Why does Alan Wake 2 keep crashing on my Ryzen 7 9700X?
Every time I stepped into those foggy forest scenes, the game would just vanish and dump me back to the desktop without a single error code, which was incredibly stressful. Comparing logs, the memory latency was swinging wildly from 70ns - 95ns, causing sync errors while the CPU handled ray-tracing instructions. I wasted time updating the motherboard BIOS to the latest version, but the crash frequency didn't budge, which felt like a total dead end. I eventually went into the BIOS, ditched the 'Auto' settings, and manually locked the primary timings to 30-36-36-76, while bumping the SoC voltage to 1.25V. After four straight hours of stress testing, the memory error count stayed at zero and the CTDs stopped. I did notice a brief black screen during boot after locking the 6000MHz frequency, but loosening the tRFC by 40 cycles fixed the boot stability. RAM temps are sitting at 48℃ - 54℃. OCCT loops confirm the system is no longer crashing, and the settings are finally dialed in.
