PC shuts off (power cuts) when playing video games

Hamster1010 · Jan 19, 2015

My PC shuts off abruptly when I play video games. I just got a new graphics card and when I play graphically intensive games, yet games well within the cards specs (Mass Effect 1 and 3, Watch Dogs, Lords of the Fallen) it cuts the power after a while of playing. I will attach a link to an OpenHardwareMonitor Report of when I was playing Mass Effect 3 on max settings.

http://justpaste.it/OpenHardwareTXT

Specs left out of report

PSU: ATX 700W power supply
Memory: 2x2GB Corsair Memory Cards
OS: Windows 8.1

What is causing this? What can I do to fix it? Thank you for any responses.

Darkbreeze · Jan 19, 2015

What is the brand and model number of your power supply? It should be on the PSU itself.

Confused Idiot · Jan 19, 2015

Power supply probably. That can drain a lot of power. Also that ram is only 4 gigs, just saying.

Hamster1010 · Jan 19, 2015

I checked the power supply, and the only info I see on it is 700W ATX Power Supply Model: CP-700, I was afraid that it might've been the power supply

ager · Jan 19, 2015

maybe your cpu is getting high temps...check your temps and if they are high then you have to change the thermal paste on your cpu

Confused Idiot · Jan 19, 2015

Probably is the PSU, Can you post a list of all your parts in the next reply?

Hamster1010 · Jan 19, 2015

My OpenHardwareMonitor info suggests that it isn't a heat issue, and while at first I thought it was, I was playing Mass Effect 1, a relatively old game, which shouldn't make my CPU or GPU even bat an eye, and it still shut off, I kept jumping back and forth between thinking it was the power supply or heat but at this point, from the other responses I have been getting, I am thinking power supply

Hamster1010 · Jan 19, 2015

Alright, let me try to list everything out.

Motherboard: ASUS M4A77TD PRO
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 945 Processor
Memory: 2x2GB Corsair Memory Cards (yes I plan to get more)
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 (brand new)
Hard Drive: 1TB SATA Drive
PSU: Kingwin 700W ATX Power Supply Model CP-700

2 case fans, 1 CPU fan, 1 GPU fan, and 1 power supply fan

1 DVD-ROM and 1 DVD Burner

Confused Idiot · Jan 19, 2015

Maybe 700 watts isnt enough, if that's the case, continued use might damage components. There are some PSU calculators online, some are off a bit though.

ager · Jan 19, 2015

700 are more than enough..maybe the psu just died.

Hamster1010 · Jan 19, 2015

Thats the really strange part, Cooler Master PSU calculator says I need a minimum of 405W

ager · Jan 19, 2015

yeah man...i think it's time for you to get a new psu..you dont have to take 700 again...a 500-550 will do..just get a nice one..dont cheap on psu..its kinda important

Hamster1010 · Jan 19, 2015

I am thinking it is, just to be sure though, I will put a picture of my power supply here to see if anyone can determine what it is and what to replace it with

http://imgur.com/wQAxSWz

ager · Jan 19, 2015

its a 700 watt..but i guess bad quality..take a corsair 500-550 for your build and you will be fine

Hamster1010 · Jan 19, 2015

I looked at it more, its a Kingwin ATX 700w PSU

Confused Idiot · Jan 19, 2015

EVGA makes top of the line PSU's, but the only good ones are B2 series which are above 750 watt (I use on FYI)

Go with seasonic or corsair (Seasonic I prefer)
Keep in mind it's good to get more than you need for upgrades!

If you will never upgrade ever http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-m12ii520bronze

If you want breathing room for upgrades http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-m12ii620bronze

Keep in mind that you ALWAYS get at least 20 watts more (even if you dont want to upgrade)

If you ever want a new Video card (higher end) or a higher end CPU you will need to make sure the PSU can support it. Plan ahead!

Darkbreeze · Jan 19, 2015

To clarify the confused information on this thread, the B2 series PSUs are NOT the only good models made by EVGA. All of the B2, G2, P2 and V1 series PSUs offered by EVGA are exceptional units.

You can get a good general idea, perhaps even more exacting than general, by checking any PSU model in question against it's listing on the Dottorent PSU Tier list. Models listed at Tier 3 are "ok" but are not recommended by the majority of experienced builders as a good choice for systems with gaming cards or overclocking. Tier 2B or higher units are recommended. If your model isn't listed and you can't find a reliable review of it, it's probably junk.

Tier list: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list.html

Since I can't find a reliable review of that particular Kingwin model, it's probably not very good, or it may just be extremely old and any reviews that may have been done are long gone.

I suggest, as a starting point, that you download HWinfo, install it and run "sensors only", take screenshots of the sensors data (This will likely take three or more screenshots to gather all the sensors listed) and post the resulting images here.

http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php

The following link will explain how to post your screenshots here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2173703/post-images-tomshardware-guide.html

Hamster1010 · Jan 19, 2015

I hope that is visible

Darkbreeze · Jan 19, 2015

Perfect. Everything looks "ok" here except I think you missed one additional screen of sensors. No big. The important sensors were there. Now, do the same thing again with the GPU under full load this time. Use Heaven or Furmark or another utility, or load up one of the games that causes it to crash and fully load the GPU, wait about five minutes and take those same screenshots again. Post the results here.

Darkbreeze · Jan 19, 2015

It would be advisable to read and follow these steps as well, paying particular attention to the part about drivers:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2492424/solving-gpu-issues-layman.html

Hamster1010 · Jan 19, 2015

Code:

After using Furmark for 5 minutes (Furmark was in fact still running when I screenshot these as you can see at the bottom of the screenshot) specs for FurMark were resolution 1920x1080 and 8x MSAA anti-aliasing

Darkbreeze · Jan 19, 2015

I don't see that it's an apparent PSU issue, so I think for the time being you can rule that out. It could still be an issue but looking at the sensor readings and without taking measurements with a volt meter I'd say it's ok.

I'd try the driver methods I linked to above and see what happens.

On another note, what windows bit version is installed. Looking at the HWinfo sensors it looks like you only have 3GB of RAM installed with some of it being system reserved. If you have 4GB installed perhaps there is a memory issue. Run CPU-Z and post screenshots of the memory and SPD tabs.

Hamster1010 · Jan 19, 2015

I have done those driver instructions and run into the same problem (also the games themselves demand less memory than I have)

This computer runs Windows 8.1 64-bit

Not only that but I happened to have a 4GB Memory card ready, and I thought it might've been the problem and it was not so I have now put it back in, here is the Memory and SPD tabs

edit: left some slots out

Darkbreeze · Jan 19, 2015

Considering the OS wants 2GB, hardware reserves additional memory and games have further memory requirements, more, up to 8GB, is always better. 4GB is enough for general use unless the game titles ask for more as a minimum requirement but with 8GB you won't be likely to ever encounter issues due to the memory.

It could still be an issue related to a faulty module. I'd run Memtest86, for 7 passes, on each module individually.

http://www.memtest86.com/download.htm

Run Seatools for windows on any connected drives to determine health. Run the Short DST and the long generic. Drive brand is irrelevant.

http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/seatools-win-master/

Darkbreeze · Jan 19, 2015

I would also remove the 4GB module permanently as it's a different speed than the other modules and may cause other issues independent of those you are already experiencing.

PC shuts off (power cuts) when playing video games

Reputable

Retired Mod

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Retired Mod

Reputable

Retired Mod

Retired Mod

Reputable

Retired Mod

Reputable

Retired Mod

Retired Mod

Share this page