Computer freezing/hanging during gaming - I've tried everything

KevinWI

Junior Member
Jun 10, 2015
1
0
0
MSI P67A-GD65 (B3)
Intel i7-2600k
NVIDIA GTX 980 (GTX 580 currently installed)
16GB DDR3
EVGA 750W PSU

I've been having an issue when gaming. They're either crashes or hangs, whatever you want to call them. Both screens will freeze, but sound continues playing. The computer is completely unresponsive to any input/Crtl-Alt-Delt/etc. This never corrects itself and the computer just stays like this. Usually happens 20-30 min after starting gaming, but I've gone through patches when it won't happen for three hours of gaming straight. This happens both on the latest newest graphics intense games like GTA 5 and Witcher 3 as well as older stuff.

I feel like I've tried EVERYTHING. Here's everything I've tried/inspected (I'll add that both CPU and GPU are running at stock factory settings. The GPU does have a modest factory EVGA "superclock" overclock):

- Power. My first power supply was a seven year old Antec one. I replaced it with a brand new EVGA.

- Temperature. Temps were the second thing I checked. I checked temps. GPU temps were normal under load. CPU temps were running in the mid to high 70s and the max temp for my CPU is 72.5C. I pulled the cooler off and replaced the thermal paste (it was all dried up) and temps returned to normal.

- Deleted GeForce Experience because some said it breaks setups.

- Deleted all previous versions of NVIDIA drivers. There were some four years worth (9GB!). Fresh install of latest NVIDIA driver.

- Ran Memtest multiple times and passed.

- Ran chkdsk on all my hard drives and no errors detected.

- Reseeded all sticks of RAM and the GPU.

- Windows Event Viewer shows no drivers failing or anything during these crashes/hangs.

- Inspected the motherboard for any leaked or exploded capacitors and didn't see anything.

- Finally, I decided something must be wrong with my GTX 980. I got RMA authorization from EVGA and pulled it out and was running my GTX 580 (which worked well for me before) and suddenly it STILL was doing it.

Any ideas? Northbridge failing? BIOS issues? It's literally only been going on for a month or so. The fact that it's not BSODing leads me to believe it's a driver issue but Windows Event Viewer isn't showing anything failing, so I'm suspecting motherboard failing?

I updated BIOS and haven't had a chance to try yet.

I'm considering buying a new motherboard, but don't want to pull the trigger yet since there's no confirmation really.
 

inachu

Platinum Member
Aug 22, 2014
2,387
2
41
new ram
new bios
make in game video resolution the same as desktop resolution.
Do not use a 1080p hi def image as wallpaper as any jpg image that is 20-50 megs in size can easily translate to take up over 200 megs in memory.

Disable windows search-- start button,control panel,admin tools,services, windows search
Disable themes -start button,control panel,admin tools,services,themes

Right before you click to start the game right click on antivirus and tell it to sleep or ignore for 1 hour.
Close other apps in the background. Do not play intensive cpu games while your browser or word document or fav paint program is open.

Disable and or uninstall tiny apps like ORIGIN that let you make movies and upload them to youtube or for twitter.

If game allows streaming like world of warcraft then make sure game is fully downloaded before you start playing it.

If the map is new and not on your system yet then allow for obvious lag as it downloads.

exit all your instant messaging apps. unplug MAGIC JACK so some calls do not hog your bandwidth.