I've been facing a really frustrating issue with my PC for several months now, and I can't seem to figure out what's causing it. I'm experiencing two main types of crashes. The first one is when the screen suddenly goes black, the GPU fans go to 100%, and the system becomes unresponsive, requiring a forced shutdown. The second type is when the screen goes black and the system restarts on its own after about 30 seconds. I initially thought my old GPU, a GTX 1660 Ti, was failing, so I upgraded to an ASUS Prime RTX 5060 OC and did a clean driver install using DDU. At first, it seemed okay, but then I started getting freezes instead of crashes. I ran a stress test with FurMark that showed normal temps and power draw, so I'm thinking the GPU might not be the issue after all. However, the crashes usually happen while gaming and even during light browsing on Steam. I'm trying to figure out if it could be faulty RAM or a bad PSU. Can bad RAM cause these types of crashes? Could RAM issues have affected my old GPU? And why did the crash behavior change after installing the new GPU? Any suggestions or insights would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
RAM could definitely be an issue here. Have you thought about testing your RAM sticks by removing them one at a time? That can help determine if a stick is faulty or if one of the RAM channels has problems. I had a similar situation where my PC wouldn’t boot correctly. A CPU cooler being too tight was the culprit, messing with the contact and causing issues with RAM! Also, have you tried the integrated graphics, if available, or cleared your CMOS? Those options might provide some clues. Don’t forget to check your event log during the crashes for hints, too!
Bad RAM can definitely cause a lot of issues like this. I suggest running memtest86+ to see if it picks up any problems; it's a pretty straightforward tool and can catch some hidden issues. Also, make sure to check your system for dust buildup—dust on heatsinks can lead to overheating, and possibly unresponsive hardware. You might also use a tool like Prime95 to stress test your CPU and RAM further, but remember that it runs within Windows, so it won't help you rule out OS issues. It’s worth checking to see if Windows saved any crash dumps; they might give you more insight on what’s going wrong!
Thanks for the suggestion! Yeah, I’ll get around to trying memtest86+. I’m really hoping it isn't Bad RAM; the prices for replacement are through the roof right now.
The crashes usually take a while to show up, especially in heavier games, so testing RAM one by one would be time-consuming. I haven’t tried a clean Windows install yet, but I plan to do that after ruling out hardware problems first. My CPU is an i5-10400F, so no integrated graphics for me. I’m also considering updating the BIOS since it hasn't been done in over three years. I’ll let you know how everything goes after I run some tests!