XMP about Gigabyte UD Z690 DDR4 leads to ongoing blue screen during launch of intensive applications
XMP about Gigabyte UD Z690 DDR4 leads to ongoing blue screen during launch of intensive applications
It's with deep sorrow that I reached this stage, having gone through numerous attempts to understand why my PC would repeatedly crash when XMP was turned on, but now even without enabling XMP, I still encounter the same error "clock watchdog timeout." It's well understood that the Gigabyte Z690 and many other Z690 boards are known for their instability, so I was confident it was the motherboard itself causing the problems.
This article captures a lot of my troubles:
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/gigabyte/commen..._gigabyte/
My current configuration uses an Intel 12900K on a Z690 motherboard with G.Skill TridentZ 2x16GB CL16 RAM, which works at 3600 on my previous system but not at XMP on this one, limiting me to 2133.
The main question is whether I should invest in RAM kits that Gigabyte has confirmed work with this motherboard, or upgrade to a more compatible motherboard that would better support my TridentZ. I'm hoping you can guide me toward the best solution, as this situation is significantly reducing the time I have left on the machine.
Notably, the Reddit thread also references the F6 BIOS update, but it hasn't resolved my issue at all. Additionally, I’m unable to return the product due to location restrictions and the date has passed.
During my time on F22 with Gigabyte Z690 UD DDR4 rev 1, I encountered BSOD messages labeled "Clock_watchdog_timeout" each time the CPU (12600k) was under heavy multicore load. This issue appeared consistently during stress tests using Cinebench or other demanding workloads. However, when running on a single core without problems, it was manageable.
I used a G.Skill RipJaw 2x16 (F4-3600C16D-32GVKC). I performed comprehensive checks on all components—including RAM (ramtest86), power supply, GPU—and even ran tests with individual cores powered off or using single-channel RAM. The outcomes remained ambiguous; although DMP files indicated CPU errors on chip number 6, my observations suggested it might not have been a genuine CPU fault.
Most of the time, the system would finish stress testing without any BSODs, even when only one core was active or using non-XMP settings. Since the problem seemed related to the controller or instructions rather than the CPU itself, I attempted one final test before going to sleep at 4 a.m., suspecting a possible hardware or firmware issue.
Update: After upgrading the BIOS from F22 to F23, the first test with Intel XTU (5-minute test) using non-XMP RAM at 2133MHz completed successfully. I then enabled XMP at 3600MHz and ran a stress test for three hours before going to bed. The test passed, and subsequent Cinebench runs also succeeded. It appears the fix was effective. TL;DR: Updating BIOS resolved the issue.
I attempted to update the BIOS to F24 but it didn't work at first. Then I reinstalled Windows, which resolved the issue, and I've been able to run my system overclocked. It seems the problem might be rooted in Windows itself, possibly fixed by the BIOS update. Thanks for the assistance.