Darn new computer! Please help!

[X-Morgan]

Hey everyone, I'm having a really annoying problem, and I don't know who the culprit is.

I built a new PC on Wednesday and ever since then it's randomly froze when i quit playing a game, like 10-20 mins after playing F.E.A.R. or EVE Online I'm doing something and then the whole computer freezes.

So I reformatted yesterday and downloaded the new nForce drivers that came out, and took a look in my case just to double and triple check everything was where it should of been, and everything looked fine.

Played EVE for a while then came out, checked my CPU and GFX temp they were fine, then talked on MSN and the thing froze again!

It's really starting to piss me off, can anyone reccomend any solutions?

Here are my system specs:

AMD A64 3500 Venice
Asus A8N SLI-SE
Cosiar TwinX PC3200 (2x512) CAS2
256MB Gigabyte 6800GS
160GB WD SATA2
Coolermaster SUSURRI CPU Cooler
480W XClio PSU <<<<<Possibly the PSU that causes crashes? >>>>>
WinXP Home
And the rest is DVD-RW and Floppy Drive

Much appreciated for any help given, and I'm kinda surprised that I typed this withought it freezing!

 

[troisanh]

Have you checked memory timings, sometimes at default its not set correctly. Also might wanna run memtest on them sticks in dual channel and singles. Hope you get it figured out soon bro.

 

[X-Morgan]

Yeah I ran a battery of tests on the sticks using mem test, but what really is annoying is that it might be the PSU, if it is I try and beg for a new one, but if its the GFX then i think I can RMA it *sigh* it's a sweet rig though!

 

[omz]

hmm may be the psu but have u checked your temps? i doubt that the memory is too hot but maybe u can try checking out how hot they are in normal use and under memtest. if u dont have a thermal probe, u can simple put a finger or 2 over the heatspreader and see how it is. it shudnt be so hot that if u hold on to it u have to let go...however, if u dont feel like doing that, u can always rig up a fan to blow ON them
also, check out the psu section where it lists the names of "good" psu's versus "unacceptable" ones
btw, more info is always better
gl

 

[X-Morgan]

My mem is always lukewarm to touch, and I can hold my hand on the memory indefinitly they are that cool, I don't know if it's the PSU or the GFX cos my 12V rail reads 11.77V and that's under no load, so maybe they dip if under heavy load?
What more info do you need? Oh yeah my CPU temp is pretty cool, only 35C under full load of prime for a few hours, and my GFX reaches just around 60C under heavy gaming, then after about 10-20 mins, i might be doing some random task like surfing, MSN, mail etc, and the whole computer freezes, and i have to restart.

Cheers for any more help

 

[Azkarr]

11.77V with no load? That's a bit low. Even my crappy Thermaltake SilentPurepower 480 has at least 11.80 with heavy load on a similar system. See if you can get another PSU from someone to test.

 

[omz]

agreed, first of all, check out the connection for the power cables and make sure they are nice and firm, i had a similar problem when i was using an adapter for my neopower.
try that out and see if it helps, if not, u shud try and test it with a multimeter and see where to go from there...ur 12v rail shudnt really go under 12v unless its under alot of stress

also, are u sure ur program is reading it correctly? smartguardian reads my 12v rail at 11.9v w/ my ocz powerstream but from bios, it reads well over 12v maybe u shud check ur bios voltage also before u spend some cash

gl