Problem with Gaming PCs - Difficulty determining causes
Problem with Gaming PCs - Difficulty determining causes
Hello,
According to the title, my system frequently crashes while playing games on my second-hand gaming PC. Here’s a brief history of how it came to be:
I acquired it from a friend of my wife’s for $1000. It originally belonged to her husband, a programmer who eventually left her with significant debt. I considered it a good deal at the time—it was clearly a high-end machine, and I had been planning to upgrade my old gaming laptop. When I first used it, it had problems starting and shutting down. I opened it up, took it apart, cleaned it thoroughly, and reassembled it carefully, securing everything that had been dislodged during its many moves. This process worked for a while; all my games ran smoothly without issues.
However, the crashes began. Initially, they were just with the game itself, but eventually the entire PC would shut off. Now, when playing newer, more demanding games, it still crashes, though it functions normally otherwise. When it does crash, I have to perform a hard electrical reset—either unplugging from the power source or flipping the switch on the PSU—to restore it.
I’ve tried using AMD Software to monitor the system, but nothing shows up before it powers down. I’m at a point where I’m ready to replace parts, but I’m unsure where to begin. My first thoughts are about the power supply unit or RAM. I’m open to advice and suggestions.
Here are some details about the PC:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 8-Core
- CPU cooler: Air cooled
- Motherboard: ROG CROSSHAIR VIII DARK HERO / American Megatrends Inc. 3801, 7/30/2021
- RAM: 32GB DDR4
- Storage: NVMe Samsung SSD 970 500GB, Samsung SSD 980 PRO 2TB
- GPU: Sapphire Toxic AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT
- PSU: ROG Thor 1200W (age unknown)
- Chassis: Windows 11
- Monitor: Dell UltraSharp U2719D - LED, 27" QHD, 1440p
I’ve checked the Event Viewer, and the critical failure is logged as: Kernal-Power, Event ID 41, Task Category 63... I’m not sure how important this is. I really don’t want to buy a completely new PC, but the crashes are becoming too frequent. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!
Here are the details of your PC system:
Motherboard: ROG CROSSHAIR VIII DARK HERO
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 8-Core
GPU: Sapphire Toxic AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT
RAM: 32gb DDR4
PSU: 1050W
When sharing a troubleshooting thread, it's standard to provide full system specifications. Please format your build information clearly as follows:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
RAM:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
Please include the age of the PSU along with its make and model. Also, note the current BIOS version for your motherboard.
By crash you mean the system freezes, correct?
But I’m not sure where to begin.
I’d suggest obtaining a reliable PSU capable of delivering 850W for the whole setup and then checking if the problem persists. You can then use DDU in Safe Mode to remove all GPU drivers, install the latest driver from AMD’s support site, and try a lower-power discrete GPU to see if the issue continues.
Moved this thread from the PC Gaming section to the Systems section.
It stops working. However, I cannot restart it unless I disconnect it or turn off the power supply unit.