Intel 600P going bad?

[mcraygsx]

It has been a difficult week for me troubleshooting my gaming PC. I built a gaming PC about 10 months ago and has worked flawlessly. Only upgrade I've made since then is TITAN XP which replaced Asus 1070 in July.

I only have two games installed on this PC which are World of Warcraft and Rainbow Six Siege. Within first 5-10 min of playing, system slowly becomes unresponsive. Within few seconds it will crash BSOD with either kernel data inpage error or critical process died. This issue started this past weekend.

Besides gaming, System works flawless and passed every single stress test I could throw at it ( Overclocked or stock settings )!. I used Windows memory diagnostics (mdsched.com), CHKDSK, Intel TOOLBOX for disk check, Intel Xtreme Tuning Utility, Prime95,

So far to troubleshoot I have

1) Reinstalled fresh Windows 10 Enterprise twice from official ISO.
2) Downloaded & did fresh installation of software/driver/game on this PC (downloads were made from different workstation from official sites).
3) Replaced all four RAM modules while using different slots on M/B. I even tried with a single module installed.
4) Using latest BIOS for Maximux IX .
5) Tried default settings from BIOS without any form of OC.
6) Tried using 600p NVME in both Slots m.2 on m/b.
6) Completely disassembled & reassembled PC from fresh including CPU.

Problem still remains .

Anyways this morning I was about to order entire new PC for gaming or move all data/games to my workstation both of which are inconveniences. One last effort I made was to replaced Intel 600P nvme with old SSD Samsung 850 PRO and plugged into a SATA port. I did clone the data from intel 600p to Samsung 850 PRO and seems like issue has been isolated! 6 hours and system is working flawlessly!

Intel 600p usually runs very hot 59c under normal load (thats why I installed small RAM heatsinks on SMI controller which gets extreme hot to touch) and TITAN XP does not help since it virtually radiates heat inside this huge case despite the fact Thermal View 71 has excellent airflow.

At this point I am still not convinced that Intel 600P is faulty since it is only 10 months old with barely any data written on it. Could both m.2 slots on M/B be bad?, could there be something wrong with 7700K itself?

Seems like its time to RMA Intel 600p, 7700K or Maximux IX but I am not sure what to RMA.

Turning to TPU for Assistance or recommendations.

Intel 7700K
Maximux IX Code
G.SKill TridentZ 48GB 14-14-14-34
Intel 600p NVME 512
OS Windows 10 Enterprise 1803
Titan XP with thermaltake PCI extension cable
EVGA Supernova 1000W P2

Most of the specs are in my profile

Updated: On side note, each time system crashes, it refuse to POST until I get into BIOS via safe_boot button on m/b and white Q LED turns ON Maximux IX which points to problem with VGA.

 

[eidairaman1]

Probably defective, shelve it for now till you are sure it is that.

 

[Static~Charge]

Are you running the latest firmware on the 600p? Check out this page:

Support information for Intel SSD 600p Series
https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...rage/consumer-ssds/intel-ssd-600p-series.html

I don't know if you installed these utilities, but it's worth mentioning:

Intel SSD Firmware Update Tool
Version: 3.0.1
Date: 29-Mar-2018

Intel Solid State Drive Toolbox
Version: 3.5.3
Date: 06-Aug-2018

 

[mcraygsx]

Probably defective, shelve it for now till you are sure it is that.

I never had a critical component die on me like ever. I still have Pentium II with 440BX and AT power supply that still runs fine.

I am having difficult time wrapping my head around the fact that this otherwise flawless working nvme could go bad this soon. Cant tell if both m.2 slots on m/b gone bad or is it 600p causing issues. I have put this drive thru stress test and it checks out just fine.

Are you running the latest firmware on the 600p? Check out this page:

Support information for Intel SSD 600p Series
https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...rage/consumer-ssds/intel-ssd-600p-series.html

I don't know if you installed these utilities, but it's worth mentioning:

Intel SSD Firmware Update Tool
Version: 3.0.1
Date: 29-Mar-2018

Intel Solid State Drive Toolbox
Version: 3.5.3
Date: 06-Aug-2018

I am glad you asked because I overlooked. I updated the firmware to 121C long time ago (when it was purpchased) and ever since then there has been no updates from Intel. I did ran Full Diagnostics Scan using Intel SSD Toolbox twice and it passed and it still have 99% Estimate Life remaining. No issues when I scheduled/ran CHKDSK either.

 

[m&m's]

The only way you'll know for sure it's the drive is by using it in another computer.
OR
Find another NVMe drive to test your computer.

 

[newtekie1]

System slowly becoming unresponsive then crashing sounds like something is overheating to me.

 

[mcraygsx]

System slowly becoming unresponsive then crashing sounds like something is overheating to me.

That was my very first impression as well.

Scenario:

Running WOW on Monitor 1 @1440, Titan XP reaches 84c and stays there while reducing its clock to adjust. Averages around 1570 Mhz from initial 1880Mhz.
Running HW monitor, GPUz and Task manager on Monitor 2 along Microsoft Edge open with one tab of TPU.

Within first 2 to 7 minutes into game. Music/Sound will start to act odd.
WOW will crash back into Login screen.

Monitor 1 will go blank while tasks are working fine on Monitor 2.

Within 30sec or so after, Monitor 2 will go blank. (All temps are within normal range including ave 59c on 600p according to HWMONITOR)

Under 30-60 sec I will get Windows crash message. At this point all I can do is restart the PC and it wont POST since VGA error message is displayed via Q-LED on mainboard.

Above scenario was repeatable.

When it comes to Rainbow Six Siege, it will also crash in almost similar fashion but more at random. It might have something to do CPU/GPU heats up but by the time temperate climbs, rounds is already over and components are sitting idle while we pick operators and such.

Besides gaming, I can run all sorts of stress test and it will work just fine. Last night I ran Superposition benchmark for hours and not a single crash.

Intel 600P sites 5inches behind a Vertically mounted GPU via Thermaltake TT gamuing PCI-E riser cable. It is impossible to touch 600p heatsink since Titan XP radiates intense amount of heat from behind directly onto the board. I used Digital IR thermometer to take readings off of a heatsink on 600P and its surface temps while idling is close to 66c and gets upto 88c while gaming.

 

[newtekie1]

Intel 600P sites 5inches behind a Vertically mounted GPU via Thermaltake TT gamuing PCI-E riser cable. It is impossible to touch 600p heatsink since Titan XP radiates intense amount of heat from behind directly onto the board. I used Digital IR thermometer to take readings off of a heatsink on 600P and its surface temps while idling is close to 66c and gets upto 88c while gaming.

This makes me believe that the heat from the two is overheating something, possibly some component on the GPU but also possibly something on the NVMe drive. The temp sensors don't tell you everything, just because the GPU isn't overheating doesn't mean a VRM component isn't overheating and causing failure.

I also be there is very little airflow behind that GPU, allowing heat in the space between back of the GPU and SSD to just keep building up.

There are a few things I would try:

1.) Try to get a fan somehow pointed at that area, to get some airflow in the area behind the GPU.
2.) Flip the PSU over, so the PSU fan is pulling the hot are out of that area. Yes this means the PSU is pulling in hot air, but they are designed for that.
3.) Move the GPU and connect it directly to the PCI-E slot on the motherboard. I know this won't look as good, and it doesn't have to be permanent, but it is something to try as a diagnostic step. I'd try this first actually just to see if moving the heat from the back of the GPU away from the heat of the SSD fixes the problem.

 

[mcraygsx]

This makes me believe that the heat from the two is overheating something, possibly some component on the GPU but also possibly something on the NVMe drive. The temp sensors don't tell you everything, just because the GPU isn't overheating doesn't mean a VRM component isn't overheating and causing failure.

I also be there is very little airflow behind that GPU, allowing heat in the space between back of the GPU and SSD to just keep building up.

There are a few things I would try:

1.) Try to get a fan somehow pointed at that area, to get some airflow in the area behind the GPU.
2.) Flip the PSU over, so the PSU fan is pulling the hot are out of that area. Yes this means the PSU is pulling in hot air, but they are designed for that.
3.) Move the GPU and connect it directly to the PCI-E slot on the motherboard. I know this won't look as good, and it doesn't have to be permanent, but it is something to try as a diagnostic step. I'd try this first actually just to see if moving the heat from the back of the GPU away from the heat of the SSD fixes the problem.

I will try above steps in few min.
Ever since I removed Intel 600p from m.2 and installed a SATA Samsung 850 PRO instead, system seems to be normal and have yet to crash.
I will post the findings in few hours.

 

[mcraygsx]

I've spend quite sometime re adjusting airflow in the case and Installed two additional fans besides the 3x stock RNG fans on View 71. Unfortunately system still suffers from BSOD at random intervals whenever 600p is installed in either m.2 slots.

 

[Caring1]

Pretty sure thermal sensors in those Intel drives throttle them intentionally to reduce heat, perhaps an M.2. extension cable to remotely mount the drive is needed.