New PC build worked for one week, now can't play games

nids

I did a new PC build about 2 weeks ago now, and the building/setup process went perfectly smooth and I didn't have any issues. Updated BIOS, installed all the latest drivers, and games were running great. Fast forward to a few days ago, I boot up my computer like normal, except now half of my games are unplayable. Fortnite, apex, battlefield, and need for speed all crash a few seconds after launching, before the main menu is even loaded in. CS2 doesn't crash, but constantly has strange audio glitching in both ears making the game pretty unbearable to play. There's also weird visual glitching going on with images/animations in programs and in chrome like on youtube. The CS2 startup screen bugs out but is fine during gameplay. The little animation that plays when you start discord is distorted. Youtube thumbnails have this strange glitchy overlay on them. Pretty much the only game I can play right now like normal is Hunt: Showdown.

I'm just incredibly confused as I made no driver or windows updates in the time between when everything was working and when it started acting up like this. I also didn't touch the BIOS at all during that time. I just woke up to my computer bugging out one day with no explanation.

I'm kind of at my wit's end here. I have tried every conceivable solution that I can think of and find on the internet and nothing has improved my issues at all. Reinstalled all drivers, tried older drivers, factory reset windows, manually set ram voltages, disabled multipane overlay, tried running just one stick of ram. Not one thing has worked for me. At this point I kind of just have to assume it's a hardware issue, but why was it not doing this from the get-go? Why was it working perfectly for a week and now all of a sudden everything is broken? Any possible solutions or fixes is more than welcome.

Specs:

CPU: Ryzen 7800x3D

GPU: Radeon RX 7900XT

MOBO: MSI Pro B650-p Wifi

RAM: G.skill FlareX5 32gb 6000mhz

(CPU, motherboard and ram were all part of the microcenter bundle)

PowerSpec_MikeW

@nids

For CS2 specifically and the audio issue, make sure the refresh rate in game is set to your monitors refresh rate and not default.

For what sounds like artifacting and GPU issues, need see Event Viewer - Administrative Events - Custom Views around the time of the crash.

nids

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/53231#Comment_53231

I've ruled out the GPU being the issue as the same problems persisted when I swapped in my old GTX 1660ti (removed/replaced all drivers) and when running integrated graphics. I attached a ss of event viewer but nothing seems to be consistently popping up when crashes occur. The audio issues happen during the apex loading screen before it crashes as well.

PowerSpec_MikeW

@nids

What are those device setup manager errors and what device do they reference?

nids

@PowerSpec_MikeW

They're all various metadata staging errors. I think they just appear every time my PC boots up

PowerSpec_MikeW

@nids

Doesn't seem related to what we're seeing here. Try Furmark on stress test, lets see if we can produce some obvious artifacting.

nids

@PowerSpec_MikeW

I ran Furmark at a few different settings and couldn't get any artifacting to show up. I don't think it's artifacting on GPU rendered scenes for some reason. I attached some examples of what I'm seeing if that helps. I also ram memtest86 and there were 0 errors with the CPU and RAM.

PowerSpec_MikeW

@nids

Interesting that it passes Furmark. Seems power related, but maybe it's happening when the voltage scales at intermediate loads. Try Nvidia Control Panel - Manage 3D Settings - Power Management Mode - Prefer maximum performance.

If you want something diagnostically to test this, try OCCT's adaptive 3D test.

nids

@PowerSpec_MikeW

On an AMD card so I don't have Nvidia control panel :(

I may give that a shot, but I'm almost certain now that I just somehow got a lemon motherboard. I decided to plug in the SSD from my old PC (installed all necessary drivers and everything for the new hardware) and had all the same issues even when booting off of that. May just see if I can get a compatible motherboard nearby and see if that fixes the issue.

PowerSpec_MikeW

@nids

Sorry, I might of mixed up the system specs on you. I was thinking this was a 4080 instead of an 7900 XTX. Question, are you running multiple monitors?

nids

@PowerSpec_MikeW

Single monitor. Tried a new mobo and nothing changed so I returned it. Probably going to try RAM next (maybe a compatibility issue?). After that I’m out of ideas except maybe a faulty PSU cable? I had the exact same issues on my old SSD so I can’t see any reason why it would be a software issue

PowerSpec_MikeW

@nids

Possible but unlikely. Bad PSU cable, I'd expect a black screen and no vide, or a black screen crash. You're seeing artifacting. You've ruled out the OS, drive and motherboard. You're not BSOD'ing so memory is very unlikely. I'd consider exchanging the GPU.

nids

@PowerSpec_MikeW

Update: it was the CPU. I pretty much replaced every component one by one, with the CPU being the last one. Immediately all the issues went away. Guess I'll warranty my old one.

Thanks for all the help along the way!

PowerSpec_MikeW

@nids

Definitely a strange failure. Seeing the visual artifacting like that, along with the other symptoms. It does have the large V-Cache, maybe that's the root cause. It would make a little more sense.