Initiate a random system restart.
Initiate a random system restart.
Hey team, I’ve got a puzzling issue with my setup I assembled just under a year ago. Here’s what I’ve got so far:
Specs:
- CPU: Intel Core i7-13700K at 3.4 GHz, 16-core processor
- Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 420, 72.8 CFM liquid cooling
- Motherboard: MSI MPG Z790 CARBON MAX WIFI II ATX, LGA1700
- RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB, 64 GB (2×32 GB), DDR5-6800 CL34
- Storage: Western Digital Black SN850X, 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVMe SSD
- Graphics: Gigabyte GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090, 24 GB VRAM
- Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE G500A RGB ATX mid-tower
- Power Supply: SeaSonic PRIME TX-1600 ATX, 3.0 kW, 80+ Titanium certified
The problem is that recently the system would reboot itself during gaming. I tested everything—CPU, GPU, fans, power supply, even swapped out the PSU and BIOS. Nothing changed. I tried a fresh Windows install with the latest drivers, but the issue kept coming up. When I stress-tested the CPU with Prime95 and the GPU with FurMark, the audio would crackle, like old games did when they would freeze or lag briefly.
I’m stuck. The motherboard is the only one I can’t replace because I don’t have another Z790 board. Any suggestions on where to look next?
I'm currently reading a book, so jokes aside. The Windows reboot seems to be occurring for a reason—have you looked in your event manager? If it restarted, it should leave a note there. Regarding the stress test, it appears the motherboard might not be handling the load well, possibly indicating a hardware issue. Would you like to try swapping it with another board?
I believe I've identified the problem. I ran another four cycles using MemTest, and while the initial four checks passed, the second round highlighted four issues in Test 8—memory addresses, three in pass two and one in pass three. Continued with four more attempts, still seeing four errors in Test 8, two in pass two and two in pass three. After that, additional runs completed without failures, but the subsequent batch once more showed four errors in Test 8, split across passes two and three, and so on. It seems this unpredictability is the reason for the instability. I've submitted an RMA request for the memory and am awaiting their response. Please keep this in mind if you face similar random issues in the future. P.S. To clarify—yes, I also ran two more rounds with XMP disabled at the default setting and still encountered four errors in Test 8.