Intel 9 285K on ASUS Z890: not stable!
a day ago
- The author ordered components for a new high-end Linux PC in January 2025, but the system suffered frequent and severe crashes, including USB controller failures, suspend/resume issues, and hard lockups under load.
- Key components include: Fractal Define 7 Compact case, Corsair RM850x PSU, ASUS PRIME Z890-P mainboard, Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU, Noctua NH-D15 G2 cooler, 64 GB DDR5-6400 RAM, Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB SSD, and Inno3D GeForce RTX 4070 Ti GPU (reused from a previous build).
- The author chose Intel over AMD for its superior idle power consumption (35W for AMD vs. much lower for Intel), which is critical for their software development workload with frequent idle periods.
- Stability issues included: Xorg failure after resume, xHCI host controller dying (twice), PC not resuming from suspend, and hard crash during Django tests, leading the author to switch back to their 2022 PC.
- The author attempted fixes: UEFI updates, disabling XMP, swapping GPU from RTX 4070 Ti to RTX 3060 Ti, but none resolved the crashes.
- The conclusion notes the machine was unusable due to instability, and the author suspected the CPU was defective after swapping the mainboard (ASRock Z890 Pro-A) and PSU did not help; a subsequent update confirmed the CPU was faulty and an RMA was started.