System frozen at 800MHz with 14700K processor speed
System frozen at 800MHz with 14700K processor speed
Hello there, I'm really struggling right now. Last night I powered down the PC and came back the next evening to find it running very slowly. Programs loaded slowly, 3D Mark was stuck collecting system info, and no games or benchmarks performed well. When I opened XTU, I noticed P-Cores and E-Cores at 0.80GHz. During the stress test, warnings appeared about throttling. There seemed to be nothing running in the background. Since I turned it back on, the problem hasn't changed. I haven’t adjusted anything while it was off—just put it to sleep and restarted. I’ve tried default BIOS settings and re-flashing the BIOS, but it didn’t help. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I also noticed XTU is warning about Undervolt Protection being enabled for the first time. Is this connected?
Hey everyone, thanks for your messages! I managed to fix things by tweaking the reference clock and boosting the voltage offset a bit while playing in XTU. The PC restarted and displayed the standard unstable settings prompt. I chose to load the default BIOS settings, which then allowed the CPU to run smoothly again. I’m puzzled why changing settings inside the BIOS didn’t help—maybe resetting the CMOS with the battery could work. It’s possible the sleep mode was affecting performance. I suspect the issue might have started with something simple like a sleep mode setting. This has only been happening for under a year, and before it there were no problems. Recently, I’ve noticed my CPU scores in benchmarks dropping slightly, but nothing major. Everything else—apps and games—works fine. I’m still using the newest BIOS version since its release, and before that I was on an older one. My adjustments were basic, like limiting TDP to 200W and a small undervolt tweak, followed by a stress test with Prime95.
It's helpful you were able to get everything running smoothly again. Updating the BIOS is also a positive step. If you had paid more attention to the Intel degradation news and updated sooner, you might have prevented any lasting issues. When the CPU shows degradation signs, it can't be fixed by a BIOS update. The effects vary based on how much time has passed. Typical signs include crashes during specific games that require shader setup, like those using Unreal Engine 5. Problems when trying to decompress large files. Nvidia driver setup unpacks many files initially. Some audio glitches and pops may appear. Consider testing these actions.
Have you attempted restarting the PC into sleep mode once more, hoping to duplicate the issue?
I understand that the problem wasn't resolved until the post-February BIOS update. So far, I haven't seen any issues linked to the degradation—no crashes, BSODs, or glitches. Neither in games nor in CPU-intensive applications when compressing or decompressing. What I've observed is a slight drop in CPU benchmark scores such as 3DMark or Cinebench. It's not a major difference, but it's there. If my CPU is affected, the impact should be minimal. I might consider filing for RMA just to be safe. I'm planning to check it over the weekend.
I couldn't replicate the issue, though I discovered the IccMax caused the CPU to limit its speed. Setting it to unlimited removes that restriction.