Random PC Gaming Crashes

[zanegraziano]

Hello, my PC has recently been having some issues when gaming. I built it 2 years ago and it has worked flawlessly until recently it would crash after a couple minutes of gaming. I haven’t lost frames but it shuts down my monitors and nothing happens. I suspected it was dust but I gave it a good clean and tried to play some games and it crashed again. The PC still works for video/ movies and other casual use.

EDIT:
I ran some tests using MSI Afterburner and my PC runs at around 41°C and then I launched the Kombustor which is the stress test and the GPU temperature immediately jumped to 60+°C and continued to climb and within seconds the PC had crashed.
Is this the issue, and how did it become an issue so quickly?

My specs:

CPU-Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler-Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
RAM-Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133
GPU-MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card
Motherboard-Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1151
HDD-Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal
SSD-Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
PSU-Rosewill Hive 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX-
OS- Windows 10

 

[stdragon]

1. Clean CPU and reapply thermal paste

2. Run a Memtest86 diagnostic to validate RAM is performing without errors.

 

[zanegraziano]

Ok, so I used the windows memory tester and nothing was found. I also changed the paste on the cpu and cleaned everything again. After doing these thing I tried to run the Kombustor again and instead of crashing the screen kind of went from normal image to black screen repeatedly but not rapidly. The frames were fine and i was able to move the mouse to the exit button before the computer crashed. Its almost like the HDMI cable was looses or something but it wasn't.
Any ideas now?

EDIT:
I did some more testing and let the Kombustor run instead of stopping it after the screen started flashing. The PC never crashed the Kombustor window however turned black and the screen flashing went away simultaneously. The CPU stays at a very cool temp. but after looking at some more of the numbers the GPU shoots to 100% usage as soon as something demanding starts. Is that normal?

 

[stdragon]

A GPU will be utilized 100% under gaming and stress testing. You can limit the GPU activity by enabling Vertical Sync. This will lock the FPS to that of your monitors refresh rate. So if it's rated for 60Hz, the FPS will be in sync and limted to 60FPS. 75Hz, 75FPs and so on and so forth. The disadvantage of Vertical Sync is that it can cause an annoying screen tearing effect if the GPU can't keep up with the demand.

I think VSync is addressing a symptom rather than the cause. You really need to check the GPU thermals to validate if it's overheating. Logging would be helpful.

 

[zanegraziano]

When I try to play a game or stress test the PC blackscreens so I can't really test how hot the GPU is getting. I'm not sure how to check anything else because of that issue.

I was able to play PUBG and I was getting 100fps consistently and then it just shut off, no frame drop or anything. it just closed and then the headset made a static sound. This is what has been happening but I got further into the game this time before the issue started.

UPDATE:
In the loading area of PUBG it goes to around mid 70's and stays. this time however the PC black screened for a moment then came back but PUBG was not able to be seen. I closed it and the temps went down and the PC went back to normal.

I found a forum and it said to check the Event Viewer. When doing so the critical tab has numbers that match the times of my issues. It says, Event ID: 41 , Source: Kernel-Power , Log: System. What do those things mean, is it talking about the power supply?

 

[stdragon]

Download and run GPU-Z. It's a single executable file; no need to install anything. Once running, choose the "Sensor" tab, then check the box at the bottom to "Log to file"

Even if your system crashes again, you'll be able to pull the last known temperature value recorded.

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-gpu-z/

Also, the Kernel-Power has nothing to do with the PSU. It usually means that the shutdown was unexpected (known as a "dirty shutdown" and thus data wasn't quiesced properly in a controlled shutdown so as to prevent data-loss or file system corruption.

 

[zanegraziano]

Ok, Does this link work?
Its the log file from the last stress test.

file:///D:/New%20folder%20(2)/GPU-Z%20Sensor%20Log.txt

 

[stdragon]

You can use Excel to view the data. But for the easy view, just download LogViewer for GPU-Z

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/genericlogviewer-gpu-z-version-3-0-zip.54084

 

[zanegraziano]

Ok, Thank you for everything! I'm going to have a friend bring me a GPU to test and then if I have more questions I'll come back here. Thanks again!