Self-built gaming PC having BSODs and freezes; can't pinpoint cause.

Haha, my friend just said the same thing and I was about to tell you I'm going to try reinstalling the core system drivers . I was thinking that originally, but the drivers appeared to still be updated under the device manager, which led me to dismiss them being outdated due to the repair. However, as you and my friend pointed out, the actual system files may have been reverted, so I'll get on that pronto and update again.

Is there any way to retrieve the minidump folder, or is it enough to just create a new folder named Minidump (which I already did)? You might have already explained it in your post, but I don't understand what to do if that's the case. Sorry if I'm being an idiot.

I will be doing the hardware tests very soon.

I would wait until another BSOD occurs to see if the Minidump folder is then created, the folder may be created in the event of a BSOD. Also, have you make sure a page file is set?

Dem0nGam3r said:

@Golden No, I didn't run Prime95 yet. I'm rather concerned that it (and that other CPU stress test you mentioned) could damage the CPU. Besides, I'd like to eliminate the GPU and RAM first, as they're easier and safer to rule out. Are those programs safe to test the CPU with? Because if so I would still like to use them after I've eliminated the GPU and RAM as suspects.

They're just as safe as anything else. There are millions of people who absolutely depend on Prime95 and similar programs to test the stability of their system after overclocking their CPU. They run Prime95's "Blend" test for 12-24 hours. Many others will select "Custom" and tell Prime95 to use about 90% of their installed memory to make the test even more effective at testing the system's stability.

Also, I've been on Overclock.net for over 4 years and I have never seen anyone end up with damaged hardware due to running Prime95 or other similar programs (not even IntelBurnTest). Our computers are designed to run software, even if it's as demanding as Prime95.

Not only that, but Prime95 didn't start out as a stability testing program. There's a large community of people who are running Prime95 24/7 in order to help discover new "Mersenne Prime" numbers (I don't know why though). I haven't looked into it very far because I honestly have no interest in it, but I know that these people are running Prime95 24/7 in order to help out. However, Overclockers don't care about that: we just use Prime95 to test the stability of our systems once we overclock the CPU. Many people even use Prime95 to test the stability of their system at stock before overclocking just to make sure everything is perfectly stable first (although, it usually is, so many of us don't even bother).

So yeah, it's 100% harmless.

@TwoCables Thanks for clearing that up for me, and as usual kudos for the thoroughness of your response.

Dem0nGam3r said:

@TwoCables Thanks for clearing that up for me, and as usual kudos for the thoroughness of your response.

You're welcome, and it's a pleasure!

Information about Page Files:

• Understanding the Windows Pagefile and Why You Shouldn't Disable It

If configured to do so, the computer will perform a "core dump" and save all data in memory in raw form to a disk file (known as a "dump file")

The BSOD you specified is Stop 0x124, again another hardware specific BSOD.

Just thought I'd mention, I reinstalled those core drivers (the chipset drivers did the trick) and the computer seems to be running faster now.

Thanks for linking that article, BlueRobot.

Your welcome :)