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Question

My PC crushes when gaming, is it a GPU problem

Sep 16, 2018 9:05AM PDT

My PC is four years old. It has Radeon R9 280 as the GPU. Recently it crushes when I play games, the screen would show blue stripes and only reboot can bring the windows back. This doesn't happen when I load the game, it happens within 30 seconds when the game is loaded and when I actually start playing.

The windows memory diagnostic showed no problem with RAM. The driver for the GPU is updated, and the PC would crush with all the games I have. I have cleaned the dust and changed the thermal paste, the temperature for the GPU is usually 60C, it's no more than 80C when the crush happened. I have restored my windows to a point where it definitely works.

I suspect the problem is the RAM within the GPU. Do you guys think I should run some other testing before I purchase a new GPU just in case it's some other problems?

Also, my GPU is out of warranty, is there a cheap way to just fix the memory of the GPU so I don't have to spend money on a new card?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
As you can guess
Sep 16, 2018 9:34AM PDT
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Already tried it, any other suggestions?
Sep 16, 2018 9:51AM PDT

I have already done this, I cleaned the heatsink and applied new thermal paste. I have been monitoring the temperature, it's been within a reasonable range. But the crush keeps happening, that's why I think the GPU RAM has been broken. Is there any other diagnostic you recommend before I purchase a new GPU?

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As these age
Sep 16, 2018 10:25AM PDT

The working temp, that is the temp until you see issues falls. This can really confuse folk as they will tell you it's not heat. No, the parts can't take the heat like they used to.

Since that work is done, try the other things. Go get DDU (what is, how to is on the web) and dust off all video drivers. Install the version that used to work.