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PC tends to freeze/crash when playing games that are quite demanding

MyeR 0 Reputation points
2026-01-13T09:31:25.3866667+00:00

The problem has been happening over a month ago and I'm still experiencing it to this day.

Here's the breakdown:

  • On December 7, I was playing a game that is quite to very demanding (or alternatively, CPU-intensive) for like 5 to 15 minutes and suddenly the PC freezes shortly after I close the game. The audio still plays normally for a while and I can still turn on and off Caps Lock while freezing. At the end, I decided to hard restart the PC by holding down the power button.
  • After hard restart, I played the same game again for around 5 minutes and then closed it. Suddenly, the PC stutters for a bit and seemed that some apps restarted on their own. After that, the PC suddenly freezes. I cannot turn on and off Caps Lock this time and only makes beeping sounds many times when using Caps Lock button, so I held down the power button again to turn it off.
  • The next day, I turned on the PC. What I do was set BIOS to default setting and clean reinstall the graphic driver afterwards through NVIDIA app, I played a couple of games that are a bit less demanding (which runs on Unity engine) and I didn't experience crash/freeze on them for about a week. I can even play the very demanding games without any problem for hours on that week.
  • On December 15, I played one of the same games from the previous week for about 15 minutes. Suddenly the PC froze shortly after I close the game, I was browsing Internet at the same time as playing game at that time.
  • A couple of days later, I played the same games again for 15 minutes each. The PC froze again shortly after that, browsing Internet at the same time as well.
  • From around December 25 to 27, I played a couple of very demanding games back to back with no other apps running for hours, and I didn't experience any sort of crashing.
  • On December 28, I was playing less demanding games and then the game suddenly crashed as clicking the mouse barely worked, and later the PC froze once more. I can turn on and off the Caps Lock during freezing, but I hear beeping sounds when moving the mouse. Eventually, the PC restarts itself minutes later.
  • I tried to play another game after the restart, the quite demanding one this time. After minutes in, the game crashes again and the screen went into black screen.
  • Last week, I ran DISM and SFC in that order and then restart. Afterwards, I played less demanding games for around 15 mins and it seemed fine, and then the PC freezes followed with audio stopped playing shortly after that.
  • Recently, I uninstalled graphic driver using DDU and then clean reinstall the driver (of the same version). I played very demanding games with moderate settings without any problems for days. However, the PC froze once more yesterday shortly after playing a slightly less demanding game for about 10 minutes. There was no other apps running, though.

Note(s):

  • The problem only occurs when playing games that are quite high demanding. I can still use the PC normally for anything else (watching multiple videos/streams, doing work, listening to music), as well as playing games that doesn't require a heavy load on GPU, at least for now.
  • Before December 7, I did not experience any sort of crash/freeze when playing games, demanding or not.
  • I got a lot of nvlddmkm errors in Event Viewer (Event IDs 14 and 153), mostly when the PC crashes/freezes while I'm playing demanding games.
  • I had Hardware Acceleration (or similar) turned off on many applications.
  • I currently use NVIDIA Driver version 566.36 for graphic driver, have yet to upgrade to the newer one (not the latest one).
  • I ran Disk Checker and Windows Memory Diagnostic Tools, no errors detected for both. I had updated chipset driver as well.

My specs:

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (TUF Gaming)
  • RAM: Kingston Fury Beast 16GB DDR4 (8GB x 2)
  • Motherboard: ASRock B550M Pro4
  • SSD: Samsung SSD 980
  • HDD: WDC WD10EZEX-22MFCA0
  • PSU: Cooler Master 750 W
Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures

2 answers

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  1. AI answer

    2026-01-13T09:31:46.7666667+00:00

    It seems like you're experiencing a recurring issue with your PC freezing during demanding games, which can be quite frustrating. Here are some troubleshooting steps and considerations based on your description:

    1. Event Viewer Errors: You mentioned seeing nvlddmkm errors (Event IDs 14 and 153) in the Event Viewer. These errors are often related to the NVIDIA graphics driver. Since you've already tried reinstalling the driver, consider updating to the latest version available, as newer drivers may contain fixes for stability issues.
    2. Memory Dump Analysis: Since your PC freezes and you have to perform hard restarts, it might be beneficial to set up your system to generate a complete memory dump when it crashes. This can help in diagnosing the issue further. You can follow the steps outlined in the Microsoft documentation to enable memory dumps and analyze them later.
    3. Check System Resources: Monitor your system resources (CPU, GPU, RAM) while gaming using tools like Task Manager or Performance Monitor. This can help identify if your system is hitting resource limits when the freezes occur.
    4. Thermal Issues: Ensure that your GPU and CPU are not overheating. High temperatures can lead to system instability. Check the temperatures while gaming and consider cleaning your PC or improving airflow if necessary.
    5. Power Supply: Your PSU is rated at 750W, which should be sufficient for your setup. However, if it is failing or not delivering stable power, it could cause crashes under load. If possible, test with another PSU to rule this out.
    6. BIOS Settings: Since you reset your BIOS to default settings, ensure that any overclocking settings are disabled. Sometimes, aggressive settings can lead to instability.
    7. Hardware Acceleration: You mentioned turning off hardware acceleration in many applications. Make sure this setting is consistent across all applications, especially those that might run in the background while gaming.
    8. Windows Updates: Ensure that your Windows installation is up to date, as updates can include important fixes for performance and stability.
    9. Additional Testing: If the issue persists, consider testing your RAM with tools like MemTest86 to rule out memory issues, even if Windows Memory Diagnostic did not report errors.
    10. Game Settings: Since the issue seems to occur more frequently with demanding games, try lowering the graphics settings to see if that alleviates the freezing. This can help determine if the problem is related to GPU load.

    If the problem continues after trying these steps, you may want to consider reaching out to a professional technician for further diagnostics, as it could be a more complex hardware issue.

    References:

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  2. DaveM121 879.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-01-13T10:06:19.09+00:00

    Your detailed description of the problem does indicate it is the Nvidia drivers causing the system crashes.

    You indicate you have already used DDU to replace the Nvidia drivers and you are currently using version 566.36 of the Nvidia drivers, the best option is to perform those steps again and try a couple of other versions of the drivers they provide around version 561 or 572 to try to find a version of the driver that is stable on your system.

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