Question PC Randomly Crashing While Gaming

Jun 14, 2019
2
0
10
My PC started crashing about a year ago. While gaming (either at 1080p or 2k games like rainbow six siege, fortnite, or assassin's creed odyssey) the computer will shut down on its own. I have also had a single instance where I pulled up event viewer and that crashed the computer as well. It has also crashed when performing benchmarks. I have updated all my drivers and performed a clean windows 10 install. At first I thought it was my hyper x cloud headset usb dongle since I saw a thread about that, so I removed that dongle before my reset of windows 10. None of these actually fixed my PC.

When it crashes, the power button becomes unresponsive. I have to unplug the power cable from the PSU and turn off the switch to the power supply and turn it back on then replug the PSU in order for the PC to boot. Once I reboot, it starts back up as normal. I have done a little research and found that the problem could be PSU, GPU, or RAM.

I borrowed my friend's GPU in order to see if that was causing the crash. I was able to game on his GPU for about one month with no crash at all. I figured that was causing the crash and so I bought the EVGA Geforce RTX 2080 since I was due for an upgrade. I have also tested the RAM using the default RAM test in Windows 10 and memtest 64. The results for the RAM came back normal. I am currently testing the RAM by taking out each stick and then gaming.

So far, the crashes are inconsistent, which is the most annoying thing about this. I can sometimes play games for 1 to 2 weeks straight without any crashes. Then others weeks it continues to crash the PC every single time I launch a game or get to a certain loading screen (for instance when the loading bar is full in fortnite before getting into the main lobby, or when I join other player's lobby by accepting their invite, that too will crash my pc).

I doubt it could be the CPU since I have stress tested but I am not sure if that is causing the issue.

Please help!!! Let me know if more information is needed.

My PC parts:
  1. NZXT Noctis 450 mid tower (6 total fans)
  2. ASUS Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1
  3. Corsair AX760 Platinum
  4. Intel i7 6700k (I am using the Corsair H100i v2 for cooling) (not overclocked, I took overclock off to see if that causing the crash)
  5. EVGA Geforce RTX 2080 XC2
  6. G.Skill Ripjaws DDR4 16 GB
  7. 256 GB Samsung SSD
  8. 1TB Sandisk SSD
 

PC Tailor

Illustrious
Ambassador
Welcome to the forums my friend!

Sounds like you've done quite a bit already. CPU failures are rare, they happen, but it's usually the last thing to suspect.

  • What individual CPU core temperatures are you reaching under load?
  • What GPU temperatures are you reaching under load?
  • Are you running any overclock anywhere at all? (I noticed you stated the CPU is not)
  • Does the issue occur in safe mode at all? You can also put load onto your components in safe mode with the relevant software.
  • Have you run CHKDSK and SFC/SCANNOW in an elevated CMD prompt just to help verify that your storage devices are in order? It may also be worth using HD Sentinel or - CrystalDiskInfo to see if there is anything obvious.

Based on initial descriptions I'd be leaning towards PSU but that will also depend on the questions above.
 
Jun 14, 2019
2
0
10
Welcome to the forums my friend!

Sounds like you've done quite a bit already. CPU failures are rare, they happen, but it's usually the last thing to suspect.

  • What individual CPU core temperatures are you reaching under load?
  • What GPU temperatures are you reaching under load?
  • Are you running any overclock anywhere at all? (I noticed you stated the CPU is not)
  • Does the issue occur in safe mode at all? You can also put load onto your components in safe mode with the relevant software.
  • Have you run CHKDSK and SFC/SCANNOW in an elevated CMD prompt just to help verify that your storage devices are in order? It may also be worth using HD Sentinel or - CrystalDiskInfo to see if there is anything obvious.
Based on initial descriptions I'd be leaning towards PSU but that will also depend on the questions above.


Thanks for helping, to answer your questions:
  • CPU core temperatures are around 40 - 50 C under load (Using Speccy)
  • GPU temperatures under load do not exceed 70 C at 2k gaming. My old card use get hot at mid 80 C with 1080p. (Using Precision X1)
  • No other component is overclocked
  • I have not tried safe mode. What can this prove in terms of diagnosing the problem? I can certainly try it when I crash next time and let you know the results.
  • I ran HD Sentinel and both of the SSDs are showing 100% performance. My boot drive (256GB) is at 98% health and the other SSD (1TB) is at 100% health.
The PC has been working fine today so far, but like I mentioned it is very inconsistent in the crash timing.

I also wanted to mention that when I launch the games and while playing, I hear a small buzzing noise from the cpu, ram, or motherboard area. I don't recall this noise ever being there but could it just be coil whine? It is hard to tell where it comes from exactly but I can hear it if I get close enough to the case and it becomes obvious with open case.