System freezes during play or under pressure
System freezes during play or under pressure
It was my sons’ first PC, not mine. An AMD 3000G Gigabyte B450M gaming unit with 8GB DDR4 M.2 SSD, running Windows 11 64-bit, TT 80+ 600W PSU (previously it was 450W). We were just using onboard graphics until Christmas. I bought a second-hand RX 590 from the marketplace and the previous owner said it was fine. It was used for mining for a few months before failing completely, so he was selling his setup. Santa delivered the RX 590, and we installed it together. After a few tests, it worked fine—about 30 seconds it freezes into a black screen, then the fans spin at full speed and it crashes. Only a full power cycle fixed it. I updated drivers, checked that Windows wasn’t overwriting them, and upgraded the PSU to 600W, thinking there was insufficient power. The same issue returned even with a power limit applied. Is the card defective, or should we consider another option? Also, we’ve had problems booting before; most resolved issues were due to a BIOS update, suggesting this might be a known problem for this board.
It seems there might be some inconsistencies. Could it be that the card is faulty? There could be temperature issues, especially if the GPU hits high temperatures quickly during mining sessions. I’d check the idle temperatures on the GPU using Furmark to see how quickly they rise before crashing. If there’s a big jump—like 30-40 degrees—I’d expect a significant spike to 80 in just a few seconds, which would indicate a need for a replacement. Other than that, it might be related to driver problems; trying an AMD driver uninstall or switching the PSU could help. However, if the PSU isn’t providing enough power and fans are loud, temperatures could be the real cause. In my experience with the RX500 series, they can sometimes work well but are prone to instability.
The adhesive remains very hard because it hasn't been maintained. On my RX480 a few weeks ago, the original paste felt like saltine crackers and kept temperatures high under heavy use. Once I applied fresh paste, the temperature dropped noticeably.
I've completed the driver uninstall and reinstalled everything from the original. The idle rate is around 35-40, and it crashes at the same point during the benchmark (as expected) with temperatures in the mid-60s. I'll check for logs or a screen capture.
There's a high chance an RX 590 went through 2 mining crazes. 1st make sure you're using the latest MBO bios, the latest Chipset driver from AMD and the latest vBIOS. 2nd clean the card, repaste and change the thermal pads. edit: also, disable MultiPlane Overlay (mpo).
450w in the year 2000, 600w by 2010. Aiming for at least 750W in a modern setup—why is that difficult? I think some 600W models might be priced similarly to 750W ones, so you're not really saving. You've already removed the temperatures, confirming it's low power. When it comes to used GPUs, they're usually still in their early stages.
I reviewed several builder guides regarding PSU size and noticed most recommend 400W, except one mentioned 550W, while my unit is 600W—plenty of headroom. After adjusting settings, I clocked each core at about 100MHz, set power limits to -15%, used aggressive fan curves, and saw better performance on Heaven. Still, it crashes at the same issue. I’m considering trying different drivers to determine if that’s the cause.
It looks like adjusting the cooler's paste resolved the issue, even though temperature readings stayed relatively steady. Overall, it's been quite smooth, especially after the clock was adjusted. Thanks everyone!