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Computer shutting down when gaming

K

Krowsnose

n00b
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Messages
8
I'm not sure what's going on here, I started experiencing these problems a short while ago.

My computer will reboot after being ingame (bad company 2 or starcraft 2) for a couple minutes.

The cpu and gpu temps seem to be fine. I use speedfan and rivatuner to monitor them.

I noticed my bios had my ddr2-667 overclocked to 889. I set it down to 667 but noticed my CPU temps increased about 8-10 degrees C. I have no idea how that works.

On both memory frequencies I still experienced the problem however.

My specs are

Intel q9550
1gb x 2 ddr2-667 corsair
nvidia 8800gt
Antec 500w psu

This stresses me the hell out, I'm going to test it with new ram in a couple days but would like to fix it if I can before then. I'm not certain it's a memory issue. Could it be the psu? Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this?

Windows also did a consistency disc check or whatever it's called the first time it reboot.
 
My first thought is power supply. Have you been using the PSU for a while? Has it been stable before?
 
You're probably right.

I had an old asus p5b-e motherboard I had to replace but always had a feeling the PSU had something to do with it. I have had this one for a while and planned on upgrading it but someone convinced me 500w was fine for my specs.

You think I should order a new one and install it with the ram?
Does this seem like a good one? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015
 
I'm still puzzled as to why my bios settings had the ram clocked to 889. And why when putting it down to 667 it raised my CPU core temps.
 
Are your temps over 85C? Did you turn off speedstep or C1E when setting the memory frequency? Or change any voltage?
 
if it just shuts off without warning - PSU is the first suspect. If you have been inside your case recently - make sure nothing is shorting out. If it's not the PSU it could be the mainboard going bad (look for swelled caps, etc)
 
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yeah I'd pickup a can of compressed air and clean that sucker out first of all.

And yeah the Earthwatts line has long been considered one of the sort've cheapest acceptable power supplies available.

That said, at $0.10 per KwH (average rate across the US), a 90% efficiency PSU will pay off the price difference between itself and an 80% efficiency PSU in a matter of years, so going with something like a higher end Seasonic or CWT really does pay off eventually. Also, better sound quality through better ripple supression, less likely to kill your hard drives and/or ram with better transient load handling, etc. The rate of return on investment in power supplies is really quite high up to $150.
 
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MrWizard6600 said:
yeah I'd pickup a can of compressed air and clean that sucker out first of all.

And yeah the Earthwatts line has long been considered one of the sort've cheapest acceptable power supplies available.

That said, the math at $0.10 a 90% eff PSU will pay off the difference between it and an 80% PSU is a matter of less than half a decade, so going with something like a higher end Seasonic or CWT really does pay off eventually. Also, better sound quality through better ripple supression, less likely to kill your hard drives and/or ram with better transient load handling, etc. The rate of return on investment in power supplies is really quite high up to $150.
Click to expand...

I'd like to add that modular PSUs provide a much cleaner case, for better airflow and temperatures.
 
Well I did clean out my case shortly before this started occurring. The only thing I had to unplug were the CD and DVD drives but they're secure. I haven't been having the problems in the last day. (My PC has been on for at least 24 hours now)

Could it be PSU related since I usually never shutdown my computer? Maybe turning it off, unplugging it, and cleaning it took all the charge out of the mobo so when I turned it back on it didn't have enough power built up to sustain heavy load tasks like games. Does that make sense at all?
 
I installed new ram which was a much needed upgrade for other reasons but I'm still experiencing the problem. It only happens when I run intensive games like GTA 4 and Starcraft 2 (apparently intensive).

My GPU and CPU temperatures are fine so overheating can definitely be ruled out. I assume the only thing it could be is a power issue. Are there any other possibilities here?
 
what are your gpu temperatures? Try reinstalling vga drivers? You may also want to run memtest, furmark (while monitoring video card temps), and linx or prime (while monitoring cpu temp) to help find hardware errors. If the psu is ok, i'd suspect the video card is getting hot. My 8800gt was having issues (including pc reboots) until i popped off the heat sink cover and removed the furballs and reapplied thermal paste.
 
I've had the same problem before and it was my PSU, When playing intensive games, your computer draws more power, as well as heat decreases the efficiency of the PSU. My PSU didn't have enough power. Throw that with the fact that my old room was quite warm as it only had a window AC unit that I didn't run constantly and it was a recipe for random reboots during games. I replaced the PSU and everything was fine.
 
Had this issue before a LONG time ago on a much older rig. It was my PSU.

Replaced the power supply after finding out even though it was rated for 400W it was only putting out 210W at best.

I strongly recommend Corsair PSU's. I've yet to see one get a bad review here at [H] or at JonnyGURU.
 
I had something similar, where the PC would just suddonly completely power off. Shouldn't have been the PSU since I was running an oversized enermax, but I also had an 8800GT in there. I tried cleaning that and I believe it hasn't happened since, however the problem only occured sporadically.
 
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