Question PC keeps freezing during gameplay

[marcel.peharda]

So, yesterday I bought an used PC. Nabbed it for only $150 with a monitor. I don't know how old it is, but I still wanted to see what I can do with it.

Okay, the PC works absolutely fine if I'm not playing a game. It's fairly smooth and silent. In terms of that, I'm satisfied with it. A new copy of Windows 10 is installed, it's virus-free. However... It just keeps freezing minutes in gameplay of the three games I tested - Euro Truck Simulator 2 (which freezed in only like 5 minutes (high settings)), Counter-Strike Source (a fairly old game; it froze in like half an hour (high settings)) and Apex Legends (which suddenly restarts the PC, no error or anything). It becomes pretty loud at the point when it freezes. I'm forced to reset the PC. Here are my specs, as well as the temperature of the components when the PC froze:

GPU: AMD Radeon R7 265 Sapphire Dual-X 2GB (froze at 71°C)

CPU: AMD FX 6300 Six-Cores 3.50ghz (froze at 45°C)

Motherboard: Gigabyte AM4

PSU: Cooler Master Thunder 500W

RAM: 12GB DDR3

There are fans on the side and the back of the tower.

Anybody knows what's the problem? I heard something that the PSU is often the issue, so it might be that? I checked the voltages using hwinfo and the voltages seem fine. The temperatures of the components also seem fine, though the GPU spiked fairly quickly to 71°C.

I was really psyched about getting this PC and it really hurts my heart to see it not working properly. Any help is highly appreciated.

 

[clutchc]

See if you can find the exact make/model of the motherboard. It isn't an AM4. It is an AM3+ socket, but the exact model is needed.
Is the BIOS set at its default values? The previous owner may have "adjusted" some settings.
That is an older gfx card. Do you have another one you can test with?

 

[marcel.peharda]

See if you can find the exact make/model of the motherboard. It isn't an AM4. It is an AM3+ socket, but the exact model is needed.
Is the BIOS set at its default values? The previous owner may have "adjusted" some settings.
That is an older gfx card. Do you have another one you can test with?

HwInfo showed that the motherboard model is Gigabyte 970A-DS3P. So yeah, it is an AM3+ socket. I just copied what the seller told me, so sorry for writing wrong information.
I went to the UEFI and changed all settings to the defaults. I have no idea if there was something wrong with it, but I'll give it another shot as soon as I'll have the time.
Unfortunately, I don't. I was mostly a laptop owner up until now, and I had my last PC ages ago. Do you think it might be overheating? Would it really freeze like that if it was?

I feel like my best bet is to take it to a professional (and I think I'll do that, since they could test it with a different GPU), but what's the most likely issue? The outdated GPU, faulty PSU, maybe it needs a thermal paste replacement, or something else?

By the way, thanks for the response.

 

[clutchc]

The temps you reported are not indicative of an overheating CPU or GPU. How about motherboard temps?
Almost any component that is failing can cause issues like that. I think I'd verify that the RAM was ok next. Run Memtest on each stick for at least one full pass.

How is the RAM configured? 2x4GB and 2x2GB? If so, try taking the 2x2GB sticks out and run those games.
And check if the RAM is matched pairs in their proper slots*. Mixing RAM can cause issues like that too.

Same color slots should have matched pairs in them.

 

[marcel.peharda]

Let me check... At the same time it froze before, the motherboard temperature was... Well, there are three values on that section - System (42°C), CPU (50°C) and TMPIN2 (45°C). The HDD temperature was 43°C.

I just tried Memtest like you suggested, and the PC just shut down in the middle of the process. I'd say that's an indicator that there's something wrong with the RAM. I opened up the tower and found that there are two sticks - a 8GB and a 4GB. I'll try testing it without the 4GB one.

Edit: Memtest reset the PC just minutes in during the test when the 4GB stick was inside (it was testing the 4GB stick), while without it it froze during Test #9 (so it froze on a static screen) , so around 30 minutes in the test. I'll try a game (ETS2 usually froze just minutes in the game, I'll see how it works now).

Edit 2: Sigh... Nope. The same thing as before, instead this time it hard-locked my PC with a black screen so I couldn't shut it down at all, being forced to unplug the PC from the power. If it's a RAM problem, it's a problem with the 8GB RAM and I can't take it out since I don't have a replacement. I guess I better take it to a specialist, I have some spare money left so it's not that big of a deal. I just hope it's nothing unrepairable (it doesn't look like it, it looks like there is one part that's constantly causing the issues).

Thanks for the help, though. I'll make sure to use the information I gathered.

 

[clutchc]

It sounds like you may be getting somewhere now...

 

[clutchc]

If you're determined to give up at this point, then taking it to a shop may be the best move. Be sure to inform them of what you've found.

 

[marcel.peharda]

Yeah, I pretty much gave up. If I had the spare parts to use, I'd definitely do it, but it's not worth buying the parts without knowing the exact component that's causing the issue. Hopefully they won't say that the entire PC requires a replacement.

I really appreciate your help in all this.