Question need help with pc freezes

[Gokhannn]

hello i have a old laptop with 840m i overclocked using afterburner but i have a problem sometimes pc stays all day with overclock and nothing happens but somedays it just freezes after few hours of usage with overclock i thought it was power problem but i found that if i overclock for even 5 minutes using afterburner and take overclock back and leav afterburner open my pc still freezes after few hours of usage randomly is there chance afterburner is causing freezes what can i do

 

[Eximo]

I would look at the error logs in event viewer and see what may be causing the crashes.

Memory leaks in some software isn't uncommon, and slightly unstable system memory may also be a potential cause. Not really known MSI Afterburner to have this sort of problem though. Check any other programs you have running constantly.

You might consider re-installing the OS from scratch. If it is really old, registry entries pile up, old software installs with updates on top etc, bits and pieces of uninstalled programs, and overall data fade. If there is a hard drive in there, consider running a full defragmentation.

 

[Gokhannn]

OS is new it cant be any other program because i deleted msi afterburner for few days and freezes didnt happen freezes also dont happen if i dont open afterburner there is nothing in event history at the time freeze happens i force shutdown after freeze there is only 1 kernelpower thing that says system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first and eventlog that says shutdown was unexpected there is some distributedcom things but they are also there whil pc is running normaly so i dont think they are the problem

 

[Eximo]

Well, ruling out hardware issues is tricky. You can run memtest x86, and some general GPU benchmarks to see if the system memory and VRAM are in working order.

Afterburner may also be messing with the laptop's own power limits on the GPU, which could trigger a crash when the voltage/power doesn't track properly with the GPUs needs. Or it is allowing the GPU to draw too much power and causing the CPU to get enough voltage droop to crash.

Not sure I would put that much effort into an 8 year old system. (Though my old 4th gen laptop is still kicking with its 740m)

 

[Gokhannn]

That little overclock is helping me to reach 30fps in some AAA games so im willing to waste some time i want to try overclocking with some other program then afterburner to try but idk what can i use and can these freezes cause damage on gpu

 

[Karadjgne]

It's a laptop. Shouldn't be overclocking anyway. Laptops really cannot afford the extra power drain, nor the extra heat associated with OC. As far as the freezes go, that's a sign of instability in the OC, which isn't uncommon on laptops, legacy bios or prebuilts as the bios doesn't contain enough user accessible settings, most laptop bios don't have the essentials like LLC adjustment, SA, vccio etc.

Just running AB to OC there's going to be things missing, or permanently set, that you'll have no control over, can't raise or lower to help with the OC stability.

 

[Gokhannn]

So is there no way i can make it work

 

[Karadjgne]

Not with OC on a laptop not designed specifically for OC.

Afterburner, throttlestop, Ryzen Master are just software that can virtually OC a system, but they cannot replace bios or bios settings.

It's like putting NOS in your motor, jumping the top speed upto 150mph, but having no ability to change your 120mph speed rated tires. Most times you'll be ok, but every now and then you'll get a tire failure and the car blows a tire.

 

[Gokhannn]

Not with OC on a laptop not designed specifically for OC.

Afterburner, throttlestop, Ryzen Master are just software that can virtually OC a system, but they cannot replace bios or bios settings.

It's like putting NOS in your motor, jumping the top speed upto 150mph, but having no ability to change your 120mph speed rated tires. Most times you'll be ok, but every now and then you'll get a tire failure and the car blows a tire.

If i Just overclock while playing and freezes happens now and then can it cause damage or is it Just a power thing

 

[Karadjgne]

Damage is a relative thing. Absolutely you can damage software, OS etc, that's a corruption caused by mismatched data, which can make it difficult to operate the laptop, can mess up passwords or security, even brick the boot manager and force a complete reinstall of windows wiping out all your data.

Laptops don't have a psu. Have little to no protections as far as OCP, OVP etc goes and are totally reliant on motherboard mounted circuits to provide 3.3v,5v+ rails etc. So have no real protections from any spikes shoved at them from the power brick.

There's 3 kinds of damage. Upset is the little shock, may or may not create a software issue, doesn't affect hardware. Catastrophic is definite hardware damage, possibly rendering the laptop permantly bunk in some fashion. Latent is the worst. That's the hardware damage you can't see and don't immediately feel. Loss of lifespan is Latent. That'll affect the ssd/hdd, gpu, cpu, ram, even the battery. And there's no telling exactly by how much.

A hdd/ssd has redundant sectors, usually 7-13 % of the drive size. As one goes bad, it's quarantined and replaced, and you don't see any difference, still 100% healthy. How many are now gone, could be the very next time you power starve shutdown, could be a year from now, nobody knows. 6 months from now when the drive is acting funky, would you then attribute it to the OC attempts 6 months prior? Latent damage is impossible to see, impossible to predict.

 

[Gokhannn]

Okay i think i should not try to overclock or test anything more thanks for helping

 

[Karadjgne]

You are better off getting 25fps and playing all the way through your game with no shutdowns, than trying to push 30fps and never knowing if you'll make it through a match, or getting all the way to the final boss and 'poof', start over 2 more hours gone.