Overclocking cpu while playing games causes pc to crash but not on idle or stress test.

[olliebaba20]

So I have overclocked my Fx-8350 to 4.5 ghz (+0.140 volts, I don't know if this is 1.4 volts) on a Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P FX. When on 100 percent load my cpu reaches a maximum of 46 degrees. (30 minute stress test) and it never crashes, same with idle (20 degrees.) But when I go to play a game about 10 minutes in my pc crashes. Any suggestions? Thank you.

Specs-
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P FX
AMD FX-8350
Nvidia GTX 1080
Samsung 850 Evo 500GB
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016)
Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 2x8GB 2100mhz

 

[CountMike]

Most probable cause, VRM can't supply enough power to CPU at high loads and when OCed. In other words, you would need better MB. Force cooling VRM and or NB may help. I had to cool them even on my GA-990XA-UD3.

 

[olliebaba20]

How would I go about cooling the Vrm and Nb? And it just doesn’t make sense as under a stress test there is no crash but during gaming there is

 

[CountMike]

I used 40mm fans on those. Stress test were never a proof of good working order, just a tool for troubleshooting.

 

[introaether]

What game is causing the issue? GPU, CPU intensive etc?

It sounds like a heat problem. Are you monitoring temps (HWMonitor) at all?

Also, have you tried stress testing gpu and cpu at the same time? Think P95 + Heaven.

 

[olliebaba20]

Its not a heat problem as i have an nzxt x52 and the max temps are 46 degrees. My pc crashes when i play pubg and fornite

 

[Danra]

Stress tests are not the final authority to guarantee a stable overclock. I have been overclocking for decades, it used to be a past time when I was in the computer hardware industry for 35 years. Today, I overclock simply because I want to and those decades of overclocking give me at least some assurance on how to get stable overclocks. I say some assurance because as time passes so do computer hardware and processes.

Your problem is the overclock may be too high for your motherboard or the CPU because of silicon lottery. There are many ways to get stable higher overclocks, however, at the moment I am exhausted and will keep this short, so I suggest you reduce the overclock and as time permits, then go to the overclocking section for advice regarding your specific computer components.

Tom's has an overclocking guide, however, it is not a very good one because it only covers the basics, often refers to general information not specific to your motherboard, and gives some bad advice, such as using exotic cooling and using software in Windows. NEVER use software to overclock.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-overclocking-guide,4593.html

Here is a slightly better overclocking guide:
http://www.overclock.net/forum/10-amd-cpus/1348623-amd-bulldozer-piledriver-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboard.html

If you only know the basics regarding overclocking I suggest leaving the states alone, C for example. I suggest a stable overclock before going into more depth. The same for NorthBridge and HT Link frequency. Initially, leave RAM settings at the lowest setting until a stable overclock is made. Putting overclocks on everything at once will now allow you to isolate a problem, so, set one thing at a time, reboot and run a burn in test of some kind. Note that tests, even Prime95 will not guarantee stable performance in all games, so, you will have to play some games as well while overclocked.

If you are a visual person sometimes you can find information on YouTube, unfortunately some of the best ones are not in English.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2kGLiLPP6k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wos7BspiD3o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5V-h5oab1E

Higher overclocks are dependent upon many things, such as the quality of your power supply, motherboard, RAM, CPU, and even keeping the motherboard BIOS updated.