PC Freezes During Games

[Last_Approach]

So, I recently (last night) put together a new build:

CPU: AMD FX 8350
MB: MSI 970 Gaming
GPU: Nvidia GTX 760 (2gb)
RAM: 8gb
PSU: Novatech EVGA SN 650 G2

Of the above parts, the PSU and Motherboard are new - the CPU, GPU and RAM have all been in use for a while and have worked without any issues, able to run all the games I throw at them.

The build went shockingly well with no issues, and I was up and running back into Windows (on my existing Windows 10 installation) without problems.

I later then tried running Tomb Raider, which never EVER crashes. This completely locked up my PC after about 20 minutes of gaming, which as mentioned is very unusual.

After rebooting, I tried another game I've never had any issues with - Mad Max. The exact same thing happened.

I'm really at a loss what could be going on - I need to be pointed in the right direction before I either take the computer into a shop, or alternatively simply hurl it out of the window whilst screaming "this is sparta".

To start with; is there any way of determining through Windows logs what is causing the freeze? In the Event Viewer, all I see are the usual Kernel errors (because I'm manually restarting the machine), but no prior information.

Is it possibly the case that I need to do a fresh install of Windows, seeing as I've changed motherboard?

 

[Last_Approach]

Well, the problem actually "resolved itself" - I have picked the "reinstall windows" answer as the solution however, and I will explain why.

I did three things before it was resolved:

1. Reseated the RAM - I don't think it was this, but it could have been...
2. Unisntalled an ASUS application that was giving an error on launching Windows.
3. Performed all Windows Updates.

I was able to game over the weekend with no freezing whatsoever.

I think it's important to note that, while I think re-installing Windows would definitely be required on previous versions of Windows (or when moving to a different socket motherboard), I think Windows 10 is actually clever enough to work this out on it's own.

When I first stared my machine after building it, Windows was "performing first time setup" - clearly, an existing version of Windows wouldn't need to do this. But I think this was Windows doing the setup that was described by "Shaun O" for the new hardware.

I hadn't realised as well that none of the Windows updates were done, so I did all these the other day as well.

In regards to the Windows installation itself; this WAS NOT ACTIVATED after I changed hardware. However, Windows 10 Anniversary Patch allows you to input your Windows 8 key (or presumably, Windows 7 as well) to Activate it, which is fantastic. Not only did it activate, but it also upgraded my version of Windows 10 to pro to match my Windows 8 Pro key.

I have no idea if the Anniversary Update happens as standard as part of the Windows Update, but in case this helps anyone you can download it manually here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/12387/windows-10-update-history

This will launch an application that will then perform all the required updates. WARNING: This took all evening for me, but it could be partly because my Windows was not up to date as well...

So yes...all resolved now; now I just need a new CPU cooler and two new case fans to keep everything nice and cold.