Please Help, Computer Reboots randomly playing games

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mongoosenco

Weaksauce
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Jan 11, 2008
Messages
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Hi everyone, I just joined the forum, but have been reading them for a while now and really need some advice regarding my computer. I just recently upgraded my system and now when i play games like NWN2, The Witcher, or Crysis my computer will reboot randomly no errors just a reboot. I unchecked the automatically restart under the advanced tab, but still no errors just a reboot. My system specs are as follows.

Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0 LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
ENERMAX EG851AX-VH(W) EPS12V 660W Power Supply
+3.3V: 55A max, +5V: 48A max, +12V1.2.3.4: 20A max
(the power supply is from my old computer and is 2 years old)
EVGA 512mb G92 8800 GTS graphics card.
Western Digital 150gb Raptor primary harddrive with Win XP
2 x Seagate 320gb harddrives
Soundblaster XFI Xtreme music

I was having issues with the memory and the latest bios from Gigabyte F10 so I went back to the F7 bios and I am not getting any errors running memtest. The temperature of the CPU is 22 at idle and graphics card is 44 with the fan at 85%. I really do not think I am overheating, but I will test more when I get home from work. The power supply was working in my old rig, but I only had a 7900 gt. Could it be the 12v rail is not supplying enough power? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
You sound like you're on the right track. Three things -

Try reseating your RAM even though it isn't giving errors, you never know and it's something easy to check.

If possible run your mobo's temp monitoring utility and run something like Prime95 to load the cpu and report the temps. Also, try playing a game and ALT-TAB out with the utility for mobo and video card running and report the temps.

Do you have the latest nVidia drivers (from their website) installed?
 
Yeah I have the latest drivers and I have even tried a few of the previous versions. I will check out the Prime95 when I get home to see if that helps and will double check the RAM and get some temp readings when playing games. If all this turns out to be normal then would it be the PSU?
 
It's possible. Also, are you overclocking at all? If you are dial everything back to stock and see if the issue persists.
 
No I haven't even messed with any over clocking yet. I may after I figure what is wrong with the computer. I definitely hate being at work when I rather be figuring out what the problem is at home. From the looks of it I will be quite busy this evening trying to test everything. The only problem is I do not have any components to swap out. My last computer was an AMD Athlon FX 60 and I have already taken out what I could use. Looks like I might go to the store tomorrow and try to find a new power supply just in case.
 
It could be a voltage problem, but that psu should be enough to power that rig fairly easily.

Try monitoring your temps with speedfan and see if it is overheating under a load. I'm thinking the video card is more likely than the cpu since games don't really even put a full load on a cpu and you are using a decent cooler.
 
Well I have been monitoring temps and the computer rebooted in Crysis and the graphics card was only at 50 degrees and the CPU was 25. The system temp was in the 40s. So it does not seem to be an overheating issue. I am now running prime 95 and there seems to be no issues with that so far. I am starting to think my problem is still with the PSU due the 12v rail having a 20A max, but I am not really an expert on PSU watts and AMPS.
 
I am having the same issue. Running quad core Q6600, EVGA 512MB 8800GTS, P5N-E mobo, and G Skill 4 GB. The computer is completely fine when running stability tests, and can idle in a game all day long, but when I play crisis and other demanding games, my computer will randomly restart with no errors or BSOD. I am not able to reproduce this either, it is just very erratic. Any Ideas?
 
Well I ordered a new power supply and it will be here by Wed so hopefully this will fix my problem. If this doesn't work I am not sure what else I will try. I ordered the Corsair 620 watt modular PSU though so hopefully that will work. This may have been a fluke, but I was playing BF2 yesterday and it wasn't crashing it may be because I switched to using the onboard audio and not using my old soundblaster from a couple of years ago. I will try Crysis tonight with the onboard audio and see if that fixes the problem.
 
It sounds like the PSU is at fault so hopefull yyour new one will fix it.

I have seen reboots during gaming occur from an over heating graphics card though. More specifically, I recently built a PC for a friend with an old model 8800GTS and that suffered from random reboots during games until I placed a 92mm fan next to it inside the case to blow cool air over the card. Fixed the problem right away, so try this if your new PSU doesn't fix things.
 
i had similar problem when playing really intense games such as crysis and company of hero on there highest setting. it can play for an hour and then all of sudden when the battle heat up my computer would restart. i found out that my psu was going.
 
Well I received my new PSU yesterday and that seems to have fixed everything. I was able to play Crysis without any reboots. I definitely like the modular design of the corsair 620 over my enermax. The enermax was so huge and heavy and a big mess compared to the corsair. Makes me wonder why I never switched to a modular design before.
 
Good to hear.

Just out of interest; how loud is your new Corsair compared to your old enermax?
 
I am not really too sure. I never really noticed the PSU fans over my case fans. So in other words I would say they were both pretty quiet.
 
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