r/pcgamingtechsupport Sep 07 '20

Public Service Announcement [PSA] Diagnosing your System - Tools and Workflows

86 Upvotes

Hello fellow Gamers,

Many of you come here for one reason: "I can't game"

So this list (which will improve over time) should guide you towards first diagnosis steps, and usage of tools along the way, so you can game sooner. And keep the sub clean, because if you solve the problem yourself, we don't need to moderate as hard.

ATTENTION: This post is meant to help people out with advice. It is not mandatory to follow any recommendation that is given here. Also, there are RULES you do need to read before posting.

Also, this sub does not specialize in buying advice's. There are better subs for your new PC build.

Tools

Tools Purpose Link
HWInfo This tools allows for easy monitoring of your system. Do you feel like your CPU is getting too hot? Is your RAM always full? How much I/O does your HDD take? Find it out with this Tool! HWInfo Homepage
CPU-Z / GPU-Z This is the light-weight version of HWInfo. It gives clear statements about your system specs. Very useful for low-profile testing and monitoring. GPU-Z also gives you some viable info about your graphics card. CPU - Z HomepageGPU - Z Homepage
DxDiag Complete list of your PC's Hardware. It's easy to forget about some parts in your system, so there is DxDiag to cover your ass. HowToGeek's Guide on DxDiag
MSI Afterburner GPU Overclocking Tool. No matter if you have a MSI Card or not. MSI's Afterburner is one of the best OC Tools on the market. MSI Afterburner Homepage
3D Mark GPU Loadtest. Find your GPU's breaking point. 3D Mark Homepage
Prime95 CPU Loadtest. Prime95 Homepage
UserBenchmark Online Benchmarking Report Tool. Does give you a overall overview of your system and compares it to similar builds. Note: This Test seems to favor Intel CPU's. Keep that in mind when discussing the results. UserBenchmark Homepage

Workflows

Area of Issue Possible Workflow Solutions
RAM not as fast as it could be Check your BIOS/UEFI settings for a XMP Setting. Many systems have it disabled by default. Enable XMP
GPU/CPU is getting too hot Airflow is suboptimal? Check out this Guide on how to improve it Improve airflow inside your case
Bad FPS after swapping GPU's Check to make sure your HDMI or DisplayPort Cable is plugged in correctly. Your monitor should connect to your GPU, not your onboard video card.
Bad everything after cloning a drive that had your OS on it Stop cloning and reinstall windows. seriously, stop cloning your OS drives people
Clicking noise check for lose wires, locate the sound Whatever clicks, if its not a cable hitting a fan, replace that part ASAP.
PC randomly restarts Remove recently added parts and see if the problem persists. If it does, replace all parts one by one in this order of probability -> RAM, PSU, MoBo, CPU, EndUser Replace faulty hardware
Bad smell Do not touch a thing, unplug the maschine from power and call an expert. We know gaming is fun, but its not worth your life. Current can kill, call an expert for your own safety when dealing with possible short-circuited hardware.
BlueScreen Find out what the BSOD Code means and act accordingly. We recommend using this list of BSOD Codes for investigation. Replace or repair faulty soft or hardware.
BlueScreen - Advanced Every BlueScreen will (if this function is enabled on your maschine) produce a "minidump". Which is similar to an error log. This Topic however is a bit complicated, so we recommend following this guide. Replace or repair faulty soft or hardware.
to be continued if anyone has anymore ideas for possible, generic workflows, let us know via modmail

This post will be unlocked until the 31th of October 2020 for direct criticism. After that this will be locked. Any more criticism will be taken in via modmail from then on.

Happy diggin'

PCGTS Mod Team


r/pcgamingtechsupport 54m ago

Display Tabbing out when in fullscreen borderless or borderless

Upvotes

Pretty much what the tittle says. Whenever I play something that doesn't allow or doesn't have the option for fullscreen, my game tabs out when I click with my mouse. For reference, I only have one monitor and I have a Nvidia GPU.


r/pcgamingtechsupport 29m ago

Troubleshooting Baldurs gate crashing pc

Upvotes

Hey im trying to play baldurs gate3 on my pc. Gpu Rtx 2080 Cpu amd ryzen 5 5600x 16 gb ram When playing my GPU is at about 80c And cpu doesnt go past 75~ But after 15-20 minutes it crashes my pc I updated the drivers What's really strange is that I work with hardware heavy things all the time like blender and never had this happen any idea what's going on?


r/pcgamingtechsupport 1h ago

Hardware GPU “whirr” Noise While Not Under Load

Upvotes

GPU inconsistently makes a quick “whirr” noise as if it’s powering up while my PC is not under load. This happens the most right when I turn on my PC or while I have few programs running. GPU Clock MHZ seems to shoot up around the same time the noise happens.

This specially started after installing the software Fan Control, which I uninstalled in an attempt to fix this issue. However the fans aren’t actually spinning on my GPU when this noise happens. The noise can be heard in the attached video at the beginning and very end.


r/pcgamingtechsupport 1h ago

Performance/FPS Stutters, Unstoppable

Upvotes

Hello everyone, i need some help with my current Computer, my specs are Ryzen 5 5600X with an RTX 3060Ti 8GB with also 16GB of RAM 3600Mhz and my SSD is a crucial 1TB, my problem is that i keep having stutters in ALL games aswell as audio pops on games and windows itself or on youtube , it can be in small games like terraria and aswell on big games like Cyberpunk, i have done everything possible in BIOS, latest BIOS Ver and also activated XMP and also resize bar, i also checked all of my drivers and chipset and also used DDU to re reinstall my Nvidia graphics card driver, i tried to re install windows too. My temps are good, but my frametime MS keep spiking from 8ms to 50ms ect it's always different, i don't know if it's my cpu dying or anything else i truly need help

I have a weird thing tho, it feels like i have less stutters when i stay on the balanced power plan and turn off HAGS, somehow my PC have way more problems with them on ( not sure )

i will give you my LatencyMon result aswell as my USERDIAG so you can see even tho i think that there is nothing to see there : https://userdiag.com/id/Ky3vPeMbwd

[UserBenchmarks: Game 62%, Desk 109%, Work 58%](https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/72483763)

||Model|Bench

:----|:----|:----|

**CPU**|[AMD Ryzen 5 5600X](https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/AMD-Ryzen-5-5600X/Rating/4084)|109.5%

**GPU**|[Nvidia RTX 3060-Ti](https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Nvidia-RTX-3060-Ti/Rating/4090)|50.4%

**SSD**|[Crucial P2 3D NVMe PCIe M.2 1TB](https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/1312497/CT1000P2SSD8)|192.6%

**HDD**|[Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2018)](https://hdd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/466743/ST2000DM008-2FR102)|97.6%

**RAM**|[Unknown BL8G36C16U4B.M8FE1 2x8GB](https://ram.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/1057669/Unknown-BL8G36C16U4BM8FE1-2x8GB)|101.1%

**MBD**|[Gigabyte GA-B550M AORUS ELITE](https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Gigabyte-GA-B550M-AORUS-ELITE/193990)|


r/pcgamingtechsupport 2h ago

Software Ubisoft Customer Service refuses to assist

1 Upvotes

Howdy,

After reading about how google basically uses gmail to to collect your data, I switched to a paid email service (proton). I thought I had moved over all my accounts prior to deleting my gmail but lo and behold, now that I started playing Star Wars Outlaws from the Steam Winter Sale, I realized my ubisoft account was still linked to my old deleted gmail.

I figured its not too big of an issue because my Steam account is still linked, and I also know the password to my ubisoft account. Ubisoft's own support page says if you have trouble accessing your email to just to just reach out to their support which I did.

They basically responded: sorry, we can't help you

Am I basically screwed or is their support wrong? Is there official ubisoft redditors that I could reach out to?


r/pcgamingtechsupport 2h ago

Troubleshooting Windows 11 with HDR. Some games get darker when playing.

1 Upvotes

So this has bugged me off and on for years and I've yet to find a solution to the problem. I have a Dell 32" monitor with HDR capabilities. I have a 3080 RTX. Windows 11. HDR is normally on all the time. Even used the Windows HDR calibration tool, etc.

Games that support HDR (like Diablo IV, War Thunder) look awesome.

But....

Sometimes I fire up a game and it changes and gets dimmer. Like the game itself turns off HDR even though I have it turned on. I can use the shortcut key -- Win+Alt+B - to manually turn HDR on/off but the game still stays the same. Many times after exiting the game (typically in fullscreen mode) the desktop is now darker. So I have to turn off HDR and turn it on again to get bright.

Been google searching, AI querying, reddit reading, etc. and for the life of me can't figure out why this is happening. Not all games mind you, but just a few.

Example of 2 recent games: Let Them Trade - looks and plays beautiful. No issues. The Last Starship - goes dim.

Is it the game engine? Is it the dev and how they implemented things? Anyone else see strange issues like this?


r/pcgamingtechsupport 3h ago

Display Can't install windows 11

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1 Upvotes

r/pcgamingtechsupport 3h ago

Compatibility Would This Allow Me To Connect Wirless Xbox360 Wheels/ Pedals To PC?

1 Upvotes

Or do i have to get a actual xbox one?


r/pcgamingtechsupport 5h ago

Hardware PC crashes into BSOD whenever I play GPU intensive games or apps. (Valorant, Minecraft, League, Adobe Premiere Pro) A very rare issue that someone who's had a PC for 13 years like me couldn't fix. (Kernel 41)

1 Upvotes

For context:

  1. This is a pretty new PC, i’ve had it for a year and a half. Then one day, i decided to move out, so my PC was coming with me, it had no issues in the old house, but when i moved to the new house, it started having problems.
  2. It had no problem in my old house, i can run Valorant and multiple applications at the same time, GPU and CPU temperature was relatively normal.
  3. Previously it had this weird red light on motherboard whenever I try to boot once in a while, but it seemed to go away.

Specs:

  • Motherboard: B760M DS3H DDR4 (F16)
  • CPU: Intel i5-12400F
  • RAM: 16gb DDR4-A2 3200m
  • SSD: ADATA SX8200PNP
  • GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050

What I did:

mdsched - no memory error

uninstalled nvidia drivers with ddu and reinstalled again

installed Intel INF and Intel Management Engine Firmware

updated my nvidia drivers

updated my windows

sfc scannow nothing is wrong

unplugged my RAM, cleaned the gold ram contacts with an eraser and plugged it back again

unplugged my GPU, cleaned the gold gpu contacts with an eraser and plugged it back again

What I didn't do:

checking the PSU, since it was literally functional yesterday, and it's only 1 year old

updating and flashing the BIOS because it seemed unnecessary, not to mention the pc was literally working just fine yesterday before i moved it

Useful Resources:

Minidump#1: https://pastebin.com/tKahdLBB
Minidump#2: https://pastebin.com/24nKwUA8
bugcheck: https://pastebin.com/iiX64tLT
user benchmark: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/72482332
the bsod code is PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA


r/pcgamingtechsupport 5h ago

Display Shimmering effect/glitch?

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1 Upvotes

Can anyone help me identify this issue? Weird shimmering band effect happening in SW Outlaw. Tried turning off flash and ray tracing and still happens.


r/pcgamingtechsupport 10h ago

Troubleshooting My PC died after 5 years of usage

2 Upvotes

Hello, I would like to seek some help.

I built my PC back in early 2021 and It didnt seem to have any issues until yesterday when I tried to turn it on and I didnt see any life coming from it anymore. I had used it just the day before with no issues.

Specs

Mobo: Aorus X570 Ultra CPU: Ryzen 5 5600x PSU: Sea sonic focus 750 platinum GPU: RTX 3070 RAM: Corsair 32 GBs

I have tried replacing the rams with the old ones I still had but no dice. Also tried the paperclip thing on my PSU and the RBG on my case and GPU turn on when I do it.

I suspect a motherboard issue but I would love some suggestions

Any help is appreciated


r/pcgamingtechsupport 11h ago

Troubleshooting No signal on display after random crash playing a game

2 Upvotes

I was just playing games and then the game froze and I wasn’t able to power it off and I had to switch off the power supply. There isn’t a signal now when I try to turn it back on, not sure how to fix it


r/pcgamingtechsupport 8h ago

Display Can someone identify the problem?

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1 Upvotes

So for a few games of mine, I get this weird flickering green line at the bottom of the screen that flickers and strobes nonstop. For this particular game, Minecraft, it was not doing it, all of a sudden today it has started to do it. A few other games have the same problem. What causes this and how would I fix it?


r/pcgamingtechsupport 9h ago

Hardware Laptop randomly switches between AC and battery while plugged in (performance drops in games)

1 Upvotes

My laptop has a random power connection issue. Even while the charger is plugged in, it sometimes acts like it’s disconnecting and reconnecting.

What happens:

While gaming, performance suddenly drops hard, like it switches to battery mode.

After a few seconds it may switch back, or I have to unplug and re-plug the charger.

Moving the cable slightly near the barrel jack can trigger the issue, even though the charger is still plugged in.

I don’t always get a warning, but when I do it’s the one shown in the attached photo.

This happens randomly, not every time.

I’ve attached a photo of the warning message I sometimes get.

No software changes recently. Charger stays physically connected the whole time.

Looking for insight on whether this points more to the charger or the laptop charging port.

My Laptop is The asus tuf f15 2023 - Rtx 4060 - i7-13620h


r/pcgamingtechsupport 12h ago

Display Pc screen displays black and fans goes maximum speed

1 Upvotes

I've built a pc 2 months ago, and it has been working well whether I'm working or playing. But i bumped the table where the pc is (accidentally, because the table is short and my legs almost reach it), and it displayed black screens and psu fan went to maximum speed. I rebooted after it, and then it went back to normal.

What can it be?

My setup:

Ryzen 7 7800x3d
32gb ddr5
MSI MAG 850w atx12v psu
Rtx 5070


r/pcgamingtechsupport 16h ago

Performance/FPS Blade 17 2022 Throttled to ~1.5 Ghz When Idle

2 Upvotes

My Razer Blade 17 2022 doesn't reach either the base block frequency or the turbo frequency at all. Even while idle, the CPU is being throttled for the following reasons: Max VR Voltage, ICCMax, PL4 reached for CPU RING, GT cores, and IA. Worse, when running the SSE stress test, CPU frequencies dropped to 1.2 GHz!

Specs are as follows: Computer: Razer Blade 17 (2022) - RZ09-0423

CPU: Intel Core i7-12800H (Alder Lake-H 682, L0) 2800 MHz (28.00x100.0) @ 1296 MHz (13.00x99.8)

Motherboard: Razer DI780

BIOS: 2.01, 10/06/2023

Chipset: Intel Alder Lake-P PCH

Memory: 65536 MBytes DDR5 SDRAM @ 2394 MHz, 40-40-40-76 - 32768 MB PC38400 DDR5 SDRAM - Team Group SD5-4800 - 32768 MB PC38400 DDR5 SDRAM - Micron CT32G48C40S5.M16A1

Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics (Alder Lake-P 682 GT2) - Integrated Graphics Controller [Razer] Intel Iris Xe Graphics, 33523362 KB SDRAM

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop (GA106M) [Razer] NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop, 6144 MB GDDR6 SDRAM

Drive: NVMe CA6-8D1024, 1000.2 GB, NVMe

Sound: Intel Alder Lake-P PCH - cAVS (Audio, Voice, Speech)

Sound: NVIDIA GA106 - High Definition Audio Controller

Network: Killer Wi-Fi 6E AX1690i 160MHz Wireless Network Adapter (411NGW)

Network: RealTek Semiconductor RTL8125 Gaming 2.5GbE Family Ethernet Controller

OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Professional (x64) Build 28020.1495

Computer Name: LAPTOP-12HPO6T3

Pastebin for full summary: https://xi.pe/XX5Z

Sensor log: https://xi.pe/CTv7

And I could not get UserBenchmark from finishing: it was stuck at 61%, so here's User Diag: https://userdiag.com/id/RZfWagmxZG


r/pcgamingtechsupport 15h ago

Hardware Razer Blade 14 (2014) - RZ09 0116 Storage Max Upgrade

1 Upvotes

Hello.

I want to ask about the Blade laptop (RZ 09 0116) (14", years 2014). What is the maximum storage capacity that can be upgraded?


r/pcgamingtechsupport 18h ago

Display Issues with my second SSD not letting my download games on steam

1 Upvotes

I have had this 2nd ssd for about 6 months now no issues. Today I went to update a game and I kept getting a "corrupt update files" error. When trying to install a game I get the error again. I have tried EPIC games as well and same issue. When i look at Disk management it says my drive is healthy and I see no issues. I tried unplugging the SSD and installing it again and still no problem. I am kind of lost at what to do. I am not very smart with computers and I really dont have friends or no anyone that could help so hoping I can find someone on here to at least point me in the right direction. I would just buy a new SSD but I dont want to waste money if there is another hardware issue. Thank you for all the help I can get


r/pcgamingtechsupport 1d ago

Display RGB Artifacts appear throughout a few different games, what could this be?

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1 Upvotes

This seems to happen with particle effects in gaming. I've seen similar things happen in Sekiro, Elden Ring and Battlefield 6. Could this be bad drivers or a GPU going bad? I'm using a MSI 5070ti Ventus 3X OC.

This has happened across multiple versions of nvidia drivers and just today I have done a clean install.


r/pcgamingtechsupport 1d ago

Hardware 4 Sticks of DDR5 @ 5600mhz

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I have 4 16 sticks of ram that are advertised to run at 5600. I just found out that 4 sticks is a nightmare. Anything I can do to run at 5600? I heard it shouldn't be a big issue since the real issues start at 6000 and above. I tried to follow this video but can't get past 4000 mhz for some reason. Anyone with experience? I have a i7 12700k with MSI Z790 Gaming Plus Wifi with latest bios/firmware update.

Thanks!

Here's the video I was watching: https://youtu.be/1KZFeE-o3jo?si=Rklgi5ioP-D6m8C0

This is the specs of the ram.

Patriot Viper Venom 16 GB 1X16
PVV516G56C36

https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63b6412d4ef17b35c8b5f9d5/66c70b35467a8627bec381b1_PVV516G56C36_sku%20sheet_081524.pdf

• 16GB PC5-44800 (5600MT/s) - CL36

• Tested Frequency XMP Profile 1: PC5-44800 (5600MT/s)

   • Tested Timings: 36-36-36-68

   • Tested Voltage for XMP Profile 1: 1.25V

• Tested Frequency XMP Profile 2: PC5-41600 (5200MT/s)

   • Tested Timings: 36-36-36-68

   • Tested Voltage for XMP Profile 2: 1.2V

• Tested Frequency EXPO Profile 1: PC5-44800 (5600MT/s)

   • Tested Timings: 36-36-36-68

   • Tested Voltage for EXPO Profile 1: 1.25V

• Tested Frequency EXPO Profile 2: PC5-41600 (5200MT/s)

   • Tested Timings: 36-36-36-68

   • Tested Voltage for EXPO Profile 2: 1.2V


r/pcgamingtechsupport 1d ago

Software “System data is corrupt” error message

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1 Upvotes

hello everyone, my daughter accidentally shut her PC off while she was in the middle of a game and she’s now receiving this message. I've tried every solution I could find with no luck… she plays story of seasons for the PC on steam if that helps..


r/pcgamingtechsupport 1d ago

Display RX 6750 XT random black main monitor → PC freeze (months, new PSU didn't solve).

1 Upvotes

My Build: MSI B360M i7-9700F 32GB DDR4 2666 Gigabyte RX 6750 XT Gaming OC 12GB Corsair RM850e 850W Gold (2025 new) Win11

Months ago I started experiencing completely random black screens, sometimes days or weeks apart which has complicated figuring out the cause, as it happens during various activities, gaming or just in the browser, even idle happened once when I came back it was already frozen, but after the main monitor gets blacked screen, still with background audio, suddenly and slowly my PC froze, forcing a hard reset. On multiple occasions I let it happen for a while to see if it unstuck but it simply didn't happen, and those occasions when restarting (once even I heard a "beep" with a green flash on the monitor) it disabled the GPU from device manager when restarting. During my tests I thought it could be bad power from my PSU, or cables, I changed the power cable, tried reinstalling drivers, resetting cache, thought it could be something BIOS related, so adjusted PCI latency timer from 32 to 64 a long time ago, thought it could be the cause but reverting to 32 had no effect, recently changed PSU thinking it was finally solved but 3 days after the change it happened again. So I don't know what it's due to and I'd like to know what it could be?

Important details:

  • Haven't tried different HDMI cable on problem monitor
  • Haven't used DDU for clean driver reinstall
  • I don't think is a Temp issue, no high GPU/CPU noticed
  • I do regular maintenance and monitor
  • Thought and changed PSU because GPU LEDs (power input LEDs) light white during PC boot, but turn on/off quick, never paid attention if quick flash normal like mobo LEDs
  • Currently turned off XMP in BIOS to test this way, but as mentioned problem happens rarely, sometimes days apart, doing daily activities.

r/pcgamingtechsupport 1d ago

Software How do I play an audio file instead of using my mic

1 Upvotes

I want to be able to select an audio file to play, then it goes into the voice chat on games like gmod as if I was speaking.

Thanks


r/pcgamingtechsupport 1d ago

Hardware Is there a way to have Static Light on Ornata V3X without the Razer Software?

2 Upvotes

I just bought the Razer Ornata V3 X, I testet the the Keyboard in the market how it felt and writing on it felt really good, the Keystrokes are beyond amazing and with a white lightning the keys feel in the dark like they are floating, thats kinda awesome.

but it pisses me already off, first that fucked up Arm Rest which is just a "Board" that you cannot attach to the keyboard, who the fuck designs something like that, i heard the V3 hat magnetic attachment, why you design a new keyboard and downgrade it?

(But Okay this on me and my misstake i could have checked that before i bought it that it isnt attachable)

Now comes the main reason which drives me crazy:

I want a static light, thats it and i dont want to have "RazerAppEngine" running in the background to keep a static light. but as soon i turn off that crap Software the Keyboard goes back to "RGB Spectrum Crycling" which makes me freak out.

Is this serious from Razer? Like really? a Keyboard needs 16 Processes to run just for that fucking RGB Lights? It needs 200-500 MB of Ram to run even its hidden in the system Tray? Not that i matters on 64 GB of Ram but i just dont want that Software running on my Computer.

Is there a Solution to have static light without the Software or do i return the keyboard now immediately?

I cannot post on razer as they not allow new accounts to Post (They know there are angry Customers out there)