Question PC crashes to desktop or reboots during gaming - have I tried all possible solutions?
Question PC crashes to desktop or reboots during gaming - have I tried all possible solutions?
Here is the rewritten version of your text:
Hi everyone,
I’m trying to post this in the right place, as I’m unsure what else to try. My computer is experiencing crashes while gaming. Recently, I upgraded my motherboard, CPU, and RAM. For a few weeks, everything worked perfectly. But starting yesterday, it started crashing to the desktop, freezing, rebooting, or showing a blue screen after playing for a while. It appears to depend on how much resources the game is using—less demanding games let me play longer, while more intense ones crash quickly, usually within 1 to 7 minutes. Games like MSFS in VR or AAA titles with high graphics and Ray Tracing tend to cause issues, whereas lighter games like BattleBit Remastered seem stable. My PC functions normally in other areas.
While gaming, I often crash to the desktop and notice that everything freezes for a few minutes, with the toolbar or taskbar disappearing. Other times, it freezes on the current screen and then restarts or shows a blue screen and reboots. The type of crash seems to vary depending on the game.
On blue screen crashes, I’ve seen the “DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION” error.
Possible problems I’ve tried:
- Outdated or faulty GPU driver
- NVIDIA released a new driver yesterday. I installed it and rebooted, but the crashes continued. Using different drivers didn’t help, so I cleared all NVIDA-related traces with DDU and installed a stable MSFS2020 driver.
- Overheating CPU or GPU
- Neither is overclocked. I use HWiNFO64 to monitor temperatures; my CPU stays around 60–70°C and GPU around 50–70°C. I can’t confirm if temperatures spiked before the crash because the entire screen freezes.
- I captured a photo at the moment of failure. My temperatures and power usage look normal. I ran a log with HWiNFO64, but it didn’t detect the issue. I’m not sure how to interpret the report.
- Memory problems
- Someone with a similar issue found that disabling XMP in their XMP profile resolved the problem. My DDR5 memory was stable at 6000 speeds. Resetting my motherboard to default settings fixed the issue, but it didn’t work this time. I ran a memory test using “mdsched” and let it sleep overnight; no errors were found. I also ran Memtest86, which took over seven hours but passed without errors. I’ve attached the photos from Memtest86.
- Insufficient power supply
- My PSU is 1000W, but PC Part Picker suggested I needed less than 800W. I know it’s not perfect, but it should be sufficient.
- Transient power spikes
- With newer GPUs, spikes are becoming an issue because they draw a lot of power even at low usage. I’m looking for software that can detect these spikes during crashes and provide a report. So far, my crashes have been consistent—desktop crash or reboot—not power loss.
- Bad SSD or outdated drivers
- I don’t think this is the main cause. Crash reports came from someone else with similar problems; they resolved it by turning off XMP. My SSDs are running normally at 6000 speeds.
- Surge protector
- Another user said their surge protector was the culprit. Connecting directly to the wall fixed the problem, but plugging it into the wall didn’t help.
- Outdated BIOS
- My BIOS is up to date.
Current System Specs:
Windows 10
ASRock X670E Steel Legend MOBO
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
DeepCool AK620
ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 Trinity (non-OC)
G.Skill Trident Z5 NEO RGB (AMD Expo) 64GB - DDR5 6000 CL30-40-40-96 - 1.40V
EVGA SuperNOVA 1000GT, 80 Plus Gold 1000W
HP Reverb G2
Multiple flight sim peripherals via USB to MOBO/USB Hub to MOBO – HOTAS, Collective, Yoke, Rudder Pedals
I usually keep settings at default in BIOS and have reset everything for 36 hours. I’m really unsure what’s causing the problem. I’ve tried all possible solutions, but I’m stuck. Any advice or information would be really helpful. I’m not very tech-savvy, but I’m trying to understand better. Please let me know if you can help. Thank you for your time!
User Benchmark Link:
https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/62449960
Imgur Link to Photos and Screenshots:
https://imgur.com/a/P81woeW
View: https://imgur.com/a/P81woeW
Photo of HWiNFO64 and HWMonitor at the time of crash. No unusual temperatures or power draw:
https://imgur.com/a/LnCmN7u
View: https://imgur.com/a/LnCmN7u
A very detailed account. Great work overall. A few entries seem hard to understand.
My interest lies more in gaming, but the system failure I experienced while processing videos is quite similar to what I faced earlier. The software I rely on is frequently updated, with weekly patches aimed at boosting speed and resolving issues.
I’m running a 7950X equipped with 64GB RAM at 4800MHz (without DOCP/XMP settings) and paired with an RTX 3060 graphics card. I was thinking about upgrading to a 4090, which would have accelerated rendering by about two and a half times, but at a much higher price. Since I run the system during nighttime, timing isn’t a concern.
Since December last year, whenever I opened the video software in the morning, the render would fail. HWInfo displayed no anomalies, all voltages and temperatures were normal, yet the system still crashed.
I’m sticking with NVidia Studio drivers because they’re believed to be more reliable.
After some trial and error, I decided to cap the GPU’s maximum power in MSI Afterburner at 95%. That adjustment seemed to resolve the issue temporarily, though I haven’t checked whether improvements in the video software would make this fix unnecessary.
Some online communities recommended lowering the GPU’s voltage, but the Afterburner solution was simpler and required less trial. The software consistently runs the GPU at full capacity for extended periods.
I’m uncertain whether Afterburner can mitigate the two times higher spikes in the 4090, but if you’re willing to trade some gaming performance, give it a shot. High power supplies cost around 1200W and 1500W, which can be quite expensive.
User Benchmark Link
Hey there, thanks for the response! I didn't think about undervolting or underclocking, but it makes sense now. I'm planning to try it out right away. If it helps fix the issue, I'll know it's all about power. If not, I might have to go with a 1600W PSU—definitely not something I'd recommend. It feels wrong to buy such a large card and restrict its performance. Thanks again for the advice, I'll let you know what happens!
Well guys, the problem is resolved. I bought a 1600W PSU today and connected it. Not only did it not fix the issue, but the crashes increased more often and I began noticing artifacts after a reboot. I think my GPU is running out of power. It’s really unfortunate, this card is less than a year old and has never been overclocked. I’m not sure what exactly caused it. Probably just bad luck. Time to look for a new card and move forward. Thanks for the help, Misgar.
Just informational: your 1000W PSU is plenty for that card (assuming the PSU is not dying of course). If you had an ATX 3.0 PSU you could even safely drop down to 850W with no concerns (there's a minimum double power transient requirement for ATX 3.0).
As for the issue while I think GPU is a reasonable assumption based on the amount of things you've tried there are a couple of things I'd do:
1) run LatencyMon while doing something that usually leads to a crash just to see if it can pick anything up that may not be the video card.
2) unplug all peripherals that aren't the kb/m and see if that makes any difference
I doubt either will lead to a different conclusion, but worth trying before doing anything regarding the card.
It's straightforward, your card is running low. If your video card is still under warranty, return it to the store. Otherwise, attempt to reduce and offset the GPU Memory clock from -100 to -800mhz by gradually lowering it step by step. I used a Nvidia inspector on my old card to permanently adjust the frequency downshifting. For stability testing, the "3d mark time spy" is the best GPU Memory benchmark I've encountered. If you perform 2-3 tests in a row and don't notice any issues, it should be stable.