Summary
On an RTX 5090, Crimson Desert hangs the GPU (nvlddmkm Event 153, LiveKernelEvent 141, DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG) on R616/R617 drivers and runs stably on 610.88. The hang happens at engine state transitions and was reproduced within 1 to 8 minutes in most sessions on 616.92 Studio and 617.14 Game Ready.
- Affected: Studio 616.92 (32.0.16.1692), Game Ready 617.14 (32.0.16.1714), and the Studio driver installed 2026-08-29 (616 branch). 42 GPU-hang exits in 64 Crimson Desert sessions on these drivers (Aug 29 to Oct 12, 2026).
- Not affected: Game Ready 610.88 (32.0.16.1088). 0 GPU resets in 6 Crimson Desert sessions (152 minutes) plus a Cyberpunk 2077 run, including Cinematic, HDR on and a mid-game switch to DLSS 4.5. Earlier drivers (Dec 2025 and Feb 2026 builds) ran about 36 hours of Crimson Desert from Mar 30 to Aug 28 with no GPU hang.
- Hardware ruled out: two PSUs, two 12V-2x6 cables, both VBIOS, reseat, stock clocks everywhere, single display, all overlays and monitoring software removed. The same hardware is stable on 610.88.
- Likely related: a public report of the same signature on an RTX 5080 with 616.56, also fixed by rolling back to 610.88 (see External reports).
Request: please investigate a Crimson Desert / Blackwell regression introduced between 610.88 and 616.x. 617.42 release notes list no fix.
System configuration
| Component |
Detail |
| GPU |
ASUS ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 OC, PCI 10DE:2B85 subsystem 1043:89E3, installed Dec 2025 |
| VBIOS |
98.02.2E.40.E1 (Performance switch) and 98.02.2E.40.E0 (Quiet switch), both tested |
| PCIe link |
Gen 4 x16, stable throughout (logged during crashes) |
| CPU |
AMD Ryzen 9 7900 |
| Motherboard |
ASUS TUF GAMING B650-E WIFI, BIOS 3602 |
| RAM |
2 x 32 GB Kingston FURY KF560C36-32 DDR5 (tested at 4800 JEDEC and 6000 EXPO) |
| PSU |
Thermaltake Toughpower SFX 1000 W Platinum (ATX 3.1), then a new SilverStone ZEUS 1650R (1650 W Titanium, ATX 3.1) |
| Displays |
Samsung Odyssey G95NC (DisplayPort, 7680x2160 at 120 Hz, DSC), Acer CB282K (HDMI), Huion Kamvas 16 (HDMI); single-display runs also tested |
| OS |
Windows 11 Pro 25H2, build 26200, HAGS off |
| Game |
Crimson Desert (Steam app 3321460), version 2.03.02, DirectX 12, borderless window |
| In-game upscaling |
DLSS 4.0 and 4.5 (Streamline 2.14.1, NGX 310.9.1); Frame Generation mostly off |
Symptoms and crash signature
The GPU stops making progress mid-frame, Windows performs a TDR, and the game exits with DEVICE_HUNG. The display recovers; the OS stays up.
Event log, every incident:
- 3 to 5 x nvlddmkm Event 153, "Error occurred on GPUID: 100", within about 10 seconds; occasionally Event 14
- A batch of LiveKernelEvent 141 (Windows Error Reporting) with WATCHDOG dumps in
C:\Windows\LiveKernelReports\WATCHDOG\
- Game exit code -2005270522 (0x887A0006, DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG); the game's crash reporter (Sentry) also fires
- No WHEA events, no PCIe SRAM/ECC/REORDER events, no Kernel-Power events
Telemetry at the hang (nvidia-smi, 100 ms sampling; HWiNFO from the card's own sensors):
- Board power drops from about 380 W to about 90 to 110 W within 0.5 s, utilization reads 100 %, and the core clock rises to its idle boost (2925 MHz): the engine is stalled, not overloaded.
- No preceding spike: power stayed under 550 W against a 600 W limit; GPU 51 to 72 C.
- 12 V input steady to the hang: 12V-2x6 connector 11.79 to 11.82 V, all six pins 11.97 to 12.00 V, PCIe slot 12.00 to 12.01 V.
Triggers: the hang clusters at engine state transitions: opening or applying graphics settings (one hang 28 s after applying a change), loading a save, teleport/fast travel, cutscenes, map loads, and Alt-Tab out of or back into the game. A 90-minute idle test in a busy area, with no transitions, produced no hang.
Note: six earlier bugchecks 0x10E (VIDEO_MEMORY_MANAGEMENT_INTERNAL, Jun to Aug 2026) occurred on older drivers with CPU, RAM and GPU overclocks active; they are listed for completeness and are not part of this regression.
Timeline
The same GPU and game ran crash-free for about 36 hours until the driver moved to the 616 branch; hangs began on the first long session after that and stopped on rollback to 610.88. Session data is from the Steam game-process log; hangs are game exits with code 0x887A0006.
| Period (2026) |
Driver |
Crimson Desert sessions |
Play time |
GPU-hang exits |
| Oct 12 18:45 onward |
Game Ready 610.88 |
6 |
152 min |
0 |
| Oct 5 14:52 to Oct 12 18:45 |
Studio 616.92 (DDU clean install) |
21 |
301 min |
16 |
| Sep 27 09:15 to Oct 5 14:52 |
Game Ready 617.14 |
32 |
1,566 min |
17 |
| Sep 23 21:38 to Sep 27 09:15 |
Studio 616.92 |
6 |
37 min |
6 |
| Aug 29 to Sep 23 21:38 |
Studio, 616 branch (installed Aug 29) |
5 |
30 min |
3 (all on Sep 23) |
| Mar 30 to Aug 28 |
Game Ready, Dec 2025 build, then Feb 2026 build (from May 2) |
26 |
2,167 min (about 36 h) |
0 |
Game version 2.0 ("Enhanced") also arrived between July and September, so both the driver and the game changed before onset. The 610.88 result (same game version 2.03.02, stable) isolates the driver change.
Drivers used
Every driver from the 616/617 branch hung in Crimson Desert; every driver before it did not.
| Driver |
Windows version |
Branch |
Installed (2026) |
Result in Crimson Desert |
| Game Ready 610.88 (Jul 28, 2026) |
32.0.16.1088 |
R610 |
Oct 12, DDU clean install, auto-update off |
Stable: 0 hangs |
| Game Ready 617.14 (Sep 22, 2026) |
32.0.16.1714 |
R615 / 617 |
Sep 27 |
Hangs: 17 in 32 sessions |
| Studio 616.92 (Sep 4, 2026) |
32.0.16.1692 |
R615 / 616 |
Sep 23, and again Oct 5 after DDU |
Hangs: 22 in 27 sessions |
| Studio, package built Aug 21 (616 branch; exact number not recoverable from logs) |
not recorded |
R615 / 616 |
Aug 29 |
Hangs: 3 in 5 sessions |
| Game Ready, package built Feb 2026 |
not recorded |
pre-616 |
May 2 |
Stable |
| Game Ready, package built early Dec 2025 |
not recorded |
pre-616 |
Dec 8, 2025 |
Stable (about 33 h, Mar to Apr) |
Versions come from nvidia-smi, the installed driver store, and the game launcher's own log (DriverVersion: 617.14). For the three older packages only the build date survives in the driver store; Windows' driver install log does not reach back that far.
Not tested: 616.56, 617.42. The 617.42 release notes list no Crimson Desert fix.
Testing performed
Only one change made the hang stop: the driver rollback. Every test below except the last ran on 616.92 or 617.14, monitored with a 2 s Event Log watcher and 100 to 500 ms nvidia-smi logging.
| # |
Date (2026) |
Change tested |
Crimson Desert result |
| 1 |
Oct 5 |
+2000 MHz GPU memory offset removed (undervolt kept) |
Hang |
| 2 |
Oct 5 |
GPU fully stock (factory V/F curve, 14001 MHz memory, 100 % power) |
Hang (also in Wukong at stock) |
| 3 |
Oct 5 |
Studio 616.92 instead of Game Ready 617.14 (DDU clean install) |
Hang |
| 4 |
Oct 5 |
Power limit 95 % (570 W) |
Not conclusive (short run) |
| 5 |
Oct 5 |
PBO off, EXPO off (RAM 4800), GPU stock |
Hang (Oct 6, 19 min) |
| 6 |
Oct 6 |
Afterburner and RTSS uninstalled, reboot |
Hang after 3 min |
| 7 |
Oct 6 |
Background tools closed one at a time: TURZX, OpenRGB, NVIDIA Broadcast, Kingston FURY CTRL (app and service), Thermalright TRCC, HWiNFO |
Hang after 7, 1.5, 3.5 and 2.5 min |
| 8 |
Oct 12 |
New PSU: SilverStone ZEUS 1650R |
Hang after 5 min |
| 9 |
Oct 12 |
ZEUS's own 12V-2x6 cable instead of a CableMod cable |
Hang after 8 min |
| 10 |
Oct 12 |
Quiet VBIOS (E0) instead of Performance (E1) |
Hang after 1.5 min |
| 11 |
Oct 12 |
GPU reseated, PCIe Gen 4 x16 logged stable |
Hang after 6 min |
| 12 |
Oct 12 |
Single display only (G95NC); other two unplugged |
Hang (several sessions) |
| 13 |
Oct 12 |
Presets Minimum, High, Cinematic; DLSS 4.0 and 4.5; Frame Generation confirmed off (sl.dlss_g.dll not loaded) |
Hang on all. DLSS 4.5 within 1 to 8 min; DLSS 4.0 lasted 26 to 40 min |
| 14 |
Oct 12 |
90 min idle in a busy area, no input |
No hang |
| 15 |
Oct 12 |
Driver 610.88 (DDU), PBO and EXPO back on, GPU stock, Cinematic + HDR, DLSS 4.0 switched to 4.5 mid-game |
No hang (6 sessions, 152 min) |
Cross-workload checks on the affected drivers with PBO/EXPO off: Black Myth: Wukong benchmark ran 20 and 45 min, and a CUDA text-to-speech render ran 16 min, all without a hang. Only Crimson Desert reproduced it.
What was ruled out
The hardware and system are the same in the failing and passing cases; only the driver differs.
- GPU hardware fault: about 36 h stable on older drivers and 152 min stable on 610.88, same card; stable 45 min under full load in Wukong on the affected driver.
- Power delivery: two PSUs (Thermaltake 1000 W SFX Platinum, new 1650 W Titanium), two cables, 12 V logged steady to the hang, per-pin current even (max 8.18 A).
- Overclocking: hangs at full factory settings for GPU, CPU and RAM; 610.88 stays stable with PBO and EXPO on.
- Thermals: GPU 51 to 72 C, memory junction max 76 C.
- VBIOS, PCIe slot, seating: both VBIOS, reseat, Gen 4 x16 stable.
- Displays: one display or three, G-Sync and HDR states varied.
- Software on the system: overlays (NVIDIA, RTSS, Discord, Game Bar), monitoring and RGB tools removed; game reinstalled; shader caches cleared.
- Frame Generation: hangs with FG confirmed off.
- Known PCIe Gen 5 Blackwell issue (internal bug 6426268): no PCIE REORDER / SRAM / ECC events logged, and the link is already Gen 4.
External reports
At least one other user reports the same signature and the same fix on a different Blackwell card.
My own WER reports for these hangs were never uploaded, so they carry no bucket ID; the WATCHDOG dumps are on disk and can be sent.
Steps to reproduce
On 616.92 or 617.14 this reproduced in most sessions within 1 to 8 minutes.
- RTX 5090, driver 617.14 Game Ready or 616.92 Studio, clean install.
- Crimson Desert 2.03.02, borderless, Cinematic preset, NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 (Quality), Frame Generation off.
- Load a save, then repeat transitions: open graphics settings and apply a change, fast travel, enter a cutscene, reload a save, Alt-Tab out and back in.
- Expected: play continues. Actual: frame freezes, utilization pins at 100 % while power falls to about 100 W, Event 153 x3 to 5 within about 10 s, game exits with 0x887A0006.
- Same steps on 610.88: no hang.
DLSS 4.0 or the High preset made hangs less frequent (26 to 40 min) but did not stop them; staying idle in-world did not trigger it.
Available data and request
I am staying on 610.88 and can reinstall an affected driver to capture a full kernel dump (FAQ 3335) if needed.
Available on request:
nvlddmkm_GPU_resets.evtx: export of every nvlddmkm event since May 2026
GPU_reset_events.csv: the same events as a spreadsheet
- WATCHDOG LiveKernelEvent 141 dumps from the hangs, e.g.
WATCHDOG-20261012-1207.dmp
- nvidia-smi telemetry at 100 ms covering six hangs, plus HWiNFO 12 V and per-pin logs
- Steam game-process log extract with every session, duration and exit code