u/nrg4everyone

I'm currently testing the capabilities of this game by making it as easy as possible to maximize what level I can get to. For some reason even on a high end PC I'm not able to make it past level 162 without it lagging into oblivion. At level 158 it was consistently crashing with all the towers I needed up in order to still keep moving up the levels. Even after removing all towers, the spawns are lagging like crazy. I'm seeing some rescue missions at level 170+, does anyone have any tips on how to get to that level?

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I have a gaming PC with a Ryzen 5900x, B550M motherboard, 32gb ram (4x8gb PC3200), 1tb ssd and 500gb ssd, EVGA RTX 3080 and an EVGA 850w PSU.

It started by having a few issues rebooting windows where it wouldn't load into windows until I restarted a few times. Eventually the farthest it would get was the login screen and then the system would lock up. It started after a few failed windows 11 updates. I tried reinstalling windows 11 through a USB drive that has successfully reinstalled windows on multiple other systems. Whenever I tried to boot from the USB, it would only sometimes actually boot from the USB but then lock up while trying to get through the menus for installation. Most of the time it would lock up before even showing something useful on screen, simply part way through the spinning circle on loading. This was on an AORUS Motherboard. There had been no indication of overheating on the motherboard or GPU.

By this point I have done multiple troubleshooting steps including reducing USB devices down to just the mouse and keyboard while keeping the ethernet cable plugged in. I also tried disabling CSM boot so that it would boot via UEFI and I disabled secure boot as well. These would have no positive effect. I tried all of the different USB ports from the front panel, rear panel and both USB 2.0 and 3.0 slots. I also created a new installation media USB using a brand new flash drive with similar results.

I took the system apart to find a lot of dead moths. I tried cleaning out all of the moths with both canned air and an electric blower. After doing that I tried again doing the reinstallation but it would still sometimes ignore the USB media or get stuck on one of the installation screens. I decided to replace the Motherboard because it seemed like the most likely culprit so I purchased a new one and replaced it with an MSI B550M Pro motherboard.

There were a few moth carcasses stuck in the thermal paste when disassembling but I was able to make sure everything was cleared out. Reassembled the computer after ensuring everything was clear. Now with a new motherboard it is still exhibiting the same behavior. Sometimes it wouldn't even recognize pressing the delete key on boot to enter the BIOS. I ran the SSD test using the built in tool with the new MSI Motherboard and it told me that my 1tb SSD had failed the test but my 500gb was incompatible with the test. I tried removing the 1tb SSD so that it would only have the 500gb (which has nothing on it) and booting from the USB Media but the USB Media would hang trying to install. I even left it for 4 hours to see if it was just taking a long time and it still wouldn't get past the spinning circle.

I do have another complete working system to swap parts with. When I was able to get into the bios, it would operate normally. On the old motherboard, sometimes it would lock up while trying to save new settings to the bios but the new motherboard hasn't had that issue. While in the bios, I've never seen the CPU temperature reach above 40 degrees Celsius and when I could load into windows, nothing would push the CPU or GPU above 80 degrees.

I tried submitting this to Claude for additional troubleshooting steps, it suggested RAM or PSU as top culprits but the PSU wouldn't be so obvious as it seems that it's the high volt rail when under load. All of the CPU voltages seemed fine in the BIOS prior trying to load anything but it seems to think it could be only when it's under load that the issue occurs.

I'm doing some more testing tonight when I get home but I wanted to get some advice before I do. I have new thermal paste showing up tonight since the last of my current tube should be just about expended.

My computer was having issues booting. Figured it had been 5 years since my last full reinstall so I tried. Attempted multiple USB ports, barely got it to the serial number entry for win 11 before it would lock up. Even the bios would lock up when trying to save settings.

Cut to me opening the case and finding a load of dead moths under the mobo. I of course plan on removing them and cleaning out all of my systems.

In peoples experience, could the system still be fine or is it more likely I need to replace the mobo? I've heard of insects causing shorts and what not but considering it was intermittent issues, what could be the worst case scenario?