[SOLVED] PC started freezing while gaming (under load) and while stress testing CPU (Prime 95) after new CPU and MOBO upgrade

Dec 16, 2021
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Hey guys,

Maybe you can help me.

Had no problem with a previous system. Decided to change CPU and MOBO. Got a new CPU (I5 11600k) along with Z590 A Pro from MSI. Performance increased but games started freezing after some time of gaming.

MY CPU FAN - Cooler Master 212 black edition

Case - Fractal Design Meshify C, two standard case fans

PSU - Brand New Corsair 750 (changed it from Corsair 550 as I thought PSU was an issue)

New Windows (reinstalled after upgrade), new drivers everywhere including chipset drivers

I run some diagnostics while gaming (Death Stranding, max settings full HD) and my CPU temperature when the game froze was 83, and GPU was 80, so while on a higher side, nothing too critical. I reinstall the Windows, update Chipset, remove side panel. I run Heaven Benchmark three times on max settings, all good. In addition games started working for noticeably longer than before until they freeze, but they still freeze. Next step I run Prime 95 stress test. It runs for 12 minutes and PC freezes. CPU temperature while stress testing was constant 100 degrees.

So something is wrong with CPU under load. I am not sure if it's a temperature or something else. Should I adjust something in a bios? Get new better, more prime CPU cooler like Noctua? Three more additional Noctua case fans are on its way.
No problems occur when I run the system just working in Windows for hours on end, only while gaming or stress testing the CPU in Prime 95.
 
Solution
I have made the BIOS update before I started reporting these problems. Basically this was a chronology:

  1. Get NEW CPU and MOBO
  2. Update BIOS to latest version
  3. Able to play CSGO (not so much graphically intensive game) for 30 minutes to an hour before it freezes. Can play Death Stranding (more graphically intensive game) for 15 minutes before it freezes
  4. Reinstall windows
  5. Remove case side panel
  6. Update chipset drivers
  7. CSGO doesnt freeze PC anymore, at least it haven't yet. Death Stranding can give me 45 minutes to an hour of a gameplay until it freezes.
  8. Install Prime 95 and run it in smallest FFTs mode. Freezes after 12 minutes. Average CPU temp 100 degrees
  9. Run Prime 95 in Large FFTs mode (stresses memory...

Tigerhawk30

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Dec 16, 2015
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I'm not sure about adjusting things in BIOS, but does your board have the latest BIOS installed?

After a massive amount of headaches created by a freezing Win10 that pulled lots of uncommanded restarts, I finally decided to update my BIOS (it's literally the last thing I had yet to try) and (knock on wood), I've had no freeze/restart issues since updating said BIOS...it will usually have done it twice by now (computer has been operational for about 8 hours today as of this writing) so I'll call that an semi-qualified success. Time will tell. But, that's something to look for and update to the latest stable (not beta) version of your board.

Hope this helps!
 
Dec 16, 2021
9
0
10
I'm not sure about adjusting things in BIOS, but does your board have the latest BIOS installed?

After a massive amount of headaches created by a freezing Win10 that pulled lots of uncommanded restarts, I finally decided to update my BIOS (it's literally the last thing I had yet to try) and (knock on wood), I've had no freeze/restart issues since updating said BIOS...it will usually have done it twice by now (computer has been operational for about 8 hours today as of this writing) so I'll call that an semi-qualified success. Time will tell. But, that's something to look for and update to the latest stable (not beta) version of your board.

Hope this helps!

Yes, I have the latest BIOS installed. My system never restarts. It only freezes and only when gaming or doing an extreme stress test on CPU.
 

DemonicSky

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Oct 25, 2014
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When you say it freezes, are we talking a freeze that you can get out of with time? Or permanent freeze and you need to reboot? Further on that, does the audio freeze as well or does it keep playing?

And have you done any tweaking in BIOS? Like overclocking? Updating BIOS usually resets the settings, so if you have no freezes now there was definitely something enabled or incorrect. Could be anything from low voltage to memory clocks.

I often saw the same occur when I was tweaking CPU's during overclocks. Works fine until it suddenly doesn't, adjust settings try again until it's stable. So kind of see the similarities here.
 
Dec 16, 2021
9
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When you say it freezes, are we talking a freeze that you can get out of with time? Or permanent freeze and you need to reboot? Further on that, does the audio freeze as well or does it keep playing?

And have you done any tweaking in BIOS? Like overclocking? Updating BIOS usually resets the settings, so if you have no freezes now there was definitely something enabled or incorrect. Could be anything from low voltage to memory clocks.

I often saw the same occur when I was tweaking CPU's during overclocks. Works fine until it suddenly doesn't, adjust settings try again until it's stable. So kind of see the similarities here.

It freezes completely meaning the screen freezes with whatever image was there at the time of the freeze, no input by keyboard or mouse works, sound stops as well. The only thing that works is hard reboot. It happens only while gaming or doing a CPU stress test. System works well while I am symply working in Windows, sometimes 8+ hours a day. It takes one graphically intensive game to run for more than 30 minutes and it freezes.

I have not done any tweaking in BIOS. Its a fresh BIOS which I installed after upgrading my CPU and MOBO, latest version of the BIOS too. Its a base i5 - 11600k with nothing done to it. RAM is 3200 MHZ without XMP enabled so working under lowered clock speeds probably. I dont know much about BIOS and dont care too, the only reason I bought 11600k is because it was dirt cheap during Black Friday sale. I have no plans on tweaking anything, but I need the system to work properly to begin with.
 

DemonicSky

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Oct 25, 2014
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It freezes completely meaning the screen freezes with whatever image was there at the time of the freeze, no input by keyboard or mouse works, sound stops as well. The only thing that works is hard reboot. It happens only while gaming or doing a CPU stress test. System works well while I am symply working in Windows, sometimes 8+ hours a day. It takes one graphically intensive game to run for more than 30 minutes and it freezes.

I have not done any tweaking in BIOS. Its a fresh BIOS which I installed after upgrading my CPU and MOBO, latest version of the BIOS too. Its a base i5 - 11600k with nothing done to it. RAM is 3200 MHZ without XMP enabled so working under lowered clock speeds probably. I dont know much about BIOS and dont care too, the only reason I bought 11600k is because it was dirt cheap during Black Friday sale. I have no plans on tweaking anything, but I need the system to work properly to begin with.

Prime95 tends to stress the CPU, so it would point at the BIOS settings/CPU for this as would the freezing, however about the graphics intensive aspect, this generally would put the finger elsewhere. Prime95 does use the RAM a bit while stressing the CPU, and you'd often get this in graphics intensive games as well. I'd start by enabling XMP in BIOS and set the memory to the correct settings and see how it performs as it's starting to point more towards the RAM rather than the CPU.

Then again, the BIOS update you made could also have corrected something with the settings making it work as it should.
 
Dec 16, 2021
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Prime95 tends to stress the CPU, so it would point at the BIOS settings/CPU for this as would the freezing, however about the graphics intensive aspect, this generally would put the finger elsewhere. Prime95 does use the RAM a bit while stressing the CPU, and you'd often get this in graphics intensive games as well. I'd start by enabling XMP in BIOS and set the memory to the correct settings and see how it performs as it's starting to point more towards the RAM rather than the CPU.

Then again, the BIOS update you made could also have corrected something with the settings making it work as it should.
I have made the BIOS update before I started reporting these problems. Basically this was a chronology:

  1. Get NEW CPU and MOBO
  2. Update BIOS to latest version
  3. Able to play CSGO (not so much graphically intensive game) for 30 minutes to an hour before it freezes. Can play Death Stranding (more graphically intensive game) for 15 minutes before it freezes
  4. Reinstall windows
  5. Remove case side panel
  6. Update chipset drivers
  7. CSGO doesnt freeze PC anymore, at least it haven't yet. Death Stranding can give me 45 minutes to an hour of a gameplay until it freezes.
  8. Install Prime 95 and run it in smallest FFTs mode. Freezes after 12 minutes. Average CPU temp 100 degrees
  9. Run Prime 95 in Large FFTs mode (stresses memory controller and RAM). Run it for 20 minutes, doesnt freeze, I stop the test to not damage the CPU. Average CPU temp 90 degrees.
  10. Run Memtest for 20 minutes. All ok, no errors.
 

DemonicSky

Distinguished
Oct 25, 2014
18
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18,525
I have made the BIOS update before I started reporting these problems. Basically this was a chronology:

  1. Get NEW CPU and MOBO
  2. Update BIOS to latest version
  3. Able to play CSGO (not so much graphically intensive game) for 30 minutes to an hour before it freezes. Can play Death Stranding (more graphically intensive game) for 15 minutes before it freezes
  4. Reinstall windows
  5. Remove case side panel
  6. Update chipset drivers
  7. CSGO doesnt freeze PC anymore, at least it haven't yet. Death Stranding can give me 45 minutes to an hour of a gameplay until it freezes.
  8. Install Prime 95 and run it in smallest FFTs mode. Freezes after 12 minutes. Average CPU temp 100 degrees
  9. Run Prime 95 in Large FFTs mode (stresses memory controller and RAM). Run it for 20 minutes, doesnt freeze, I stop the test to not damage the CPU. Average CPU temp 90 degrees.
  10. Run Memtest for 20 minutes. All ok, no errors.

Very peculiar issues, because based on what you wrote above it looks like a heating issue. P95 in small FFT generally doesn't use RAM much, and it lasts 12 min but CSGO is more CPU bound than DS, which should make it crash faster. You could install HWMonitor and see the temperature and CPU% in CSgo vs DS and compare.

Everything would point to overclocking settings not being stable/cooling not being stable for overclocking but you said you didn't tweak any settings and it's all default? 100c is very high but it's also the max for that CPU so it's probably throttling it down after that. Did you build the PC yourself or was it delivered pre-built?
 
Solution
Dec 16, 2021
9
0
10
Very peculiar issues, because based on what you wrote above it looks like a heating issue. P95 in small FFT generally doesn't use RAM much, and it lasts 12 min but CSGO is more CPU bound than DS, which should make it crash faster. You could install HWMonitor and see the temperature and CPU% in CSgo vs DS and compare.

Everything would point to overclocking settings not being stable/cooling not being stable for overclocking but you said you didn't tweak any settings and it's all default? 100c is very high but it's also the max for that CPU so it's probably throttling it down after that. Did you build the PC yourself or was it delivered pre-built?

As per GPU-Z, CSGO runs at about 5-10 degrees lower than DS when played for both CPU and GPU. It's a generally less demanding game even if it known to be CPU dependent. I mean on my system CSGO runs at 320 fps on average and DS at 110. No I didn't tweak anything in BIOS except booting mode from UEFI to Legacy as it wouldn't boot Windows in UEFI. Touched nothing else. I build this PC myself.