Solved! Inconsistent computer crashes (restarts) when playing games.

[SimpinAintEasy]

The issue occurs when playing games, not necessarily under heavy load, but I believe it has always happened when playing games. I could be playing a game for hours multiple days in a row with no issues then suddenly it will shut down and restart, or i could be playing for 5 minutes after turning it on and it could happen. Sometimes when it restarts it will give the ASUS power surge protection message, sometimes it will just reboot with no message (outside of the event viewer). The build is about 6-7 years old, I've replaced the Mobo at one point a few years ago because I had an ASRock board whos PCI slot that had funky voltage and killed an old GPU I had (also since replaced).

My specs are:
CPU: 3570k (liquid cooled but not OC'd)
GPU: 980 ti (liquid cooled)
Mobo: ASUS P8Z77-V (Bios version: 2104)
RAM: 2 sticks of 4GB DDR3 @1600mhz
Storage: 2SSD, 1tb HDD
PSU: CoolMaster V850 80PLUS Gold (Original) and FOCUS Plus 750 Gold (Replacement)
Notes: I am running a dual monitor set up on some older monitors

I've had this issue for a few months and have spent the entire time trying to trouble shoot it, I'm at the point where I'm exhausted trying to figure out the issue and I don't have much money to keep replacing every single part in hopes that it fixes it. A list of some of the solutions I've tried (probably not all):

• Replacing the PSU
• Changing which socket on my surge protector the PSU is plugged into
• Memtest, CPU test, Stress tests (has never crashed during a stress test)
• Rearranging the radiators to reduce temps (reduced frequency of crashes at one point but still present)
• Disabling ASUS surge protection in bios
• Re-seating RAM
• Booting with one stick of RAM (tested both sticks, both still crash and at an increased frequency)
• Re-seating basically everything but the CPU
• Making sure all my drivers were up to date
• Touching the chipset/bridge while it was running to make sure it wasn't shorting out
• ASUS onboard MemOK! to test all RAM configurations
• Unplugging one of my monitors
• Yelling at it

I know it isn't temperature related (at least anymore) because I monitor the temps constantly now and they never reach within 20 degrees of the danger zone. When I first replaced the PSU I had a pretty bad issue that seemed to just go away for no real reason, when I first turned on it would the DRAM_Led would turn red then it would reboot, then it would get past that and go to the VGA_Led and reboot, then the Boot_Led and reboot and it would seem to randomly pick one that it could crash on. So I started re-seating the RAM again (a few times) and eventually it booted normally and was back to its normal state where it would crash inconsistently during games.
When I tested the ram and the sockets, I tried each stick individually and even tried running them in a different docket than I was using to make sure it wasn't just the socket and the crashes were much more frequent. I've obviously checked every power cord and double and triple checked them.
That's all I can think of right now, I'm sure I've tried more things, but like I said, it's been a few months I've been working on this issue. I'm at the point where I am exhausted just thinking about troubleshooting, the next step I have planned it to purchase some new RAM and try it out but from the prices I was looking on line they are much more expensive than when I bought them originally, and I'm dreading the chances it could be my mobo or my GPU. If it my mobo I almost feel like I might as well start a new build. But that's all, I feel pretty defeated so any new perspective, help or insight anybody could give me would be greatly appreciated as I can't really afford to just replace parts willy-nilly at this point.

 

[SimpinAintEasy]

Update: I cleared out drivers using DDU and reinstalled them manually, ran heaven while I went out and got a crash after a few hours. Found an old 660 I had in my closet and put it in and havent had crashes yet but haven't ran heaven for very long. Going to run it overnight and see if it crashes but this thing runs HOT. If no crashes the last thing I can think of to maybe somehow salvage the 980 ti is to reinstall windows and hope that it fixes it for some reason.

Pity about the 980Ti, sounds like that is the problem. If you can manage to afford a GTX 1660Ti, that would be a decent replacement with similar or better performance. They can be had for about $280 USD.

I actually have a friend who offered to sell me a 1070 for about $150 so I might buy that off him or I might just run with the 660 until I can afford a high end card again, but I'm kind of weary seeings how this card only lasted me a few moths over the warranty.

I'm going out of state on Friday so I won't be able to give any updates past then for at least a week.

 

[SimpinAintEasy]

Alright probably the last update.

I ran the 660 in heaven overnight and didn't get any crashes, I'm now almost 100% sure it's my 980 ti. Thanks for everybody who helped, although I'm sad my high end card only lasted until warranty, I'm glad this journey is finally over it was really taking a toll on me.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I'm not sure yet, going to try and find a way to fix it because I can't really afford to replace it right now, talking with EVGA to see if they have any solutions I haven't thought of

Drop the clocks on the 980ti and see if it runs stable. You can alternate and hopefully find a sweet spot. Even with one or both mem and gpu downclocked, it will still be much faster than a 6600.

 

[Furious_Styles]

Alright probably the last update.

I ran the 660 in heaven overnight and didn't get any crashes, I'm now almost 100% sure it's my 980 ti. Thanks for everybody who helped, although I'm sad my high end card only lasted until warranty, I'm glad this journey is finally over it was really taking a toll on me.

Yep sucks. Unlucky on that one hopefully the next one you get lasts you MUCH longer than that. Also the 1070 is slightly faster than that 980 ti and 150 is a great price esp. if it's not a FE. GL!