(I know Linux is better than Windows, there’s a better time and place for that talk)
SPECS: OS: Windows 10 Pro N Motherboard: MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X GPU: NVidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti RAM: 4x HyperX Fury DDR4 8GB sticks (two rated for one clock speed, the other two rated for another. As I understand it the faster sticks will just run at the speed of the lower two, and it deffo ain’t causing issues cause I’ve tested games with just one pair or the other. Both gave me crashes)
Minidump file: https://www.mediafire.com/file/g34xykxagp29246/050524-8937-01.dmp/file
Simply put, built a custom Windows machine and it gives me BSODs on many more recent games. Deep Rock Galactic, crashes within seconds to minutes of actual gameplay (not including the hub). Remnant: From the Ashes, crashes within minutes on the overworld. Starfield, crashes within minutes to two hours. Blood West, crashes within five minutes of gameplay. Helldivers 2 works fine ingame, but once I quit the game it blue screens within seconds of returning to the desktop.
I’ve reinstalled drivers. I’ve disabled sound drivers. I’ve popped the computer open and reseated everything at least two or three times so far. RAM was tested using MemTest86, no issues at all. CPU temps tend not to exceed anything higher than the 70-75 range ingame (hot, but my processor is rated for up to 90 Celsius). I’ve reapplied thermal paste four times. I’m on my third install of Windows so far, with this being the Pro N version rather than the Pro version I tried the first two installs. I’ve had a bit of a go at googling the highlighted files in the Minidump file, but at this point I’m all but giving up. If the Internet can’t fix this shit, I’ll just sell the components or machine at a loss and stick with an older gaming laptop.
Is there a chance that the GPU is overheating? My (admittedly old) GTX970 had a fan that only spins up under load, and I got a wire stuck in one of the fans, and never noticed a problem until I tried VR. The load caused the fan to need to spin up, and it couldn’t, so BSoD.
Also, if you have room, a dual boot into Linux would tell you if the issue is windows or if it’s hardware.
FINALLY had a look at this.
Admittedly, I haven’t checked the GPU temps until now, but when I read your suggestion the GPU could be overheating I figured I’d try moving it to a different PCIe slot since it’s currently JUST below the CPU’s massive heatsink. That won’t work cause the only other PCIe slot on the motherboard is right above the PSU, and there’s headers needing power, with the cables providing said power being right against the GPU where it’d possibly block the fans.
HOWEVER, I did notice a switch labeled BIOS OC/SILENT. Just to test the waters, I flipped that and did some light testing. Time is still a touch limited here so my testing hasn’t been extensive, but I collected as much info as I could. Figured I’d be thorough, grabbed CPU, GPU, and SSD temperatures.
Deep Rock Galactic: Before it would idle ingame during a match at around the high 60s, low 70s for CPU temps. Typically it’d blue screen the computer within 5 minutes. That was last tested maybe two, three months ago?
Just half an hour ago after my most current testing) CPU: Averaged 61 C, recorded max of 76 C GPU: Averaged at 50 C, recorded max of 52 SSD: Averaged at 38 C, which was also its recorded max. Tested for 2 minutes in the lobby area, 10 ingame with a swarm. No crash Overall, cooler CPU temps than the last few tests I had done, without any crashing. Needs more testing for crashes, however, to be thorough.
Helldivers 2: Before I flipped the switch, it never crashed during a match. It ran damn hot, around 70-75 C for the CPU, but never crashed ingame. However, when I’d close the game it’d blue screen after reaching Windows more often than not - Additional detail, sometimes it’d KEEP crashing after logging back in unless I hold the power button down and reset it that way.
After flipping the switch I hopped into the game, loaded up a quick match against bots, let that run for a few minutes.
Idling in the lobby: CPU: 72.5 C GPU: 59 C SSD: 41 C
Ingame: CPU Averages at 71, hit a max of 83.4 while loading into the game (CPU’s never ran that hot, let alone in this game) GPU averaging around 61 degrees, max of 66 SSD averaged at 43 both idling and max ingame temp. Crashed on closing the game, couldn’t see the temp monitor in time before it crashed. Had to hold the power switch for 6 seconds cause it kept crashing while attempting a normal reboot.
If a solution can be figured out to fix this without reinstalling the OS again, that would be ideal. I should be able to flash a Linux install to a spare flash drive and run it live off the drive to test the hardware further. I am open to using Linux, but have software I use that isn’t Linux compatible either natively nor with my efforts in making it work in Wine before.