Computer freezes during gaming

[YFNArtist]

I made another more extended post about this but long story short: I bought a WD 500gb NVME SSD about two months ago, upgrading from having the OS in a HDD. Previously I used that OS HDD for files too and also have a separate HDD for games, both 1TB. After installing the OS in the SSD I started getting BSODs that stated DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION and never compiled data, staying at 0% all the time (therefore no dump files). I looked it up and normally it's a drivers issue so I tried "updating" them with Driver Easy only to realize it did nothing. I have fresh installed Windows 10 three times at this point to try to fix the problem, every time ran sfc /scannow to check and always had one little problem but was fixed every time. Before the SSD I never had any problems nor BSODs. Currently I don't get BSODs but my PC freezes during gaming (MHW, R6S, ARMA 3, etc.) and I want to know how to fix it and if it's a BSOD how to get dump files.

Here's my specs:

 

MOBO: Gigabyte Z170XP SLI (It's supposed to be for overclocking but I have a non K, i know, but I didn't pick the MOBO)

CPU: Intel Core i7 6700 (w/stock cooler)

RAM: Dual Channel 16GB of Corsair Vengeance LPX 2600 MHz (not too sure I don't remember)

GPU: ASUS Strix GTX 970

PSU: Corsair 600M

Storage: 1TB WD Blue HDD (for files), 1TB Seagate HDD (Games) and 500GB WD Black Nvme SSD (OS)

Windows OS Build: 19042.906

Edited April 12, 2021 by Tacoception
Added Windows Version

[Bombastinator]

Tried clearing cmos or reflashing bios or other sub-windows stuff? People seem to have a lot of issues with m.2. One thing to look out for is if you have a sata device plugged into something that installing an m.2 into would turn off.   Some motherboards turn off some sata ports when m.2s are installed.  Motherboard manual should have specifics. 

[YFNArtist]

On 4/11/2021 at 11:28 PM, Bombastinator said:

Tried clearing cmos or reflashing bios or other sub-windows stuff? People seem to have a lot of issues with m.2. One thing to look out for is if you have a sata device plugged into something that installing an m.2 into would turn off.   Some motherboards turn off some sata ports when m.2s are installed.  Motherboard manual should have specifics. 

Yeah, I tried flashing the bios once and it didn't do much, I also researched a little bit (more like put my pc parts on pcpartpicker) and it says "The motherboard M.2 slot #1 shares bandwidth with SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports. When the M.2 slot is populated, two SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports are disabled." But does that mean I need to plug in my HDDs into other SATA ports even if they work? Edit: I just cleared the CMOS and flashed the mobo to the newest version but to no avail. The game still froze.

 

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, Tacoception said:

Yeah, I tried flashing the bios once and it didn't do much, I also researched a little bit (more like put my pc parts on pcpartpicker) and it says "The motherboard M.2 slot #1 shares bandwidth with SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports. When the M.2 slot is populated, two SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports are disabled." But does that mean I need to plug in my HDDs into other SATA ports even if they work? Edit: I just cleared the CMOS and flashed the mobo to the newest version but to no avail. The game still froze.

 

The ports are usually numbered as to which port(s) are disabled. It’s sometimes random like ports 1 and 4 or something.  As to which ports will have problems I don’t know. The ports that don’t work will work until the ssd is put in.  If you can identify which ports are turned off the ones that are not should be fine.  If those are the ports you’re using that’s not the problem.

[YFNArtist]

On 4/12/2021 at 12:08 PM, Bombastinator said:

The ports are usually numbered as to which port(s) are disabled. It’s sometimes random like ports 1 and 4 or something.  As to which ports will have problems I don’t know. The ports that don’t work will work until the ssd is put in.  If you can identify which ports are turned off the ones that are not should be fine.  If those are the ports you’re using that’s not the problem.

So I looked at the manual to see which ports would be disabled in an AHCI config and those ports were not the ones I'm using for the hard drives. Therefore, it should be fine for them to be connected there. Update too, the problem has evolved to when I'm playing a game, at a random point the PC freezes (sometimes showing a BSOD for les than 2 seconds without loading) and then turning off after a while (not restarting so maybe it's not BSOD at times?). I don't know what the problem could be other than a faulty SSD but if it weren't that, what would it be?