help me diagnose whats wrong with my computer?

sycomania134 · Mar 16, 2015

so recently my gaming pc has been acting a bit faulty. I've noticed some pretty significant fps drops in some games and just today, my entire computer crashed while playing civilization 5 (there were some graphical glitches before the crash). My friend told me that there might be something wrong with my RAM so i did a RAM test and windows told me that it found no errors. I'm guessing its either the GPU or CPU... Is there any way i can find out which component is faulty so i can get it replaced? thanks!

terry4536 · Mar 16, 2015

What are your components?

terry4536 · Mar 16, 2015

It could be a lot of things. Have you done a disc cleanup and defrag. lately?

First thing, I would run the Windows troubleshooters.

sycomania134 · Mar 16, 2015

terry4536 :

gtx 650ti
10gb ram
i7 2600k

terry4536 · Mar 16, 2015

What is the power supply ?

terry4536 · Mar 16, 2015

Do you have a case speaker (or one that you can borrow)? If so are there any beep codes?

rhysiam · Mar 16, 2015

Have you had the computer for a while? The biggest culprit with older computers is dust buildup. I had a friend the other day who was about to shell out for an upgrade with similar issues to you, we attacked his computer with a old vacuum cleaner (that can be reversed to blow air). His CPU and GPU fan were completely clogged. Post dust-busting his fps trippled and random crashes stopped.

It might not be your issue be for sure worth checking as it's an easy fix.

Otherwise, check your temps while gaming (HW Monitor). Make sure all your fans are working.

And what's the make/model of your Power supply? It could be a failing PSU cause instability.

rhysiam · Mar 16, 2015

Have you OC'd that CPU? If so, try reverting to stock clocks. Sometimes over time CPUs lose their ability to hold an OC.

sciamwow · Mar 16, 2015

Check to make sure nothing is overheating. Download HWMonitor, open it up, and let it run while you play your games. Hopefully the computer won't crash and after you'll be able to check the max temps that your CPU and GPU got up to. Then Google the max safe temps of each component and compare

Edit: If you have multiple monitors, you could keep HWMonitor on one so that you can keep glancing at it and maybe take note of how high the temps are getting. That way if the computer crashes you can still have a good idea of how hot everything was getting

terry4536 · Mar 16, 2015

He didn't say anything about temperature errors.

sciamwow · Mar 16, 2015

terry4536 :

Could be the reason the system crashed, though. I mean it can't hurt to check the temps to make sure something isn't getting hotter than it should

terry4536 · Mar 16, 2015

That is true.

But, I would guess it is a power supply issue. An aging power supply looses its ability to produce the rated wattage.

rhysiam · Mar 16, 2015

terry4536 :

My recent example I listed above, my friend wasn't getting any errors whatsoever, but his CPU and GPU were throttling to hell and back from the dust-choked heat-syncs. He had random crashes too.

For sure check the temps.

Though I agree that aging PSU is another possible culprit.

sycomania134 · Mar 17, 2015

rhysiam :

Temps are fine, 50-60 celcius in game

sycomania134 · Mar 17, 2015

terry4536 :

500watt
corsair cx500

sycomania134 · Mar 17, 2015

rhysiam :

i have a corsair cx500 thats around 1-2 years old. I just cleaned my pc a few weeks ago and the temps are always under 65 degrees celcius

terry4536 · Mar 17, 2015

The Corsair CX & RM series are well known as being problematic. Do you have another power supply that you can switch out?

sycomania134 · Mar 17, 2015

terry4536 :

unfortunately not but is there any way to test to see if the psu is broken?

terry4536 · Mar 17, 2015

You can check the voltages with a multimeter. You can monitor the voltages for stability with a system monitoring utility like Hardware monitor. You can use a power supply tester (~$25 at Newegg.com). You can also take the PSU to a PC repair shop and have them test it. But the most practical means is to switch it out with a power supply that is known to be working.

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