[QUOTE=pegnose;423374]Try setting all your voltages to a fixed value?[/QUOTE]

Going to try that next as I got nothing else at this point.

[QUOTE=s1riker;423371]Well just to add to the fun ...

After running HCI memtest for 48 hours with a clean bill of health and good temps all around, I figured, ok RAM's gotta be stable, so I stopped it.

I then proceeded to work all day on the PC yesterday without issue, left for a while, came back to play some GTA (maybe 20 mins at most), and left it again. Went to check on it this morning and it was frozen again.

So C-State 8 disabled, increased VCCIO and load line calibration, and new bios with MC 6A, made no difference.

EDIT: and for chalsall, I know this is not the scientific method, I'm trying multiple things at a time. But the problem is I have only 1 workstation and I need to use it as well for real work, if I were to try 1 single thing at a time, I could be at this for years. I did however test new MB (same model), new RAM (same model) and new PSU (different model) in isolation and am confident none of those are defective.[/QUOTE]
Did you try exchanging the OS drive? I've had extremely similar issues with a flakey SSD. It eventually went out, but it took 1.5 years until that happened. Before that, I got complete system freezes (usually during idle) and I could never find a way of reproducing the issue with any stress tests.

I don't know if you're the one I discussed this issue with on Anandtech's forum? If so, I've already suggested the above to you. ;)

[QUOTE=Brunnis;423379]Did you try exchanging the OS drive? I've had extremely similar issues with a flakey SSD. It eventually went out, but it took 1.5 years until that happened. Before that, I got complete system freezes (usually during idle) and I could never find a way of reproducing the issue with any stress tests.

I don't know if you're the one I discussed this issue with on Anandtech's forum? If so, I've already suggested the above to you. ;)[/QUOTE]

Yeah that was me. I haven't forgotten, but as you can imagine that involves a much bigger time commitment as I have to reinstall all my software (to be able to work) on the replacement SSD and then resync everything when I switch back, so I was putting it off in hopes something else was the cause, but it looks like I don't have much choice now.

Congrats btw. to 2^(74,207,281)-1! :)

[QUOTE=s1riker;423383]Yeah that was me. I haven't forgotten, but as you can imagine that involves a much bigger time commitment as I have to reinstall all my software (to be able to work) on the replacement SSD and then resync everything when I switch back, so I was putting it off in hopes something else was the cause, but it looks like I don't have much choice now.[/QUOTE]

No, just use DriveImage XML or some other tool like Drive Snapshot and restore to another drive. You could even try drive-to-drive with DXML. That's a matter of <60 min.

EDIT: If you do this, your new drive initially might not boot. You can (with DXML) set a new disk ID and then use Windows startup repair to get it going again. Keep your old system as a backup/fallback.

And for debug purposes you could simply go dual-boot with a fresh system.

[QUOTE=pegnose;423388]No, just use [B]DriveImage XML[/B] or some other tool like [B]Drive Snapshot[/B] and restore to another drive. You could even try drive-to-drive with DXML. That's a matter of <60 min.[/QUOTE]

These tips are much appreciated! I was unaware of those programs.

[QUOTE=pegnose;423388]No, just use DriveImage XML or some other tool like Drive Snapshot and restore to another drive. You could even try drive-to-drive with DXML. That's a matter of <60 min.[/QUOTE]

Yeah good point. I was thinking I was going to use a smaller spare SSD I had lying around, which didn't have enough space to do an image, but I just realized I no longer have that SSD, so I'm going to have to use a mechanical drive instead.

[QUOTE=pegnose;423388]No, just use DriveImage XML or some other tool like Drive Snapshot and restore to another drive. You could even try drive-to-drive with DXML. That's a matter of <60 min.

EDIT: If you do this, your new drive initially might not boot. You can (with DXML) set a new disk ID and then use Windows startup repair to get it going again. Keep your old system as a backup/fallback.[/QUOTE]
Yep, I agree. I recently used Macrium Reflect Free to clone an old harddrive directly to a new SSD. Worked exactly as advertised and the system booted up without any fuss. The only thing that took some time was the actual copying of the content.

[QUOTE=s1riker;423371]EDIT: and for chalsall, I know this is not the scientific method, I'm trying multiple things at a time. But the problem is I have only 1 workstation and I need to use it as well for real work, if I were to try 1 single thing at a time, I could be at this for years. I did however test new MB (same model), new RAM (same model) and new PSU (different model) in isolation and am confident none of those are defective.[/QUOTE]

OK. And again, please trust I know how difficult this can be. Been there, done that (many times).

One suggestion... If you can, try a different MB by a different manufacturer with all the other components unchanged.

This /may/ be fundamental to the CPU and/or the chipset. But, as demonstrated with the "Skylake freezing bug", the "Big Boys" won't take you terribly seriously until and unless you can provide a reliably reproducible fault scenario with only one component identified as the likely cause.

[QUOTE=Brunnis;423392]Yep, I agree. I recently used Macrium Reflect Free to clone an old harddrive directly to a new SSD. Worked exactly as advertised and the system booted up without any fuss. The only thing that took some time was the actual copying of the content.[/QUOTE]

Yes, these dedicated migration tools work even better. Some of them come with new SSDs (based on Acronis e.g.) and work if at least one drive of a certain brand is involved (e.g. WD).

In any case, make sure the old partition is smaller than the new one (at least with the software I mentioned above). If it is not: use Windows or other tools to shrink the partition (e.g. EaseUs Partition Manager). Windows can't move the file table and other stuff. 3rd party apps do this during start-up.

EDIT: Ok, I see that Macrium Reflect can do even more, thanks for this valuable tip!

[QUOTE=s1riker;423383]Yeah that was me. I haven't forgotten, but as you can imagine that involves a much bigger time commitment as I have to reinstall all my software (to be able to work) on the replacement SSD and then resync everything when I switch back, so I was putting it off in hopes something else was the cause, but it looks like I don't have much choice now.[/QUOTE]
Why the bigger time commitment? Add another SSD with the same size, configure it as RAID1, run for a while or use sync software provided by the bios or by the os, take the old one out.