Experiencing random and frequent crashing.

As the title suggests, I am experiencing hard crashes (brr noise and PC restarts by itself) when playing. I am in late-game almost fully switched over to FBR's.

I have tried every possible solution I have found and know of:
-Drivers are up to date including CPU chipset drivers (AMD RX 6650XT and Ryzen 5600x, 16GB of RAM 3200MHZ and 550w PSU)
-PBO, and other overclocking methods are disabled.
-Disabled Steam Overlay
-Verified integrity of game files
-Tried every graphics option, including windowed, full screen and bordered

The following error always appears on Event viewer, only the ID changes:
"A fatal hardware error has occurred.

Reported by component: Processor Core
Error Source: Machine Check Exception
Error Type: Cache Hierarchy Error
Processor APIC ID: 2"

This has the following details:
"- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

• <System>
  <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-WHEA-Logger" Guid="" />
  <EventID>18</EventID>
  <Version>0</Version>
  <Level>2</Level>
  <Task>0</Task>
  <Opcode>0</Opcode>
  <Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
  <TimeCreated SystemTime="2026-01-10T17:56:15.0664506Z" />
  <EventRecordID>137685</EventRecordID>
  <Correlation ActivityID="{2b93b4ba-74f4-4193-bc2c-d6d09b715b82}" />
  <Execution ProcessID="3784" ThreadID="4224" />
  <Channel>System</Channel>
  <Computer>DESKTOP-K6HVBKQ</Computer>
  <Security UserID="S-1-5-19" />
  </System>
• <EventData>
  <Data Name="ErrorSource">3</Data>
  <Data Name="ApicId">2</Data>
  <Data Name="MCABank">5</Data>
  <Data Name="MciStat">0xbea0000001000108</Data>
  <Data Name="MciAddr">0x7ffe4205f0b9</Data>
  <Data Name="MciMisc">0xd01a0ffe00000000</Data>
  <Data Name="ErrorType">9</Data>
  <Data Name="TransactionType">2</Data>
  <Data Name="Participation">256</Data>
  <Data Name="RequestType">0</Data>
  <Data Name="MemorIO">256</Data>
  <Data Name="MemHierarchyLvl">0</Data>
  <Data Name="Timeout">256</Data>
  <Data Name="OperationType">256</Data>
  <Data Name="Channel">256</Data>
  <Data Name="Length">936</Data>
  </EventData>
  </Event>"

I have the save files for the world. I am at a loss and it is unplayable as of thus far. It can take upon loading the world from 1 to 30 minutes before it crashes. Also happens during "Paused".

Any help will be appreciated.

26-01-10_20-42-06_3405.log

What's the motherboard model and UEFI version?

Motherboard model is Gigabyte Gaming X V2 Bios B550(UEFI version) F14. Tried to attach the save file, was unable to. Unless I am missing something.

The save file isn't needed, it's a hardware problem with the CPU. Upgrade to F20, on the Save & Exit tab select Load Optimized Defaults and Save & Exit Setup. Check if the problem persists.

Understood. Will install it now. Will come back with an update. Thank you for the help.

F20 has been installed. "Load Optimized Defaults" was selected. Booted the game and in 2 minutes the game crashed again, same type of crash.

Same type of Error in Event Viewer.

Your Power Plan in Windows is set to "Balanced"?

High Performance.

Set to "Balanced" and check if the problem persists.

Still crashed, but behavior was different. No "brrr" noise, a simple restart. I feel the need to add that this never happened in early-mid game.

In the UEFI settings, Tweaker tab -> Advanced CPU Settings -> Global C-state Control switch to Disabled, save and check if the problem persists.

Apologies for the late reply. Disabling Global C-state Control seems to have resolved it. I have been playing for one hour straight, wanted to make sure that it worked and it wasn't a fluke.

Sincerely appreciate the help. Have a great day!

It means your processor was losing stability during power-saving transitions. This is known as an "Idle Voltage Drop" or "Transient Stability Issue." Modern CPUs change their frequency and voltage thousands of times per second. When the system load drops, the C-states function commands a specific core (in your case, Core 1, APIC ID 2) to "sleep" to save power, dropping the voltage to its absolute minimum. Your specific Core 1 required slightly more voltage than the motherboard was providing during that "wake-up" or "go-to-sleep" microsecond. The data in the cache got corrupted due to low power, triggering the Cache Hierarchy Error.
The Good News: Your CPU is not "dead." It is fully functional at higher clock speeds under load. You have found a workaround that bypasses the specific low-voltage states that were causing the instability.
The Bad News: This is a sign of silicon degradation or a "unlucky" chip (losing the "silicon lottery"). Over time, transistors can age, requiring a slightly higher minimum voltage to maintain the same stability they had when new.
Your PC will consume about 5–15 Watts more while idle. The CPU no longer "sleeps" deeply; it stays in a "ready" state.
Idle temperatures might rise by 3–5°C. Running without C-states can sometimes be better for an aging CPU. Eliminating the constant rapid fluctuation from 0.2V to 1.4V reduces the "thermal and electrical stress" on the motherboard's VRM and the CPU die itself.
If you plan to keep the CPU rather than RMA it: Power Supply Idle Control: your UEFI has this option, try re-enabling C-states but set this specific parameter to "Typical Current Idle." This is a "lighter" fix that stabilizes the idle current without completely disabling power savings.
If the CPU is still under warranty, the seller must replace it for free.

Understood. Will plan to upgrade the PC either way. Last question. Does this game benefit greatly from the X3D's from AMD?

Yes, simulation and strategy are the biggest winners from X3D technology.

All right. Again, thank you very much for the help. This was a head scratcher for me for a week almost.

Have a great day!

26-01-12_07-43-15_5177.log

Hello and apologies for the troubles. The solution to disable Global C-state has in fact not worked (only for 2 hours max since I needed to go to sleep soon after, and in the morning when I booted the game up it crashed again).

As such, I have tried other possibilities:
-Completely disabled everything boost-wise and overclock wise (from the CPU and RAM with XMP)>Did not work
-Completely disabled everything from Radeon driver that would interfere (ex: "Surface Format Optimization", "Tessellation Mode", "Radeon Anti-Lag")> Did not work
-I have loaded an older save file of a new playthrough (same patch). This one was in the early game and I have not experienced any crashes.
-I have 380 hours in the game. First time I am this far into late-game and first time it has crashed this way. In fact, it never did up until now.
-Every other colony type game like Satisfactory, Oxygen not included and Farthest Frontier doesn't crash (I even have a 2000ish cycle world on Oxygen not included, which runs at an average of 10-30 fps.
-Intensive games like Cyberpunk 2077, Arc Raiders, Space Marine 2, Monster Hunter Wilds, Path of Exile 2 and Dying light-The Beast are all stable, with 0 crashes that I know of.
-I have not tried under-volting my CPU.
-OCCT test was ran, no errors found on CPU.
-Latest log file has been attached in case it is needed.

I am not tech-savvy, and I wish a smarter person than me can still help in fixing this so I can enjoy playing.

Each game has its own specific CPU load, so a comparison with other games doesn't mean anything.
Launch Captain of Industry.
While the game is running, open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc or right-clicking the taskbar and selecting "Task Manager".
Go to the Details tab.
Find the Captain of Industry.exe process in the list.
Right-click the process name and select Set affinity.
A window will appear showing all available logical processors (cores). Uncheck the box for CPU 2 and check if the problem persists.

Try running OCCT specifically using AVX2 instructions with a Variable load and Extreme mode.