Three problems that slow down even a new gaming PC

The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) in the middle of an exciting battle is perhaps the worst thing that can happen to a gamer. We often blame developers for poor optimisation or video card drivers, but the problem often lies in the "hardware" of the computer, and in details that few people think about.

XDA Developers tells us about the three main causes of problems.

Invisible culprits of sudden crashes

First, the video memory. In 2025, 8 GB of video memory will no longer guarantee stability, especially if you play with ray tracing in resolutions above 1080p. Even a modern mid-budget RTX 4060 Ti video accelerator can unexpectedly shut down in scenes with a lot of objects. If you plan to run "heavy" projects at ultra settings or with raytracing, look for cards with at least 12 GB of memory.

The second trap is power cables. A small defect or a low-quality extension cord can cause a critical "Process Complete" message on the boot screen. It will take a long time to realise that a third-party 24-pin ATX extension cable or a poor-quality video card power cable extension is to blame. If there is nothing wrong with the program and errors occur in demanding games, try connecting directly to the power supply with standard wires.

Finally, the instability of RAM. The XMP or EXPO profiles overclock the RAM to the data sheet values, but even minimal deviations in the processor memory controller or board firmware can cause failures. If MemTest detected errors, try lowering the frequency by one or two steps (for example, from 3600 MHz to 3200 MHz) or slightly increasing the voltage and relaxing the timings — sometimes this is enough to get rid of BSODs in the hottest gaming moments.

As a reminder, once upon a time, we only thought about how cool it would be to run computer games on our mobile phones. However, now it is no longer a fantasy, as services have emerged that help to implement it.

We also wrote that most users are used to leaving laptops or computers switched on all the time. Undoubtedly, this is more convenient than waiting for them to switch on every time, but experts say otherwise.