Changing any game's settings = crash

[Jackarias]

Hi
I got a new pc for christmas. It's a dell XPS 8500.
Intel i5 3.1ghz
RAM was 4gb, I've upgraded to 8gb (2x4gb)
AMD radeon HD 7570 (driver's up to date)
Windows 8

Okay so i have an odd problem that I can't really figure out. With the majority of games I play, when I change the graphical settings, the game stops responding and crashes. It happens instantly. This is repeatable and reliable.

Games I've observed this problem in:
Counter Strike Global Offensive
War Z
Left 4 Dead 2
Planetside 2
Half life 2
Counter strike source
Arma 2 + Day Z

Games that don't seem to be affected:
Guild wars 2
Dota 2
World of warcraft

The workaround I've been using only works for a couple of games (namely CSGO and war z). I play in fullscreen windowed mode and it doesn't crash when I change the settings, but obviously this is not ideal, and with the other games mentioned, changing to windowed mode crashes the game anyway.

I really don't know where to start with this problem, and I hope I'm posting it in the right subforum.

Thanks for any help
Jack

 

[Jackarias]

Hi
I got a new pc for christmas. It's a dell XPS 8500.
Intel i5 3.1ghz
RAM was 4gb, I've upgraded to 8gb (2x4gb)
AMD radeon HD 7570 (driver's up to date)
Windows 8

Okay so i have an odd problem that I can't really figure out. With the majority of games I play, when I change the graphical settings, the game stops responding and crashes. It happens instantly. This is repeatable and reliable.

Games I've observed this problem in:
Counter Strike Global Offensive
War Z
Left 4 Dead 2
Planetside 2
Half life 2
Counter strike source
Arma 2 + Day Z

Games that don't seem to be affected:
Guild wars 2
Dota 2
World of warcraft

The workaround I've been using only works for a couple of games (namely CSGO and war z). I play in fullscreen windowed mode and it doesn't crash when I change the settings, but obviously this is not ideal, and with the other games mentioned, changing to windowed mode crashes the game anyway.

I really don't know where to start with this problem, and I hope I'm posting it in the right subforum.

Thanks for any help
Jack

I should add: alt+tabbing out of the mentioned games also has the same result, unless they are played in fullscreen windowed mode (and even then only CSGO and war z)

 

[Jackarias]

bump

 

[Jackarias]

2nd bump, really hoping someone can help!

 

[Jackarias]

3rd bump. I can now add simcity to the list of games that crash if I tab out. Changing video settings is ok, but tabbing out or switching to windowed mode - crash.

i really hope someone has some idea of where to start, i'd appreciate any input at all, really getting to me >.<

 

[simon12]

Did this happen before you added the memory?

 

[Jackarias]

Yeah this has been happening since the very beginning. Today I've noticed that if I run both origin and simcity exes in compatibility for windows 7, the problem is gone. Interesting, but don't know what to do with that information.