Fix for random restarts in older games, Spoiler: "disable in-game VSync"

Possible fix for random PC restarts / black screen / VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE 0x116 in older games: disable in-game VSync and use an external FPS cap

Hi everyone. I wanted to share this in case it helps someone else.

I was having a very strange issue with my PC. Heavy games like Red Dead Redemption 2 ran perfectly at ultra settings, around 60–70 FPS at 1080p. Resident Evil 4 and Requiem also with great performance, also CS2 with maximun settings running over 150 fps with no high temperatures, and stress tests like OCCT also passed for more than 20 minutes with CPU/GPU under heavy load. However, older or lighter games like GTA IV, Left 4 Dead, NBA 2K21 would randomly make my PC lose signal, freeze, or restart after a few minutes.

Event Viewer showed (press windows and search that): Kernel-Power 41, BugcheckCode 278, Equivalent to 0x116 VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE

At first I thought it was my PSU, GPU, RAM, or drivers. I tried limiting GPU usage, limiting FPS, disabling dual-channel RAM, reinstalling NVIDIA drivers, and checking temperatures. Nothing clearly fixed it.

The real problem ended up being in-game VSync in older games.

Once I disabled Vertical Sync inside the games, the crashes stopped completely. Even if the games ran uncapped and pushed the GPU to 100%, they no longer crashed or restarted the PC. Now I keep in-game VSync disabled and limit FPS externally using the NVIDIA app / NVIDIA Control Panel / MSI Afterburner + RTSS.

My current stable setup is:

• In-game VSync: OFF
• External FPS cap: ON
• NVIDIA/RTSS FPS limit: 60 FPS or according to monitor refresh rate
• Optional: borderless/windowed mode if fullscreen causes issues

Specs:

• ASUS A520M motherboard
• Ryzen 5 5600G
• 16 GB DDR4 RAM, 8x2
• ASUS RTX 5050 8GB
• 650W PSU

This may not fix every VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE case, but if your PC passes stress tests and only crashes in specific old games, try disabling the game’s own VSync and using an external FPS limiter instead, i hope this post can help some one with a very or the same trouble like me.