All games crashing - Please help!

For the last couple of weeks all my games are crashing 5-10 minutes after I start playing. The image freezes and I have to go to task manager and force quit. The PC is fine during normal use. I've already been through similar threads and below I'll list the steps I've taken so far. I'm creating yet another new thread because hopefully you can provide some new ideas that I might have looked over.

Specs:

- i5 3570K @ OCed 4.4Ghz

- Kingston 16GB Ram

- Asus STRIX GTX 970

- Asrock Z77 Extreme 4

- Seasonic 650W Gold

- Windows 7 - 64 bit

Things I've tried:

- Different drivers (like 7 so far - always same result)

- Driver sweeper, clean install, only installing Physix and GPU Driver

- Using DirectX 9, 10 and 11

- Windows Reinstall

- Updating BIOS

- Adjusting settings to performance on Nvidia Control Panel

- Forcing Physix to GPU only

- Intel Burn Test (To test CPU stability)

- Prime 95 Test (To test both CPU and RAM stability)

- Heaven and Furmark (To test GPU stability)

- Monitor Temps

- Underclocking factory OCed GPU to regular settings.

So far none of the above have worked. The last "heavy" game I played was Mass Effect 3 and I finished the whole game without a single crash. Then I played Zelda Twilight Princess on a GameCube Emulator, with some crashes, but they were probably due to Emulator instability.

Now every single game that I've tried playing after that I get the same result. Both Steam and Origin. Currently installed: Metro 2033, Crysis 3, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Tomb Raider. After 5-10 minutes game stops responding and I need to enter Task Manager and force quit.

PLEASE HELP!

Not an easy one. I'm having similar problems but I narrowed down to my GPU, I can't even complete a 3d Mark bench without the screen image artefacting, tearing and ultimately freezing. The programmes continue and all sound is still working.

I may be slightly different from you though, my card was heavily overclocked and my PSU died (all be it rather unspectacularly, it just stopped working). I was also able to test my GPU in another machine which replicated the results from my PC.

I would say though, if you're suffering from freezes and the sound/programme is still running it would suggest to me that there's likely a fault with your GPU.

can you run gpu-Z and log it while gaming till you crash and post the file ?

Have you set your cpu clocks back to stock to test?

GPU-Z Log during recent crash. The game ran for 7 minutes. No artifacts, low fps or any trigger that I could think of.

EDIT: Something I just noticed from the log that looks weird. During gameplay GPU Core Clock is averaging 1316 Mhz even though I'm running at "stock" factory OCed settings (which are 1253 Mhz). Is there a reason for this spike automatic overclock?

2015-07-29 01:05:10 , 1316.3 , 1752.8 , 67.0 , 41 , 1074 , 1204 , 98 , 53 , 0 , 3 , 94.3 , 12 , 1.2000 ,

2015-07-29 01:05:15 , 1290.5 , 1752.8 , 67.0 , 41 , 1064 , 1204 , 98 , 57 , 0 , 0 , 93.3 , 1 , 1.1620 ,

2015-07-29 01:05:20 , 1316.3 , 1752.8 , 67.0 , 41 , 1060 , 1224 , 98 , 56 , 0 , 1 , 96.8 , 13 , 1.2000 ,

2015-07-29 01:05:25 , 1304.0 , 1752.8 , 68.0 , 41 , 1076 , 1224 , 98 , 52 , 0 , 0 , 98.0 , 1 , 1.1870 ,

2015-07-29 01:05:30 , 1316.3 , 1752.8 , 67.0 , 41 , 1064 , 1224 , 98 , 51 , 0 , 1 , 94.9 , 13 , 1.2000 ,

2015-07-29 01:05:35 , 1316.3 , 1752.8 , 67.0 , 41 , 1067 , 1224 , 99 , 54 , 0 , 1 , 96.2 , 13 , 1.2000 ,

2015-07-29 01:05:40 , 1316.3 , 1752.8 , 68.0 , 42 , 1072 , 1224 , 98 , 54 , 0 , 1 , 97.5 , 13 , 1.2000 ,

2015-07-29 01:05:45 , 1304.0 , 1752.8 , 67.0 , 42 , 1070 , 1224 , 98 , 51 , 0 , 0 , 94.8 , 16 , 1.1870 ,

2015-07-29 01:05:50 , 1316.3 , 1752.8 , 67.0 , 42 , 1060 , 1224 , 95 , 48 , 0 , 1 , 96.4 , 13 , 1.2000 ,

2015-07-29 01:05:55 , 1304.0 , 1752.8 , 67.0 , 42 , 1060 , 1224 , 94 , 48 , 0 , 1 , 95.2 , 16 , 1.1870 ,

2015-07-29 01:06:00 , 1304.0 , 1752.8 , 68.0 , 42 , 1066 , 1224 , 98 , 50 , 0 , 0 , 96.5 , 1 , 1.1870 ,

2015-07-29 01:06:05 , 1304.0 , 1752.8 , 68.0 , 42 , 1076 , 1224 , 99 , 49 , 0 , 1 , 99.6 , 1 , 1.1870 ,

2015-07-29 01:06:10 , 1316.3 , 1752.8 , 67.0 , 42 , 1074 , 1224 , 98 , 55 , 0 , 2 , 96.7 , 13 , 1.2000 ,

2015-07-29 01:06:15 , 1316.3 , 1752.8 , 68.0 , 42 , 1080 , 1224 , 98 , 55 , 0 , 2 , 98.9 , 13 , 1.2000 ,

2015-07-29 01:06:20 , 1316.3 , 1752.8 , 61.0 , 42 , 1073 , 1224 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 39.0 , 12 , 1.2000 ,

2015-07-29 01:06:25 , 658.1 , 405.0 , 57.0 , 41 , 1049 , 1225 , 0 , 1 , 0 , 0 , 12.6 , 16 , 0.8370 ,

2015-07-29 01:06:30 , 324.0 , 162.0 , 55.0 , 38 , 922 , 150 , 20 , 10 , 0 , 6 , 12.7 , 16 , 0.8500 ,

2015-07-29 01:06:35 , 162.0 , 162.0 , 54.0 , 34 , 699 , 149 , 0 , 3 , 0 , 0 , 10.8 , 16 , 0.8500 ,

2015-07-29 01:06:40 , 135.0 , 162.0 , 53.0 , 31 , 0 , 153 , 0 , 4 , 0 , 0 , 10.6 , 16 , 0.8500 ,

2015-07-29 01:06:45 , 135.0 , 162.0 , 52.0 , 29 , 0 , 153 , 3 , 6 , 0 , 0 , 10.6 , 16 , 0.8500 ,

2015-07-29 01:06:50 , 135.0 , 162.0 , 52.0 , 28 , 0 , 153 , 0 , 3 , 0 , 0 , 10.6 , 16 , 0.8500 ,

@gp19:

That is the gpu boost at work

Think I might have found the cause. Just read a thread that recommended testing both the CPU and GPU at the same time to really test for stability. So I just ran Intel Burn Test and Furmark at the same time. The PC restarted after a few seconds.

Went to Bios and set the CPU to stock speed and ran again. PC lasted a few more seconds, but still restarted.

Seems like my PSU is at fault here... I'll try to find one to test and if everything returns to normal, then I'll get a new one.

I'll update this as soon as I can. This thread might help someone in the future.

Did you test the memory for errors? System instabilities and crashes can be caused by this.

For a last case effort, I would also check for any bulging/raised and or leaking capacitors on the motherboard (Don't know if that is still even a thing to check for these days).

FINAL UPDATE: It was a faulty PSU... Sucks that a Seasonic 650W Gold only lasted for about 16 months... but what the hell.

Conclusion: If all else fails, try running stress tests on both your GPU and CPU at the same time. That'll show you if the PSU can handle the extra power requirements.