Hi there!
I’ve just built a new PC and I’m observing some odd behavior/instability when using integrated GPU.
I have Ryzen 7950x running in ECO mode (105 W) and 64GB DDR5 kit from Kingston (KF560C30BBEAK2-64). Motherboard is Asus ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI (BIOS version 0505 dated 2024/09/27)
During the first boot into Linux Mint a few seconds after the desktop environment appeared (it defaulted to 4K resolution) the mouse cursor became unresponsive and then the screen went black. Then a few seconds later the desktop came back but a few seconds after that it went black again. The same behaviour occured again and again… (mind that I was able to boot into Linux Mint live USB to install this OS and so this part at least worked fine). Here’s a video of this behavior:
I then booted into Windows 10 to figure out if it’s OS-specific issue. By default Windows uses Microsoft drivers for 7950x’s integrated GPU (1080p (“low”) resolution but it run just fine) but as soon as it automatically installed AMD’s drivers for the integrated GPU (resolution changed to 4K) and I started seeing black screen on and off, some cursor freezes. After a few black screens OS reverted to default Microsoft drivers and “AMD Bug Report Tool” popup appear saying “AMD software detected that a driver timeout has occured”. Updating to the latest available AMD driver manually did not solve the issue (see photo and video of this behavior below)
However what seems to make things better for iGPU was changing GPU frequency setting in BIOS from Auto to 2200 which is what CPU specs declare (idea of this guy on AMD forums). Manually setting RAM frequency to 4800 or 5200 (maximum that CPU officially supports, my RAM kit is 6000 Mhz by the way). Windows seems to work better after with change. All this is when having a monitor connected to iGPU, if I connected it to a dedicated GPU I was able to run Geekbench 6 and Cinebench benchmarks multiple times and it worked without a problem. I even played Cyperpunk 2077 and Stalker 2 but I do need to have iGPU working because I plan to isolate dedicated GPU from the linux host and do a GPU pass-through to QEMU VM so iGPU has to work otherwise there will be no GPU left for the host OS.
(Also interestingly enough when I open HWInfo app on Windows 10 to go to Sensors tab there’s a warning popup (“Warning: Asus EC HWinfo has found an embedded controller (ec) sensor from which it can report data”) and a second after the entire PC shutdown hard. No BSOD, no freezes or blackscreens - full shutdown immediatelly). Here’s a video of this:
Now, back to Linux Mint. I’ve installed it again from scratch. Connected my monitor to HDMI on the motherboard (iGPU). Booted into it, running 4K resolution by default. Desktop environment seems to run fine, I can use terminal but as soon as I open Firefox the entire desktop environment becomes unresponsive, I can’t click on anything (but I can still move the cursor freely) and then it just kick me out of the user session into the Mint’s user login screen. I log-in again, open Firefox - the same thing happens.
Now (and this is a crucial part) after tinckering in BIOS I noticed that this (LinuxMint/Firefox) issue seems to be resolved if I change “Core Performance Boost” setting from Auto to Disabled. This setting turns off frequency boosting for CPU (and from what I understood RAM as well?) so that CPU frequency stays at 4.5 Ghz even during load (it runs at around 5.5 Ghz with “Core Performance Boost” Enabled or set to Auto). After this change I can use Firefox on Linux Mint and it doesn’t kick me out of the session and things look more or less stable. Now, this is far from ideal… 1Ghz lower CPU clock is not what I want, but I do want to have a stable Linux system. I haven’t even started with PCI-device isolation, QEMU virtual machines and GPU-passthrough (which is something that can be considered a more advanced stuff) and I’m already observing so many hiccups. Not the best user experience…
Now the question becomes: what’s the problem? Why Windows 10 runs fine with “Core Performance Boost” set to Auto but Linux Mint freezes and kicks me out of the user session a few seconds after starting Firefox and why Firefox? (could it be that Firefox has some kind of a hardware acceleration which trips the iGPU?) And why did I have to manually specify iGPU and RAM frequency just to be able to run iGPU reliably even on Windows? Is it a hardware fault? If so, which one: CPU, RAM or Motherboard? Is it an issue of BIOS configuration? (note that with BIOS’s Optimized defaults I can’t run iGPU reliably on any operating system). Is it a problem of CPU+RAM compatibility? (CPU officially supports 5200 but I have 6000 memory, though I run it at 5200 and with EXPO disabled. I saw people recommend and run 7950x with 6000 RAM kits just perfectly fine - and just in general I assume buying a 6000 memory but running it at 5200 should be fine or am I mistaken?)
Should I do a full memory (RAM) test? Should I return the CPU? Should I return RAM?
Now a somewhat emotional part (i.e. can be skipped): I’ve built PCs before, my previous system worked fine for 7-8 years and it still works fine but now when I’ve decided to make myself a birthday gift and assemble a powerful workstation PC all I’m doing is troubleshooting instead of enjoying it and I can’t call it stable at all. I have to keep on using my old system for my daily tasks.
What do you think about all this? What should I do? I’d appreciate any piece of advice. Thank you!
P.S. am I going to get banned for tagging @wendell ? Please don’t ban me on my birthday, I’m just seeking help/support/acknowledgment. Thank you for reading all this, friend