[SOLVED] Frozen PC

[sapphire_radeon]

My PC gets frozen randomly in 10-15 minutes while playing games. Initially, I thought it was a GPU issue but after having a connect with GPU vendor, I was suggested to replace my PSU. I did the same but the issue persists but now I can play games a little longer around 20-25 minutes.
Moreover, I have tried with GPU stressed test using Heaven and other similar software with high settings for about an hour 2-3 times and it always went well. Also, have cleaned the entire PC several times, changed the thermal paste of CPU and GPU, switched GPU bios, installed additional 140mm fan but no luck so far. GPU-Z log also indicates the temperature usually sits between 70-85°C that I think is fine.
Now I am not sure what's the culprit here. I am giving my system specs below-

CPU: Intel i5-6600
MoBo: Gigabyte H170M-D3H
GPU: Sapphire nitro r9 380x
PSU: Gigabyte 700w 80 plus bronze PSU (earlier was cooler master 80plus 550w)
RAM: 8 GB corsair ram DDR4
SSD: 120 GB Kingston
HDD: 1 TB WD-black
PCI: Tp-link wifi network adapter
USB: Bluetooth adapter, USB 3.0 hub 4 ports

Kindly advise.

 

[Darkbreeze]

So, you replaced one crappy PSU with another crappy PSU. That probably wasn't helpful.

Does the problem ONLY happen while gaming? That is the ONLY time it occurs?

How many memory DIMMs are installed? What slots are they installed in?

When was the last time, if ever, you did a clean install of Windows?

Have you done a clean install of the graphics card drivers?

If there are any steps listed here that you have not already done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.



First,

make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release.


Second,

go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, storage controllers, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates.


IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.


Third,

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory and SPD tabs. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.



The last thing we want to look at,

for now anyhow, is the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.

Graphics card driver CLEAN install guide using the Wagnard tools DDU​

 

[sapphire_radeon]

Thanks so much Darkbreeze for your time and writing such a long response for me.
Please check my response inline below -

So, you replaced one crappy PSU with another crappy PSU. That probably wasn't helpful.
Probably, but this PSU has many positive reviews.

Does the problem ONLY happen while gaming? That is the ONLY time it occurs?
Yeah only gaming. Just to add, I am facing this issue around more than 2 years but as I am not a frequent gamer, I never bothered about it. But, nowadays during lock-down with free PC games, I am back to gaming.

How many memory DIMMs are installed? What slots are they installed in?
Only 1.

When was the last time, if ever, you did a clean install of Windows?
A year back. To add, I am also having dual boot with Linux.

Have you done a clean install of the graphics card drivers?
Yes and only recommended drivers.

First,

My motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed.


Second,

All the drivers are up to date.

IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.
I was unable to find any new drivers for the external components on their websites. So, I just went ahead and used a third party tool to update around 14 drivers (MoBo + external) in total. And surprisingly, I was able to play the game around 1 hour now. Wow. But then it again got frozen.


Third,

Yes.. Only 1 memory stick I have and is installed in DDR4_1 slot.


The last thing we want to look at,

Yeah.. I know about DDU and just to follow you, I did a clean install after uninstalling the drivers using DDU.

PS- It looks like the issue is with the drivers of some component (external and/or internal). I’ll try to figure out the culprit one. But, if there is any other stuff I can try, please advice.

Thanks and Regards.

 

[Darkbreeze]

In my opinion, I'd back up any important files and do a clean install again. And in the future, I recommend NOT ever using third party driver "updater" utilities.

I also recommend doing a clean install just about every other spring or fall major update because it seems like a lot of systems run into problems beyond two of those without a clean install.