Sudden crashes with no error message

Man, I just picked up a new rig from Future specifically to game, but honestly, it’s perfect for everything except actually playing anything. It’s driving me insane because the crashes are totally unpredictable—it might tank after 5 minutes, 30 minutes, or it might run fine for five hours straight before suddenly dying. The games just crash to desktop without any warning, regardless of whether I’m running them on low or high settings or locking the frame rate at 60 fps. To make matters worse, yesterday the whole system froze up twice, leaving me with no choice but to hard reboot. Looking at my Task Manager, I caught two major red flags:
1. When I'm mid-game, the GPU power draw goes absolutely nuts, hitting over 90% usage at times, which makes zero sense if I'm playing on low settings.
2. My AntiMalware software is also hogging an insane amount of memory and CPU cycles for no reason.
I made sure to update every single one of my graphics drivers the very first day I got it, so I really don't think that's the culprit here.
On top of all that, I keep hearing this weird, sudden noise coming from inside the case, like a fan is stuttering or scraping against something.
Can anyone please help a guy out?
Thanks in advance.
Here are the specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 1600 AF (3.2/3.6GHz Boost,19MB,65W,AM4) box, Wraith Stealth
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 34, s. 1150/1155/1156/2011/2011-3/2066/AM4, black
GIGABYTE B350M GA-AB350M-DS3H (S.AM4, 4xDDR4, RAID) mATX
G.Skill Aegis 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz CL16
GIGABYTE Video Card GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER GAMING OC GDDR6 6GB/192bit, MHz/14 000 MHz, PCI-E 3.0 x16, HDMI, 3xDP, WINDFORCE 3X Cooler RGB (Double Slot), Backplate, Retail GV-N166SGAMING_OC-6GD 1
Crucial BX500 480GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-inch SSD
500W Power Supply, ANTEC VP500P Plus EC, ATX, 120mm vent, PFC, 80+
NaviaTec Gaming Case with 3 Colorful LED Fans - NVT-MASTER 1

Try disabling AntiMalware first and see what happens

The GPU pulls max power during gaming regardless of other settings

If a fan is sticking, you might be dealing with high CPU or GPU temps

If it's still under warranty, let them handle it...

So, how the hell do I get rid of this AntiMalware program?
I tried to shut it down myself, but the system just hit me with an Access Denied message.

Bryan Taylor6 said:Just kill the AntiMalware and see what happens.

The GPU pulls its full wattage during gaming regardless of whatever tiny settings you tweak.

If some fan is acting up, you’re probably looking at overheating issues with either your CPU or your GPU.

If it's still under warranty, let them deal with it.

Duh, obviously it's under warranty—I literally just picked this rig up three weeks ago.

Are we talking about the "AntiMalware service executable"?

Of course your GPU is pegged if you aren't capping your FPS. Try limiting it to 60 and see what happens.

Yeah, that's the "AntiMalware service executable" right there. This thing is absolutely devouring my RAM, just eating through it like crazy. Is it actually normal for it to be hogging this much system resources?

That's just part of Windows, and you definitely need it.
It shouldn't be running constantly like that. You usually see it spike during software installs or when launching an app, but otherwise, it should barely touch your CPU—maybe a few percent at most—and use next to no RAM. Try Googling how to fix it; you aren't the only one dealing with this headache.

Bryan Taylor6 said:Maybe try disabling AntiMalware and see what happens.

The GPU usually pulls max power during games regardless of settings.

If a fan is acting up, you might be dealing with high CPU or GPU temps.

If it’s still under warranty, let them handle it.

If the issue is actually with Windows, they'll probably charge him for it...

You should probably check the Event Viewer to find out why a specific app keeps crashing.

Your power supply is way too weak—500W just isn't going to cut it for a GPU like that once you factor in everything else. On a side note, I’ve had some pretty terrible experiences with Intel motherboards and their graphics cards—the software is incredibly buggy and the BIOS is unstable. As far as I'm concerned, that company has been dead to me since my last rig died thanks to their garbage hardware. If I were you, I'd swap it out at the retailer while it's still under warranty; otherwise, you're just asking for constant headaches and total frustration.

Frank Smith10 said:Your power supply is just too weak—500W isn't going to cut it for a GPU like that along with everything else in the build. On top of that, I’ve had some pretty terrible experiences with Intel motherboards and their graphics cards; the software is super buggy and the BIOS feels unstable. Honestly, that brand has been off my radar ever since my last rig died thanks to their junk hardware. If I were you, I'd look into swapping things out at the store while you're still under warranty—otherwise, you're just asking for headaches and constant frustration.

Let's not talk nonsense or spread misinformation here—you're just confusing the guy. Just because you had a bad run with an Intel motherboard or a video card doesn't mean it's a pattern, right? It could have easily just been a factory defect. Intel and HP are industry leaders when it comes to motherboards and GPUs, so let's try to keep the advice accurate moving forward.

Honestly, that power supply is more than enough; I doubt his setup pulls even 250W

Larry Ortiz5 said:Stop talking nonsense and bringing up unknowns—you're just tilting people here. Just because you personally had issues with a Gigabyte motherboard or a GPU doesn't mean there's a pattern; maybe yours just happened to have a factory defect. Gigabyte and Asus are both industry leaders when it comes to motherboards and graphics cards, so please don't spread misinformation in the future..

The difference between Asus and Gigabyte is night and day—at least in my experience. My Gigabyte build fell apart pretty quickly; I was unhappy from day one. It was either unstable or riddled with bugs. With Asus, I haven't had a single issue.

fadedorca66 said:Honestly, that power supply is more than enough. His configuration probably pulls barely more than 250W.

I remember an old Gigashit card I used that pulled 300W all by itself—add any other components to a 450W PSU and you're looking at a black screen. So, I'm highly skeptical that 500W is actually "enough" for him.

Frank Smith10 said:The difference between Asus and Gigabyte is night and day, at least from what I've seen. My Gigabyte build fell apart pretty quickly and I was unhappy right from the start—everything felt unstable and buggy. With Asus, I haven't had any issues at all.

Well... in my experience, things actually went the exact opposite way. Honestly, when you're buying hardware today, like a Motherboard or a GPU, it really just comes down to luck. That goes for pretty much every single brand out there.

I'm thinking back to an old Gigashit graphics card I once owned that pulled about 300W all by itself; once you added the rest of the components, my 450W power supply would just give me a black screen, so I seriously doubt that 500W is going to be "enough" for him.

If the power supply were truly too weak, the PC would likely overheat the moment the card kicked in during a game, and usually, those kinds of crashes end up being permanent.

Crashing most often happens due to these reasons (ranked by probability):
1. One of the connections—usually where the power supply meets the board, or perhaps a SATA/Molex connection on an HDD or a GPU if it uses one—isn't delivering power properly. It sometimes helps to spray the contacts with a cleaner (I personally use some WD-40, as the folks over at 😉 know), plug everything back in, and test it out, but since it's still under warranty, I'd probably hold off. Though, I suspect if you bring it to a repair shop and they see you've sprayed stuff in there, they might just claim everything is fine and send it right back.
2. Overheating near the CPU area (slow CPU cooling can cause the GPU to run hotter too).
3. The power supply itself is overheating.

For points 2 and 3, I’d definitely recommend installing an extra case fan to help with airflow.

Just a quick note: certain drivers—and it doesn't necessarily have to be the GPU driver—can absolutely crash a system, but usually, that kind of issue will trigger a specific system error message.

From what I can gather, the OP mentioned his games are crashing and Windows is freezing up (Blue Screen of Death) rather than the whole system just cutting to black—which would be an automatic shutdown. That makes overheating a less likely culprit here. If you want to get a real look at your sensor status and load percentages, I’d suggest using this tool:
https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
👍

Frank Smith10 said:From what I could gather, the OP mentioned that games are crashing and Windows is freezing (Blue Screen of Death) rather than getting a black screen (total power cut), so overheating seems like a less likely culprit here..

I didn't quite catch that he meant a "blue" screen, but you're spot on about the freezing part. Sorry, I totally missed that detail. If it really is a Blue Screen, that’s usually a software issue, but freezing definitely isn't.

A crashing PC usually points to an issue with stable power delivery or data transfer—for instance, a Gigabyte motherboard might trigger a reboot if there's an issue with the HDD—whereas freezing is a classic symptom of either the HDD failing or the GPU acting up.

So, just taking a wild guess here, it's either a loose connection with the HDD or the GPU, or perhaps the graphics card itself was manufactured with a slight factory defect.

The "fix" (though I wouldn't recommend this unless you're comfortable tinkering, especially since the rig is still under warranty):
- Take every power cable and Molex connector, give the contacts a little spray with some WD-40, and firmly reseat them, including the data cables and all the power connections.
- Pull the GPU out, give the pins a quick spray with WD-40 and click it back in a couple of times, then take it out again and reseat it to make sure the clips in the Motherboard slot are making solid contact.
- You can do the exact same thing with the RAM sticks too, just as an extra precaution.

Just a heads-up: I perform this little routine on almost all the PCs I work on, and it has a pretty high success rate.

If that doesn't solve it, then my gut feeling says the GPU has a factory defect and needs to be replaced. It's likely that one of the chips isn't soldered perfectly, causing it to lose contact once things start heating up.

It’s nothing to panic about, though; it’s just part of the deal with shiny new hardware and how components are mass-produced these days. Honestly, I learned that lesson the hard way myself with an Asus build once.

P.S. For the OP, if I were in their shoes, I wouldn't risk messing with it too much; the smartest move is to just head down to the store and explain the situation. If they have trouble getting the service department to listen, then try the steps I mentioned above, and if the machine won't even boot up after that, well, then it's definitely time to take it back to the shop.

Man, you and your obsession with using WD-40 on electronics. There’s really no place for it there. If you actually want to clean stuff, you should be using contact cleaner or some isopropyl alcohol. Using WD-40 will probably wreck your PC before you even finish fixing it. Especially if it's a new build—I bet Best Buy would void your warranty the second they caught a whiff of it.🤦

So, I went ahead and nuked my GPU drivers using DDU, then tried a clean install through GeForce Experience. Now, whenever I'm gaming—doesn't matter what settings I've got dialed in—the whole thing just falls apart. Sometimes it's a silent crash straight back to the desktop, and other times the entire PC just gives up the ghost and restarts itself. I dug through the Event Viewer to see what was going on, and these are the errors popping up:
1. "Dump file creation failed"
2. "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."
Basically, these are the exact messages hitting the Event Viewer right when the crash happens. The sources are listed as Kernel-Power and volmgr.

Have you actually checked your CPU and GPU temperatures using HWMonitor? Here’s what I suggest: launch the program before you start gaming and just leave it minimized in the background. Play for a few minutes, then close the game and check the peak temps for both the CPU and GPU in HWMonitor. If you're seeing numbers pushing near 90°C, your cooling setup isn't doing its job—either you're missing a case fan entirely, or your BIOS settings are wonky and the fans aren't spinning up when they actually need to.

And I haven't even bothered checking my CPU or GPU temps yet. Honestly, I didn't even realize that could be part of the whole mess.

Here’s the breakdown of my CPU and GPU temps along with the voltage readings.

View on imgur
View on imgur