I built this Windows 11 gaming PC in 2023, and it has had an intermittent but frequent crashing problem ever since. During certain games—or sometimes while sitting on a pause screen—both monitors suddenly go black. The fans, motherboard lights, and case lighting remain on, but audio stops and the keyboard becomes completely unresponsive, including shortcuts such as Ctrl+Win+Shift+B and Ctrl+Alt+Delete. I have to perform a hard reboot. After restarting, AMD Adrenalin reports that it reset its settings because of a system failure.
Red Dead Redemption 2 crashes most often, followed by Blood of the Dawnwalker, Star Wars Zero Company, and Hunt: Showdown. Other games can run for hours without problems.
I have already lowered graphics settings, cleared shader caches, changed or disabled AMD features, removed and reinstalled AMD drivers, updated Windows, reinstalled and verified games, tried different game launchers, and monitored CPU temperatures. The CPU stays below about 60°C when the problem occurs. I cannot currently replace hardware or build another system for testing.
The system contains an Intel Core i7-12700K, XFX Radeon RX 6800 XT, 32GB of G.Skill DDR5-6400 memory, an ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi motherboard, a Corsair RM850x 850W power supply, and a 1TB WD Black SN770 NVMe SSD. What should I test next to determine whether this is a graphics card, power, memory, display connection, or Windows issue?
4 Answers
A failing power supply is another possibility. An 850W unit should normally be sufficient for this system, but a fault or unstable power delivery can still cause a complete display loss under gaming loads without shutting off the fans. Stress-testing the GPU and CPU separately, then together, may help show whether the failure is load-related.
I would start with a clean Windows installation on the main SSD, temporarily disconnecting any other drives. After that, test each component separately: Cinebench for the CPU, 3DMark Time Spy or Superposition for the GPU, MemTest86 for the memory, and CrystalDiskMark for the SSD. Keep HWiNFO open during the tests, except while running the memory test, and watch temperatures, clocks, and power readings.
Since the 12700K includes integrated graphics, remove or disable the RX 6800 XT and connect one monitor to the motherboard video output. If the crashes stop, that points toward the graphics card, its driver, or its power connections. If the same black screen happens on integrated graphics, the GPU becomes less likely to be the cause.
Try a different, short, good-quality display cable, preferably switching between DisplayPort and HDMI if possible. A bad cable or monitor can look like a graphics crash, especially when both displays lose signal. Testing with only one monitor connected can help narrow that down, although the total loss of audio and keyboard response suggests there may be a deeper system lockup.
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