PC struggles with overheating and crashes despite no visible damage.
PC struggles with overheating and crashes despite no visible damage.
Let me explain. Although the computer has crashed a few times at idle, mostly it crashes when I'm gaming. Currently playing RUST. Troubleshooting done so far. I completely tore the computer down and carefully reassembled making sure all hardware is seated properly. Memory, m.2, heat sink perfectly on the IHS with just the right amount of thermal paste. GPU carefully installed as well. I was meticulous putting it back together. I completely wiped the m.2 with a fresh install of Windows 10 Pro. ISO from microsoft using rufus. I updated the BIOS to the latest version and "restored BIOS defaults". I ran windows updates, installed all device drivers directly from ASUS website. I installed the latest Nvidia drivers. On a second monitor i run CPUID hardware monitor and MSI afterburner. I watch closely at usage, temps and voltages. Everything is perfect. Temps are mid 60's. Again stock bios, NO overclocking. The crash is weird. The screen goes black, yet all fans are still spinning, the power supply is still running, then the PC goes to POST screen, then boots into windows again. It seemed like a voltage protection state. No blue screen. I also have a 850watt EVGA PSU i threw in to test. No change. With all this said i did notice one thing. My CPU is getting SLAMMED. It's at 100% all the time. I feel this is a normal "bottleneck" for this piece of shit CPU. I did some research and other people with this Ryzen 2700 are experiencing similar issues. Could it simply be that there's nothing wrong with my computer other than this Ryzen 2700x is trash and its simply failing? Is that even a thing? It's not overheating but maybe can't handle the load?. I'm at a loss here. Any advice? Oh, I also tested the memory sticks one at a time to be sure one wasn't bad. What's left? Bad m.2 drive? faulty motherboard? Ryzen 2700x CPU ROG Strix b450f gaming II 1000Watt Corsair RM1000x Tforce VulkanZ 3200Mhz DDR4 Teamgroup 1TB M.2 Gigabyte RTX 3070
RUST demands a lot from your CPU, particularly when running at 1080p. Your processor is being pushed hard; it’s not designed for such high frame rates at low resolutions. A 4K CPU would handle this much better. The crashes aren’t typical, but they’re likely due to hardware issues rather than a faulty CPU.
I see what you mean, but shouldn't a CPU operate at full capacity without problems? Many reports suggest it suddenly shuts down. I'm wondering if others have had this experience with the same CPU. It's hard to figure out the issue without replacing parts one by one.
The CPU temperature during heavy use should stay within normal ranges, but if it's significantly higher than the overall temp, there might be a hotspot issue. Checking package temps can help identify if localized overheating is occurring.
Play your game with Task Manager active on another screen, check for any processes consuming a large portion of your CPU besides the game. If found, it may indicate malware consuming system resources.
It seems you've handled everything correctly. However, a voltage protection triggers an audible click from the PS and the system begins to shut down. If the system is still operational, the PSU hasn't tripped. The CPU boots up, runs into Windows, and plays games briefly—making it unlikely that a faulty CPU is the cause. Similar to PSUs, CPUs usually work in full or nothing; I've seen cases where CPUs remain functional despite faults, which is rare. It's possible the Windows admin logs are displaying unrecoverable or unknown kernel errors. You're clearly experienced, but you don't have the hardware to test it directly. Statistically, replacing the motherboard would be a good solution, as they are frequent failure points and can easily resolve the issue you're facing.