My PC Crashes/Freezes when playing games.

[DeputyDoge]

For about 2 weeks my PC has been crashing or freezing completely when playing high performance games for about 15-30 min. All the sound stops, I can't use my keyboard or mouse, but everything is still turned on and the only way to fix the crash is to restart my pc.

I've already reset my pc twice so I know its not a problem with software and I've tried reinstalling drivers and all of my drivers are up to date.
Could it be a problem with my PSU?

All my important specs:
CPU = Intel® Core™ Processor i5-6600K 3.50GHz
GPU = MSI GeForce® GTX 970 Gaming 4G 4GB GDDR5
Memory = 16GB (8GBx2) DDR4/3000MHz Dual Channel Memory
PSU = EVGA 850W GQ 80 Plus Gold Power Supply
Motherboard = MSI Z170A Gaming Pro CARBON ATX
HDD = 2TB (2TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
Fan = Asetek 550LC 120mm Liquid Cooling CPU Cooler

 

[Justiceinacan]

What is the temperature of your components while gaming? My brother had a GPU overheating issue with his 750 Ti last year and exactly that happened. Not sure if that would cause a full system shutdown or a freeze.

 

[greens]

I've been seeing this issue a lot with EVGA PSUs, maybe their PSUs aren't as robust as their graphics cards. It sounds like a PSU problem. Any 600W PSU should be able to serve as a replacement for testing.

It is most certainly not a thermal issue.

 

[DeputyDoge]

What is the temperature of your components while gaming? My brother had a GPU overheating issue with his 750 Ti last year and exactly that happened. Not sure if that would cause a full system shutdown or a freeze.

The temperatures are normal when I play, the highest my gpu ever reached when I played any game was 70 degrees celsius,
so I dont think its a temperature problem

 

[DeputyDoge]

I've been seeing this issue a lot with EVGA PSUs, maybe their PSUs aren't as robust as their graphics cards. It sounds like a PSU problem. Any 600W PSU should be able to serve as a replacement for testing.

It is most certainly not a thermal issue.

Yea I was thinking it might be the PSU, is there a program or a certain way I can test the psu so I can make sure that it is actually causing the problem?

 

[greens]

I've been seeing this issue a lot with EVGA PSUs, maybe their PSUs aren't as robust as their graphics cards. It sounds like a PSU problem. Any 600W PSU should be able to serve as a replacement for testing.

It is most certainly not a thermal issue.

Yea I was thinking it might be the PSU, is there a program or a certain way I can test the psu so I can make sure that it is actually causing the problem?

You'd need to measure the actual voltage on your 12V line when it is under load... this isn't very easy to do.
By far the easiest way to test this is to go to the store and buy a PSU, it can always be returned for a minor stocking fee at most.

 

[DeputyDoge]

I've been seeing this issue a lot with EVGA PSUs, maybe their PSUs aren't as robust as their graphics cards. It sounds like a PSU problem. Any 600W PSU should be able to serve as a replacement for testing.

It is most certainly not a thermal issue.

Yea I was thinking it might be the PSU, is there a program or a certain way I can test the psu so I can make sure that it is actually causing the problem?

You'd need to measure the actual voltage on your 12V line when it is under load... this isn't very easy to do.
By far the easiest way to test this is to go to the store and buy a PSU, it can always be returned for a minor stocking fee at most.

Alright thanks for all the help, I'll go out and buy a new PSU and hopefully this can solve my issues, I will give an update when the new one is installed.

 

[DeputyDoge]

It seems that actually taking out the ram sticks and just putting them in other spots fixed the whole issue for me, cant believe it was that simple of a fix. Thankfully I didn't buy any new parts yet. Hope this helps anyone who is having this issue.

(Also is it possible to label this as the solution to the thread?)