[HELP] My PC crashes a few minutes into games.

[Me_HD_i]

[HELP] My PC crashes a few minutes into games.

So I built my own PC a week ago, here are the specs;
GIGABYTE Z170X Gaming 3 motherboard
Core i5-6500 3.2ghz
8GB DDR4 2400mhz ram
Zotac GTX 980 AMP
WD 1TB HDD
-------------------
PSU 700W Green (It's not a famous brand or anything and I got this one back in 2011


I got into gaming right after I set up my PC and everything seemed to run perfectly. I played Witcher 3/Battlefield 4 multiplayer/GTA V/Dying Light and so on. Smooth and over 120fps with vsync off + no crashes.
Till two days ago when I was playing Battlefield 4 multiplayer and about one hour into the game, there was some stuttering sounds and my screen went white. I coulld not anything .I only had the option to shut the PC down manually. I thought it was just random crash but it happened again while I was playing GTA V, then it happened in Witcher 3. Still keeps happening. In GTA V, it usually takes longer before it crashes, like after 20 minutes or so but in W3 or BF4 it crashes after less than 5 minutes.


I've tried reinstalling the OS/Scanning for Viruses etc. I looked for solutions online and saw quite a number of people with the same problem and some suggested that the problem could be the PSU. I even lowered the power limit of my GPU down to 90% on MSI afterburner. Reduced the Core clock and Memory clock down by 10 but the problem still persists. I don't even know if it's a PSU problem or a GPU one.
What do you guys think the problem might be? (It's weird because it only started happening since 2 days ago.

 

[dragonbird]

about one hour into the game

like after 20 minutes or so but in W3 or BF4 it crashes after less than 5 minutes.

Run something like MSI Afterburner to monitor your temperatures. These sorts of timings sound like something is overheating. The most likely would be either your graphics card or the CPU.

 

[Me_HD_i]

Run something like MSI Afterburner to monitor your temperatures. These sorts of timings sound like something is overheating. The most likely would be either your graphics card or the CPU.

I do have the MSI Afterburner running when I'm ingame. GPU temp is around 55-60c on 35% fan speed.

One thing I forgot to mention is that the more I switch between game and other programs such as MSI AB the quicker my PC crashes.

 

[Sardukhar]

It's odd that it just started. That speaks to either a change in components by you, a decay of existing ones somehow or an outside negative force like a virus.

I'll assume you've done the go back to stable drivers, update anti virus and spam ware, shut down all non-essential prgrams on startup that might be starting, etc. The usual. Make sure absolutely nothing non-essential is running, including MSI. Even shut down your antivirals for testing. Minimal factors.


First, is it all graphics-engaging software? Try a program that works the card fairly hard. Opinions vary, I use furmark. There are a few. If that -doesn't- crash it, try a CPU-workout. If that doesn't crash it, then we start looking at applications and drivers.

If the GPU-exercise crashes it, then we start looking at the cause of that. Simplest, fastest check? Swap another card in or take your card to a friends and swap yours into his. Then we'll know if it's the card or not.

 

[Suhiira]

I know a while back I started having issues with my PC, it turned out some of the Win 10 files were corrupt and no amount of file checking and re-installation would help. I had to totally wipe the hard drive and do it from scratch to actually get a clean install.

 

[M4xw0lf]

We need more info about the PSU. 700W doesn't tell you whether it's shit or not, it could still be responsible for the crashing.
Your description of accelerated crashing when switching from games to desktop and back (-> large variance in power load) seems to point to the PSU as well.

 

[Me_HD_i]

I'm here to seal the deal on this thread and confirm that my issue has now been [SOLVED]. The issue was my Display Drivers, having installed the last two versions solved the problem right out.

Moderators can now kindly remove or lock this thread. Thank you. :cheers3:

 

[Neural_Cipher1]

I would still recommend upgrading to a Ono-Sendai deck, a cyberspace 7 would be a good thing to aim for

 

[GuyNwah]

Thanks for the update. Yes, defectively installed drivers can cause problems like that. Cleaning out and reinstalling drivers once in a while is a good practice.

(As test programs go, Furmark is a bit behind the curve, as nVidia cheats (sort of the way VW did) and cuts performance if it detects Furmark is running.)

On this forum, the moderators tend to leave threads open and eventually fade away rather than call more attention to them by closing them. This does not mean we did not see your request; thanks.