Games Crashing When Using Higher Graphics

[huskz]

When i run some games on highest graphics settings the games either sometimes crash the game, reset my pc, or blue screen my pc. But when i lower them or change them i very rarely if ever crash on the games. How do i know if my PC cannot handle the settings i am on other than checking the fps? My fps is fine on the games on the settings i use. Some examples - On World of Warcraft keeping the render scale no higher than 100% or lowering other settings fixes the crashes. On Fortnite turning off post processing and effects fixes the crashes. On Destiny 2 keeping the render scale no higher than 100% fixes the crashes. I built this PC myself a few months ago and i have always had this problem. I don't think it is a temp issue, i always have a temp monitor on and my CPU never goes over 65 degrees (which apparently for my CPU is fine) and the same for my GPU. I myself have not overclocked but i don't know if my hardware was overclocked by default. I can live with playing on lower graphics to prevent crashing but still this shouldn't be happening with my specs i think. Any ideas what this could be?

Specs:
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz (8 CPUs), ~4.0GHz
Asus Z170 PRO GAMING Socket 1151 ATX Motherboard
16384MB RAM
750 PSU
1TB HDD

 

[ragnar-gd]

This might be a driver problem, in connection with the game.
What does your system log say?

 

[huskz]

This might be a driver problem, in connection with the game.
What does your system log say?

Where can i find this? Should i check it the next time i crash or will the previous crash info be there?

 

[ragnar-gd]

Read this instruction:
http://www.dummies.com/computers/operating-systems/windows-10/how-to-use-event-viewer-in-windows-10/
Go through the logs. This may take some time. Report back when done.

 

[bigsmilingbear]

are you sure your CPU is stable?
i'm sensing unstable overclock or undervoltaged.

 

[huskz]

@bigsmilingbear
I am not sure. Like i said, i haven't overclocked myself.

@ragnar-gd
What info do you need from my system log?

 

[ragnar-gd]

Look for "red" messages, read them.

 

[huskz]

This is from one of the WoW crash reports. It says it is a HDD issue. Do you think what i am experiencing could be due to a faulty HDD? If so that is probably it. Because recently in Fortnite i was getting blue screens with the error "SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION". Which apparently is a HDD issue. So i ran CHKDSK and completed it and the blue screens stopped.

The error value is listed in the Additional Data section.
User Action
1. Open the file again. This situation might be a temporary problem that corrects itself when the program runs again.
2. If the file still cannot be accessed and
- It is on the network, your network administrator should verify that there is not a problem with the network and that the server can be contacted.
- It is on a removable disk, for example, a floppy disk or CD-ROM, verify that the disk is fully inserted into the computer.
3. Check and repair the file system by running CHKDSK. To run CHKDSK, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the command prompt, type CHKDSK /F, and then press ENTER.
4. If the problem persists, restore the file from a backup copy.
5. Determine whether other files on the same disk can be opened. If not, the disk might be damaged. If it is a hard disk, contact your administrator or computer hardware vendor for further assistance.

 

[bigsmilingbear]

while it may be the HDD causing it.. i would still bet my money on your overclock.
there's a reason why your HDD is failing.
frequent crash while HDD is actively read/writing data is the no.1 cause of HDD failure.

 

[huskz]

@bigsmilingbear
How can i check what they are running at so i can check if they are not overclocked?

 

[bigsmilingbear]

use hwinfo or hwmonitor.

 

[huskz]

I am not sure how overclocking works but the clocks MHz keeps changing on HWMonitor here is an image anyway https://gyazo.com/a0ed2b5f63e704656e519ace734a11cb

 

[bigsmilingbear]

your cpu is overclocked at 4.2 ghz. you only have to see the highest clock your core ran to know how fast it's clocked.
you said that your PC came overclocked to you, do you know who set the overclock? it might be best to ask him to recheck his overclock.
if it's out of the question, then you have to reset the overclock to factory default in bios for now until you can learn how to overclock yourself of you found others that could do it for you (that's if you'd still want to overclock)

 

[huskz]

Are you sure that isn't just how high the clock has gone since HWMonitor was open? I never said my PC came overclocked, i am not sure if it is or not. I read somewhere that hardware can start overclocked by default. I am not even interested in overclocking currently. I'd rather just have a slower stable system. I bought all the parts and built the PC myself.

 

[bigsmilingbear]

oops sorry, your CPU does have 4.0ghz default clock and intel boost to 4.2ghz.
that clears things up. you might want to get that HDD checked up.

 

[huskz]

But how can i find out this is a HDD issue and not a GPU issue?

 

[bigsmilingbear]

by eliminating the potential cause of the problem one by one, like making sure the HDD is ok means the issue is elsewhere and you can start diagnosing the GPU then.

 

[huskz]

So i guess my only option is to buy a new HDD/SSD then. Any suggestions on what else i can do to fix my HDD before i do?

 

[bigsmilingbear]

run checkdisk first!

 

[huskz]

I have done a chkdsk before this. It may stop the crashes for a bit but probably not forever.

 

[bigsmilingbear]

if chkdsk repair solves the problem even for a bit, that means the HDD is the culprit is it not?
it means the problem is fix when chkdsk repaired the corrupted sectors, but it will be back when another sectors in that HDD is being corrupted again.

 

[huskz]

Yeah but it just seems odd that i only really have issues when i use high graphic settings. It makes more sense to be a GPU issue because of that. I'd rather have a better idea of what is causing it before i start buying new parts.

 

[bigsmilingbear]

high texture means more files loaded to the RAM then the VRAM. if the texture files and etc etc is having problem when being loaded, et voila! crash.
you may notice the VRAM being used when playing games right? few gigs and it keeps getting bigger and bigger when you set higher graphic settings. well most of them are texture and other files. the HDD only need to fail once while loading those files to mess up with your system.

 

[huskz]

That is the answer i was looking for. Thank you for the help.

 

[bigsmilingbear]

glad to help