Newly released AAA PC game crashes to desktop after about 20 minutes

[Michael.M]

I've been trying to play a newly released AAA game on my PC, which meets the recommended specs, but it keeps crashing to desktop without an error message about 20 minutes into every session. I've updated my graphics drivers to the latest version, verified the game files through the launcher, and even lowered all the graphics settings to minimum, but the problem persists. Are there other common fixes I should try, like adjusting virtual memory, checking for Windows updates, or looking into specific background processes that might be interfering? Could this be a sign of a hardware issue starting, like overheating or failing RAM, even though other games run fine?

[Zachary_D]

Try to pull a crash log. Open Event Viewer (Windows key + X → Event Viewer), go to Windows Logs > Application, and look for the crash entry around the time the game closed. The faulting module and a dump file path can tell you whether it’s the GPU driver, DXGI, or something else.

[Abigail_D]

Disable overlays and background apps to rule out conflicts. Turn off Discord/Steam/NVIDIA GeForce Experience overlays, antivirus real-time protection, and any screen recording software while you test. Then do a clean driver reinstall using DDU in safe mode before re-installing the latest driver.

[Mark.T]

Check temps and stability. Use HWInfo or MSI Afterburner to monitor CPU/GPU temps while playing. If temps spike or you get power throttling, that could provoke a crash after 15–20 minutes. You can run a brief stress test (GPU-only with FurMark or Heaven) to see if it crashes in a controlled session; stop if temps go too high.

[OliviaXH]

Test RAM and storage. Run Windows Memory Diagnostic or MemTest86 to check RAM; hard drive health matters too—run chkdsk and check SMART data. A dying drive or flaky RAM can crash a game after some time. Make sure there’s ample free disk space for the game and system caches.

[EthanFP]

Power/thermal and background drivers. Ensure your power plan is set to High Performance and that nothing is throttling power. Check for chipset drivers, BIOS updated, and Windows updates. Some crashes happen if the system tries to update in the background mid-game.

[Michael.L]

Could you share more details? Which game, launcher, your OS version, GPU/CPU, and network if it's an online component? Do you notice if the crash happens in a particular scene or after a fixed time? If you post the exact error message or event IDs, we can pinpoint more precisely.