Problems with a friends build

[z00100]

Hi Guys and Gals!  Been a loooooooooong time LTT viewer on Youtube but first time on the forums.

 

I have a very interesting problem.

 

A few months ago a friend of mine asked me to build him a gaming PC for his kids.  He had a hard budget of CAD$500 for the whole box so I had to be very judicious with parts.

 

This is what I got:

 

CPU:  Ryzen 2400G

Mobo: Gigabyte B450 DS3H

Case/PSU: Thermaltake H17 with 450W PSU (https://www.thermaltake.com/versa-h17-window.html)

RAM: G.Skill DDR4 2x4 2333 Mhz Ripjaws 5 (i think).

SSD: HP EX900 250GB nVME

 

The computer assembled fine and everything loaded up fast and windows install was quick too.  I did all the necessary drivers and handed it over to him.  He and his kids enjoyed the computer for a month or so and he said that his kids wanted better graphics.  I had a Sapphire RX570 8GB lying around so I sold it to him for cheap.  Installed that, disabled the onboard video card and off to the races.  

 

A few days later he calls me saying his computer crashed while gaming and he was stuck at the bios.  I thought that very odd and he said that every time he rebooted it took him back to the BIOS.  So I went over to his house and picked up his computer.  A bit of diagnosis here and there and I couldn't recreate the problem.  Either way, cleaned his computer up and sent it over.  Few days later again same problem.  So I got it home and did some testing.  During some fortnite I noticed that the system hard froze.  It just froze with the graphics the way they were.  I hit reset and it took me to the BIOS.  Turns out that it wouldn't detect the SSD.  But after shutting down the PSU from the switch, giving it 60 seconds, then trying again, it worked and went to Windows.

 

So, i thought maybe there's a problem with the windows install.  So I reformatted and re-installed from scratch and this time added 2 more case fans in case it was due to heat.  It worked for a week and then the same problems again :(.

 

So I decided to take the nuclear approach.  To test the problem, I swapped out is mobo to my old B450 Pro4 (Asrock) which I knew worked (I upgraded to x570).  And changed his case to a full tower for better airflow and changed the PSU to a 600W EVGA.  

 

Guess what.

 

It crashed again with the same symptoms as before.  Now the only thing left is to change the RAM, I will be doing that today.  But this is getting frustrating for me and for him.  

 

What is the general consensus here?  Could it be the VGA card?  The VGA card was used by me for 5 months and during that time not a single crash.  I'm kind of stumped.  I think it could be RAM but will find out later tonight.

 

 

[z00100]

Just wanted to add that I'm not using XMP or anything to further add instability.

[Streetguru]

9 minutes ago, z00100 said:

 

APUs really want 3000-3200mhz RAM just an FYI.

Did you try replacing the SSD or running Linux off a USB to test stability?

Is the motherboard bios up to date?

Does it crash if you drop the GPU power target to 50%?

[z00100]

45 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

APUs really want 3000-3200mhz RAM just an FYI.

Did you try replacing the SSD or running Linux off a USB to test stability?

Is the motherboard bios up to date?

Does it crash if you drop the GPU power target to 50%?

 

I get it for the APU RAM speed but as far as lower speeds don't cause instability then I'm okay.

 

I haven't tried replacing the SSD yet, but I might do that.  Also, if you check my original post, I mentioned that everything is fine when not playing a game, it pretty much happens when playing most any game.

 

Yes, BIOS is updated.

 

Haven't tried the GPU target yet, but will try when I get home.

 

Thanks for the tips.

[RodrigoRS]

Maybe the GPU (RX 570) is faulty. If you already swapped the PSU then it should be the new graphic card or the ssd, I think.

 

Sorry for not being able to help more, I'm just saying things that you already know.

[Streetguru]

1 hour ago, z00100 said:

 

If it only crashes when it goes under load most likely it's the PSU if it's already on a fresh windows install and the latest bios.

So running the GPU on a low power state is going to test that.

[Tristerin]

Don't forget - you put a space heater inside that case - you are possibly overheating the SSD (unless its a blower) (also not saying this is it, but after it cools off and its detectable is the first thing I thought)

[Streetguru]

37 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

Don't forget - you put a space heater inside that case - you are possibly overheating the SSD (unless its a blower) (also not saying this is it, but after it cools off and its detectable is the first thing I thought)

Highly unlikely an SSD is overheating, but something else might be.

 

I'm betting on the built in probably minimum quality power supply being bad.

[Tristerin]

47 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Highly unlikely an SSD is overheating, but something else might be.

 

I'm betting on the built in probably minimum quality power supply being bad.

Correct, but this is exactly what happened when they were testing those Team Force Delta SSDs with LEDS that were causing the SSD to "disappear" until it cooled down.  As I stated, not saying it is - but as a hardware enthusiast myself I wouldn't rule that out at all (his case looks like an air choke if Ive seen one) if he is using an axial fan GPU.  My 2 copper coins

[z00100]

So I wanted to chime in here.

 

The PSU isn't suspect since I changed it to an EVGA 600W.

 

RAM, I changed to 1 stick of Corsair Vengance LPX 

 

It still doesn't work.

 

Now, here's the kicker.  

 

I swapped out the CPU to a Athlon 200GE (to test) and problems gone.  It must be some obscure incompatibility with a Ryzen 2400G