• Computer Randomly Restarts During Games
    31 replies, posted
Ever since I upgraded my computer (got a new mobo, cpu, memory), I've been having this really irritating problem whenever I play particularly intensive games, namely GTA4 and APB Reloaded. So I'm playing the game, everything seems to be running fine, other than my loud-as-sin CPU fan, and suddenly the video cuts off and the system reboots. No errors, no BSOD, nothing. I even turned off the "Automatic Restart on System Failure" option, and it still reboots without any kind of error message. I'm thinking it might be overheating, but I showed the temperatures displayed in SpeedFan to someone, and they said they were just fine. This is really starting to piss me off, and I'd appreciate it if someone would help me with this. [editline]23rd March 2011[/editline] By the way, if you guys need any extra info, just ask.
Sounds like CPU overheating. Try running Prime95 for a while and see if your computer restarts. If it does, get a Hyper 212.
Is there any danger in using Prime95's Torture Test?
Don't listen to him. Use Hardware monitor, take a before pic and then load a game, try and snap a SS 10 or so min into it if you can and post it. If it's the CPU you can either get new Thermal compound or a aftermarket cooler. If it's your GPU you can either increase the fan speed. Also, get ALL the dust out of the case and fans/heatsinks.
[QUOTE=ClaBrendon;28775842]Don't listen to him. Use Hardware monitor, take a before pic and then load a game, try and snap a SS 10 or so min into it if you can and post it. If it's the CPU you can either get new Thermal compound or a aftermarket cooler. If it's your GPU you can either increase the fan speed. Also, get ALL the dust out of the case and fans/heatsinks.[/QUOTE] Alright, I'll try that when I get the chance. [editline]23rd March 2011[/editline] [media]http://disgruntled.thedailypos.org/fanandtemps.png[/media] Idle readings on Before Readings while running APB:R on After
Bumping due to new information. Stupid automerge.
The cooler that comes with the 965 is pretty bad tbh.
Phenom IIs are like the old Pentium 4s, they produce a shitton of heat. The stock heatsink works alright if you like the sound of a jet engine in your case while gaming. But nothing looks overheated, I'd suggest looking at the PSU, it might be bad or not able to keep up with the load.
Well, I guess it's not a heating issue, then. But the memory looks okay, and the power supply should be more than good enough, so I have no fucking idea what to do.
[QUOTE=bohb;28786829]Phenom IIs are like the old Pentium 4s, they produce a shitton of heat. The stock heatsink works alright if you like the sound of a jet engine in your case while gaming. But nothing looks overheated, I'd suggest looking at the PSU, it might be bad or not able to keep up with the load.[/QUOTE] I actually have a 965 myself I've since upgraded the cooler but when I did run stock I tore off the fan and replaced it with the fan from the heat-sink of a Athlon 64x2 6400. I got lower temps and lower noise really dumb that they'd downgrade the fan and keep the rest of the heatsink exactly the same.
[QUOTE=Disgruntled;28793809]Well, I guess it's not a heating issue, then. But the memory looks okay, and the power supply should be more than good enough, so I have no fucking idea what to do.[/QUOTE] Did you run memtest on the RAM for several passes? Just because it looks good, doesn't mean it is good. And just because a PSU has a rated wattage, doesn't necessarily mean it can maintain that load, near that load or a load at all for any given length of time. Cheap PSUs use inferior FETs and improper cheap heatsinks, which can lead to the FETs slowly overheating until their thermal sensors trip and cause the machine to reset.
[QUOTE=bohb;28796545]Did you run memtest on the RAM for several passes? Just because it looks good, doesn't mean it is good. And just because a PSU has a rated wattage, doesn't necessarily mean it can maintain that load, near that load or a load at all for any given length of time. Cheap PSUs use inferior FETs and improper cheap heatsinks, which can lead to the FETs slowly overheating until their thermal sensors trip and cause the machine to reset.[/QUOTE] I'm thinking it might be the power supply. Ran memtest, everything checked out okay. [editline]25th March 2011[/editline] So, how would I go about checking the PSU?
Hmm. You 9800GTX is at 94% fan speed, yet I see no temp. That could be your problem. Did you dust it out? Best to do so with compressed air.
9800 series cards aren't very stable for some reason.
[QUOTE=Disgruntled;28803132]So, how would I go about checking the PSU?[/QUOTE] The most obvious sign the PSU is bad is if you open it up and see blown/leaking/bulging capacitors. A PSU can obviously be bad for other reasons too, but you really can't check everything without proper equipment. The easiest way to test would just be to get a different PSU and use it to see if the problem still persists.
Ok, thought it was an overheating PSU, allowed more circulation, didn't work. Trying to update everything now; if that doesn't work, I'll take a look at the graphics card. I don't think I have the funds to buy a new one. Also, the newest nVidia driver fucks up my aspect ratio, and I can't change it back, so I haven't installed that. Could a software issue be causing the problem I'm experiencing? I kind of doubt it, seeing as no error message is provided, and I would imagine it wouldn't take 2-3 hours to crash.
[QUOTE=bohb;28786829]Phenom IIs are like the old Pentium 4s, they produce a shitton of heat. The stock heatsink works alright if you like the sound of a jet engine in your case while gaming. But nothing looks overheated, I'd suggest looking at the PSU, it might be bad or not able to keep up with the load.[/QUOTE] I'm sorry? You're point is invalid my P4 never reaches above 45c during gaming and never reaches above 30c on idle
[QUOTE=~Kiwi~;28866950]I'm sorry? You're point is invalid my P4 never reaches above 45c during gaming and never reaches above 30c on idle[/QUOTE] The current operating temperature has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. The Netburst architecture (which is what the P4 is based on) had a flaw in its design which allowed current leakage between the substrate layers. The side effect of this current leakage was increased power consumption and increased heat production. This phenomenon isn't immediately noticeable on slower clocked P4s (under 2.4 GHz), but as you get to the faster clocked P4s, it becomes a dire problem, which is why Intel abandoned the Netburst in its entirety. As you may have noticed, as the speed of the P4 increased, so did the size of the heatsink and fan that cooled it. This is because the TDP of the P4 (power the CPU uses under nominal load) skyrocketed with the ever increasing clock speeds. Pentium 4s over 3 GHz generally had a TDP of over 100W, which is very difficult to cool economically. In order to cool such heat output in such a confined space, you need to use exotic metals, thermal compounds and other devices like heat pipes with large fans to quickly move the heat away from the CPU. Intel tried to save Netburst so many times that it almost bankrupted them. Remember the BTX form factor? It was solely created to try and solve the Pentium 4s terrible heat problems. In the end, they were saved by a small group of engineers (I think from Israel) working on refining the Pentium M architecture (which was derived from the Pentium 3) to become the Core architecture. Toms hardware did a review on the second from the top P4 (3.73 GHz) and even though it had a monsterous heatsink that kept the surface of the chip cool, the internal core of the chip was generating so much heat that it was physically and irreversibly damaging itself. They ran the same benchmark several times in a row (and tried again after it cooled down) and it would perform the same benchmark worse and worse with no signs of leveling off.
Well, I downloaded and installed an asston of updates and shit, and I cleaned my graphics card. Shitload of dust in that thing, I thought cleaning it would fix the problem. It didn't. Quite frankly, I'm pretty much out of ideas. This computer is fucking up for seemingly no reason at all.
Hey, would not having the latest video card driver cause something like this?
[QUOTE=Disgruntled;28904889]Hey, would not having the latest video card driver cause something like this?[/QUOTE] It would most likely crash, say it recovered after a black screen or cause a BSoD. Check your event log. Is your PSU underpowered? You didn't post complete specs.
PSU is 730W.
Wattage doesn't mean shit. What brand and model is it?
[QUOTE=TheNetwork;28917983]Wattage doesn't mean shit. What brand and model is it?[/QUOTE] Kingwin ABT-730MM
Kingwin is pretty OK. Of course a lambo can break down faster than a ford, but that's unlikely. Your PSU is probably fine. This is a hard one. Is the g card overclocked? I know on my 275 it would last a while in a game then crash when I overclocked it too far.
[QUOTE=TheNetwork;28923069]Kingwin is pretty OK. Of course a lambo can break down faster than a ford, but that's unlikely. Your PSU is probably fine. This is a hard one. Is the g card overclocked? I know on my 275 it would last a while in a game then crash when I overclocked it too far.[/QUOTE] :iiaca: [editline]31st March 2011[/editline] Doubt it's an overclock since it's just resetting.
No overclocks. By the way, found a temporary fix. Removed the side panel of the case, everything worked fine. So, it's a confirmed overheating. Now all I have to do is find out what's heating up.
[QUOTE=Disgruntled;28941898]No overclocks. By the way, found a temporary fix. Removed the side panel of the case, everything worked fine. So, it's a confirmed overheating. Now all I have to do is find out what's heating up.[/QUOTE] My bet is on the graphics card. HWMonitor doesn't seem to show the temp though, have you tried Furmark? [editline]1st April 2011[/editline] If it reboots while doing furmark, it's your GPU overheating.
HWMonitor displayed the temperature of the GPU after I took a can of air to it. It looked fine during gameplay.
what was the temp?
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