Hey everyone! I'm really struggling with my gaming setup here. Almost all the games I'm trying to play keep crashing, and it's driving me nuts! Some of the titles like EU5, BF6, Arc Raiders, and Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord crash frequently, while the only one that seems to be okay is REPO. I can't pinpoint what's causing these crashes since my PC doesn't shut down or show any strange behavior.
When I play, the games run smoothly for a while but sometimes they'll freeze and then just close. I even got an error message for Arc, stating "Unhandled Exception: EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION." My rig is relatively new, built by iBuyPower about a year ago, I'm using an SSD, and everything has been functioning fine apart from these crashes.
Here's what I've tried so far:
- Lowered graphics settings for better performance
- Set frame rates to cap at 60
- Reset my BIOS to default
- Reinstalled my graphics drivers using DDU
- Physically checked the computer for any loose wires or dust
- Contacted Geek Squad (I know, right?)
- Run games as an Administrator
- Disabled the Steam Overlay
- Turned off Discord's hardware acceleration
- Uninstalled Overwolf and any capturing software
- Updated drivers and even rolled them back
- Used Windows diagnostic tools to check for memory issues
My setup:
- Intel Core i9-14900K CPU
- 64GB RAM
- NVIDIA GeForce 4070 Ti SUPER
- 1000W Power Supply
Any advice would be super appreciated! I really want to avoid sending my PC back right before the holidays. Is it possible this is some weird bug with the hardware or software? Am I looking at a potential hardware failure here?
1 Answer
It sounds like your CPU or memory might be having issues! There was a known problem with some batches of the 13th and 14th Gen Intel i7 and i9 CPUs that caused crashes like you're describing. Some users found that underclocking their CPU helped stabilize things. I’d try that out!
Could you explain how to underclock the CPU? Is it just turning down the settings or something technical?