Question Pc crashes during gaming & benchmarks

[chenyu1127]

Hey guys,

for about a few weeks, my PC would constantly crash during gaming.
While playing games like Overwatch or GTA V, my screen freezes with a weird pixel pattern.(Same for benchmarks)Then it shuts down and reboot itself.

https://imgur.com/a/0vc8Zbn

View: https://imgur.com/a/0vc8Zbn


I looked up online what could possible be wrong, and found out that the GPU might be dying. So I took out the GPU and tested it in my friends PC, but it was working fine.

My PC will constantly crash during gaming and benchmark and suddenly work again just for one night.

Which component could cause the crashes? Pls help me

i5-3450
ASRock H77 Pro/MVP
MSI GTX 970
8GB RAM (Unknown Brand IM38GU48C16-999HB)
BEQUIET Straight Power BQT-E7-500W
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13

 

[Phaaze88]

My guess? It's probably that no name brand RAM that's no where to be found on your motherboard's memory QVL(qualified vendor list).
Replace it with something from the QVL.

Did you have a gpu before this one, and failed to properly remove the old gpu drivers?
For this, download the latest drivers for the 970, but don't install them yet.
Download DDU(display driver uninstaller), then disconnect your internet.
Run DDU(requires safe mode), afterwards install the new driver, and then you can reconnect your internet.

 

[chenyu1127]

My guess? It's probably that no name brand RAM that's no where to be found on your motherboard's memory QVL(qualified vendor list).
Replace it with something from the QVL.

Did you have a gpu before this one, and failed to properly remove the old gpu drivers?
For this, download the latest drivers for the 970, but don't install them yet.
Download DDU(display driver uninstaller), then disconnect your internet.
Run DDU(requires safe mode), afterwards install the new driver, and then you can reconnect your internet.

ok thanks, i will try replacing the RAM.

no I didnt have a GPU before this one.

 

[Phaaze88]

Motherboard drivers up to date? https://www.asrock.com/MB/Intel/H77 Pro4MVP/index.asp#Download
Was the 970 bought new or used?

Home - UserBenchmark

Go there and link your results.

 

[chenyu1127]

Sorry for the late response. I bought different RAM, but the PC still keeps crashing. I updated all Mobo drivers but still crashing.
The 970 was a used card, so was the whole PC. I bought it second hand.

UserBenchmark keeps on crashing, so no results.

 

[Phaaze88]

The whole PC was second hand... ok, I'm gonna have to look at this a little differently.
The 970 you bought might be a lemon... Are you able to return it and get you money back in case the card is the problem?

But for now, we need to test with as few parts as possible and move up.
Leave the 970 out, and boot the PC with one stick of ram at a time - play your games, benchmarks, etc. - we want to try and trigger the freezing/crashes to rule out the ram as the issue.
The shut offs are likely the power supply, but with the 970 out, it won't have as big a load to deal with, so it shouldn't just shut off... but if does while testing the ram, then the unit must be in bad shape.

 

[chenyu1127]

Can you explain what "lemon" in this context means? I won't be able to get my money back.

I tried as you said to start my PC without my GPU and my newly bought RAM. It didnt crash and had no freezing too.

And when I plugged in my GPU again and try to start my PC, this usually happens:

https://imgur.com/a/17O4qkJ

View: https://imgur.com/a/17O4qkJ