I am experiencing consistent GPU crashes on Intel Arc during focus changes in DirectX 12 games.

[NickYa]

My system is Windows 11 build 26200 with WDDM 3.2.
Drivers tested: 32.0.101.8331 and 32.0.101.8531 (WHQL).
The issue happens only when pressing Alt-Tab or the Windows key.
The game freezes, the desktop resets, and the GPU recovers.
Marvel Rivals shows a “GPU Crash Dump Triggered” message.
Battlefield 6 either fails to launch (8331) or crashes on Alt-Tab (8531).
Gameplay is stable as long as I never switch focus.
The problem is 100% reproducible on my system.
I can provide DxDiag, SSU, crash dumps and logs if needed.

[NickYa]

Thanks for your suggestion. I tested with Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling disabled, but the crash still happens exactly the same way during Alt‑Tab or Windows key focus changes. So HAGS doesn’t seem to be the cause in my case.
I appreciate the help and the ideas though.

[Yash_Intel]

Dear NickYa,

Thank you for posting your query on the Intel Community Forum!

I hope you are doing well.

I understand that you are experiencing consistent GPU crashes on Intel Arc during focus changes in DirectX 12 games. To assist you further and investigate the issue more effectively, I kindly request you to provide the following details:

• DxDiag report
• SSU (System Support Utility) report
• Crash dumps and relevant logs

You can download the SSU tool using the link below:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057926/memory-and-storage.html

Please note: While generating the SSU report, kindly uncheck the “Networking” option.

Additionally, we request you to share the crash dumps, as they will help us analyze the issue more accurately.

We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to assisting you further. Have a nice day!

Best Regards,
Yash
Intel Customer Support Technician

[NickYa]

Hi Yash,
Thank you for your reply.
I have attached the requested files in the ZIP archive:
• DxDiag report
• SSU report
• Crash dumps from IntelGraphicsSoftware.exe (driver crashes)
I also performed a series of tests on several other games to compare behavior.
Here are the results:
• Marvel Rivals → crash (DX12 device lost / driver reset)
• Isonzo → no crash, stable
• The Finals → no crash, stable
• The First Descendant → no crash, stable
• Hell Let Loose → no crash, stable
Only Battlefield 6 and Marvel Rivals trigger the Intel driver crash.
Please let me know if you need additional logs or tests.
Best regards,
NickYa

[NickYa]

Here is bf6 crash dump

[NickYa]

After analyzing the available crash dumps and Windows event logs, the root cause appears to be a full GPU reset (TDR) occurring under DX12 load on Intel Arc.
Key findings:
1. Battlefield 6 (bf6.exe) crashes with 0x887A0005
→ DXGI reports “GPU device instance suspended / device removed”.
The failure occurs inside the game’s DX12 render module ().
2. dwm.exe (Desktop Window Manager) crashes at the exact same timestamp with 0xc00001ad
→ This error only occurs when the GPU or driver stops responding and Windows loses the graphics device.
3. IntelGraphicsSoftware.exe crashes immediately afterward (FailFast in )
→ This is a secondary effect caused by the GPU reset, not the origin of the issue.
Conclusion:
All three failures are synchronous and form a consistent chain:
GPU reset → DX12 device lost → BF6 crash → DWM crash → IntelGraphicsSoftware crash.
This indicates a driver‑level instability on Intel Arc during DX12 workloads, not a game or OS issue.

[Yash_Intel]

Dear NickYa,

Greetings from Intel Customer Support

I hope this you are doing well!

Thank you for sharing the requested details. I truly appreciate the time and effort you’ve taken to provide the files.

I have reviewed the SSU log and the files you shared. Upon review, I noticed that the graphics driver is not updated to the latest version. The current latest driver available is version 32.0.101.8626 (WHQL Certified).

I kindly recommend updating the driver to the latest version using the link below:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/785597/intel-arc-graphics-windows.html

Additionally, please follow the troubleshooting steps outlined below:

1. Update Graphics Drivers using DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller):

• Download and run DDU in Safe Mode
• Select Intel from the device type dropdown
• Click "Clean and Restart"
• After restart, install the latest Intel® Arc™ graphics drivers from Intel's official website

2.Isolate the Issue using Integrated Graphics:

• Disable the Intel® Arc™ B580 Graphics in Device Manager
• Test the problematic games using only the integrated graphics processor (iGPU)
• Kindly let us know the findings or the observations after performing the troubleshooting

If the issue still persists after completing the above steps, could you please share images or a short video clip of the game crash? This will help us further analyze the issue and assist you more effectively.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need further assistance. Have a nice day!

Best Regards,

Yash

Intel Customer Support Technician

[NickYa]

Hello Yash,
Thank you for your message and for the follow‑up.
I would like to confirm that I have now completed all the requested steps:
1. I performed a full DDU cleanup in Safe Mode, selecting Intel and using “Clean and Restart”.
2. I reinstalled the latest Intel Arc driver 32.0.101.8626 (WHQL) from the official website.
3. I tested the system again after the clean installation.
So far, the issue appears to be resolved. The games that previously triggered the crash are now running normally, and I can no longer reproduce the DXGI device reset.
I will continue monitoring the behavior over the next few days and will let you know if the issue returns.
Thank you for your assistance.
Best regards,

[NickYa]

I have an important update regarding the issue.
After performing a full DDU cleanup in Safe Mode and reinstalling driver 32.0.101.8626, the problem was completely resolved. Battlefield 6 was stable and I could press the Windows key in the menu without any GPU reset. At this point, everything was working perfectly.
However, the issue returned immediately after launching Battlefield 6 while MSI Afterburner and RTSS were running. The GPU reset happened again in the BF6 menu when pressing the Windows key.
What is more concerning is that the problem now persists even after fully closing MSI Afterburner and RTSS, and even after disabling all overlays (Steam, Game Bar, Discord) as well as disabling the Intel® Graphics Software Service itself.
To summarize clearly:
• DDU cleanup in Safe Mode → problem fully fixed
• Battlefield 6 was stable after the clean driver installation
• Issue returned only after launching BF6 with MSI Afterburner + RTSS active
• Now the issue persists even with RTSS disabled, Afterburner closed, Intel Graphics Software disabled, and no overlays running
• Battlefield 6 (DX12) still crashes when pressing the Windows key in the menu
• The game shows a DirectX error:
m_commandList->Close() failed with E_OUTOFMEMORY
• This suggests a DX12 device loss triggered by the DWM ↔ fullscreen transition
• CPU is a Ryzen 5 5600X, so iGPU testing is not possible
At this point, it appears to be a DX12 driver issue specific to Battlefield 6, reproducible even in a clean environment with no third‑party overlays.

[NickYa]

The issue appears related to:
• The combined load of many RTSS metrics
• RTSS detection level set to High
• The FPS graph (which requires continuous frametime buffering)
• Additional telemetry calls (clocks, temps, VRAM usage, 1% low, etc.)
• A DX12 pipeline hook that becomes overloaded
• Resulting in a device loss
• Followed by a persistent corrupted driver state until DDU
This does not seem to be caused by a single metric, but rather by the overall complexity of the overlay.

[NickYa]

After extensive testing to reproduce the issue in a clean environment, I can now confirm that the crashes occurring in Battlefield 6 are not caused by MSI Afterburner or RTSS, or at least only marginally influenced by them.
I performed multiple controlled tests, including:
• Full DDU clean driver reinstall
• Testing with RTSS + Afterburner overlay
• Testing with overlay disabled
• Testing with MFG x2 enabled alone
• Testing with MFG disabled
• Reproducing the crash multiple times in identical gameplay conditions
The results are consistent and reproducible:
1. With MFG disabled → the game is fully stable
Even with a heavy overlay configuration (including VRAM temperature and other expensive metrics), the game does not crash.
2. With MFG x2 enabled → the game crashes reliably
This happens even with RTSS completely disabled, on a clean driver install, and with no overlay running at all.
3. The crashes match known DX12 driver‑level failures
Two distinct errors appear depending on the moment of failure:
• E_OUTOFMEMORY during
→ Direct3D cannot allocate a required GPU resource
• DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED / DEVICE_RESET
→ The GPU device is lost due to a malformed command or failed reset
Both errors point to driver instability under MFG x2, not to overlay interference.
4. Conclusion
Based on all tests, the crash is caused by MFG (Multi‑Frame Generation) itself, not by RTSS or Afterburner.
The overlay may slightly reduce the stability margin, but it is not the root cause.
The issue appears to be a DX12 driver bug triggered by MFG x2 in Battlefield 6, leading to:
• failed resource allocations
• GPU hangs
• device resets that the driver cannot recover from
This behavior is 100% reproducible with MFG x2 alone.

[Yash_Intel]

Dear NickYa,

Greetings from Intel Customer Support

I hope this you are doing well!

Thank you for sharing the detailed analysis. I truly appreciate the time and effort you have taken.

As I am currently working on your issue, I kindly request that you allow me some time to investigate it thoroughly. I will get back to you with an update.

In the meantime, if you have any further questions, please feel free to post them on the forum—I am here to assist you.

Thank you for your cooperation. I sincerely appreciate your continued patience.

Best Regards,

Yash

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Yash_Intel]

Dear NickYa,

Greetings from Intel Customer Support

I hope this you are doing well!

Thank you for your patience.

I would like to inform you that I am still working on your issue. I kindly request a little more time to thoroughly review and resolve it. I will get back to you with an update as soon as possible.

Thank you for your understanding and continued Patience.

Best Regards,

Yash

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Yash_Intel]

Dear NickYa,

Greetings from Intel Customer Support

I hope this you are doing well!

Thank you for your continued patience while we work on your reported issue.

At the moment, we are actively attempting to replicate the issue on our end by testing the gameplay to better understand the situation. This will help us identify the root cause and provide you with an accurate resolution.

We kindly request a little more time to complete our testing. We will get back to you with an update within the next 24–48 hours.

We truly appreciate your understanding and cooperation. Please feel free to reach out if you have any additional information to share in the meantime.

Best Regards,

Yash

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Yash_Intel]

Dear NickYa,

Greetings from Intel Customer Support

I hope this email finds you well,

I am currently working to replicate the issue on our end to provide you with the most accurate solution. To help us better understand and diagnose the problem, could you please assist us with the following:

·      Game Settings Screenshot: Could you please share a screenshot of your in-game settings? This will help us understand your current configuration.

·      Video Demonstration: If possible, could you provide a brief video showing exactly when and where the game crashes? This visual reference will be invaluable in helping us analyze and replicate the issue accurately.

These details will enable our team to investigate the matter thoroughly and provide you with an effective resolution.

I truly appreciate your patience and cooperation as we work together to resolve this issue. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or need assistance with providing these materials.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best Regards,

Yash

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Yash_Intel]

Dear NickYa,

Greetings from Intel Customer Support,

I hope this message finds you well.

I’m following up on my previous message regarding the issue you’ve been experiencing. I’m currently working on replicating the problem on my end to identify the root cause and provide an effective solution.

To help expedite the investigation, could you please provide the following information at your convenience:

1. Game Settings Screenshot: A screenshot of your in-game settings so I can review your current configuration.
2. Video Demonstration: If possible, a short video showing when and where the crash occurs. This will help me better understand the issue.

Your assistance with these details will be invaluable in resolving the matter quickly. If you need any guidance on gathering this information or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out—I’m happy to assist.

Thank you for your time and cooperation. I look forward to your response.

Best Regards,

Yash

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Yash_Intel]

Dear NickYa,

Greetings from Intel Customer Support,

I hope you are doing well.

As we have not received a response from you regarding this inquiry, we will be proceeding with closing this request for now.

If you require any further assistance, please feel free to submit a new request, as this thread will no longer be actively monitored. We will be happy to assist you.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best Regards,

Yash

Intel Customer Support Engineer