I suppose starting with the list of issues is most appropriate:
I should note that my desktop and its components are 5 and a half years old so I am leaning more toward a failing component rather than a software or driver issue.
GPU
MSI GTX 670
CPU
Intel i5 3570k
RAM
Corsair DDR3 2x4GB 1600Hz
MOBO
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H
PSU
Seasonic 620W M12 II
Tests and things I've done to try to diagnose/fix the problem:
The unresponsiveness and freezing after the game/application crashes is what's most confusing to me. I couldn't find a single thread describing a problem like that. What is causing this? Any help would be appreciated.
■ I've first noticed it while playing The Witcher 3. At one point, after about 5 minutes of playing, the game completely froze. Once I alt-tabbed out of the game, the game (i.e. the application) closed itself. After this, everything I did on my computer started being laggy. Moving my mouse would work normally, and then the mouse would freeze for 4–5 seconds, then move normally, then freeze etc. Opening applications followed the same pattern—incredibly laggy and constantly freezing. Even restarting the computer was laggy: Windows 10's little spinning circles were freezing and unfreezing in the same fashion until it finally managed to restart.
■ I then started another game immediately after restarting. This time it was Assassin's Creed 3 and it froze in the same fashion. Alt tabbing out of the game closed the game's executable. The OS became unresponsive and laggy, same as before.
■ I fired up MSI Kombustor and I couldn't get the freeze to happen while the GPU was under low load. I then bumped up the stress test which made the freezing and lagging start once the GPU hit about 75°C. Only this time, it didn't crash Kombustor but it kept going. After I closed Kombustor and the typical PC lagging continued, I could still hear the GPU fans whirring as if they were under load, until I restarted the PC.
■ After another freeze and crash, I immediately opened Event Viewer. The application opened and froze for a good 30–40 seconds, then the screen went black for 2 seconds and the application resumed operating; this time, without any lagginess. It was as if the screen going black—like something was reset—fixed the lag.
■ At one point, I received a Windows notification about something relating to the GPU. I unfortunately didn't screenshot and I don't remember what exactly it said, but it was something about Windows stopping its use of the GPU?
I should note that my desktop and its components are 5 and a half years old so I am leaning more toward a failing component rather than a software or driver issue.
GPU
MSI GTX 670
CPU
Intel i5 3570k
RAM
Corsair DDR3 2x4GB 1600Hz
MOBO
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H
PSU
Seasonic 620W M12 II
Tests and things I've done to try to diagnose/fix the problem:
■ Ran Prime95 for an hour. CPU temps were at a constant 70°C and no errors occured.
■ Ran two passes of Memtest86. No errors.
■ Uninstalled NVIDIA's drivers with Display Driver Uninstaller in safe mode, then reinstalled newest version.
The unresponsiveness and freezing after the game/application crashes is what's most confusing to me. I couldn't find a single thread describing a problem like that. What is causing this? Any help would be appreciated.
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