Game Freezing but High Fps

[ErvinBoyes]

I've noticed that some of my games, namely Far Cry 5 and Skyrim Special Edition, have been freezing for about 1 min, within about a 15 min time span, despite never dropping below 50fps. I've updated drivers and moved both games to my SSD to no avail. Doing some temperature tests showed that my CPU can get up to 100c on 100% usage, and perhaps even higher if I left it for longer. Far Cry 5 can push my CPU up to temperatures above 90C for a few seconds occasionally. My GPU also often goes up to 99% usage on Far Cry momentarily, but never above 75C. My CPU is not overclocked, and I have reinstalled the cooler several times, reapplying thermal paste correctly. The cooler is the Dark Rock Pro 3 BK019 so it should be performing better than this. On idle however, the CPU is around 25 to 30C. It may also be worth noting that I replaced the stock cooler because it was also not cooling it well enough, and also to try overclocking, which is still not possible. I thought about trying a cheaper cooler that is easier to install than the BK019, because since it is so hard to install I can never tell if I've done it properly, although I'm pretty sure that I have. I do have a heater right next to me and the PC, although I doubt it has a massive impact, as without it the room gets very cold during the winter. Also I often rid my PC of dust so that's not the problem. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Specs
GPU: MSI GTX 970
CPU: I7 4790K @ 4.0GHZ, COOLED BY A DARK ROCK PRO 3 BK019
RAM: 2x 8GB PATRIOT VIPER RAM 1600MHZ
STORAGE: (OS) 120GB KINGSTON SSD, WD BLUE 2TB HDD, 256GB CRUCIAL SSD
MOTHERBOARD: MSI Z87-G45
PSU: CORSAIR MX750M
MONITOR: LG 34 INCH 2560x1080 21:9 MONITOR
FANS: 4 CORSAIR CASE FANS

 

[Vic 40]

Don't know what tool you use to monitor temps,try this one and see if it is the same,

download hwinfo64,
install and open it,
check "sensors-only",
click "run".

if it is is the way you mount that cooler not right or in worst case can both cooler and cpu not be flat. If you take the cooler off is the paste spread evenly?

 

[ErvinBoyes]

Don't know what tool you use to monitor temps,try this one and see if it is the same,

download hwinfo64,
install and open it,
check "sensors-only",
click "run".

if it is is the way you mount that cooler not right or in worst case can both cooler and cpu not be flat. If you take the cooler off is the paste spread evenly?

To measure temps I used MSI Afterburner and the Intel Tuning Utilty, and both gave the same results. I will try HWinfo when Im at home though. I have tried lying the PC flat before which didn't do much. The paste is 100% spread evenly. I did try undervolting the CPU but im pretty new to that stuff so im not sure if thats the correct thing to do. I managed to get the temps down to below 90c but it crashed after a couple hours last night. The freezing happened less but it was still happening. Anyways Ill try HWinfo as soon as i can and give you an update

 

[Vic 40]

The tool hwinfo also gives voltage info so check those too. Also check motherboard temps.

 

[ErvinBoyes]

The tool hwinfo also gives voltage info so check those too. Also check motherboard temps.

Okay so, the temperatures were correct.

Here are the motherboard temps: https://gyazo.com/193a1d9e4399cfb1c8c4f05885291fad
and voltages without any adjustments: https://gyazo.com/249e566e3518b8e1ccef6d7dfd37c615

 

[Vic 40]

Since showing do show psu voltages as well.

See indeed that the cpu goes up way too high. You're sure that you use the right screws for instance to bolt the cooler down?

 

[ErvinBoyes]

Since showing do show psu voltages as well.

See indeed that the cpu goes up way too high. You're sure that you use the right screws for instance to bolt the cooler down?

Yes, I'm sure that I've used the correct screws.
PSU voltages: https://gyazo.com/a25022811a265dc68d5d1df72a0efebe

I've done some extra tests w the PC lying flat etc, since it was a while since I last did it. What I've notices is that if I lie it flat, even though the max temperature is 5 degrees less, it still goes above 90c. however, if it is flat and doesn't have the side panel on, it only reaches 89c. I tried doing the same with the side panel off, but pressing down gently on the cooler which had no effect. I'll try and screw the cooler in a bit more but I am pretty sure that I will not be able to screw it in any further. I have literally tried re assembling it 4 times and each time there has been no change.

 

[ErvinBoyes]

Since showing do show psu voltages as well.

See indeed that the cpu goes up way too high. You're sure that you use the right screws for instance to bolt the cooler down?

Are there any relatively cheap coolers you know that would be able cool my CPU at stock speeds? I really want to see if its the cooler or not but don't want too spend much.

 

[Vic 40]

These are US prices,
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/jbJwrH,rVtCmG,hJFPxr,LwyV3C/
the Raijintek is 165mm tall so keep that in mind. The Zalman isn't the easiest to install to say the least. The Scythe and the Deepcool are with push pins the easiest to install, If you can get it for the price is the Deepcool a good choice for such a test. Took the Zalman into this for it's low profile and still good performance,could be niceley used in a htpc or something like that.

 

[ErvinBoyes]

These are US prices,
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/jbJwrH,rVtCmG,hJFPxr,LwyV3C/
the Raijintek is 165mm tall so keep that in mind. The Zalman isn't the easiest to install to say the least. The Scythe and the Deepcool are with push pins the easiest to install, If you can get it for the price is the Deepcool a good choice for such a test. Took the Zalman into this for it's low profile and still good performance,could be niceley used in a htpc or something like that.

Cool thank you. I tried tightening the screws again and nothing happened. Im going to try the stock cooler now and if thats any better im just going to buy a new cooler.

 

[Vic 40]

Saw also that your Vcore gets up to 1.2V when some do 4,5ghz on that,might want to try to lower that,start with 1.15V and do a Aida64 stability test,see if that helps as well.

 

[ErvinBoyes]

The tool hwinfo also gives voltage info so check those too. Also check motherboard temps.

These are US prices,
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/jbJwrH,rVtCmG,hJFPxr,LwyV3C/
the Raijintek is 165mm tall so keep that in mind. The Zalman isn't the easiest to install to say the least. The Scythe and the Deepcool are with push pins the easiest to install, If you can get it for the price is the Deepcool a good choice for such a test. Took the Zalman into this for it's low profile and still good performance,could be niceley used in a htpc or something like that.

Just ordered that Deepcool one, as I just broke the stock one lol. It should come tomorrow so ill give an update then.

 

[Vic 40]

Just ordered that Deepcool one, as I just broke the stock one lol. It should come tomorrow so ill give an update then.

Okay,would like to know what happens.

 

[ErvinBoyes]

Just ordered that Deepcool one, as I just broke the stock one lol. It should come tomorrow so ill give an update then.

Okay,would like to know what happens.

Ok so, I just installed the cooler, the temperatures are much better. I tested for about 20 seconds at the max temp was 73. However, when I first tried to boot up the PC, it froze on the 'welcome' screen. I booted it up again after having some other errors, and the whole pc froze after about 10 seconds of being on the desktop. And as I am testing now, OCCT froze too, and is still frozen now. If it matters, windows is installed to a seperate drive to OCCT

 

[ErvinBoyes]

And right after I posted the the whole windows shell froze

 

[ErvinBoyes]

I will say that I got a bit of thermal paste on the bottom of the cpu by mistake, but I cleaned it off with the arcticlean fluid and some coffee filters, although I dont think I used the 2nd arcticlean bottle, only the 1st, so I dont know if its clean enough. With that said, Im pretty sure if I scratched or left residue on the bottom of the cpu, the pc just wouldnt boot right?

 

[Vic 40]

Think that if you cleaned it all off good will you be fine,just make sure it didn't get on the socket pins as well.

Did you test your ssd's/hdd's? Each manufacturer has their own tool for their products.

 

[ErvinBoyes]

Think that if you cleaned it all off good will you be fine,just make sure it didn't get on the socket pins as well.

Did you test your ssd's/hdd's? Each manufacturer has their own tool for their products.

I can't test it at the moment, as I'm trying to re install windows on the SSD and its not going very well lol. I keep getting a message saying 'windows setup experienced an unexpected error. restart to install' after the installation restarts. anyways once I fix it I'll let you know. I was hoping just reinstalling windows would fix it but we will see...