Question this new screen seems to cause the computer to crash!

[Hamtarotte]

Hello!
First time I post here, but in the past I did get help from other's people questions. Thanks to every who takes time to answer!
I did not find any explanation for my problem, so here it goes:
My boyfriend's screen was faulty but not completely out of order. I bought him a new screen for christmas (Asus TUF VG289Q). First he had some small glitches (1 sec black screen from time to time) so we put it on display port rather than Hdmi and it seems to have solved the problem. Few days later, a complete crash during one of our game sessions. We thought "heat problem" so we cleaned the dust etc..
Another crash then another. The computer stops entirely without any warning. We switched back to the previous "faulty screen" and then, no crashes with exactly the same kind of utilisation (same games etc...).
Can a computer push a GC to crash? The GC on this computer is a Radeon RX550 XT.
Oh, and when I play on this screen with my laptop (as a second screen) it did not cause my laptop to crash (same games etc..). And my computer is older, with a geforce GTX 1060...
I know it is unlikely for a screen to cause crashes (the seller says it can't be) but, here it is, crashes with the new screen doesn't crash with the former one, so what should I try??

Thanks if someone thinks of something...

Happy new year to every body and sorry for my english (second language as you can guess)

 

[Aeacus]

Here may be the issue; you bought him a 4K monitor, where his GPU, RX 5500 XT is a bit better than your laptop GTX 1060, but also slightly worse than desktop GTX 1060. (Laptop GPUs are always weaker than their desktop counterparts.)

For both of these GPUs, 1080p monitor is more than enough. And while they can run 2K monitors as well, albeit with ~60 FPS in games, neither of the two is powerful enough to run games on 4K monitor. Well, at least not on comfortable FPS and/or with high graphics settings.

So, to answer your question: Can monitor cause PC crash?
Yes, when you use high reso monitor and forcing GPU to work several times harder than it was designed to. And with that, the rabbit hole can go deeper. If it's not the GPU that puts lights out, it may be the PSU. Since when GPU works harder, it also draws more power. And while going even deeper, down the rabbit hole, harder working GPU generates more heat. If case cooling is poor, overheating can also cause all sorts of issues.

---

There can also be driver issues. He has Radeon, you have Nvidia. It's known fact that Nvidia drivers are far better, with less errors compared to Radeon drivers. So, he may need to downgrade GPU drivers a version or two, if he is running latest drivers. If not, then upgrading to latest drivers.

 

[Hamtarotte]

Thank you very much! We thought it might be something like that, so he set the resolution to full HD only, and it did still crash. We will try with other resolutions and other drivers until we find a stable setting. Thank you for your detailed answer, I understand better what can go wrong and I am happy to know that I am not crazy!

 

[Aeacus]

Another thing to consider is, that his GPU may be on it's way out (dying). 2nd, known to work GPU, would tell if the issue is with GPU or not.
For a good measure, 2nd GPU (the one to test with), preferably, should be Nvidia. This would give better driver compatibility, especially since it's already established, that monitor works fine with your Nvidia GPU.

Now, you didn't list full system specs and here, i can not tell if his CPU has iGPU in it or not. CPUs with iGPU are: AMD APUs (G-suffix) and Intel CPUs (except F-suffix). If CPU has iGPU, it's a great way to test if issues remain even when using iGPU. However, iGPU is nowhere near as powerful as dedicated GPU and he can't game on it normally. Still, iGPU is enough for web browsing and light gaming, which could be enough to determinate if the issue is with dedicated GPU (his Radeon) or not.

 

[Hamtarotte]

Thanks for the follow-up! Unfortunatly, the CPU is a ryzen 5 without a graphic chipset and the old GCs we have would probably not be compatible with the new motherboard. I will check on this.
I hope the GC is not dying, it's not that old, but if it is, we will probably choose a Nvidia to replace it.
Thanks again for your time, I will give a follow-up after your advice.

 

[Aeacus]

You're welcome.

the old GCs we have would probably not be compatible with the new motherboard

If the older GPU is PCI-E 2.0, it is compatible with MoBo that has PCI-E 3.0 since all PCI-E ports are backwards compatible.

In a similar sense, you can plug USB 3.0 type A plug into USB 2.0 or USB 1.0 port and it still works. And vice-versa too, USB 1.0 device will work in USB 3.0 port.

it's not that old

If the "that old" is less than 2 years, GPU can be RMAd and replaced under warranty, that is, if GPU was bought new and not from 2nd hand market.

 

[Hamtarotte]

Well, after two weeks of trying, no crashes. We did lower the settings in games (we had tried that before) but also of Win 10 which was working "undeneath" the game in full screen, I guess?. Thanks for your time, hoping this thread might help others!