Since last week, I have almost every day the BSoD with the code error " clock watchdog timeout"
It happens only when I play MSFS 2020.
The CPU is OC’d, 5,1 GHz, I’ve read that OC can cause BSoD, but I OC the CPU, 3 years ago and never had issues
Could that happen because of the MSFS 2020?
Before the SU5 update, everything was okay
Any advices are welcome, thank you.
You have a pagefile?
Hello @Aviattore7040 .
I am not an expert in this field, but generally speaking the watchdog timer is basically a clock that counts down from some value until it reaches zero. Your PC program will constantly reset this counter in order to prevent it from ever reaching zero. But what if your program has a problem and is unable to progress or your hardware fails to work correctly due to an overclock? Then the watchdog timer/counter will reach zero.
When it reaches zero, your hardware considers your pc to be in an unrecoverable state, so when zero is reached, your hardware will reset so BSOD.
Conclusion, the possibility that this is due to your OC is very high. I don’t know if you tested your OC with Prime95 etc., but chances are it is not stable anymore. Even if it was stable once, hardware degrades over time due to several reasons, like temperature fluctuations.
I do not want to say that MSFS could not be the culprit, but normally I expect Windows to notice that MSFS has crashed (terminating it) before the watchdog timer runs out. Therefore my primary suspect definitely is a hardware fault/unstable OC.
Yes, I do have a pagefile
I’ll try to remove the CPU overcook, and do some tests
Let us know how it goes without OC 
.
I do right now a "last " test with the OCCT software, before I remove the OC
How long should I run the test ??
That is hard to say and there is no exact answer. I would suggest to run OCCT extreme for about 15-30 min and then when finished run prime 95 for 15-30 min. If both passes and my PC does not experience BSODs with any demanding programs like rendering programs, in your case MSFS, I assume it is stable.
Did you OC anything else beyond hardware manufacturer spec?
Thank you
I’ll finish the OCCT test and after, I’ll test it with the Prime95
BRB
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Finished the OCCT test, everything seems to be fine
Just started the Prime95, so far so good.
( typing from the mobile phone, I do not touch the PC during the test )
I’m not sure if my CPU OC is the culprit
I do play many different flight simulators, games, different software, like Photoshop, Gimp, music / video editors, no issues at all.
BRB
LE : so, after about 4 minutes Prime95 test, BSoD
I’ll remove right now, the OC
Thank you, I’ll keep you informed.
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I removed the OC and tried with the CPU default, everything was okay, but I couldn’t resist without OC 
and I tried again, this time, 5 GHz insisted of 5,1 GHz
Did some Prime95 test, played again, so far so good
I think my last OC wasn’t really stable, anyway…
Maybe the Noctua CPU cooler is getting old.
I’ll keep testing.
Thank you for your help
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