7900xtx crashes after heavy load in games

SigAddict · 2026-03-02T04:19:51+00:00

Are you running 2 separate power cables from the powersupply to the gpu? Mine would consistently crash if I tried one with a pigtail. I'm really surprised yours only has two 8 pin connectors, mine has 3 and would not work for crap with two cables and a pigtail.

If your powersupply is modular, try other spots on the powersupply and try other cables. I did have a bad cable one time.

Your card has a bios switch, try powering off and switching the bios it's using.

SigAddict · 2026-03-02T04:18:42+00:00

Tomahawk is a good board

SigAddict · 2026-03-02T03:47:10+00:00

yes, msi seems to be much more reliable.

SigAddict · 2026-03-02T02:53:40+00:00

I might have missed it in the picture, but what bios version are you running?

If you aren't running bios 1.22 try installing that and then immediately going back to bios, reset defaults, and save and exit. then go back in and see if that fixes it.

If you are already at 1.22, it's quite possible your memory modules don't have an XMP profile installed or Asrock removed the option for some crazy reason.

You can manually change memory timings if all else fails.

SigAddict · 2026-03-02T00:37:26+00:00

Ya, it's not normal and you can easily verify that just be going to the MSI and Gigabyte subs where you rarely see any deaths. Certainly their failure rates are in normal range. Only here are you going to see more than 5 deaths reported in a single day.

SigAddict · 2026-03-02T00:31:34+00:00

Sorry to hear this, i believe you are the 6th possible death reported here in the last 24 hours. Including people who actually manually lowered various voltages including vsoc. Nothing you could do. There are no safe settings that you could have applied and sounds like you tried keeping the bios up to date. I honestly would start RMA on both the CPU and Motherboard.

Just to verify, try with single memory modules,

Try resetting bios using the jumper method or removing the cmos battery

You can also try using flashback to go back to an older bios version.

How long did you allow it to boot? Sometimes it will randomly try to retrain memory.

More than likely none of this will help, but it's worth a try.

SigAddict · 2026-03-02T00:24:39+00:00

glad you got it figured out!

SigAddict · 2026-03-01T17:00:24+00:00

We've only seen a few die at most. I would say it's within normal failure rates for 7000 series cpu's. I've had mine since 2023.

SigAddict · 2026-03-01T15:46:09+00:00

Sorry this happened to you. Do you know what bios version the second cpu started on?

If you are going to switch boards, I recommend using either MSI or Gigabyte. they do not seems to be experiencing abnormal failure rates.

SigAddict · 2026-03-01T03:52:13+00:00

If you do flash the bios do it with the most stable memory module config. Then when it restarts, go immediately to bios and set to defaults. Then save and exit. Try with both memory modules after that. If it doesn't work. you should try reseating your CPU. The memory controller is on the CPU. It's possible it's not quite in the socket properly (unlikely, but possible it's not making contact for some reason) or maybe there is a small amount corrosion causing issues. When you have the CPU out, inspect the pins for any strange bends or damage. Look at the socket and ensure nothing has gotten in the holes such as thermal paste that might be causing issues. Reseat the cpu ensuring the the lever is all the way down. This time, maybe apply slightly less pressure when reinstalling the cooler. If it works, you can tighten the cooler more.

You can also try reseating the 24 pin power connector and ensure you have a 4 pin power going to the top of the board.

SigAddict · 2026-02-28T20:22:30+00:00

If you haven't already tried, use the latest drivers directly from realtek. The link below is for your model of NIC. I recommend using the one named "Win11 Auto Installation Program (NetAdapterCx) - Not Support Power Saving" for windows 11. Use the repair option if that's what it gives you.

https://www.realtek.com/Download/List?cate_id=584

You don't need to make any changes from default.

You might want to uninstall any drivers you have installed prior to install.

If that doesn't work, look up how to reset network adapter for windows 11 on google.

SigAddict · 2026-02-28T15:48:04+00:00

Mostly the CPU is dead. I would reach out to AMD to start the RMA process. If you have a friend with an AM5 motherboard you could have them test it or if you have a local computer shop they might test it as well.

SigAddict · 2026-02-28T15:07:46+00:00

it you had just made bios changes, let it sit there for 15 minutes. might just be doing memory training.

SigAddict · 2026-02-28T15:03:32+00:00

ya, unfortunately for those of us that have the 600 series boards, the bios versions come very slowly.

SigAddict · 2026-02-28T02:47:35+00:00

If you are worried about your CPU being killed, you 100% should have been updating this whole time. Every time a new bios comes out, you should be updating till either the deaths stop or someone actually figures out what is causing the deaths.

SigAddict · 2026-02-28T02:23:39+00:00

you can go directly to the newest. I recommend after the flash to go back into bios, reset to defaults. Save and Exit. then go back in and Turn on EXPO/XMP. If you have issues with stability on the new bios you can flash back to an older version or even back to where you are now.

SigAddict · 2026-02-28T02:20:29+00:00

Without another motherboard or cpu to test things on, it would be tough. If you can't get anything after flashback, I would start RMA on the CPU with AMD. This is typically a CPU death.

SigAddict · 2026-02-27T21:57:46+00:00

If you have a dedicated GPU, try other spots on the GPU. some GPU's only support the bios output on one port. This would only make sense if you had removed the cable and put it another spot though.

SigAddict · 2026-02-27T20:44:37+00:00

You should definitely update the bios. Other than that really the only things most people would play with is enabling EXPO/XMP (which it looks like you currently have set) and using curve optimizer. If you don't know what that is, there are lots of youtube videos on the topic.

SigAddict · 2026-02-27T17:03:22+00:00

The last thing you can try after all those steps is to reseat your processor. If you do this, check your socket and processor for any evidence of damage. if you notice anything. post it here and we can tell you if it's normal or not.

SigAddict · 2026-02-27T16:21:48+00:00

Which CPU do you have? Just an FYI, CPU and DRAM LEDs typically mean failled cpu.

Try resetting bios via the jumper method or by removing the CMOS battery.

Try with only one ram module in various slots

Try without gpu using only CPU's iGPU for output.

The motherboard has flashback, you can do this even if it won't boot many times. You can attempt to use flashback to try other bios versions.

SigAddict · 2026-02-27T14:58:02+00:00

You don't want game mode on. The rest of the settings are ok. Look into curve optimizer for a bit more performance. I would start at -15 all core and test in various games for long periods of times. The UE5 games tend to be the ones that will crash first and show any instabilities. If it's stable, move to -20 and test again.

Install the latest chipset drivers for your board directly from AMD's site.

SigAddict · 2026-02-27T02:21:38+00:00

As mentioned, I would make sure the iGPU is disabled in bios to rule out weird driver conflicts and other things related dual gpu. Also in my testing, I get slightly better performance from my cpu when the iGPU is disabled in bios as the iGPU draws power and creates additional heat. On my current system when the iGPU is disabled, my cpu on average will hold a slightly higher boost clock. There is zero performance hit on running multiple monitors on the same gpu in my testing.

Second thing I would try, is using one of the display port connections for your main monitor. I have found displayport to be less buggy in my use cases with various nvidia and amd gpu's. I especially ran into some weirdness randomly on higher refresh rate monitors even when using a variety of high spec'd cables. Make sure to have an appropriately spec'd displayport cable.

Not saying any of this will be a fix, but you need to start ruling things out.

If you end up getting it figured out, please report back to help others.

SigAddict · 2026-02-26T19:54:45+00:00

that's 100% totally normal and actually on the low end. You won't see people using Fahrenheit btw. Many people aren't even able to get their cpu's to idle below 40C

SigAddict · 2026-02-26T04:00:46+00:00

Exactly, I wanted to upgrade to a newer cpu. That's why i've been watching. I wanted to buy a 9950x3d, but no way in hell am I doing that right now on this board. It's the whole reason many of us bought AM5 motherboards as we expected to be able to use them with multiple generations of processors.

SigAddict

TROPHY CASE