Intel 13700KF paired with MSI 4090 processor experiencing halt, freeze, crash conditions.
Intel 13700KF paired with MSI 4090 processor experiencing halt, freeze, crash conditions.
Hello everyone, thank you for your patience while reading my message. I’m not entirely new to computer troubleshooting—I’ve tried several fixes and checked CPU/GPU heat logs using tools like Event Viewer and Aida65. I’ll share more details later, perhaps with an event viewer or similar.
Setup: The MSI Z790 Tomahawk WIFI 13700KF was overclocked to 5.2GHz P core and an Ecore 44GHz at 1.37V, which turned off power-saving voltage shift. I used a Corsair H150i Thermaltake Contact Frame MSI Gaming X 4090 with two 16GB of G.Skill X Trident 5600mhz XMP RAM on the Corsair RM1000e storage, plus two 2TB 980 Pro Samsung drives.
Description of the problem: I assembled the system in August and encountered some driver issues and general instability—games would crash to the desktop rather than the whole machine shutting down. Eventually, I underclocked the 4090 by 100MHz on both core and memory. The issues only appeared around October. Once I started playing Starfield, problems escalated: repeated crashes to the desktop, system freezes, lights freezing, peripherals losing power, and the PC becoming unresponsive except for the case light. I had to restart manually with the power button.
The situation worsened after a few months. Even at idle and light usage, the PC would randomly freeze, sometimes for hours. Under load, it would crash instantly or run for long periods. GameBoost was off during the first few months; after resetting the core to stock, the problem persisted—especially under stress, sometimes lasting hours. I’ve already turned it off, re-seated everything, and still experience random crashes.
I noticed gameboost was active for a while, then disabled it, returned the core to default, but the issue continued randomly—sometimes during full load, sometimes at idle. It doesn’t follow a fixed timeframe; sometimes it lasts hours after a short session.
Other observations: The system worked perfectly for a couple of months before sudden failures started, only affecting Starfield. The problem isn’t limited to games—it occurs even when idle and under light use, though it’s more frequent during higher usage.
Things I checked: Windows corruption tests passed, no driver or BIOS issues found, updated BIOS, ran Memtest86 twice with no errors, re-seated hardware, and there are no minidumps or BSODs. The only clue is a kernel log showing unexpected power shutdowns. Aida64 reported CPU at 0% load during crashes, which seems unusual since I checked all rails and they’re within spec.
I’m unsure what logs to focus on next—maybe an Event Viewer analysis or a deeper dive into thermal data. I might need to consider an RMA if this continues. Please let me know if you have any insights or suggestions. Thank you for your help!
Bad news and good news—I borrowed a friend’s RAM sticks and checked; the same crashing issue appeared. I confirmed my second memory controller on the CPU works with just one DDR5 stick. I’m trying to return it via RMA, but they immediately suggested checking gameboost settings, using XMP profiles, or other tweaks (since DDR5 is supposed to be that way). It seems like a likely cause if it’s an early concern, though I might not get a return. We’ll find out.