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Kirun

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What GPU would pair best with an old i5-2500k? I have a GTX 970. I'm considering building a mini-ITX build out of old parts for my son. The cost of mini-ITX parts is probably more than it's worth but this is just hobby money because I enjoy building computers.
I really wouldn't go much beyond a 1070 or so. I had a 1660s in my old 3570k and CPU was still the largest thing throttling me in most games at 1080p. That said, the PNY 1660s I had was SUPER compact, so something like that might work well in a mini-ITX.
 

Crone

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I really wouldn't go much beyond a 1070 or so. I had a 1660s in my old 3570k and CPU was still the largest thing throttling me in most games at 1080p. That said, the PNY 1660s I had was SUPER compact, so something like that might work well in a mini-ITX.
That's what I kind of thought was the 10 series. I had it paired with my 1080Ti for quite a long time, and it worked out pretty well. I'll see what kind of 10 series options are available, and if need be I can do the 970.
 

Hateyou

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So I have a relatively new PC (~1.5 yrs) and have been having random full lockups while gaming once in a while. These are very low resource games that I wouldn't expect it to happen with. I'd like to clean up any windows background bullshit I don't need as a first step to trying to solve this. Since the pc hard locks I really have no way to troubleshoot anything or log anything that I know of (Althought I'm not an IT person, so maybe something exists)

Anyone have a decent guide for cleaning up w10? I've been searching around and have found a few things I can safely get rid of, just wondering if someone here has a go-to guide that shows it all in one place.
 

Jovec

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So I have a relatively new PC (~1.5 yrs) and have been having random full lockups while gaming once in a while. These are very low resource games that I wouldn't expect it to happen with. I'd like to clean up any windows background bullshit I don't need as a first step to trying to solve this. Since the pc hard locks I really have no way to troubleshoot anything or log anything that I know of (Althought I'm not an IT person, so maybe something exists)

Anyone have a decent guide for cleaning up w10? I've been searching around and have found a few things I can safely get rid of, just wondering if someone here has a go-to guide that shows it all in one place.

Prebuilt or built with components you know/bought? Specs? Are you trying to mine in the background (or have a mining trojan/virus)? Does it only happen during light gaming or does it happen during heavy gaming/loads and/or desktop/idle? Random issues can often be caused by power supply problems, though not limited to just that.

You could start buy just uninstalling whatever you don't need from the Control Panel, especially any software from hardware manufacturers whether it is from a system integrator/oem like Dell or a mobo manufacturer like Asus (AI Suite/Armory Crate, etc.) . I would also uninstall any anti-virus and just use the built-in Windows Defender. Windows 10 also provides a refresh feature that is supposed to clean up the OS to make it like a fresh install while saving your apps and data (disclaimner - I have never used it). Of course, if you know what data you need to save and where it is all located and/or have it all backed up, you could download the Windows Media Creation Tool and make a bootable USB and reinstall from scratch. If it is an OEM system I would be wary of using thier system restore/refresh disk/usb/etc since that will just put all of their bloatware back.

If you have any spare drive you could disconnect your current one and install the spare, install clean windows on that via media creation tool, and try your game(s). If the problem still happens it is more likely to be hardware related.

It could be driver related - either a bug in a recent GPU driver if you (or the system) always updates. Or possibly a bug in an older one if you (or the system) never updates.

Everyone's mileage will vary, but I have found modern Windows to be very stable - more stable than my desktop Linux main. Check your hardware. Check the CPU/GPU fans are spinning and check temps. Log temps, voltages, and clocks of CPU and GPU/VRam while gaming. High temps are more likely to cause throttling on modern systems while Voltage issues could cause lock-ups (especially under-volting). Blow out dust from fans and filters, especially if you have pets.
 
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Lanx

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So I have a relatively new PC (~1.5 yrs) and have been having random full lockups while gaming once in a while. These are very low resource games that I wouldn't expect it to happen with. I'd like to clean up any windows background bullshit I don't need as a first step to trying to solve this. Since the pc hard locks I really have no way to troubleshoot anything or log anything that I know of (Althought I'm not an IT person, so maybe something exists)

Anyone have a decent guide for cleaning up w10? I've been searching around and have found a few things I can safely get rid of, just wondering if someone here has a go-to guide that shows it all in one place.
couldn't hurt just to post up a pic of the pc insides
 

Hateyou

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Prebuilt or built with components you know/bought? Specs? Are you trying to mine in the background (or have a mining trojan/virus)? Does it only happen during light gaming or does it happen during heavy gaming/loads and/or desktop/idle? Random issues can often be caused by power supply problems, though not limited to just that.

You could start buy just uninstalling whatever you don't need from the Control Panel, especially any software from hardware manufacturers whether it is from a system integrator/oem like Dell or a mobo manufacturer like Asus (AI Suite/Armory Crate, etc.) . I would also uninstall any anti-virus and just use the built-in Windows Defender. Windows 10 also provides a refresh feature that is supposed to clean up the OS to make it like a fresh install while saving your apps and data (disclaimner - I have never used it). Of course, if you know what data you need to save and where it is all located and/or have it all backed up, you could download the Windows Media Creation Tool and make a bootable USB and reinstall from scratch. If it is an OEM system I would be wary of using thier system restore/refresh disk/usb/etc since that will just put all of their bloatware back.

If you have any spare drive you could disconnect your current one and install the spare, install clean windows on that via media creation tool, and try your game(s). If the problem still happens it is more likely to be hardware related.

It could be driver related - either a bug in a recent GPU driver if you (or the system) always updates. Or possibly a bug in an older one if you (or the system) never updates.

Everyone's mileage will vary, but I have found modern Windows to be very stable - more stable than my desktop Linux main. Check your hardware. Check the CPU/GPU fans are spinning and check temps. Log temps, voltages, and clocks of CPU and GPU/VRam while gaming. High temps are more likely to cause throttling on modern systems while Voltage issues could cause lock-ups (especially under-volting). Blow out dust from fans and filters, especially if you have pets.
It was something I built myself, 3700x processor, 3070 cpu, 32gb ram, I’m on my phone so don’t have all the specs on hand at the moment. I’ve done pretty much all the uninstalls of shit I don’t use, didn’t have any bloatware since I built it myself. It’s during light gaming, low power supply loads, low ram usage, low cpu temp, low gpu use. That’s what’s baffling me, I’m not pushing my system at all. I guess it could be crashes related to the specific games but since it’s happened on three different games I’m not so sure. I keep drivers up to date so it’s possible something changed a couple months ago that is causing it.

The only thing I haven’t done recently is an interior dust clean. I’ll probably do that in the next day or two and see if it helps.
 

Jovec

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It was something I built myself, 3700x processor, 3070 cpu, 32gb ram, I’m on my phone so don’t have all the specs on hand at the moment. I’ve done pretty much all the uninstalls of shit I don’t use, didn’t have any bloatware since I built it myself. It’s during light gaming, low power supply loads, low ram usage, low cpu temp, low gpu use. That’s what’s baffling me, I’m not pushing my system at all. I guess it could be crashes related to the specific games but since it’s happened on three different games I’m not so sure. I keep drivers up to date so it’s possible something changed a couple months ago that is causing it.

The only thing I haven’t done recently is an interior dust clean. I’ll probably do that in the next day or two and see if it helps.

It's possible the GPU isn't ramping up GPU and VRAM clocks during the light gaming. Most GPUs should have at least 3 states for core clock and vram - idle/2d, video decode, and full 3D and clock speeds and vcore should increase accordingly.

Dust cleaning should be done regardless, but I would expect heavy loads to have issue too if it was a heat problem.
 
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Xexx

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Move the game to a different drive and see if same issue occurs - Also what are the temps of your GPU and CPU when gaming -

Couple things you could try is downloading DDU and removing package driver and downloading current drivers. Power supply could be a factor too.

Top of my list i think temps, failing HD, or PSU -
Bottom - drivers, windows update
 

slippery

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It was something I built myself, 3700x processor, 3070 cpu, 32gb ram, I’m on my phone so don’t have all the specs on hand at the moment. I’ve done pretty much all the uninstalls of shit I don’t use, didn’t have any bloatware since I built it myself. It’s during light gaming, low power supply loads, low ram usage, low cpu temp, low gpu use. That’s what’s baffling me, I’m not pushing my system at all. I guess it could be crashes related to the specific games but since it’s happened on three different games I’m not so sure. I keep drivers up to date so it’s possible something changed a couple months ago that is causing it.

The only thing I haven’t done recently is an interior dust clean. I’ll probably do that in the next day or two and see if it helps.
Shot in the dark, uninstall and reinstall audio and video drivers. Though those are more likely to bsod than just lock up.

Also you could always try spending $10-$20 and getting one of the power supply tester things from Amazon. They are convenient for trouble shooting (until you lose it, thinking about it I have 0 clue where mine is).

Also did you do any overclocking? Depending on your motherboard sometimes different c states fuck with things and cause instability problems.
 

Hateyou

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Shot in the dark, uninstall and reinstall audio and video drivers. Though those are more likely to bsod than just lock up.

Also you could always try spending $10-$20 and getting one of the power supply tester things from Amazon. They are convenient for trouble shooting (until you lose it, thinking about it I have 0 clue where mine is).

Also did you do any overclocking? Depending on your motherboard sometimes different c states fuck with things and cause instability problems.
No overclocking.

I’ll try the drivers, thanks. I do have some odd audio shit once in a while.
 

slippery

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No overclocking.

I’ll try the drivers, thanks. I do have some odd audio shit once in a while.
Even without overclocking I'd probably look around your BIOS for C states stuff. C states are whatever most of the time, and can definitely fuck with chips. They are all basically just power saving features that turn off things or clock things down when not in use or not in high use, and if it fails to turn back on appropriately you get fucky shit. It's why a lot of times when people are overclocking they just turn them off, because it fucks with power delivery. There was an LTT video recently where Anthony did some trouble shooting on Linus desk pc in the office and I'm pretty sure the solution was just turn off a few c states.
 
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Janx

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Not sure if its been said but try changing up power connectors to your vid card maybe incase there's weird power distribution going on.
 

Mist

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It was something I built myself, 3700x processor, 3070 cpu, 32gb ram, I’m on my phone so don’t have all the specs on hand at the moment. I’ve done pretty much all the uninstalls of shit I don’t use, didn’t have any bloatware since I built it myself. It’s during light gaming, low power supply loads, low ram usage, low cpu temp, low gpu use. That’s what’s baffling me, I’m not pushing my system at all. I guess it could be crashes related to the specific games but since it’s happened on three different games I’m not so sure. I keep drivers up to date so it’s possible something changed a couple months ago that is causing it.

The only thing I haven’t done recently is an interior dust clean. I’ll probably do that in the next day or two and see if it helps.
Is it a true hard lock (no sound or looping sound) or does the display lock up but you can still hear sound playing for a bit before the system crashes?

Hard locks are usually either RAM timings, or power irregularities.

Clear the CMOS battery and reconfigure everything in BIOS. Reseat the RAM while you're at it. If using whatever AMD calls their XMP settings (AMP?) then try different RAM timings, like the stock timings for your sticks.
 

Hateyou

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Is it a true hard lock (no sound or looping sound) or does the display lock up but you can still hear sound playing for a bit before the system crashes?

Hard locks are usually either RAM timings, or power irregularities.

Clear the CMOS battery and reconfigure everything in BIOS. Reseat the RAM while you're at it. If using whatever AMD calls their XMP settings (AMP?) then try different RAM timings, like the stock timings for your sticks.
Whatever sound is playing at the moment it locks up just repeats for a second before it resets. Other times it just freezes and nothing happens at all, the frame is just stuck and I have to hold power to kill it.
 

Mist

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Whatever sound is playing at the moment it locks up just repeats for a second before it resets. Other times it just freezes and nothing happens at all, the frame is just stuck and I have to hold power to kill it.
Yup, RAM or power.

Follow the recommendations in my previous post regarding the RAM.

You don't have any weird USB devices do you? Some kind of DAC that might be overdrawing USB power?
 
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mkopec

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Well my 2nd powerspec is still doing the same shit sort of like Hateyou Hateyou .

Bit of background about a year ago I purchased a Powerspec PC with i7 11700KF, 1tb nvme ssd 32gb 3200ram Nvidia 3070. Its all pretty much brand name parts MSI mo-bo and only thing thats shit is PS which is some random "Powerspec 750W".

The first one I took back because it was fucking bad. Every time I booted a game like 30 min in blackscreen, BRRRRRAP sound and then a reboot. SO I took it back to Microcenter for service. Well the dude at the service center says they are all backed up for weeks and he checks and finds another BNIB just like mine in the back. He asks me if I want my old HD hooked up to the new one and ships me home with the new one just with my old NVME SSD plugged into new one.

Played games on the new one and everything was fine for a while. Maybe 6 months then it started to do this shit on my new one too. Not as often but still does it. It even happens sometimes when im just watching youtube or some netflix or whatever.

Since the NVME was the only piece from the old computer that did this I replaced it with a Samsung one, same size, fresh W10 install and all that. Still happening. Did a WIN mem test and everything with mem is fine. Only thin I can think of is a bad mo-bo, PS, or shitty 3070. I think its a powercolor off brand. (But still what are the chances of 2 powercolor video cards having the same problem?)

I just live with it because its not bad, like I said once a week? But I would def like this shit solved.
 

Hateyou

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Yup, RAM or power.

Follow the recommendations in my previous post regarding the RAM.

You don't have any weird USB devices do you? Some kind of DAC that might be overdrawing USB power?
Nah. Mouse, keyboard, an external hard drive that are always plugged in. Off and on phone or controller or usb stick, those are only plugged in when I’m using them right then.
 

Mist

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External spinning disk HDD or just a thumb drive? If a disk, how old?

Could be a potential source of issues.
 

Axiel

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Whatever sound is playing at the moment it locks up just repeats for a second before it resets. Other times it just freezes and nothing happens at all, the frame is just stuck and I have to hold power to kill it.

I had the same symptoms once a month or so in high and low intensity games (3700x/32gb/5700xt/msi gaming+ x570,) nothing seemed to fix it till I tweaked the SOC voltage up in the BIOS and made the system really unstable. Checking online the shitty MSI board's default soc voltage was 100-200mv above AMD's published spec. Set it to AMD's spec and haven't had that problem since.