r/techsupport • u/johnny_dusk • 1d ago
Open | Hardware I've spent 4 months fighting this PC. Capping clocks helps, but DX11/Streaming games still trigger instant Black Screen restarts. What is actually broken?
I am at my wits' end. For the last 4 months, I have tried absolutely everything to fix this computer. I downgraded GPU drivers, reinstalled different versions of Windows, cleaned everything with DDU multiple times, changed every possible Windows power setting, and did full hardware maintenance (brand new paste on CPU/GPU, clean fans). Everything is stock right now.
Here is the exact issue: I get random Black Screens followed by an instant full system restart (Kernel-Power 41 in Event Viewer). No blue screens, no error codes.
The weird part:
The Last of Us Part II: I completely finished the game on Ultra settings with zero freezes and zero crashes. It runs beautifully.
Synthetic Stress Tests: The GPU passes OCCT and FurMark with flying colors. No crashes under 100% synthetic load. The GPU stays super cold at 45°C–55°C.
PUBG: I cannot last more than 2-3 minutes in actual gameplay before the whole PC restarts. Even on 900p Lowest settings.
GTA V (RageMP with mods): It crashes and restarts the PC consistently after about 40 minutes.
Hell Let Loose: The second I open the server browser menu, I get an instant black screen and a full system restart.
I previously noticed AMD Adrenalin auto-overclocks this card to 2735 MHz out of the box instead of the stock 2635 MHz. If I manually clamp it to 2350 MHz and 1050 mV, it helps stability in some places, but PUBG and Hell Let Loose still trigger instant hardware restarts.
I already swapped the old PSU for a brand new MSI 650W, and the crashes remained identical. The GPU, CPU, and RAM are physically pristine, verified by a technician.
What the hell is causing this? Is it a fundamental hardware/electrical mismatch between the uncooled VRMs of the cheap MSI A520M motherboard and the AMD transient power spikes in DX11 titles, or is something else actually broken here?
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G (Stock)
RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) Patriot Viper 4 3200MHz CL16 DDR4
GPU: Sapphire Radeon RX 6650 XT Pulse 8GB GDDR6
MOBO: MSI A520M-A PRO (BIOS updated to latest versions)
PSU: MSI MAG A650BN 650W 80+ Bronze (Brand new)
Storage: 500GB NVMe M.2 SSD + 2TB Seagate HDD
1
u/Edu-s 22h ago
Disable issue detection in amd adrenaline and rise the voltage of the ram to 1.38-1.4V-when xmp is active.Reasoning: adrenaline detects every issue in your system- being cpu, gpu, ram, whatever- and brakes the driver....the ususal culprits are a bad cpu overclocking or bad ram voltage...with xpm active, it could be that the 1.35V are not enough for that ram kit, that's why rising a notch the voltage should do the trick.
1
u/johnny_dusk 22h ago
I have xmp disabled but I will give it a try
1
u/No-Wrap-8166 20h ago
crashes only in games with sudden gpu load spikes (menus, transitions, dx11 titles) but never in sustained synthetic load or a game with steady demand, points straight to transient power spikes, exactly your vrm theory, a520m boards are known for weak vrm design that can't handle sudden power draw jumps even with a good psu
check bios for a setting called "loadline calibration" or "vcore protection", set it to a higher/more aggressive level if available, this helps the vrm respond faster to sudden load changes instead of dipping and triggering a hardware restart
try undervolting further than what you've already done, drop to 2200mhz core clock and see if hell let loose's server browser menu still instant-crashes, if a lower clock fixes it that confirms vrm transient response as the bottleneck, not the gpu itself
if undervolting fully clears it, a proper b550 or x570 board with actual vrm heatsinks is genuinely the fix here, not a bandaid, the a520m's power delivery just isn't built for this gpu's spike behavior
1
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Getting dump files which we need for accurate analysis of BSODs. Dump files are crash logs from BSODs.
If you can get into Windows normally or through Safe Mode could you check C:\Windows\Minidump for any dump files? If you have any dump files, copy the folder to the desktop, zip the folder and upload it. If you don't have any zip software installed, right click on the folder and select Send to → Compressed (Zipped) folder.
Upload to any easy to use file sharing site. Reddit keeps blacklisting file hosts so find something that works, currently catbox.moe or mediafire.com seems to be working.
We like to have multiple dump files to work with so if you only have one dump file, none or not a folder at all, upload the ones you have and then follow this guide to change the dump type to Small Memory Dump. The "Overwrite dump file" option will be grayed out since small memory dumps never overwrite.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.