PC Freezing When Playing Games

SubFPS

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It happens on any games I play. After a few minutes of playing, the screen becomes a blank black screen or a plain random solid colour. Buzzing sound comes off from the speakers and after a couple of seconds, the keyboard lights go out. Nothing works, task manager, Windows key, alt-tab, etc. Then I'm forced to press the hard reset button. No BSoD or any other error screen ever appeared.

For some games, the event viewer shows multiple entries of "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered.". For the other ones, I don't see any relevant entries but the one that accounts for the hard reset button press which is "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."

PC Configuration:
CPU: Intel Core-i5 4570 3.2 GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte B85M-HD3
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1333 MHz
GPU: MSI (N760-2GD5/OC) Nvidia Geforce GTX 760 2GB
HDD: Western Digital Blue 1TB 7200
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower Gold 650W (80+ Gold)
 

Demorthus

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This sounds like the GPU is unstable & is causing crashes. Try to underclock the GPU/ OR add some more voltage if it runs cool and you want to keep FPS while upping a bit of heat.
Use EVGA Precision or MSI AfterBurner
 

SubFPS

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I did not overclock, everything is at stock settings. So if the GPU is unstable, shouldn't I be able to claim the warranty? Or can this be fixed by me?
 

Demorthus

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It can be fixed by you, it just means it has an aggressive overclock on it probably that it is way too fast and simply causes an error which then results in a crash. My GPU was factory OC'd and it kept crashing the exact same way yours did until I dropped 15Mhz & added some voltage then it was fine
 

SubFPS

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What do I change from here? Sorry, I don't know much about overclocking, I don't want to damage anything.

Capture.png
 

Demorthus

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Lets be safe, for core voltage add +10 & for Core Clock bring it to -10. Do this and then try your games, if it still happens, lets take small steps again but this time for core voltage bring it to +20/or 25 and core clock to -15, at this point you should be golden and it shouldn't crash at all. Before doing all this make sure to go into the settings in MSI afterburner and check "start with windows" & "start minimized" Also make sure "enable hardware control and monitoring" & "unlock voltage control" is checked as well, this is all right on the first page when you open settings.
 

SubFPS

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I'm gonna follow your instructions soon after I'm home. But for now, I want to know if there are any side effects for this underclocking process, especially in performance.
 

Demorthus

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For this underclocking process you will be able to play and not have the games crash or make the GPU stress itself so much as it's doing right now & you will lose (if at all) 1 FPS.
 

SubFPS

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Even after unlocking voltage control from settings, it still doesn't let me move the slider for core voltage. What do I do?
 

Demorthus

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That's strange. Go back into settings and under comparability options check all the boxes except for the last one that says "Force constant voltage" & sorry but i just noticed, see if you can get the latest MSI Afterburner, Version 3.0.0 , BETA 19.
 

SubFPS

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Thanks, it's working with the latest beta. I could only slide the Core Voltage pointer to maximum +12, I'm gonna go ahead with +10 Core Voltage and -10 Core Clock after knowing this is safe. Is this safe?
 

Demorthus

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Yes! 100% safe :)
 

SubFPS

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It only lets me increase the core voltage up to +12. :??:

I saw this after a rare recoverable crash: http://s2.postimg.org/pla2xr3qx/Untitled.png
Does this indicate a faulty motherboard or GPU? I am suspecting either of them to be the culprit.

On a side note, this is not normal. I should not have to underclock a graphics card right after I buy it to use it properly. It should not be like this. All my components are still covered by warranty. So, I can always claim it. But the problem is, I am not entirely sure which component is faulty and as the freezing occurs for a few days and doesn't occur the other times, I couldn't show it to the shop where I bought my computer from. Any suggestions on this?