Question Random PC freezes until hard shutdown & restart ?

[Vadym_55]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here.

So, the issue i'm facing is random pc freezes that I started to get lately, mainly during playing only certain games (e.g. Escape from tarkov). The only way to 'unfreeze' the pc is hard restart (holding power button).

I used to have this issue before when I though my HDD was going bad, so I reinstalled the game on the brand new M.2 drive and everything was perfect until yesterday when the issue returned and happens completely randomly, can be after a few hours or within a few minutes of starting a raid in game.

After searching the net many topics suggested heat problems so, I tested if the system is not overheating. Thus, I've done stress testing of CPU (Cinebench), GPU (Heaven), and ran Memtest86 on RAM. Also ran a general test for 30 minutes in OCCT. No errors or crashes found, temps were the same as always (below 60C CPU, below 70C GPU). In games temps never go above 45-50C for CPU and 60-65C for GPU. I've also updated all the drivers including BIOS.
Event viewer doesn't show any issues except Kernel-power code 41 (63), but afaik that is because of hard restart.

Here are the specs of my PC:

CPU: Intel i9 11900 (cooled with NZXT Kraken x62 240mm)
MB: MSI B560M Pro
RAM: Kingston Fury DDR4 8GBx2 (KF432C16BBK2/16)
GPU: Nvidia GTX1080 (cooled with NZXT Kraken x31 120mm with G10 adapter)
Storage:

1. GOODRAM C40 120gb SSD (used only for Windows);
2. Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1tb Nvme M.2 SSD (freshly installed last week, used for games);
3. WD Black 2tb HDD (also only month old, used for general apps and data, offline games).

Nothing is overclocked, only RAM is switched to XMP profile. As mentioned before, freezes happen only in certain games. For example, I've never had this issue in Forza horizon 5 or PUBG.
Most of the components in the PC are new, as I did the CPU upgrade recently which led to new MB and RAM. The only old parts that are left are PSU and goodram ssd.

What can be a cause for such freezes? Can this be due to PSU or SSD going bad both of them are quite old?

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I wish you got a B560 chipset board that had a proper heatsink on the VRM area when you decided to get the i9. As a side note, what is the make and model of your PSU and it's age? Might also want to mention the make and model of the GTX1080that you own, which has been retrofitted with an AIO, chances are that the GPU might be the one coughing up the issues when taxed by a certain title.

Did you reinstall the OS after the "upgrade"?

 

[Vadym_55]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I wish you got a B560 chipset board that had a proper heatsink on the VRM area when you decided to get the i9. As a side note, what is the make and model of your PSU and it's age? Might also want to mention the make and model of the GTX1080that you own, which has been retrofitted with an AIO, chances are that the GPU might be the one coughing up the issues when taxed by a certain title.

Did you reinstall the OS after the "upgrade"?

Hello and thank you for the reply!

So, to start PSU is from Chieftech, it's A-135 series - 1000W model, regarding its age it's probably coming to 7 years at this point maybe more.

And the gpu used to be just base model directly from Nvidia. I've had it for quite some time too, and it has been on AIO since the first day. Never had any issues with it though.

Is there a way to check VRM temps of MB? To be honest, I wasn't even aware of VRM on MBs. I have some generic heatsinks lying around somewhere which I can try to retrofit to the MB.

And yes, I did fresh Windows 10 install when assembled everything.