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Stuttering, hard and soft crashes—both old and new components.

Stuttering, hard and soft crashes—both old and new components.

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PartyRocker003
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09-09-2020, 01:12 AM
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About a month back my machine began acting up, showing a complete blue screen. I endured it for roughly two to three weeks before trying various fixes. Eventually, after several unsuccessful attempts, I realized it was time for an upgrade. I bought a substantial set of new components. Below is the complete rundown of what I had before and what I now possess. Mobo: ASUS Z270A ---> MSI B550-A-Pro CPU: Intel i7-6900k ---> AMD 5900x CPU Cooler: Corsair Hi150 (unchanged) *Approximately one year old.* RAM: 4x8GB Corsair 3200 DDR4 ---> 2x16GB Corsair 3600 DDR4 *In the past build I had 2x8 of a single type, and 2x8 of another. I wasn’t able to locate the exact same RAM when moving from 16->32 some time ago. I’ve heard memory doesn’t perform well with other types and it’s best to use identical sticks if possible.* To keep troubleshooting simple, I switched to a straightforward 2x16 configuration. GPU: AMD 5700XT (unchanged) *Only nine to twelve months old.* Storage: Unknown Brand 500GB M.2 SSD ---> Samsung 970 EVO 500GB M.2 SSD *Once more I upgraded just to remove variables. PSU: Corsair RM 850X (unchanged)* Thus, the hardware arrives, I assemble the system, and it now faces a similar issue—just a bit different. Now it "soft crashes" only during gaming. I can handle non-gaming tasks smoothly all day, but games start to lag. My monitors freeze, mouse and keyboard lag, yet sounds still play. I’ve stayed frozen for about 60 seconds or less, sometimes as little as three minutes. Another quirk is game stuttering: some freeze every fifteen minutes, others have tiny 0.5 second pauses every ten seconds. I’ve tested three different SSDs and three memory sets. After roughly a week of troubles, I thought maybe software was the culprit—possible malware or missing files—so I wiped the SSD and reinstalled Windows from scratch. I spent around ten hours doing a complete clean install, even upgrading from Windows 10 to 11 just in case. Still, the problems linger. One more thing: when updating Windows during the fresh install, I faced major difficulties. It would freeze at 0% until I restarted, then jump to 100% insisting it was ready, only to ask me to re-download and install again. I even tried this on two SSDs because it seemed like a storage issue. About a week later, the same issues continue. I reinstalled Windows, got a new CPU, RAM, motherboard, SSD, updated BIOS, new chipset, drivers, and even older GPU drivers. Still, no clear solution. My only remaining options are desperate fixes: - My PSU might be faulty. This is hard to believe since PSUs rarely cause visual freezing. - My GPU has some strange behavior. Unlikely given its age and performance. - DirectX installation issues seem most probable, especially with Windows updates. I’m stuck without a clear path forward. My only hope left is to spend more money—this has cost me both time and money. Thanks for your help.
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PartyRocker003
09-09-2020, 01:12 AM #1

About a month back my machine began acting up, showing a complete blue screen. I endured it for roughly two to three weeks before trying various fixes. Eventually, after several unsuccessful attempts, I realized it was time for an upgrade. I bought a substantial set of new components. Below is the complete rundown of what I had before and what I now possess. Mobo: ASUS Z270A ---> MSI B550-A-Pro CPU: Intel i7-6900k ---> AMD 5900x CPU Cooler: Corsair Hi150 (unchanged) *Approximately one year old.* RAM: 4x8GB Corsair 3200 DDR4 ---> 2x16GB Corsair 3600 DDR4 *In the past build I had 2x8 of a single type, and 2x8 of another. I wasn’t able to locate the exact same RAM when moving from 16->32 some time ago. I’ve heard memory doesn’t perform well with other types and it’s best to use identical sticks if possible.* To keep troubleshooting simple, I switched to a straightforward 2x16 configuration. GPU: AMD 5700XT (unchanged) *Only nine to twelve months old.* Storage: Unknown Brand 500GB M.2 SSD ---> Samsung 970 EVO 500GB M.2 SSD *Once more I upgraded just to remove variables. PSU: Corsair RM 850X (unchanged)* Thus, the hardware arrives, I assemble the system, and it now faces a similar issue—just a bit different. Now it "soft crashes" only during gaming. I can handle non-gaming tasks smoothly all day, but games start to lag. My monitors freeze, mouse and keyboard lag, yet sounds still play. I’ve stayed frozen for about 60 seconds or less, sometimes as little as three minutes. Another quirk is game stuttering: some freeze every fifteen minutes, others have tiny 0.5 second pauses every ten seconds. I’ve tested three different SSDs and three memory sets. After roughly a week of troubles, I thought maybe software was the culprit—possible malware or missing files—so I wiped the SSD and reinstalled Windows from scratch. I spent around ten hours doing a complete clean install, even upgrading from Windows 10 to 11 just in case. Still, the problems linger. One more thing: when updating Windows during the fresh install, I faced major difficulties. It would freeze at 0% until I restarted, then jump to 100% insisting it was ready, only to ask me to re-download and install again. I even tried this on two SSDs because it seemed like a storage issue. About a week later, the same issues continue. I reinstalled Windows, got a new CPU, RAM, motherboard, SSD, updated BIOS, new chipset, drivers, and even older GPU drivers. Still, no clear solution. My only remaining options are desperate fixes: - My PSU might be faulty. This is hard to believe since PSUs rarely cause visual freezing. - My GPU has some strange behavior. Unlikely given its age and performance. - DirectX installation issues seem most probable, especially with Windows updates. I’m stuck without a clear path forward. My only hope left is to spend more money—this has cost me both time and money. Thanks for your help.

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