PC restarts during game launch or playtime
PC restarts during game launch or playtime
Hey, I've been facing this problem for a few weeks now. It began when I couldn't launch or play Squad, which caused the PC to restart. About a week ago, I installed League of Legends to play with my BF, and it occurred in that game too—right when everyone was loading 100% and about to start the match. Not during the loading screen, but just as all players had finished loading and it was about to begin. Then, last week, when I tried to play alone, it worked perfectly.
I also tried Moder Warfare (2019) this week, but only once; the second time it ran smoothly. Now it keeps happening whenever I’m about to join a game in Warthunder...
I have no idea what might be causing this. Here are my current specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
MOBO: Asus X570-F Gaming
GPU: Asus RTX 3080 Gaming OC
RAM: G.Skill 2x8GB 3600MHz (D.O.C.P.)
SSD: Samsung 970 Evo1TB, Samsung 980 Pro 1TB, Samsung 860 EVO 250GB (OS Drive)
Cooler: Asus Ryuo 240mm AIO
PSU: BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 11 1200W
I’ve tried everything I could think of.
First, I used a Corsair HX1000i PSU, then switched to a Seasonic Prime Titanium 1000W (which should work), and finally bought the BeQuiet 1200W to test if it wasn’t enough wattage with 1000W. I also changed my RAM from Corsair Vengeance RGB 2x16 3200MHz to the current G.Skill 2x8GB 3600MHz (which are listed on the MOBO compatibility). None of these changes helped.
My temperatures are normal, CPU rarely exceeds 70°C (possibly due to the original thermal paste), GPU stays under 60°C, and everything else seems fine.
The only game that keeps crashing is Squad; the others just seem random... Stresstests show nothing unusual. OCCT tests, Prime95, Cinebench, TimeSpy, CPU-Z—all are functioning properly. Even when I ran Prime95 and TimeSpy at the same time, temperatures stayed around 60°C on the CPU.
Another thread suggested enabling CSM in BIOS, so I did that too. Still nothing changed.
This is like the most bizarre issue I’ve ever dealt with, and I’m completely puzzled about what could be behind it. My old PC never had these problems with any game... I used a 6700K OCed to 4.4GHz, Corsair RAM sticks, an Aorus 1080 Ti Waterforce AIO, and the Corsair HX1000i PSU.
Edit: I disabled D.O.C.P. but manually adjusted RAM to 3600MHz, same problem.
Edit2: Switched the GPU from 3080 to my old 1080 Ti, still got the issue—so it’s probably not the graphics card.
Edit3: Clean install of Windows 10, but it keeps happening. Does this point to a hardware problem?
I have two ideas to share. First, consider lowering your RAM frequency to 3000 or 3200. On a previous system I worked on, increasing the 3600Mhz RAM caused the system to restart during memory-heavy tasks. Second, check for driver and firmware updates. Your hardware is relatively new—maybe the motherboard manufacturer has released an updated BIOS? Also verify if your GPU drivers are current; if so, consider rolling back to older versions. Be cautious with this approach.
Are you able to capture heat data just before a crash? I see the temperatures you provided, but do they reflect real-time gaming or stress testing? Additionally, have you attempted CPU overclocking? For now, keep it at stock settings while you test other factors to rule out instability. If your CPU is overclocked, it might be the cause of system crashes during operations.
Everything is current, including the BIOS. I attempted to use older Nvidia drivers without success. I have devices that monitor system temperatures and log data, and there are no signs of overheating, even during restarts while playing games. The CPU runs smoothly at 5GHz boost on the 5950X without problems. Memory is the main concern, but it’s happening with two different memory pairs. Both were used at their advertised speeds, though the Corsair Vengeance pair worked fine in my previous setup. I’m considering removing memory overclocking, but I doubt it will help and wonder if the motherboard can’t support those speeds or timings.
Probably, start the RAM with the default setting (as set by the motherboard). If it restarts again, lower it manually. Move to around 2800 and if it still restarts, it's unlikely to be your RAM. We'll proceed from there.
Put memory to default, then 2800, then when I tried getting it up to 3600MHz again it refuses. Thinking these sticks worked fine with DOCP out of the box now they don’t, which makes me think there’s another problem besides the RAM... Also, during recent game restarts, Event Viewer didn’t mention ctfmon.exe like before... I’m really confused... Why won’t a brand new PC work even though it should be compatible?