I sympathise with you. This kind of fault is maddening.
In terms of āwho takes responsibilityā, the simple (and unfortunate) answer is, you do. Unless you can prove a hardware fault that would trigger a replacement of a part under warranty, none of the manufacturers are going to take responsibility; Scan wonāt do more than itās already done; and while MS has a support operation for MSFS, at the end of the day the EULA has the usual āsold without warranty of any kindā language.
Something is wrong with this system. It absolutely should run Windows 11. The fact that it doesnāt, but will run Win10, was an absolute and immediate red flag for me when you first posted.
Youāve tested the RAM enough to be happy that itās not a RAM problem, despite the original Memtest errors (I presume that was with the first kit?). Scan has tested the MB, although TBH I would only be happy with a full test including all the other parts in your system, whereas I assume they tested with their own test bench (did you leave the CPU / RAM on the MB when you sent it back, or did they use their own kit?).
You can do a test of exclusion using the current system but with the GPU swapped out for your previous one. If you get the same symptoms with that GPU, then itās not the new GPU, and itās highly unlikely to be GPU drivers as I believe youāve tested multiple versions.
Basically, my own problem-solving gut says itās the MB (despite what Scan says) or the CPU, or the specific combination of both. That said, I did see an error event from Defrag on your screenshots above. You should check that one out in case it points to a disk error.
Is recovering as much of the value of the system as you can important to you? Youāve already bought multiple RAM sets, but would you go as far as to buy a new CPU to test it? It could be re-sold if it doesnāt improve the situation. Same with the MB. You mention selling the whole thing, but the likelihood is that the next owner will have problems too, assuming they want to run Win11 which TBH they should do. Iād feel bad selling something I believed was likely to fail unless I explicitly told potential buyers about that when selling.
Iāll be slightly controversial here and suggest that the current AMD platform is not as stable as it needs to be. Thatās why I stuck with Intel for my latest build, despite there being measurable improvements for MSFS with the x3D processors. Maybe, if you want to abandon the whole thing, thereās the possibility of keeping the parts that will work with any system (GPU, NVMe etc), selling the bits that wonāt, and buying an Intel MB and CPU combo. Of course, high-end 13th gen CPUs are still expensive and 14th gen is coming Real Soon Now, but the price/performance ratio has been worth it for me.
That said, I still had random CTDs in-game with my Intel system after being rock-solid stable for months, and I eventually pinned that one down to RAM. When I have four modules installed versus two (I doubled up after I first built it), I have to turn down the RAM speed or I get occasional read errors which can cause the sim to glitch or crash. Since dropping the RAM down from XMPII to stock, Iāve been stable. DDR5 is a bit of a minefield generally, especially at the higher rated speeds.
So, if it were me: Iād buy a new MB (from a different manufacturer), test it, and if I still had the same problems I would then replace the CPU. Iād think about recovering the value through selling the good spare parts later (or just keep them for another build), but I am privileged to be able to afford to spend a lot of money without worrying too much about the immediate impact on my finances. If replacing both MB and CPU didnāt fix the problem, Iād throw the whole lot at the wall, curl up in the fetal position, and then start again with a new system on a different platform (ie Intel).
Whatever you decide to do, I really hope you end up with a system soon that is stable and gives you the performance uplift you want.
. Well hopefully Iāll have the board back in the next day or two and see those fixes integrated my issue.
