[SOLVED] Gaming is great, when it doesn't cause BSODs

[inzaneasylum053]

Hey guys, looking for help on the matter of crashing, freezing, BSODs, and general computer un-wellness.

I have quite an eventful time when attempting to play games lately, though it has been a problem for some time. I occasionally get BSOD errors when playing games such as Killing Floor, Warframe and Call of Duty, and also instances where the game crashes, my PC freezes (with a horrific audio error that forces me to reset the PC), and I've also had the audio completely drop out from all open sources. I've not really tried a variety of games because I HAVEN'T FELT LIKE IT, DAD.

I sat down for a Frostpunk session today. I assumed I would play for a few hours, build a prospering city wedged in a ravine with a workforce of bustling automatons. Lo and behold, I lasted all of about 15 minutes before I ran into a BSOD. I'm able to run games such as AoE III and Northgard with no problem, but Frostpunk isn't invited to this party.

My recent Warframe experience consists of roughly 10 minutes of in game fishing time, followed by a minute long 'restarting the PC after crashing sesh' followed by another round of fishing. Warframe's crashes are pretty consistent with the time I get, 10 minutes being the average. Games like Killing Floor are pretty sporadic. I can get to the end of the 9th wave before my PC has a heart attack, or it can crash before I even get to the main menu.

I can run League with no problems but who even cares about that game?

I can remember a 'System thread exception not handled' and a 'Kmode exception not handled'. My PC sounds like it's dropping the ball when it comes to handling things.

Also, I would have refreshed my PC and gone as far as restoring it, but apparently I'm missing some files to do so, which is a mighty annoyance, and I no longer have the installation media to replace the files that I need.

I'll also bring to your attention the fact that I run a dual monitor setup, both the same model, but one of them doesn't have the capability to run properly. It has occasional screen tearing, and the refresh rate is visibly worse, though I've set it to be exactly the same as the primary monitor.

If someone can help me with one of my issues, I'll save money on psychology visits.

Specifications:
Intel Core i5 6500, stock
Cryorig H7
16GBs (2 8GB sticks) Corsair Vengeance LPX
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 Windforce OC 8G
Western Digital 'something or other' 1TB
Samsung 750 Evo 120GB
Gamemax GM-600
All connected to a nice little Asus H170 Pro because I didn't know what size motherboard to get at the time.
Dual Acer Predator XB241H setup

I also have a keyboard, mouse, external hard drive, wireless gamepad, webcam, glass of water, mousepad, Doritos, dodgy USB hub, and several fans with a vague blue radiance.

 

[inzaneasylum053]

I also tried running a memory diagnostic on startup that didn't pass 10% of completion, and GENUINELY took a few minutes to exit. It was loading text line by line and I was thinking 'bruh is this a joke? Who replaced my PC with a potato when I wasn't looking?' I cannot for the life of me comprehend that.

 

[13thmonkey]

what PSU, precisely, temps at load CPU and GPU, what MOBO, are all drivers for the mobo installed? what does the event log say happened around that time, there should be critical errors, what are they? Any WHEA errors?

 

[inzaneasylum053]

what PSU, precisely, temps at load CPU and GPU, what MOBO, are all drivers for the mobo installed? what does the event log say happened around that time, there should be critical errors, what are they? Any WHEA errors?

The CPU cores max at 49 degrees Celcius, the GPU sits at 53. I have no way of knowing what drivers I have installed. Only thing frequently updated is the GPU. I've had 4 event 41s. Though I don't know if this is accurate, because I often have to reset my PC manually when it freezes. Annnnd I don't believe I've ever had a WHEA error.

 

[jankerson]

what PSU, precisely, temps at load CPU and GPU, what MOBO, are all drivers for the mobo installed? what does the event log say happened around that time, there should be critical errors, what are they? Any WHEA errors?

The CPU cores max at 49 degrees Celcius, the GPU sits at 53. I have no way of knowing what drivers I have installed. Only thing frequently updated is the GPU. I've had 4 event 41s. Though I don't know if this is accurate, because I often have to reset my PC manually when it freezes. Annnnd I don't believe I've ever had a WHEA error.

You need to get a good quality PSU, the one you have isn't a good unit at all.

 

[13thmonkey]

Have to agree that the PSU would be my first port of call here, a slight voltage dip when under load and it may crash, i'd change that given that the temps are ok.

 

[inzaneasylum053]

what PSU, precisely, temps at load CPU and GPU, what MOBO, are all drivers for the mobo installed? what does the event log say happened around that time, there should be critical errors, what are they? Any WHEA errors?

The CPU cores max at 49 degrees Celcius, the GPU sits at 53. I have no way of knowing what drivers I have installed. Only thing frequently updated is the GPU. I've had 4 event 41s. Though I don't know if this is accurate, because I often have to reset my PC manually when it freezes. Annnnd I don't believe I've ever had a WHEA error.

You need to get a good quality PSU, the one you have isn't a good unit at all.

While I'm inclined to agree with you, I've had this system for about 2 years now. I'm only just starting to see problems. But is it possible that I'm having these problems because the power supply isn't able to support my hardware?

 

[jankerson]

what PSU, precisely, temps at load CPU and GPU, what MOBO, are all drivers for the mobo installed? what does the event log say happened around that time, there should be critical errors, what are they? Any WHEA errors?

The CPU cores max at 49 degrees Celcius, the GPU sits at 53. I have no way of knowing what drivers I have installed. Only thing frequently updated is the GPU. I've had 4 event 41s. Though I don't know if this is accurate, because I often have to reset my PC manually when it freezes. Annnnd I don't believe I've ever had a WHEA error.

You need to get a good quality PSU, the one you have isn't a good unit at all.

While I'm inclined to agree with you, I've had this system for about 2 years now. I'm only just starting to see problems. But is it possible that I'm having these problems because the power supply isn't able to support my hardware?

Very possible.

 

[inzaneasylum053]

Have to agree that the PSU would be my first port of call here, a slight voltage dip when under load and it may crash, i'd change that given that the temps are ok.

So, other than needing to upgrade my PSU, is there anything I can do to remedy my current situation? Or are you saying that a better PSU will solve my problems? I've had this system for around 2 years now, and I upgraded the graphics card from a 960 to the 1080 around July last year. I never really had problems with the weaker card.

 

[inzaneasylum053]

what PSU, precisely, temps at load CPU and GPU, what MOBO, are all drivers for the mobo installed? what does the event log say happened around that time, there should be critical errors, what are they? Any WHEA errors?

The CPU cores max at 49 degrees Celcius, the GPU sits at 53. I have no way of knowing what drivers I have installed. Only thing frequently updated is the GPU. I've had 4 event 41s. Though I don't know if this is accurate, because I often have to reset my PC manually when it freezes. Annnnd I don't believe I've ever had a WHEA error.

You need to get a good quality PSU, the one you have isn't a good unit at all.

While I'm inclined to agree with you, I've had this system for about 2 years now. I'm only just starting to see problems. But is it possible that I'm having these problems because the power supply isn't able to support my hardware?

Very possible.

Well, I guess I'll get right onto that. Gives me an excuse to clean out my PC too.

 

[13thmonkey]

Psu's age and give out lower levels of stable power as they get older, and you've gone from a 120w card to a 180w card. It all makes sense. If suggest 90% chance of it being the cause.