Issues occurring when the CPU reaches its capacity
Issues occurring when the CPU reaches its capacity
Hello, I have an issue that has been perplexing me. When I am playing a game there will be random hard crashes to the desktop (Halo, Diablo 2, Hitman 3, dark tide, Elden ring and others) This is with the bios set with PBO enabled on auto, as well as with a manual curve. When I disable PBO game crashes are still present. When I do an all core clock of 5.3ghz (tested for a bit previously) and now 5.4ghz currently testing. The system seems stable game-wise. No crashes to report as of yet. Used OCCT to test, with PBO enabled as well as core ratio set to auto, shoots out errors. When set to all core clock no errors. Firstly, is there anyone else having this issue? I did have some Kingston ram previously that did not play nice with the system so I switched to the verified GSkill. I did do a fresh install of windows as well to rule out anything wonky that way. Secondly, has anyone every heard of something like this? I could understand crashing from increasing your core boost in PBO potentially, or too great of an offset. I know AM5 is early and the bios updates have been filled with issues from my reading online. Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance! System specs: Asus B650-A mobo latest bios 0823 Gigabyte 850watt psu (GP-UD850GM) Ryzen 7900x 32GB (16X2) GSkill flare x5 6000mhz ram (running on expo at those speeds) Gigabyte RTX 4090 gaming OC Latest updates and drivers Windows 11 running from an m.2 nvme
Consider reducing the GPU's clock speed by 100mhz. Certain games react strongly to base GPU boost settings. I’d lower my 3080 EVGA RTX to around 2100 and some shooters freeze completely. XD. The only fix I’ve tried is a tiny frequency reduction, which cuts performance by about 0.001%. On a 4090 with a powerful CPU, that’s roughly equivalent to losing two frames.
Consider how games achieve good performance—GPUs tend to follow a bell curve, with optimization usually centered around the mid-range for best results. A 4090 might be too powerful in some cases, causing issues if frequencies aren<|pad|>, and having an excessively high GPU can make games feel sluggish. For top-tier hardware, QA testers often lack enough testing setups to fine-tune ultra high-end builds. A single 4090 rig in a QA lab is rare unless they're very fortunate.
I've been tweaking an OC for my card, which is around 2985-3000mhz based on thermals. I initially noticed the crash problem with Control, removed the OC and everything worked fine. Later these issues began appearing. That's a helpful tip! My wife is currently stress-testing it with the GPU OC enabled, all cores at 5.4 when she disconnects. I'll try re-enabling PBO and lowering the GPU clock below spec once she's off. You're correct, it won't noticeably affect performance on the monster.
I'll examine the debug logging to check for any clues. Regarding the PSU, I was worried it might not be handling power properly even though I've run many tests and system load checks without any crashes or full shutdowns. It seems unlikely a game would consume that much power. My only past issues with underpowered systems were crashes or shutdowns, not game restarts. One day I encountered a game crash with a pop-up warning about the app being blocked from graphics hardware. That happened while I was using the curve optimizer in pbo, and I haven't seen that error again.
It looks like the machine struggles with the standard PBO configuration but stabilizes when adjustments are made for the 5.4 overclock. PBO is essentially an overclock, and sometimes a stronger boost works better than a weaker one. I’m not very skilled at tweaking overclocks, and I don’t think the 5.4 boost is too hard to maintain due to heat concerns.
Interestingly, with a 5.4 setting all clocks are quite consistent. Temperatures range from mid-50s to low 60s depending on the game. In a stress test, the system only reaches up to 85. This doesn’t mean it’s unstable, as far as my tests show. Even when PBO is off and the CPU runs at its regular speed, I think 5.7GHz is the stock maximum for the 7900X. Games will crash under those conditions. It only becomes problematic when I lock it down to 5.4—my stress test failed at 5.5. There’s a lot of odd behavior with PBO and the new AM5 platform; it seems it isn’t functioning as expected. At least on my ASUS board. I’m planning to buy a new power supply today to eliminate this possibility or hopefully it’s just my setup.