Recurring game crashes on a higher-end gaming PC

[reallyhottoaster]

Hi,

 

Posting here because I truly don't know where else to go for help and I'm terrified I just spent $2000 on a gaming PC that can't actually run games. Specs first:

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X

GPU: ASUS AMD 6900XT Tuf

MB: Asus B650-Plus

PSU: Corsair RM850X

Cooler: Fairly basic BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4, but I've yet to see the temperatures go over 70C so I don't think that's the issue

OS: Win 11 Home

 

I haven't bought a 4k monitor or even a DP cable yet, so I'm just using an HDMI cable into a Dell P2419HC.

 

Originally I was running an ASROCK AMD 6900XT, but had to RMA due to my build failing to post. I exchanged for the ASUS AMD 6900XT Tuf, but am now experiencing crashes to desktop in every game I run -- usually within a couple of minutes of starting up. I've updated to the latest BIOS firmware and updated drivers for the GPU, MoBO audio and chipset, Windows, and everything else I can think of. I have two separate cables running power from the GPU to the PSU - they're not daisy chained -- and have checked all connections. I tried undervolting the GPU -- have not tried overclocking yet. I disabled Re-Size BAR support in BIOS -- that actually solved the problem for a few hours, but the next day the problem started up again.

 

At this point I am at complete loss for how to salvage the situation. Any insight into whether this is a hardware or software issue? Could I have gotten two faulty GPUs back to back? Should I do a complete drive re-format and start again? Appreciate any help I can get here, and happy to share any system files that might shed light on what's going on.

[BiotechBen]

1 minute ago, reallyhottoaster said:

Hi,

 

Posting here because I truly don't know where else to go for help and I'm terrified I just spent $2000 on a gaming PC that can't actually run games. Specs first:

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X

GPU: ASUS AMD 6900XT Tuf

MB: Asus B650-Plus

PSU: Corsair RM850X

Cooler: Fairly basic BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4, but I've yet to see the temperatures go over 70C so I don't think that's the issue

OS: Win 11 Home

 

I haven't bought a 4k monitor or even a DP cable yet, so I'm just using an HDMI cable into a Dell P2419HC.

 

Originally I was running an ASROCK AMD 6900XT, but had to RMA due to my build failing to post. I exchanged for the ASUS AMD 6900XT Tuf, but am now experiencing crashes to desktop in every game I run -- usually within a couple of minutes of starting up. I've updated to the latest BIOS firmware and updated drivers for the GPU, MoBO audio and chipset, Windows, and everything else I can think of. I have two separate cables running power from the GPU to the PSU - they're not daisy chained -- and have checked all connections. I disabled Re-Size BAR support in BIOS -- that actually solved the problem for a few hours, but the next day the problem started up again.

 

At this point I am at complete loss for how to salvage the situation. Any insight into whether this is a hardware or software issue? Could I have gotten two faulty GPUs back to back? Should I do a complete drive re-format and start again? Appreciate any help I can get here, and happy to share any system files that might shed light on what's going on.

What games/ workloads are crashing?

[reallyhottoaster]

11 minutes ago, BiotechBen said:

What games/ workloads are crashing?

Warhammer II and II, and Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. I haven't tried any others.

[Cyberat]

Overclocking/Underclocking same effect - instability and burnout.

So your temps are tops 70C and these are in-game readings ?

Run Furmark Rog for GPU temps (Stress) and Heavy Load for CPU (Stress) then get back with the results.

[reallyhottoaster]

2 hours ago, Cyberat said:

Overclocking/Underclocking same effect - instability and burnout.

So your temps are tops 70C and these are in-game readings ?

Run Furmark Rog for GPU temps (Stress) and Heavy Load for CPU (Stress) then get back with the results.

Reinstalled Windows and tried with freshly installed drivers on a lower graphics settings. Same results in Warhammer III, sadly. The game crashes after a few minutes of running:  everything freezes, the GPU suddenly drops to 0% utilization, and I get dumped to the desktop. It most often happens under a slightly heavier load in combat, but in the past has also happened on the campaign map. And yes - I don't think I've ever seen the temperature rise above 70C in-game, though to be fair I've never been able to run the game for more than 20-30 minutes at a time.

 

Ran Furmark Rog at default settings for 30 minutes (GPU is at default settings as well - I only tried undervolting one time very briefly to see if there would be a difference). Temperature maxed out at 70C and everything looked good - results are attached.

 

Ran HeavyLoad as well, but only for 10 minutes as I have a flight to catch. Everything looked good to me, but I'm not sure what specifically I should be looking for. The status bar at the bottom of the stress test reads "25.7 GB Memory available, 100% CPU Usage, 199 FPS," and did not change throughout the test.

 

_rog_log.txt

[Cyberat]

CPU also looking for temps..

Not sure DP Ports have caught up with HDMI yet, far as response time, some monitors are down to 1ms, as for cabling, must perform too. Need to update my knowledge.

So I am narrowing it down to software since HW seems fine. So here are my next series of questions:

1) What Vertical Refresh Frequency is your monitor at or capable of ?

2) Do you have Freesync on your monitor, do you run Enhanced Sync in Drivers ?

3) Windows 11 is still in "testing phases", did you turn off Auto Updates ? (Notify but do not download)

4) Do you have VSR on ? Turn it off, if you get a new monitor anyways, even more so.

5) For old games all the AMD new features like DLSS will not work, will be in the way.

Run the AMD overlay and get your readings while in game, see what happens before the crash.

[reallyhottoaster]

Apologies for the delay - I've been out of town visiting family for the holidays.

 

I'm currently using a business monitor provided by my work: a Dell P2419HC connected via HDMI for now. It's not optimal for gaming - I was going to upgrade to a 4k monitor down the road, once I get all these initial issues resolved. I ordered a DisplayPort cable - not holding my breath that will solve the problem but I know I'll want it eventually.

 

Fairly certain the vertical refresh rate is 60 Hz on this monitor. Freesync is not supported on this display. I did turn off Auto Updates for Windows. VSR is disabled. Radeon Super Resolution is disabled as well.

 

I did turn on HDMI Link Assurance and Enhanced Sync (as suggested by @Cyberat) in AMD Adrenaline. Checked the AMD overlay and didn't notice anything abnormal before the game crash, though I'm not exactly sure what to be looking for. Power was around 278W, temperatures were normal (under 80C for GPU and 80ish C for GPU Junc).

 

Could it be an issue with my power supply? Either something faulty with this particular unit or an 850W not being sufficient to power this 6900XT? The GPU box does list an 850W PSU as the minimum system requirement, but I saw a comment on another forum about someone saying they needed a 1000W PSU to get their card to stop crashing.

 

 

 

 

[Cyberat]

No, 80C is not normal, you want to set your GPU fan curve to run 100% at 60C.

I have not seen anyone running normal above 75C. Yours definitely is not.

Same for CPU, CPU fan can be adjusted in Bios for the same 100% at 60C.

[reallyhottoaster]

I think I solved the problem. This is my first OC card - I didn't realize they can come overclocked from the manufacturer. My card was running at over 2500 MHz - well above any recommended boost clock settings - which is why I was seeing such high temperatures. I lowered the GPU Boost clock to 1826 MHz in GPU Tweak and can now run Warhammer III on Ultra without crashing -- the GPU junction temperature never went above 54C (I also adjusted the fan speeds as Cyberat suggested). The CPU temperature still crested at 76C but that isn't causing any issues and I haven't changed the fan settings in BIOS yet.

 

Going to fiddle with the boost clock and see if I can squeeze a little more power out of the card but for now things are working smoothly. Thank you all for your help!