System freezes

[neil_tohno]

System freeze issues today (3 times), Suspecting Armoury Crate might be the cause. I only installed it because my ROG mouse requires its drivers.

Initially thought it was AMD GPU drivers → Clean reinstall didn’t help.

Finally uninstalled Armoury Crate.

Specs:

• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (with PBO2 settings)

• OS: Windows 10 64-bit

It’s frustrating.

pic1 
pic2 

[Silent_Scone]

If the system is hard locking, remove any PBO settings or memory overclocking (XMP/EXPO) and retest. Removing any OC is troubleshooting 101 when it comes to addressing system stability.

Clear the CMOS via the rear IO panel and retest at Optimised Defaults.

For more information on XMP / EXPO memory profiles and stability testing see here:

Memory Kits - Overclocking and What You May Not Know

XMP & EXPO - Memory Stability Methodology & Tools 

[neil_tohno]

My computer system's overclocking settings have been thoroughly tested and confirmed stable. After removing Armoury Crate, the freeze is gone. This strongly suggests a software conflict rather than hardware instability.

[Silent_Scone]

Removing the overclock prior to uninstalling the suite would have made more sense. No overclock is 100% stable, hence why any troubleshooting should be done at stock to rule this out. 

I cannot express how many times the" my OC isn't the issue" mantra has been played out. It might not be, but due diligence is key.

[neil_tohno]

I occasionally disable overclocking for specific tasks (e.g., Listen HIFI music), but this instability issue entirely differently.

About computer overclocking stability,

Stress-tested via CoreCycler (github.com/sp00n/corecycler) + Prime95 Blend mode.
Monitored idle stability for 12+ hours with zero background tasks.
No WHEA errors/hardware faults logged.

Resolved after uninstall → 0 freezes in 48hr
https://s2.loli.net/2025/05/08/y2FiWeBE5bR7XLr.png

The freezes specifically happened during light workloads — just Chrome with a few tabs and BitComet running (no heavy transfers).  Since removing Armoury Crate fixed everything without touching BitComet, it’s maybe a software conflict. If it were hardware instability or BitComet’s fault.

The root cause seem from Armoury Crate's background operations.
By maintaining constant communication with motherboard firmware ( low-level) / sensors / other things, the software inadvertently creates conflicts during routine system states.