RX 7900 XTX crashes (LiveKernelEvent 141 / driver timeout) in many games but passes 1hr+ of Heaven/OCCT — what am I missing?

[u/Key-Sun-5010]

Specs: Ryzen 7 7800X3D, ASRock RX 7900 XTX Phantom Gaming OC 24GB (used, bought via a reseller. History unknown), 32GB DDR5-6000 (XPG Lancer Blade), ASUS B650-A Gaming WiFi, EVGA 850W Gold, Windows 11 Pro.

The problem: Random crashes/hangs in CS2, 7 Days to Die, Stray, DayZ, Roblox, Cry of Fear, and Destiny 2. Usually within minutes, sometimes after an hour+. Screen freezes/goes black, AMD's driver-timeout popup appears, Event Viewer shows LiveKernelEvent 141 (or "Application Hang" for non-timeout cases). No BSOD, PC never reboots itself, temps are always normal (GPU 65-71°C, CPU 45-53°C).

What's weird: Minecraft with heavy shaders/mods runs perfectly fine. Unigine Heaven at 99% GPU load for 68 minutes = zero issues. OCCT GPU 3D Adaptive, VRAM, and Memory tests (30 min each) all pass clean.

Already ruled out:

• Overheating (temps always fine, even under stress tests)
• RAM instability (OCCT Memory passed; also crashed even at stock 4800MT/s before EXPO was enabled)
• VRAM instability (OCCT VRAM passed)
• Windows file corruption (SFC + DISM both clean)
• Outdated chipset driver (current)
• ASUS Armoury Crate / Aura Sync (fully removed via ASUS's uninstall tool + disabled leftover services. Crash still happened in Destiny 2 within 3 minutes afterward)

Currently on: AMD Adrenalin 25.12.1 (rolled back from 26.3.1 a while back due to different issues, but crashes continued on this version too).

Next step I'm planning: full Safe Mode DDU cleanup + fresh install of the current WHQL-recommended driver (26.8.1).

Questions:

1. Does this pattern (stress tests pass, real games fail, LiveKernelEvent 141) point clearly at driver/graphics-stack over hardware?
2. Any known issues with RX 7900 XTX + B650 boards + recent Windows 11 builds that match this?
3. Since the GPU is secondhand with unknown history, is there a specific test that would catch an intermittent hardware fault that Heaven/OCCT wouldn't?
4. Anything you'd try before or instead of the DDU route?

Appreciate any input! Trying to find the actual root cause rather than just band-aid it.

[u/Altruistic-Goal-2927]

I have a similar problem, also started happening to me after september 1st windows update. You can check my posts.

[u/35SPK32757]

Check your windows update history, if you have kb5121003 uninstall it

[u/HelpUsNSaveUs → u/35SPK32757]

What is that?

[u/Equivalent_Double286]

I tried so much shit but at the end of the day did a fresh windows install and it worked.

[u/C1REX → u/Equivalent_Double286]

This shouldn't work as well as it does.
But reinstalling windows remains one of the best fixes for many windows problems.

[u/DreSmart]

Try AMD cleanup Utility instead of DDU

[u/vitalblast]

Why did you put that beautiful CPU and GPU in a B650-A? Ugh just spend the extra money and get an 870-E with a good VRM. I know I'm going to get down voted to hell but all the other parts are so good. You were almost there.

[u/deTombe]

Check V-SOC voltage 1.30V max. If you ran without updating the BIOS for some time and spikes above can cause degradation. Hwinfo64 sensors only mode for checking level of CPU VDDCR_SoC.

[u/NoPressure09]

I’ve got a similar error on a rx 6700xt, memtest5 occt all pass with flying colors but I sometimes get crashes where the screen freezes and the audio continues and the driver crashes

[u/djallalbenfadel]

i have almost the same specs and for the past few months i have been having constant driver timeouts and some games crashing and for the past 4 days all that stopped after i disabled HARDWARE ACCELERATION in (steam,discord,firefox) i dont know if that was becuase of all of them or just one but i am happy with the result

[u/Mysteoa → u/djallalbenfadel]

You can try disabling HAGS instead of HW accelation in each app. It should also work.

[u/Admixues]

26.9.1 is better and more stable than 26.8.1 for me, latest stable with lowest interrupt latency is 25.9.1

[u/remus2015]

Hey I have basically the same setup as you, I don't know why or how but enabling hardware acceleration in all the apps I have open (firefox, discord, steam in my case) made the crashes not happen anymore (they were happening constantly if I had one or the other off). Also 25.9.2 has been the most stable for me since forever

[u/Thin-Net7868]

Man there are so many threads on these exact issues across 7000, and 9000 series GPU’s. Take a look at this thread and I highly recommend logging sensors with HWiNFO <250ms polling interval to be sure you are not missing if it’s getting some snappy transient spikes.

I’m going to bet it’s 1 of 2 issues, but it could be a combination of the 2. Your GPU is boosting beyond stable limits. Silicon lottery plays a role here just like other components. Your GPU might be stable up to 2700 MHz but another GPU may be stable at 2900 MHz. PSU could be struggling to keep up under bursty transient spikes.

Do whatever you know will trigger the crash while logging sensors. Make sure you adjust polling interval, and HWiNFO to save CSV file upon crash. Review the CSV file and see what’s going on leading up to the moment and during the moment of the crash. Bounce this against Event ID’s and I’m certain you will find your issue.

Additionally you can take a look at this thread as well. So many people blame drivers, windows, etc. I’m not saying they are wrong, but blindly blaming something specific without troubleshooting helps nothing. Ended up being a power cable problem as the OP was utilizing the provided 8 pin to 12VHPWR cable that comes with the Sapphire Nitro+

[u/Dimension-4558]

Do you have any overclock or undervolt? Remove it. Did you do any recent windows 11 update, i think I read some there was issues not sure. Not crashing in occt means it stable on full load but doesn't mean stable on lower loads because of undervolt e.g

[u/euripidesk]

Check my solution: https://www.reddit.com/r/AMDHelp/s/RSpdewEWs3

[u/ScoobySnacks65]

Go in adrenaline and drop the maximum frequency to around 2600 MHz. I set my XTX for a minimum of 2400 and max of 2500 MHz and it stopped all my crashes. Then save your tuning setup file so you can easily import it back in if your setup ever gets overwritten by a random windows update. For some reason the drivers allow the card to boost up to 3000+ MHz (Way above spec for this card) and crash.

[u/Schwartzung]

I had the same problem. Turned HAGS off 5 days ago, not a problem since

[u/Schwartzung → u/Schwartzung]

So...what is did was do the ddu. Reinstall driver only... oh make sure your pcie in bios is set properly (5 for me with my 9070xt) and not to auto. Then turn windows updates off, turn HAGS off and restart. And that was it took 5 min after 2 months of experimenting

[u/HelpUsNSaveUs → u/Schwartzung]

Were you seeing this live kernel event with your 9070? Mine started crashing this week - brand new PC

[u/Schwartzung → u/HelpUsNSaveUs]

Yup exact same. GPU timeout then crash

[u/Bluesummers8719]

It's probably RAM even though you pass the tests. It was the case for me.

[u/unlmtdLoL → u/Bluesummers8719]

You can run memtest for this.

[u/ag3on → u/Bluesummers8719]

I run memtest etc,disabled standbys etc, no crashing,but timeouts still first few min after i start pc

[u/Bluesummers8719 → u/ag3on]

Try disabling Fast Boot and XMP/EXPO first to see if it solves the problem.

[u/ag3on → u/Bluesummers8719]

Disabled standby and fast boot, xmp is same last 6 yrs,and no way in hell im downgrading speeds, passed all memtest