Pc instability issues?, need help!

Cadon · January 31, 2023

Hello, I have recently built a VR PC for my downstairs living room. The specs are a Ryzen 5 3600, RTX 3060, 1tb NVMe, 16 gigabytes of RAM, Gigabyte b550M DS3H AC and a EVGA 650 W supernova G2. I decided to take a chance on a refurbished motherboard as it had good reviews. After all the parts arrived I built the computer, but when trying to install windows, it wouldn’t get past the bios. I then proceeded to clear the CMOS and updated the bios and I was able to download windows, after installing all my drivers I tried to overclock the CPU to the CPU capabilities of 4.2 GHz and the computer would not boot. I then entered the bios and took the over clock to 4 GHz and it booted. Then I played a VR game for about an hour and I took off my headset and went to get a glass of water, my computer blue screened and would not boot. I then took the overclock off the CPU and ran it at the stock speeds of 3.6 GHz I restarted the computer and it booted and while sitting on the home screen after a few minutes my screen started flashing on and off black not rapidly and randomly after restarting it once more and getting into the windows my computer then crashed, not blue screen just black screen and is stuck in a boot loop. clearing the CMOS allows me to get into windows for about 30 seconds before it crashes and goes back in a boot loop. Any ideas on whether it’s the CPU or motherboard? I think it might be the motherboard, but not sure and would love a second opinion.

An0maly_76 · January 31, 2023

Ryzens and their supporting boards can be quite finicky about RAM. Check your board manufactuer's QVL (compatibility list) for your particular processor (the 3600 is a Matisse) and see if the RAM is listed as being stable. If not, it could be the problem. My 5900X drove me nuts for a few months because it didn't like the memory I originally used. DIMMs tested fine, but I had a few annoying issues that went away when I replaced them with some that were on my board manufacturer's QVL for my processor.

Cadon · January 31, 2023

1 hour ago, An0maly_76 said:

Ryzens and their supporting boards can be quite finicky about RAM. Check your board manufactuer's QVL (compatibility list) for your particular processor (the 3600 is a Matisse) and see if the RAM is listed as being stable. If not, it could be the problem. My 5900X drove me nuts for a few months because it didn't like the memory I originally used. DIMMs tested fine, but I had a few annoying issues that went away when I replaced them with some that were on my board manufacturer's QVL for my processor.

I have pulled my motherboard out to inspect it and I come to find out that the board has damaged caps on one of the VRM leads which I believe to be my problem with the instability and crashing. I guess I learned not to buy refurbished parts!

An0maly_76 · January 31, 2023

5 hours ago, Cadon said:

I have pulled my motherboard out to inspect it and I come to find out that the board has damaged caps on one of the VRM leads which I believe to be my problem with the instability and crashing. I guess I learned not to buy refurbished parts!

Yeah, that would definitely do it. Didn't see THAT one coming. My guess is, the board was shutting down due to CPU thermals or voltage problems. I'm honestly surprised it would power on and try to boot at all.

Word to the wise, unless you plan a future x800, x900 or 5xxx AM4 upgrade, a B450 is more than sufficient for a 3600X. I have one running just fine on an ASRock B450M-HDV. If you plan such an upgrade though, a B550 is a wise choice.

But per my original advice, if you have to get another, choose one that supports your existing RAM, because Ryzens definitely seem to be fussy about RAM. I RMA'd a perfectly good board before I figured that one out.