PC crashes on EVERY game

[riccardopiola]

PC Specs
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77 V-PRO
CPU: i7-3770k@4.4Ghz
RAM: Corsair Vengance 1600Mhz 4x4GB @ 1600Mhz
GPU: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Tri-X
PSU: XFX PRO 750W 80+Bronze
SSD: Sandisk Extreme 120GB
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm

Symptoms

Ok so the around a week ago my PC started to have problems.
I was playing Fortnite and it started crashing like every game or two, its usually fine when we're in the early game but after a certain point it crashes and goes back to windows saying Unreal Process has crashed.
It doesnt happen sistematically every time though, sometimes i'm able to play multiple matches without crashing.

Initially I thought it was a problem with Fortnite since it had just recieved an update, so I started PUBG and every game went fine until I ended the game and came back to pre-game lobby, then it crashed, every time.

The last test I conducted using a game that is not based on the Unreal Engine, so I played COD Black Ops 3 Zombies, and it worked great for a day, played it all day and it maybe crashed only once, today though is a different story since kinda like Fortnite does, it sometimes crashes when the game gets too long (but not every time)

The last symptom is unusual: Around the same time it started also crashing Google Chrome, particularly when i'm watching a video or a stream in the background, it crashed the page then I reload and sometimes it crashes again right away and sometimes it's fine.

Note

I did not add any new component but I did one thing I think around a month ago:
I overclocked my CPU to 4.4GHz and the system is very stable, i managed to complete an Intel Burn Test of 20+ cicles never going over 85°C, and when i'm using it normally it never reaches 70°.

Toghether with that I "overclocked" the RAM to 1600Mhz wich is not really an overclock since it is advertised to reach that speed

Like I said the PC ran fine for like at least two weeks after the OC

My Throubleshooting

Fortnite Update
My first tought like I said was that there was a bug with the game I played (Fortnite) then i looked online and talked to my friends and nobody had the same problem as me, the pc started to crash with other games too, so I ruled that possibility out.

GPU Driver
At that point maybe it was a driver issue, so I updated every GPU driver and nothing happened

Faulty HDD
Windows is installed on an SSD and it works well, the games are installed on an HDD so I thought that was the problem.
I ran CrystalMark 7 and it found no issue with both my drives and said they are in a Good state

Faulty RAM
Now this is the most promising option, since its the only one that explains why Google Chrome would randomly crash along with my games, plus I overclocked the RAM so I might've messed up there.
I ran a full Windows Memory Diagnostic and it found NO errors whatsoever.
I also have to note that i never get a blue screen (wich if I'm not mistaken is a sign of something wrong with the RAM OC)

Other Programs conflicting
I didnt add any new program to startup so I highly doubt that this is the problem, I also dont have many programs running at startup (I have like 2 or 3)

Thoubleshooting is very tedious since I have to play for quite a bit for a crash to occur and there is no real proof that the game is not crashing because the issue is solved or because it's just a "good day"


Conclusions
At this point I think there are a few possibilities remaining
- RAM problem that I was not able to diagnose
- Something isn't right with Windows (Do a clean install)
- PSU problem ?

The thing is though that I dont know can I diagnose the RAM since I already ran the WIndows Utility program
The Windows Clean Reinstall is the last thing I will do if like there is absolutely no other option
I have no real way to diagnose a PSU problem since I dont have another available.

If you have any suggestion plase let me know and thank you in advance for your time

 

[Barty1884]

Given the symptoms, they appear to be when rendering video (Games, Chrome w/video etc).

This could be a result of a few different things, but there's a couple of obvious places to start.
1. Save your BIOS settings to a profile, and load defaults (removing your OC). Doesn't sound like the issue, but smarter to confirm that just assume.
2. Fully remove your GPU drivers. Installing the latest, even selecting "clean install" doesn't actually guarantee anything. DDU is a great tool, that'll reboot you into safemode, fully remove all traces of your GPU driver(s) and then allow you to clean install them.

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

Those are the most likely culprits, IMO.

To speak to your conclusions.
1. You'd have other symptoms (including BSODs like you mentioned) if RAM were the issue. While Windows buit-in diagnostic tool isn't the best (For that, see MemTestx86), it *should* be sufficient in this instance.
2. A clean OS install would fix anything software related.... but I don't think it's overly necessary just yet.
3. PSU *could* be an issue, but that's a good quality unit, more than adequate for your system and, while PSUs can be DOA or fail over time, I'd suspect other issues, as above, before the PSU in this instance.

 

[riccardopiola]

Ok will try to do what you said, I already did a "clean install" thinking that it would be sufficient but I'll proceed to use DDU and remove the OC.
BTW I'm ending now a Prime95 stress test that was running for an hour without any errors

 

[Barty1884]

Yeah, the "clean install" doesn't actually do what it suggests it does.... at least, not well.
DDU is pretty robust, and will get you to a clean starting point. Once the drivers are removed fully/reinstalled, try performing the same tasks you were having issues with.

Removing the OC probably isn't too necessary, given the stress-test success(es), but removing them temporarily just gives you a stock situation and removes a potential variable.

 

[riccardopiola]

ok so I reinstalled the video card drivers and left running a 3D Mark test and a video on the second monitor while i was eating and when I came back there were no crashes
After that I played some PUBG (2 games) and found no crashes again.

At this point all I can tell is that it looks like that was the problem, I will need more testing though as, like I mentioned in my first post, even prebiously sometimes it just worked for some reason.
I'll have to wait for Friday to do the rest of the testing.

Fort the time being I'll pick your answer as the solution because if I dont find any more error I'll probably forget to come back and do so. Thank you

 

[Barty1884]

Glad to hear it (appears) to be fixed.

If not, just come back to this thread. We'll remove the answer selected, and go from there. Given what you described though, I'd be surprised if there was anything seriously wrong.