Hi everyone,

I’m having a very strange stability issue with my PC and I’m hoping someone can help me identify the actual root cause. I have already spent a lot of time troubleshooting this, but I’m completely stuck now.

Current PC Configuration

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• Motherboard: Gigabyte B850M AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ICE-P
• RAM: Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 6000MHz CL30
• GPU: Inno3D GeForce RTX 3080 iChill X3 10GB
• SSD: WD Blue 500GB NVMe
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid Core NEX Digital 360 ARGB
• PSU: Cooler Master MWE 850 Gold Fully Modular 850W
• Case: Cougar CFV235 Glass White
• OS: Windows 11 Pro

The Problem

The problem happens mainly while playing Valorant and PUBG PC.

When I cap the FPS at 300 FPS, the system is completely stable and I can play without any problems.

However, when I remove the FPS limit and allow the FPS to run uncapped, the problem appears after approximately 5 minutes.

What happens:

1. The game runs normally for around 5 minutes.
2. The game crashes.
3. The entire PC freezes for approximately 10–15 seconds.
4. The system then recovers and becomes responsive again.

The strange part is that this appears to happen specifically when the FPS is uncapped.

300 FPS capped = completely stable.
Uncapped FPS = crash + 10–15 second system freeze after around 5 minutes.

I Have Stress-Tested Every Major Component

I have tried putting heavy loads on practically every component individually and together.

I have tested:

• CPU under heavy load
• GPU under heavy load
• RAM under heavy load
• CPU + GPU combined loads
• Memory stability
• Different stress-testing and benchmarking software
• MemTest86 for RAM testing

Every stress test I have performed has passed.

I cannot reproduce the problem using normal synthetic stress tests.

This is what makes the issue so confusing. The hardware appears to be stable when I deliberately put heavy loads on the individual components, but the problem still occurs during actual gaming when FPS is allowed to run uncapped.

CPU Was Changed

Originally, the system had a:

Ryzen 7 7800X3D

I changed the processor to:

Ryzen 7 9800X3D

The problem still exists with the 9800X3D.

I Also Tested Without the RTX 3080

My GPU is an:

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3080 iChill X3 10GB

I completely removed the RTX 3080 and tested the system using the integrated graphics of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D.

The same type of problem still occurred.

Because the problem occurs even without the dedicated GPU, I don't think the RTX 3080 itself is necessarily the root cause.

BIOS Troubleshooting

I have spent a lot of time testing BIOS settings.

I have:

• Updated the BIOS multiple times
• Downgraded the BIOS
• Tested different BIOS versions
• Tried different BIOS settings
• Tested different RAM settings
• Tried different performance/stability configurations

The problem still remains.

Windows / Software Troubleshooting

I have performed multiple clean installations of Windows 11.

I have reinstalled Windows and tested again, but the problem continues.

I have also tried different driver/software configurations.

What Makes This Problem Strange

The system is completely stable when:

FPS capped at 300 → No problem

But:

FPS uncapped → Game crashes + entire system freezes for 10–15 seconds after approximately 5 minutes

This happens despite:

• Changing Ryzen 7 7800X3D → Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• Testing the RAM
• Passing MemTest86
• Stress testing the CPU
• Stress testing the GPU
• Stress testing the system
• Removing the RTX 3080
• Testing integrated graphics
• Reinstalling Windows
• Updating/downgrading BIOS
• Trying different BIOS settings

What Could Cause This?

I'm wondering if this could be related to something that synthetic stress tests are not reproducing, such as:

• CPU boost/PBO behavior
• CPU voltage fluctuations
• CPU power management
• Motherboard/BIOS
• RAM/EXPO or memory controller
• VRM/power delivery
• PSU behavior
• AMD chipset/CPU scheduling
• Windows 11
• Driver interaction
• PCIe behavior
• High-FPS CPU load
• Rapid changes in CPU clocks/load
• Some combination of motherboard + CPU + RAM that only appears during gaming

I'm not saying it must be one of these. I'm just trying to understand what direction I should investigate next.

What I Need Help With

What could cause a PC to pass CPU, GPU and RAM stress tests, pass MemTest86, work perfectly with FPS capped at 300, but then crash/freeze when FPS is uncapped?

What specific tests would you recommend to identify the actual root cause?

If anyone has a Ryzen 7 9800X3D + Gigabyte B850 motherboard and has experienced something similar, I would really appreciate your advice.

I can provide:

• Event Viewer logs
• Reliability Monitor information
• BIOS screenshots/settings
• CPU/GPU temperatures
• CPU/GPU clocks and voltages
• OCCT results
• MemTest86 results
• Windows crash information
• Minidumps, if available
• Any other logs or test results you recommend

I have already spent a lot of time troubleshooting this, and I would really appreciate any ideas about what I should test next.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!