Question My PC keeps giving BSOD while playing certain games ?

[Ken111]

Hello everyone thanks for read my Post...

Recently i bought a new fresh CPU about one month ago, for gaming purpose so i try build it to at least can play new game on steam smoothly. well yeah it run smoothly every game in one month. But i got the problem when i play "The Witcher 3". i buy it from steam. before buy this game i already play "Pathfinder : Kingmaker", "Wasteland 3", "Red Alert 3", "Far Cry 5", "Honkai : Star Rail" it all run smoothly. until recently i saw steam have discount on "The Witcher 3" and so i bought it and play the game for around 8 hours (each playing time around 1-3 hours). then it suddenly monitor display freezing and CPU go BSOD (Blue screen of death).

That is very unexpected to be honest, cause there is no sign of lag on graphic display. After that i try run "The Witcher 3" again and BSOD occur again for playing 5-10 minutes. what more one of my Fps game like "Far Cry 5", one of the game i play with no problem before have the same BSOD too. then i try other game like "Wasteland 3" and "Honkai Star Rail" luckyly it just run smooth no problem occur. So the CONCLUSION is certain game cause BSOD while other game is having no problem occur. it no occur any BSOD on CPU as long don't play "The Witcher 3" and "Far Cry 5"

i try fix it by myself before the final option reinstall everything and delete every games download for now. too be honest i am completely new and have no idea on all this fixing stuff, so i use internet and here is list i do from search solutions can fix BSOD in internet :

1. Clean Disk
2. Defragment Disk
3. Disable Auto Paging
4. Stop Temporary Search by use command prompth
5. Setting power plan management to High Performance
6. Change advance power setting to "turn off hardisk after 0 minutes and processor power management to 90%
7. Disable Antivirus
8. Download GCC (Gigabyte Control Center)
9. Reinstall Windows (not really sure done correctly or not, cause my game is still in there and nothing change in desktop display)
10. Update Driver use device manager (again not sure done correctly or not, cause they say i already got everything installed when i click update)
11. Stop superfetch (not found in command prompth, i input exactly the command and not found that super fetch)
12. tweaking a GIGABYTE BIOS (when it goes BSOD it restart and show BIOS page)
13. Update every patch on Windows 10

Well... after all i done it become worse to BSOD on Desktop Screen. but somehow i manage use Task manager and stop background system, close wifi and make CPU stop go BSOD in time. then i delete GCC that i download after BSOD happen in game. restore every change to default and fixed BSOD on Desktop Display. then i try list below :

13. keep updating Windows 10 to Windows 11
14. Recheck update on all harddisk

after all of thing i done, problem just back to original (BSOD playing certain game) but this time i try locating the root of problem first before blindly try every "solutions" on internet. and here is what i do

15. run game "The Witcher 3" without using steam, still BSOD. so i concluded STEAM not a problem for now
16. run game again without using game launcher (RED launcher) while using steam (one of solution on steam community that have same crashing problem name as me), still BSOD though. so the game launcher should not be a problem.
17. checking game files corrupted or not,

i think the graphic card not a problem cause it just run smooth without sign of any lag on other game. system just keep crashing when i play "The Witcher 3". Of course for now i can just ignore it and play other game. but it somehow make my other game "Far Cry 5" having a same problem. using windows defender scan, no sign of any virus. everypart of cpu still brand new and fresh...

is there any solution i haven't tried yet before i reinstall everything? i want to try it before my final options, restart everything and delete all my games...

MB: GIGABYTE GA-B760M-DS3H, DDR4
CPU: Intel Core i7-13700F LGA-1700
RAM: KINGSTON FURY BEAST RGB Special Ed. 16GB DDR4-3200 (2x8GB )
SSD: Samsung 990 PRO 1TB NVME Gen4 x4
GPU: Gigabyte GV-N4060 8GB
Case: VENOMRX GENJIRO WHITE RGB 3 Fan
PSU: COUGAR XTC ARGB 650W 80+
CPU Cooler: DEEPCOOL AG400 ARGB Black
KB + Mouse: Logitech MK-220 Wireless
Monitor: GIGABYTE 24" G24F-2 IPS 165Hz

 

[Ralston18]

Look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer for error codes, warnings, or even informational events being captured just before or at the time of the BSODs.

Start with Reliability History: Much more end user friendly and the timeline format can reveal patterns.

Event Viewer requires more time and effort to navigate and understand. Take your time - no need to rush.

And to help with Event Viewer:

How To - How to use Windows 10 Event Viewer | Tom's Hardware Forum (tomshardware.com)

In both tools you can click any given error/entry for more details - an error code number for example. However the details may or may not be directly helpful.

 

[Ken111]

looking inside it Reliability History, it say faulty path on RED launcher of "THE WITCHER 3" and EPIC Launcher too. now i just try reinstall everything and remove every game, data, thing i download (since it is for gaming purpose, cloud save on steam should be helpful enough not to worry lost all game data) for now. after done reinstall windows, i gonna test play again game that caused BSOD. if problem still occur. i think something happen with the harddisk part... that is most unwanted event i want to hear(cause i just buy this whole thing one more month ago)

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Looked up your power supply on the psu tier list and it appears to be a tier E unit, which are the ones you avoid.

PSU Tier List rev. 17.0g - Cultists Network

PSU Tier List will help you to choose the best PSU out of hundreds of models on the market. From budget to the highest end Power Supplies.

cultists.network

Usually when a system is powering off it’s heat or psu. Since it’s running normally for at least an hour I’d guess the psu gets loaded up and maybe some heat buildup in the psu and it has trouble coping.

YEARS ago, almost 20 back in the days of pentium 4/athlon 64 when almost all cases had a psu mounted on top, I had an ultra brand power supply from tigerdirect.com if anyone remembers shopping there back in the day. But on that p ssd I as I remember, I always had to have a case fan below it as an exhaust fan pulling warm air out of the case or that power supply would turn off.

That’s been nearly 20 years ago..

 

[Ken111]

i don't think the BSOD on my CPU have something to do with heat, i mean each time i play the game, i use my hand to feel the heat on the wind blow out from the cpu fan system. it actually not that hot even sometime quite breeze, further more the casing i use to build CPU have a something like case fan below it too (lot of fan, 3 or 4). from task manager i watched while i run the game, the systems is spike high make the disk got 100% usage, then it go BSOD. i think it probably has something to do with the windows update, cause now when i try reinstall, it got BSOD even without playing the game. furthermore when i check reliability history, on the 9 December 2023, before the first BSOD on game occur. Windows actually update something. Now my CPU stuck in endlees failed install Windows so i bring it to store i buy let them fix problem. hope this, really hope it fix everything once for all. and after that i gonna disable the windows auto update...

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Disabling windows update isn’ta good solution I don’t think. They are accelerating faster and faster with their updates and it would seem eventually they’ll have certain updates you’ll have to have to play certain things.

Your pc may not be overheating but the power supply could be. In the situation I described above, I think the power supply internally was causing issues

That said, if your power supply really is a tier E unit, then you probably want to replace it for long term stability.

The rest of the pc looks decent except the power supply to me. I’m not an nvidia fan but the 4060 should be a decent card for 1080p.

Also you don’t want to defrag an ssd. You want to run trim on them, windows is supposed to do that itself I think though.

As I’m looking again though, regardless of the psu , I did a quick search and there are articles from earlier in the year about folks having trouble with the Samsung evo 990 pro and some of them dying. So you may want to back to your data ASAP. If your drive is having issues that would explain bsod issues I think. Many other articles but I just grabbed one.

Samsung SSDs Dying! 980 Pro, 990, 970 EVO PLUS, PM9A1 and More Reporting Failures - Everything We Know So Far!

Samsung SSD Failure Reports Increasing - What is happening? Note, Feb 15/02/23 - There is Updated Information on the Samsung M.2 NVMe SSD Firmware Issue. You can find out more in the article and video below: Samsung 990 Pro SSD Firmware Failures UPDATED Video - HERE Samsung 990 Pro SSD Failures U

nascompares.com

 

[Ken111]

Well.. i give up about finding solution by my own one week ago. because i mess up my computer when try to reinstall windows once again. it stuck in endless failed install restart. so i bring my CPU to store where i bought it, and then reinstall and restored it to original version. my game gone but at last i still can redownload it from steam. try to play the other game (Monster Hunter : World) and it show no problem. but the question still remain though.

I think Power supply should not be a problem, i played it for one month and longest time i play is 3-4 hours, if the power supply itself is something wrong with it. then all game with high graphic need should be error too. but the honkai impact, wasteland 3 still run without problem for several hour, judge from sound and heat of my CPU running while i play, it just all same with other error occured game when i playing it.

Samsung SSD Failure report increasing... to be honest i never heard of that report before. if i know it i probably think for second time before use SSD, since the store where i buy CPU recomended that SSD better than HDD, and i search internet it say do too... but forgot to research which SSD brand is better

i gonna try download the game that first occured error. let see if problem happen again or not after i disable windows updates. if nothing happen, then problem source is in one of the windows updates. if same error occur again, windows prove not a problem and i try change to use the other SSD than Samsung, if still occur after change SSD... lets think about that later.....

 

[Darkbreeze]

The Cougar XTC series is complete trash. Get it out of your system immediately, throw it in the trash (No I am not kidding. You do not even want to give this to somebody you really hate, unless you are ok with their house potentially burning down since this unit lacks any appropriate protections) and replace it with something other than a PSU shaped object. Preferably, something fairly decent.

Believe me, your power supply IS part of your problem and even if it isn't right now, it is going to be at some point. If you have any desire to keep the rest of your hardware from slowly (Or possibly even quickly at some point) getting destroyed, you won't leave this power supply connected to any of that hardware for another day. Yes, it IS that bad.

And it doesn't matter what the store "recommended". Do you REALLY believe the people working there are hardware experts? Give me a break. They are SALES people. Their job is to SELL you stuff. They don't give a damn if the stuff they sell you is worthless crap or not so long as they can sell you SOMETHING. They don't care, at all, if your hardware fails on you two weeks or two months or two years later. At all.

As far as your SSD is concerned, both you and the idiots that sold you that hardware clearly didn't do any research before they made a recommendation or before you bought it, because it is WELL KNOWN public knowledge that those drives have problems as clearly explained at the following link. So you can be sure that the "reports" you are getting, are correct. It is not some mistake. It is not an accident. It is not false. It is REAL. If you choose to ignore it, that is up to you. If it was me, I'd return it to the store where I bought it and demand a refund or if it's been too long and cannot be returned, I'd contact Samsung and demand one.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/samsung-990-pro-firmware-update-released-ssd-health

 

[DSzymborski]

This is a real mess. The PSU is a disaster, and if you reinstalled Windows correctly, then there would be nothing on the drive outside of Windows until other things are reinstalled. Then the tinkering with Windows on top of it just makes everything worse.

If you want to actually unwind all this, you need to go back to square one. Get your hardware problems squared away first, especially with the PSU; it's absolutely shocking to see something of this poor quality powering these specs. Then completely wipe the drive while doing a fresh Windows install, and *then* you can start to address the problems from there; avoid any repeat of the Windows butchery.

 

[Darkbreeze]

In reality, aside from the fact that any store that recommended a 990 Pro and didn't know about the problems with it so they could either explain them to the customer or make sure they returned affected models to the manufacturer is itself a basket of asininity, making the decision to at least TRY and go to somebody who has at least a vague idea of what they are doing is probably the best decision they've made so far throughout the entire process. It's just unfortunate that it had to be the same place that sold them a problematic SSD and a piece of crap power supply to go with what otherwise is fairly good hardware. But then again, might just be that the sales people are the only ones to blame and perhaps they have technical employees that hopefully have at least a minimally better understanding of things. I wouldn't hold my breath though.

As well, after all that's been done, they might just refuse. A lot of place simply won't take on a "basket case" and that includes computers, auto repairs, remodeling, etc.