Custom PC Build Crashing

[Tentasquid]

My PC that I built around 7 months ago has been having crashing (game stops on one frame, loud buzzing noise) problems while playing games. It has been doing this ever since it was built, but usually only happens while playing more graphically demanding games, but there has been one isolated incident of it happening on a game that my computer should be able to run very easily. I believe my heat is okay as the most i have seen it get is around 75-80 degrees celsius. I have been told by a friend that it could be gpu problems, but I am not sure if this is it or not. I have already tried a refresh and restore of windows, memtest, new drivers, switching out power strip, and disabling conflicting drivers. Another thing, the crashes seem to happen at random times, anywhere from loading up the game to a couple hours of playtime.
My specs are:
CPU: AMD - FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor
Motherboard: Asus - 970 PRO GAMING/AURA ATX AM3+ Motherboard
RAM: G.Skill - Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory
Hard Drive: Seagate - Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Graphics Card: MSI - Radeon RX 480 4GB GAMING X Video Card
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Case: Deepcool - TESSERACT SW RED ATX Mid Tower Case
Optical Drive: LG - GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer
It also has a corsair liquid cooler, but I do not remember which model.
There is also a card for wifi (TP link or something)

 

[Tentasquid]

run furmark stresstest and have a look at the temp. of your graphics card

970 boards are not that good for CPUs >95W in my experience. Even though your board has 7+1 modules onboard, which should be stable.
990FX or the less power using CPUs like FX 8320E should be preferred.

Check the graphics card in another system

Check the event viewer of windows if there are some errors, that could explain the crashes.

Okay i'm back again and have now tried a GPU, but sadly i'm still crashing. I think the only parts I haven't replaced are the optical drive and the HDD now so I guess those would be the next logical step. Is there anything else I should try first?

 

[helpstar]

just disconnect the optical drive

HDD checked with seatools yet?

downclock the CPU to 3.5GHz and decrease the voltage (~1.24V or less if possible)

RAM is running at 1866MHz?

did you replace the power supply yet?

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Another thing to suggest, are you running Windows 10? If so, are you running their crimson drivers? If you are, I would suggest as a test, to uninstall their drivers, you should be able to use ddu as suggested, then run Windows update, and allow that to find the driver from Microsoft for that card.

I know this is against what everyone else will say, but hear me out. I'm a PC technician/helpdesk/network admin for my day job, and specifically, I play a lot of world of warships in my spare time.

Sometime during the course of following this thread, I started having issues where I would launch the game, crash to desktop, or be able to play a while and crash. That got frustrating but I loved with it a couple of months. Finally got annoyed enough, uninstalled and reinstalled the game, no dice.

AMD has a cleanup tool that I ran to uninstall their graphics drivers completely, I then ran Windows updates, which found the card and installed a driver.

After doing that, everything was completely happy. For good measure, I went out to amd.com and downloaded the very latest driver, 17.11.2 I think, installed it. Immediately all the issues came back. I did some quick testing with some other versions, and 16.11.5 which is one of the last versions before the new crimson drivers came out seems to be stable.

So at least in my case, I'm convinced that their drivers were the cause of my issues the last few months.

This advice may or may not fix what's happening for you, but you've tried about everything else it seems, so it's worth a shot.

I note that you have an MSI RX 480 4gb. I have a Sapphire Nitro RX 480 8gb myself. So memory size is different but the drivers should be the same. It just seems to me that something about these crimson drivers is off.

I have a replacement plan on the card, so if they don't get the driver situation resolved in the next few months before my return policy expires (2 year replacement plan purchased through microcenter) I may end up returning the card and picking up an Nvidia card. I like AMD and their products, but they need to fix the driver issues.

 

[helpstar]

17.11.1 is the latest from AMD for the RX480

the 8pin or 6+2 pin PCIe power connector is plugged in and not only 6pins of it?

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

My bad, it was like 4am lol. I had used at the time what was the latest driver, I think it was put up on 11/2. Looking at their site, it looks like they have a slightly newer one now.

As far as my system though, all power connections are/were properly plugged in. I believe that one was an 8 pin, so in my case it would have been a 6+2 connector.

 

[Tentasquid]

just disconnect the optical drive

HDD checked with seatools yet?

downclock the CPU to 3.5GHz and decrease the voltage (~1.24V or less if possible)

RAM is running at 1866MHz?

did you replace the power supply yet?

I have checked the HDD with seatools and got nothing bad back, have replaced the power supply (no changes after that). How do I decrease the voltage and change the RAM MHz?

 

[helpstar]

for the ASUS 970 aura:
get into the BIOS, set the RAM MHz to 1866MHz in the Ai Tweaker menu:
"Memory Frequency"

also set "VRM Spread Spectrum" to enable

 

[Tentasquid]

for the ASUS 970 aura:
get into the BIOS, set the RAM MHz to 1866MHz in the Ai Tweaker menu:
"Memory Frequency"

also set "VRM Spread Spectrum" to enable

I couldn't find VRM Spread Spectrum, but I did find Memory Frequency. It wouldn't allow me to type in my own number so I just chose the one closest to 1866. I haven't crashed yet, but will report back if i do.

 

[Tentasquid]

for the ASUS 970 aura:
get into the BIOS, set the RAM MHz to 1866MHz in the Ai Tweaker menu:
"Memory Frequency"

also set "VRM Spread Spectrum" to enable

after changing the memory frequency to the closest it would allow me to get to, everything was running okay (no crashing just some lagging) for a day but then the next day (today) I had a crash. After searching all through my BIOS I still couldn't find VRM Spread Spectrum or a way to type in my own number for Memory frequency.

 

[helpstar]

please take some pictures of your BIOS and upoad these to an image hoster of your choice. Post the link of it

 

[Tentasquid]

please take some pictures of your BIOS and upoad these to an image hoster of your choice. Post the link of it

here's all of the ai tweaker menu
https://imgur.com/a/CsLbr
https://imgur.com/a/dldDw
https://imgur.com/a/OgmGL
https://imgur.com/a/1uLTR

 

[helpstar]

which exact RAM is installed ?

exact model please

set the cpu bus frequency back to auto or 200 save and exit, then get into BIOS again
set 1866MHz

 

[Tentasquid]

which exact RAM is installed ?

exact model please

set the cpu bus frequency back to auto or 200 save and exit, then get into BIOS again
set 1866MHz

Okay, I did what you said and put in those settings. The RAM I have is this https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231488&cm_re=f3-12800cl10s-8gbxl-_-20-231-488-_-Product

 

[helpstar]

then set it to 1600MHz, because the specifications are totally different than the ones you posted earlier.


DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Timing 10-10-10-30
CAS Latency 10
Voltage 1.5V

 

[Tentasquid]

then set it to 1600MHz, because the specifications are totally different than the ones you posted earlier.


DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Timing 10-10-10-30
CAS Latency 10
Voltage 1.5V

Okay, I changed the settings, tried playing a game, got maybe 10 or 20 minutes and then a crash. Then after that while browsing the internet on Google Chrome, I had another crash.

 

[helpstar]

reset the BIOS again

try a motherboard with 990fx chipset

try a good power supply with at least 650Watt

try another video card

 

[Tentasquid]

reset the BIOS again

try a motherboard with 990fx chipset

try a good power supply with at least 650Watt

try another video card

okay i'm back and on cyber monday, i bought a new hard drive, but yet again the crashing is still occuring. I have tried another video card, but there was still crashing as well.

 

[helpstar]

I think it´s your motherboard in combination with the AMD CPU
power supply is possible too

 

[Paul NZ]

Upload the small dmp files to onedrive then post the link

 

[Tentasquid]

Sorry, accidentally downvotes your answer. Can you recommend a motherboard or cpu?

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

At this point, if you are sticking with amd, you should look at AMD ryzen, I would suggest a b350 series board. Unfortunately you'd need new ram also. But performance is so much better than the fx chips.

 

[Tentasquid]

I see that the ryzen is pretty expensive... Is there any motherboard that I could keep the same cpu, RAM, etc to use with it?

 

[Paul NZ]

Nope

 

[Tentasquid]

I think it´s your motherboard in combination with the AMD CPU
power supply is possible too

Which motherboard or cpu (or both) do you recommend I get?

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Actually, you could get into a ryzen 1200 and b350 board for probably 200, the ram is expensive though right now.

Do you happen to have a Microcenter nearby? If so, check with them. They usually have a combo deal going where you get 30 bucks off a compatible board if you buy a CPU. So that would save a little cash.