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Solved PC freezes mid-game and I have to restart manually

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CPU: Intel Core i7 4790 @ 3.60GHz
GPU: 4096MB ATI Radeon RX 580 Series
MB: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. B85M-D PLUS
RAM: 8,00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 798MHzD
Drives: 223GB KINGSTON SA400S37240G SSD and a 931GB Western Digital WDC WD10JPVX-60JC3T1
In the middle of a match, my game and every other program I have open freezes, I can move my mouse for a few seconds but then it freezes too. Audio continues, in-game it finishes whatever sound was playing and then stop but in the case of Discord, I can still hear people talking, although I can't answer because bc keyboard and mouse don't work after it freezes. The only thing left for me to do is restart my PC using the button on the front. This happened most usually on Apex Legends. However, recently it has started happening nut less often during Dead by Daylight matches and once with Rocket League (it happened while on the menu, so far it hasn't happened during a game). The crash is random as far as I know, some days I go a whole day without any troubles, and other days I crash 3 times in the same session. I don't know what could be causing this because I play on low graphics even though my GPU is able to handle high graphics without a sweat. Idk if it's important but in Apex if I disable Vsync and fps go beyond 60 it crashes more often.
 
Let's get some more information:

Please download and run speccy.

Once you have ran speccy, follow the instructions to upload a snapshot found here.

To publish a Speccy profile to the Web:

  1. In Speccy, click File, and then click Publish Snapshot.
  2. In the Publish Snapshot dialog box, click Yes to enable Speccy to proceed.
  3. Speccy publishes the profile and displays a second Publish Snapshot dialog box. You can open the URL in your default browser, copy it to the clipboard, or close the dialog box.

Please look in the computer and tell your exact model of PSU, look for the model, wattage, and efficiency rating^
 
Here's my basic troubleshooting laundry list, go through these steps and see if anything changes and note how so, we will be able to go from there.

I'll tag in some extra help who is more experienced in system cleaning than I am. @Malnutrition



1. Try deleting some old files/programs and running the following programs, try to keep at least 20-25% of your disks as free space.

Run Disk Cleanup (check all the boxes) this will delete things such as your recycling bin, so make sure you don't have any files you want to keep.

Run Defragment and Optimize Drives, run this on your drives.


2. Disable any overclocking or changes to power/performance settings

Turn off XMP/any overclocking you may have done (if any)

Settings > System > Power and sleep > Additional power settings
Make sure your power plan is set to balanced, anything else could tamper with the wrong settings and cause issues.


3. Check for Operating System Corruption

Right click on the Windows logo in the bottom left and select Windows Powershell (Admin)
Run these three commands separately:

sfc /scannow

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

These will take a while to run, do not close out of Powershell while they are running, if one fails then move onto the next and then loop back around.

Note: It doesn't hurt to make a system backup before you make all these changes, save any important files of folders. While these changes shouldn't cause any issues, better to be safe than sorry.


4. Unplug unnecessary devices.
If you have a gamepad, extra monitor, external hard drive/flash drive, or anything that is not essential to using the computer plugged in, unplug it. You should be left with your monitor, mouse and keyboard.


Once you have completed all of these tasks, restart it (using the restart option in the power menu) and re-test.
 
I have followed these steps and tested on Apex found that the crashes happen more often, and I think it's because I switched the Power Options from High Performance to Balanced. I know this because when I switched back I could play more before it froze again (but still happened regardless)
 
PSU: FNT 500 PFC 500W Platinum Rating

Specs here

You need a better quality PSU, the one that you have to be quite honest is out and out junk, there is nothing platinum about it and the name is a play on words, it is not even 80+ efficiency rated and if you are not careful it will go bang on you and take out the rest of the system with it.

Having two screens hooked up and the power plan set to High Performance is really asking for trouble.

You need a true 500W or above Gold efficiency rated PSU from either Corsair, EVGA or Seasonic.
 
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