the BIOS dynamically changes when you OC but just figured I'd point that out anyways. By the way the RAM only shows as 8GB because I'm only running two sticks. Since this is quad channel memory I need at least two plugged in. These two sticks are the same two that passed my memtest last night. I never put in the rest because I wanted to completely remove the potential of an issue with any of the other sticks (which I believe there is none).
I know one of you asked whether or not hyper threading was enabled. I just wanted to show this screen to you so you'd see that it is, in fact, enabled. All processor cores, as confirmed by the image, are also all enabled:
I thought it might be important to note after I was ready to hit F10 and save the BIOS changes, even though nothing had changed at ALL at this point as far as BIOS settings go, that the BIOS tried to tell me that I was indeed changing the core ratios values from what they were (39) to 39. Kind of odd. I tried to go back into the BIOS again and disable hyper threading (just to see if it would do it again) and it did. No matter what I change here it does the same thing. Not sure if it was a problem or not. I did re-enable hyper threading after this though:
The next image shows the LiveComm.exe process as suspended. I looked this up and apparently it has something to do with the Windows 8 app store? I figured it could possibly be important to show. Also note that in this snapshot my processor is at 0% usage. I thought that was kind of strange even for a near idle state:
The final image, though zoomed in MUCH further than I'd like, shows something pretty important. I went into the power options (sort of shown on the left) and made it so my processor must run at least at 50%. At idle it wasn't going to 50%. It was going to 37%. I ran an intel burn test and the speed never moved but 1-2 MHz off of 1234.0 in either direction (up or down). Task manager reads this as 37% usage @ 1.18 GHz clock. All cores are maxed out at 100%.
I know this was kind of long but I'm trying to keep you all 100% up to date on my findings. The results of these tests for me are inconclusive. I'd be much quicker to blame the motherboard before I blamed the CPU yet I can't be too sure. It's important to note that my boot times since the OC have been BLAZING fast. If I don't hit the delete key fast enough to get into the BIOS it literally zooms past to start windows and I can log in in about a minute. It seems like the OC is affecting my boot times drastically but slows down hard once windows loads. I just wish I knew what the HELL was going on here.
I don't know whether to go through with another RMA to Asus... try formatting again (which I think we all know what'll happen if I do), or just buy a 4930k.
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You might also find it amusing to know that I called Asus today for two reasons. One: I didn't know which address to send the other board to and Two: I wanted to see if a high level tech could help me find the answers to my problem (which I doubted). I thought it might be worth a shot since my dad helped the engineers at Asus (the actual engineers of the boards in Taiwan) and the RAM engineers at Crucial figure out a problem with the 2011 boards and that particular series of RAM we had trouble with. It got us faster RAM out of the deal so heck.. worth a shot giving them a call. At least if I got nowhere in the call I might have a better idea of a potential solution by the time it was over.
Making this assumption was my first mistake.
Got the address from the lady on the phone and, naturally, she wanted me to explain to her my issue before she escalated my case. Fair enough... I played along. She made notes (from what she said) about my case on the computer, updating my file. 20 mins later and 3 times waiting on hold later she tries to transfer me to the tech and I get disconnected (from her end). Call back and give the new lady on the phone my case # and wait for 5 mins on hold. She can't find records of my call. So then SHE asks me to explain my issues to her. 15 minutes later of me explaining to her everything I did she asks me for my motherboard type and CPU. 3 mins later she comes back and tells me the 3930k doesn't work with the Rampage IV since it's not on the list of supported processors (LOL). I tell her she's full of crap (not in those words) and she looks again...
Sure enough I was right (doh). She then tries to tell me it's 100% a CPU problem (she had no clue what it was). I tell her she's full of it. I get put on hold again. 3 mins on hold she comes back and asks me some more questions. I told her I OCd the CPU through ASUS' software from Windows. She then stops asking me questions and tries to tell me I've voided my warranty for OCing because my issues were probably caused by the OC in the first place. She told me I probably damaged vital components on the board. I reminded her that these issues were present at stock settings from the factory from the very beginning. Then when I tell her "why do you guys include OC capability in your software then tell me it's my fault for using it to test for problems?". It's kind of like buying a car with a no questions asked warranty. During the sale the salesperson tells you that this car has new technology built in for super durable and powerful brakes. Your brakes fall off when you use them to avoid an accident right after pulling out of the dealership lot.. then the motor company telling you it's your fault for pressing them too firmly so your warranty is no longer valid for as long as you own the car.
Then when I get extremely angry (I was calm until this point) and tell her I probably know more about computers than everyone working at the technician center and that Asus has terrible customer service she then proceeds to tell me she'll forward my information to her "colleagues" but she couldn't promise anything.
I've been ready to explode ever since that phone call. Sorry for that rant.
BRAIN = FRIED.
