help me figure out the problem, please.

[Over]

Since two years ago, certain games (i guess more demanding ones) like Battlefield 4, Rainbow 6 Siege, The Witcher 3 (this one less times) make my PC freeze. Even when I decrease the graphical details nad run them at 200fps. These freezes can happen the following ways:

 

1 - I'm playing fine, then I start noticing that the framerate starts dropping and stuttering (sometimes the displayed FPS is high, but the game feels like is at a lower framerate). I notice a glitch here and there with the sound. Until the image freezes. Sometimes the sound goes on a few more seconds and I feel that I'm still in the game for those seconds, just the image in the monitor is frozen. Other times the sound get's stuck and doesn't go aways until I reboot. This can happen in the first minute of gameplay or after an hour. It's random. I have to do an hard reset.

 

2 - Same as above, but I can still ctrl + alt + del and terminate the game's exe and keep using windows. But if I try to play the game again without rebooting first, the symptoms described above appear quickier and the freeze as well. Normally I reboot to make the PC stable again. 

 

My CPU and GPU temps are fine, never above the limit. On hot days, it looks like this problem happens more frequently, although as I said, the temps never exceed the limits.

I don't know if it's true, but apparently some nVidia drivers make this problem be less or more frequent.

The only thing that makes this problem better (delaying the appearence of the syntoms and freezes), is using EVGA's Precision software, do slightly reduce the GPU and MEM clocks (-14MHz and -11MHz, respectively. This problem still happens, but less often (this weekend managed to play 4 straight hours with no freeze/crash, for example).

 

Why ask about this after two years? Because I've researched everywhere and asked everywhere already and besides that clock trick, didn't solve or even diagnosed anything. But I'm about to buy a GtX 1080  and hope that this upgrade might solve the problem too. But then, I'm not sure the GPU is the problem and I might be investing on an expensive GPU to use it in a faulty system. The GTX 1080 consumes less power and functions at lower temps than my GtX 780 (EVGA's OC'd version), maybe that means it will be more stable? Maybe the problem is somewhere else?

 

 

[zanthros]

there are major problems with a lot of the NVidia drivers. The 375.57 drivers really suck {especially with windows 10}. The last good drivers were 362.xx. Make sure if you put the 362 drivers in you clean out the old ones with a driver cleaner made for graphics cards.............

[Over]

I've done that several times. The problem started 2 years ago. Since then, I've moved on from Windows 8 to 8.1 and now 10 (although always upgrading, only recently I did format everything and did a clean install of Windows 10). 

 

I'm thinking that the problem might be the GPU. And since it's a factory overclocked one, it might be because of that (and that would explain why when I dial back a little bit the gpu and mem clocks, it becomes more stable).

 

My dilemma is that if the problem is not the GPU, I probably should spend so much in a new GPU and start thinking about a new system (unless the problem culd be isolated to a single piece of hardware that could be changed).

[zanthros]

you could be right as factory overclocked cards can be problematic. They do run hot. Just make sure that you have adequate airflow in the case. Otherwise you can take the side cover and put a really big fan next to the case and turn it on or put the pc with cover off into a refrigerator.  LOL. Good luck!

[Over]

I have the MSI GtX 1080 Gaming X since yesterday and I didn't have any crash or freeze so far. I didn't do the usual underclocking with EVGA Precision X either. So far, so good. It might had been the GPU's problem, after all.

 

But I didn't do heavy gaming yet, so I won't sigh in relief for now.

[Over]

Damn! It froze again, for the first time since I've changed the GPU.

 

Had to do an hard reset. And then windows couldn't start, there was a disk error message. I've tried to check the sata cables, to see if they were well pluged and now it seems everything is okay.

 

I'm wondering if I might have an issue with the sata conections. What would happen if the SSD where windows is installed ceased to work while playing a game? What if it's the other SSD where the game is that stopped working. How would windows react in those two situations?

[zanthros]

I would speculate that on the OS drive you would get an immediate shutdown and reboot with the possibility of damage to the drive. On the second drive I suspect that you would get a BSOD due to the interruption of data to OS and CPU. This is only speculation, however damage to the drives is certain if not corrected. Are you using SATA 2 or better cables? SATA 2  and better cables have clips/ retainers on them to prevent them from working loose and causing issues.

 

I do not believe that this is an issue of the card as long it is being cooled properly and maintaining low temps. This seems more like an OS issue that is stealing the focus of the game you are playing. You can verify the possibility of this being the issue by setting you power settings to high performance, turning off ALL unessary services and programs. For example: turn off your network if not needed, turn off Windows update, turn off indexing service, etc. If you turn off or disable all the things that you do not need to game and are able to play without problems then you have found the path to the answer. Now comes the sorting out of what service/program that is the root of your problem. Personally I have a strong belief that it could be caused by indexing and windows update. Just my 2cents......

[Ryujin2003]

It could be a hard drive issue. Track the usage of the hard drive while playing. If it's faulty, it could be causing hangs.

 

I also doubt it could be the GPU, but it could also be the PSU if the GPU isn't getting the power it needs possibly. Are there any dump reports or anything is event viewer?

 

Is your PC custom built or originally proprietary? What manufacturer is your MB?