[SOLVED] I believe that the main PCIe slot on my motherboard is malfunctioning

[wdoran98]

So a bit of background, one day my computer just randomly started shutting off and restarting. I noticed that it was only when doing specific actions. The main culprit was opening a game on steam. Not even launching the game, but selecting it in my library. Sometimes I could power through (launching steam in big picture mode seemed to work a few times), but then pressing the Windows key at all made it crash. At first, I tried new RAM, still happened. Next, I tried a new PSU, still happened. The last thing I attempted to do was place my graphics card in the second PCIe slot of my motherboard and this solved my issue. However, it appears this slot doesn't get the full performance out of my card, because I was noticing lower FPS in the games I typically play. I tried to move the card back, but alas, it started crashing again. Has anyone experienced anything like this before or know why such specific actions are making my computer crash? I feel like I'm going to need a new motherboard, but I figured I'd see if I could get an answer because this is so bizarre to me.
My specs are
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600x, GPU: 3060 ti, RAM: 16GB, Motherboard: Aorus B450 Elite

 

[Ralston18]

Look in Reliability History and Event Viewer.

Start with Reliability History: time line format and much more end user friendly.

Any error codes, warnings, or even informational events being captured just before or at the times of the crashes?

PSUs? Make, model, wattage, age, condition (new, original, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

Did you mix and match in cables from other PSUs?

 

[wdoran98]

On the Reliability history, it said that there was an application failure for the game and that it stopped interacting with windows. For PSU, I'm not 100% sure on all the specs, but it is an EVGA 750 W bronze that I've had for just over two years. However, I bought and used a new PSU and the same things kept happening. As for disk drive, I don't have any.

 

[drea.drechsler]

On the Reliability history, it said that there was an application failure for the game and that it stopped interacting with windows. For PSU, I'm not 100% sure on all the specs, but it is an EVGA 750 W bronze that I've had for just over two years. However, I bought and used a new PSU and the same things kept happening. As for disk drive, I don't have any.

The second slot is probably only PCIE x 4 gen 2 so it will be a lot slower than the pcie x 16 gen 3 main slot.

The problem could be the GPU or GPU drivers. Try a clean re-install using Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to uninstall the old drivers before reinstalling.

If you have another GPU you could try that too, but that may be unhelpful if the problem is your PSU not providing sufficient power to the 3060ti.

Also make sure all pins are fully engaging in the GPU power connectors as they can sometimes get pushed back.