CPU / RAM running high at idle then crashing during gaming

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HBgamer

HBgamer

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Dec 29, 2014
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Hi all, hope this finds you well.

I have an ongoing problem with my brother's machine he uses for casual mid-range gaming. The particular issue has only been present for the past couple weeks and I'm too limited in knowledge to find and solve the problem. I'm hoping I'm missing something obvious and can get it fixed this week.

His specs are:
AMD Phenom ii x3 720
GTX 660
4GB RAM
No additional cooling (case has 3 stock fans)

Most recent changes:
- The 660 which I put in for him in January. I had read that it might be a bit too much for the overall build but others said it was fine so I risked it. Card has been totally fine and performance improved dramatically as you'd expect. He's played games such as Skyrim, Tomb Raider and the Arkham games all on decent settings without a crash or glitch in sight.
- About 2 months ago I changed his OS from a cracked (unknown to us when purchased) 32-bit Windows 7 to a 64-bit Windows 7 Professional. Everything reinstalled clean (Steam etc) and again seemingly fine

So for the last couple weeks the machine has been tanking at idle. Usually around 50-60% for RAM and can jump between 20-50% for the CPU. It's then a case that one process e.g. a Chrome window can ramp both stats right up. Another way it shows is a Steam download which jumps the CPU to 95-100% and renders the machine unusable.

I appreciate that 4GB RAM isn't the most ideal situation but as mentioned this is a machine for casual use and has virtually nothing on it except a few select games. My brother has ran disk checks, I have run system scans, malwarebytes etc and found nothing in the slightest. Making me believe it is a hardware issue.

The biggest problem at the moment is a particular game - Fallout 3 - which my brother is attempting to play through. I'm aware that Bethesda's less-than-stellar engine has caused no-end of issues for other gamers and we've made changes to avoid this (adapted ini file to launch from 2 cores as an example). Game starts and runs fine, then crashes out of the blue. Sometimes after 5 minutes, other times after a 3 hour slog. When he exits the game he can see the CPU/RAM are both nearing 100% and the fan is working overtime. This is also the case when you ALT+TAB out and check the stats.

Now the game may well just be a process which is sending the already-troubled components over the edge. So I'm half expecting the game to be ignored in the below discussion. I just wanted to add in as much info as I can.


So with the above in mind - what other checks / tests could I do to test the integrity of both the CPU and RAM? I have opened the case and cleaned it out with no improvement. It's just puzzling when it was running totally fine with no big changes and then suddenly becomes a brick.

Any and all help appreciated. Thanks in advance!

HB

 
Solution
T
Check the temperatures. We don't usually notice it but these types of problems seem to crop up more as we move into summer and ambient temperatures go up causing the cooling system to be less effective. You said sometimes 5 minutes and sometimes 3 hours. That might be related to time of day and ambient temperature. An easy check is to pull the side panel off the case. If that makes a difference, it's a cooling issue.
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thx1138v2

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Check the temperatures. We don't usually notice it but these types of problems seem to crop up more as we move into summer and ambient temperatures go up causing the cooling system to be less effective. You said sometimes 5 minutes and sometimes 3 hours. That might be related to time of day and ambient temperature. An easy check is to pull the side panel off the case. If that makes a difference, it's a cooling issue.
 
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zLeroy

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Instead of taking apart your case, at boot up, go into your BIOS, and check the exact temperature from that GUI. But thx1138v2's suggestion is a good one. If you find that this is the case and your components are overheating, try keeping a steady eye on the Performance window of Task Manager, and to make sure no unnecessary applications or processes are running. Or you could set your Cooling system activation control setting to turn on at an earlier stage say when it gets to half of what the temp is when you're about to crash, this would work to help cool the systems components before crashing/overheating. A more costly option would be to install an upgraded cooling system to your PC before continuing gaming etc;

Hope this was of any help!
 
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HBgamer

HBgamer

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Dec 29, 2014
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Thanks so much for your quick responses guys. Apologies mine are a bit tardy - trying to post while at work can have it's limitations ;)

I had a quick half hour on the machine at lunch and downloaded SpeedFan to gauge how the temperatures were at idle in the place it resides (plenty of space for fans to vent). Straight away I noticed a startling figure for the third core - running at 79C while other two were in the mid/late 20s.

Figures below:

GPU 29C
Temp 1 25C
Temp 2 28C
Temp 3 79C
HD1 25C
HD0 31C
Core 20C

So I believe we have our issue. Is the CPU simply on it's way out or are there ways for me to test / troubleshoot / fix a problem like this?


Just as a side note - I am not 100% all of the fans were running as I don't believe the program showed all of them. I have a similar problem with my own rig where SpeedFan doesn't pick up one of them (but it is working fine) so I'm hoping it's OK. I will check this evening. Though I'm pretty sure a faulty fan wouldn't be the cause of one core burning out?

Thanks again for your time.

HB
 
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zLeroy

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Hi HB,

As you have successfully diagnosed that it is your CPU Temperature that is causing the problem as I suggested, now it's time to find out whether you're able to set your fan to rapidly cool the CPU down before it gets past 30-40C (This has to be done through your BIOS) or install a new Cooling System!

Glad to be of assistance,

Leroy.
 
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HBgamer

HBgamer

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Thanks again for getting back to me.

I will have at it tonight and see what options the BIOS offers. The PC has a fairly decent case / fan arrangement so I'm hopeful I can find something.

Out of interest - why is only one of the three temperature settings showing so high? I now understand that Temps 1-3 are most likely not cores 1-3 for the x3 720. It's all so different from how SpeedFan displays my own i5 I'm a bit confused what is what if I'm honest.

HB
 
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zLeroy

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Hi again,

If you have a tri-core processor, then your assumption was correct the temps 1-3 is the cores, if not, it's best you use your BIOS to determine the actual temperatures of the cores and components. The BIOS cannot lie, ha! Anyway, the reason why one of your cores are overheating, could be one of many reasons, have you or your brother tried to configure an overclock of your CPU? If so, that needs addressing and returning to a lower if not default state. Let me know how you get on, I get E-mails to my phone when a post gets replied, so I'll be around!

Best of luck!
 
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HBgamer

HBgamer

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No overclock has ever been attempted. Nothing changed except the OS, graphics card and also a second HDD added last year I forgot about. But again it was all working smoothly until it threw a wobbly about 2 weeks ago.

I've read a couple of posts where people have experienced similar and a few solutions were clearing any dust from the heatsink / CPU fan area. I'll have a look at this too later in case there's anything obvious.

Thanks, HB
 
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zLeroy

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Hi HB,

As you say it could be a rather simple blockage of the heat sink, did you install the CPU yourself?
 
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HBgamer

HBgamer

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I did not (thank god) but I believe his friend did. The PC is a good 4 years old at least I think so I wouldn't have thought anything this guy did at the time was the issue.

I'll be having a look in about an hour so I'll come straight back once I've had a look inside and on the BIOS.

Thanks again. HB
 
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zLeroy

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Okay, no sweat! If he installed the CPU dodging the fact Thermal Paste needs to be applied, this could also be a problem.
 
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HBgamer

HBgamer

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Right. Well it turns out that the 79C is in fact a faulty / non-existent / non-required sensor. This was proven by no heat/dust issues, running HWMonitor rather than SpeedFan and checking temps on BIOS. HWMonitor showed all temps in-line with how they should be and I've found numerous other people online reporting 'Temp3' showing a stupidly high figure that doesn't budge. BIOS also doesn't report this temperature anywhere.

So with that in mind we are near-enough back to square one I'm afraid. PC has been running fine both on idle and in-game with Fallout 3 sporadically over last hour. However it has had a couple of spikes in RAM/CPU when idle with no processes for no apparent reason. Temps are all fine even at load (though Fallout isn't really pressing too hard).

Is it possible that there is an issue with the RAM? And are there any tests I can run to strain it / get reports?

Thanks, HB
 
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zLeroy

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Hm, well that's not helpful to us.. Do you know if your RAM is compatible with your motherboard, have you recently installed new RAM sticks? Check whether the DDR2 or DDR3 match up with the requirements of the motherboard.
 
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HBgamer

HBgamer

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Again these are items that were installed with the original build and have never been changed!

It's 2 x 2GB Sector 5 (no idea if that's good or not). Could they be on their way out? I've was going to advise him to get another 4GB for an 8GB total as it's so cheap now but maybe it's worth swapping these out for a single 8GB stick or 2 x 4GB? Not that it would necessarily help our current predicament.

HB
 
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zLeroy

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Hm, I'm beginning to wonder what the problem could be.. Try running an antivirus scan, malwarebytes etc; if you haven't already, that should of been our first port of call.
 
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HBgamer

HBgamer

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Already done yup. Avast full scan, Malwarebytes, CC Cleaner, Advanced System Care 8. Bro did a hard drive sweep too I believe.

Must admit it did seem a bit better after the CC Cleaner finished. RAM was stable at 20% and CPU was about 13%. It spiked a couple times but I believe that's normal.

I guess at this point it's up to my brother to stress test it for a couple days and see what else happens. I will keep you informed.

Thanks for all your help so far. HB
 
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