I built this PC about 3 years ago and have been swapping in and out parts throughout its lifetime.
This random freezing (cursor locked, system clock paused, no inputs responsive) has been happening pretty much since day one. All the fans and disks continue to run however only a hard reset allows the machine to work again.
Sometimes the machine will freeze several times a day, and other times it will be stable for a few weeks at a time with no freezing at all, and then the problem returns.
My longest period of stability was just after replacing the original 8GB RAM to 16GB and I managed to attain stability for about 2 months until the problem randomly returned.
My current specs
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LX
CPU: Intel i7-3770k
Cooler: Cooler Master RR-212E-16PK-R1 Hyper 212 Evo
RAM: HyperX FURY 2 x 8 GB 1866 MHz DDR3
Graphics: Geforce GTX 970
PSU: OCZ StealthXstream II 700W
HDD's: 2 x WD 2TB (Storage - WD20EZRX) - 1 x WD 640GB (OS Drive - WD6400AAVS)
OS: Windows 10
Parts I have removed, that have ultimately made no difference to the PC's stability
RAM: 2 x 4GB Corsair XMS3
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 7770
OS: Windows 7
HDD's: 1 x WD 1TB (Failed drive)
Notes:
Based on all of the above, it looks as though we can rule out RAM, OS and GPU from the list of culprits. This leaves Motherboard, CPU, PSU and HDD.
Based on the seating issue when the computer was first built, I'm thinking that a motherboard replacement might be the next best course of action here.
I'm also wondering whether it's worth upgrading the CPU at the same time or whether to stick with the current i7-3770k for now.
The OS HDD could potentially be replaced with an SSD however I've heard some people having life-span issues with their SSD OS drives.
And could the PSU be a problem - it has a lot of devices to power.
What do you guys think? Which componant is the most likely culprit here and what should I upgrade next to try and solve these fairly constant freezes?
This random freezing (cursor locked, system clock paused, no inputs responsive) has been happening pretty much since day one. All the fans and disks continue to run however only a hard reset allows the machine to work again.
Sometimes the machine will freeze several times a day, and other times it will be stable for a few weeks at a time with no freezing at all, and then the problem returns.
My longest period of stability was just after replacing the original 8GB RAM to 16GB and I managed to attain stability for about 2 months until the problem randomly returned.
My current specs
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LX
CPU: Intel i7-3770k
Cooler: Cooler Master RR-212E-16PK-R1 Hyper 212 Evo
RAM: HyperX FURY 2 x 8 GB 1866 MHz DDR3
Graphics: Geforce GTX 970
PSU: OCZ StealthXstream II 700W
HDD's: 2 x WD 2TB (Storage - WD20EZRX) - 1 x WD 640GB (OS Drive - WD6400AAVS)
OS: Windows 10
Parts I have removed, that have ultimately made no difference to the PC's stability
RAM: 2 x 4GB Corsair XMS3
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 7770
OS: Windows 7
HDD's: 1 x WD 1TB (Failed drive)
Notes:
- ■ When first building the PC, I made the rookie error of not seating the motherboard correctly. Upon first start up there was a pop and the machine failed to bootup. After reseating the motherboard, everything booted up correctly - could this be an issue?
■ The issue doesn't appear to be heat related - I can play very GPU/CPU intensive games for 12 hours straight without issue, whilst the freezing often happens overnight, when the computer is idle doing *nothing*.
■ Sometimes the freezing will happen during YouTube/VLC/iPlayer playback
■ This PC runs 24/7
- ■ Resetting the BIOS
■ Upgrading the BIOS firmware
■ Setting all BIOS settings to default
■ Several RAM tests
■ A few OS reinstallations (Windows 7 and Windows 10)
■ Replacing parts (above)
Based on all of the above, it looks as though we can rule out RAM, OS and GPU from the list of culprits. This leaves Motherboard, CPU, PSU and HDD.
Based on the seating issue when the computer was first built, I'm thinking that a motherboard replacement might be the next best course of action here.
I'm also wondering whether it's worth upgrading the CPU at the same time or whether to stick with the current i7-3770k for now.
The OS HDD could potentially be replaced with an SSD however I've heard some people having life-span issues with their SSD OS drives.
And could the PSU be a problem - it has a lot of devices to power.
What do you guys think? Which componant is the most likely culprit here and what should I upgrade next to try and solve these fairly constant freezes?