Random crashed, no BSOD, screen/sound freezes and reboot is required

Hi guys,

Hoping for some help to troubleshoot my newly build desktop. Specs accordingly:
  • Intel Core i7-5820K - no overclock
  • ASUS X99-A - with latest bios
  • 3x 8GB Crucial DDR4 Ballistix 2400MHz DDR4 XMP PC4-19200
  • EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2 PSU
  • EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0
  • Windows 8.1
The computer freezes seemingly at random, can be in-game, when surfing, working in Photoshop or Illustrator or when it just idle with nothing but the desktop open. Can't find any apparent patterns, doesn't seem to happen more frequently when stress testing or gaming, sometimes it can happen just a few minutes after windows starts and sometimes I can game for an hour or two before it happens.

There is no BSOD, the screen just freezes and if any sound is playing it also hangs and becomes a buzzing/wining sound. Then it stands like this until I reboot, after it have happen computer boots and windows starts as normal.

This happens a lot, sometimes 2-3 times a hour and is only visible as a "Critical, Kernel-Power" error in the event logger.

This is what I have done so far:

- 2x fresh windows install with new and latest drivers
- replaced the GPU with a ASUS GT 740
- ran Memtest64 over night, passed 2 runs and was on the 3rd when no errors when I woke up

Still the problem persists.

Only clue I get is that often but not always when this happens 6F is shown on the motherboard Q-code display, which according to ASUS manual is in the interval for "System Agent DXE Initialization". Now clue what that mean or if it is related.

So this leaves the MOBO, CPU and PSU, I would assume CPU and PSU problems would show itself differently. Can it still be software/driver related?

And ideas, takes or suggestions?

How can I troubleshoot this further?

Running a Samsung SM951 256GB AHCI M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 as bootdrive...can this have something to do with it?


Thanks in advance, all help much appreciated.
 
"Running a Samsung SM951 256GB AHCI M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 as bootdrive...can this have something to do with it?"... Yes
 
Thanks for the reply! Care to elaborate on that? Any suggestion on how to test that without installing OS and boot from another HD?
 
Go to Computer. Right-click on the C drive. Select Properties, Tools, check now. Put a check mark in both boxes to set a disk check/repair on the next start up
 
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