PC hard crashes during intensive games (CPU failure?)

goneferal · Jun 11, 2015

I built my PC a little more than a year ago. All new parts, this was my second build and went smoothly. Over the past few months my computer would start to hard crash (have to press power button) at least once a day while various games, more so on memory intensive games. I troubleshooted a bit, replaced the power supply, updated all the drivers, watched temps. Everything seems normal. The pc fails after about 30 minutes into Witcher 3 and it's basically unplayable. I still believe it's a CPU failure of some kind but i know it's being cooled properly, I have an aftermarket heat sink on highest fan speed.

Any advice or ideas?

CPU: AMD fx 8350 (no overclock)
MB: ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0
GPU: R9 270x
8bg ram
1TB HDD
750watt PSU

NBSN · Jun 11, 2015

What are your idle and load temps for the CPU and GPU?

Is your system recognizing the RAM, CPU, and GPU correctly?

Checked for malware and viruses?

Updated Witcher 3 to newest version?

smorizio · Jun 11, 2015

if you think it a cpu error try turning off the cpu cache and or cores and see if anything changes. also on your mb check that you have the newest bios file and use cpu-z check your ram speed.

goneferal · Jun 11, 2015

I ran prime 95 for about an hour. average temp is around 65C under full load. and at idle it hovers at around 30-35C. Like i said everything is completely left stock, i haven't done any tweaking at all. Say i'm playing CSGO while watching a Twitch stream, my tower will completely shut off randomly. This only happens under load, and especially now with Witcher 3. At first i thought this was a power issue, so i swapped PSU's and even had an electrician come in and add another breaker for the office, but the problem persists. My bios is outdated but i have a hard time imagining that would factor into this issue.

CTurbo · Jun 11, 2015

You haven't mentioned your motherboard. That is probably the issue. Especially if you are using a 780 series board. I'll assume you have a cheap motherboard since you didn't feel like it was important to list it.

What psu do you have?

goneferal · Jun 11, 2015

My motherboard is a ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0 and the PSU is Rosewill RD700 (had it swapped for one in they closet) No difference after PSU swap

CTurbo · Jun 11, 2015

Ah well I was wrong. That's a good mobo. Honestly, it could be a number of things.

LetsPlayThisBro · Jun 11, 2015

Are all of the motherboard standoffs on right? If the back of the mobo is touching metal in the wrong place it can short out the board. It's odd that it's back and forth with the way it works but perhaps it's floating away from whatever metal is touching it and then for whatever reason it's rocking back, touching something metal and *pop* shutdown. 1 misplaced standoff and it can cause all kinds of electrical havoc.

Geek Jed · Jun 11, 2015

It has to be a heat problem. Because if you run a game for 30 minutes and your PC shuts down suddenly,well, thats a safety thing your motherboard and many others have.

goneferal · Jun 11, 2015

I assure you i built this rig exactly to spec and with my TLC. However, the problem did start happening after i had hauled it on a 1k mile move. Still the tower is firmly on the ground and having a situation where the parts are loose and moving is just not feasible.

goneferal · Jun 11, 2015

Just from my troubleshooting and ruling out the PSU/power being an issue, I'm thinking it could be some kind of hardware failure either it be the CPU or now the Mobo. Are there any programs or tests i could run to single out a hardware piece? The last thing i want to do is order a replacement and the problem still be there, wasting money i could have put towards a Crossfire setup xD

goneferal · Jun 11, 2015

Geek Jed :

Yes, well wouldn't it trigger a BSOD? I'm having the same crash every time, tower goes lights out all of a sudden, leaving my keyboard and monitor still illuminated temporarily. Since there is no time to react Windows 7 does not compile a crash report to go off of. It still very well be a heat issue, I find that hard to believe though because I bought a Thermaltake V1 for the CPU and i have several case fans and my wiring job is mediocre but it's no jungle in there

Cydone · Jun 12, 2015

goneferal :

Are you getting to that 65 C temp while gaming?? 65 C is the temp throttle for the FX 8350. I know as I have one. Using even a semi-decent aftermarket air cooler, it would still get to 60-65 C on some games and it would throttle like a Mofo! This could be the reason you are crashing. As it happened to me a few times before I went ahead and got a Corsair H60 all in one liquid cooler. Highest it's gotten after that is like 35C under HEAVY load.

Cydone · Jun 12, 2015

goneferal :

Not necessarily. I got full freezes with the FX 8350 when it reached the temperature throttle point(60-65 C). Check what your temperatures get to while your gaming. If they are reaching that 60-65 C mark, then you need a MUCH better cooler. I am very happy with my Corsair H60 all-in-one liquid cooler. No fuss, just install. I got mine from newegg for like $50.

Geek Jed · Jun 12, 2015

Well if you have the system overclocked (and it got too hot) it would trigger a BSoD. Or freeze the system up totally without warning.

Carl Blance · Jun 12, 2015

Friend has the same issue ended up swapping out the shitty EVO 212 (same motherboard) for a Noctura D14, didn't bring it down drastically but now she can play games sweet. So just replace you're cooler

Cydone · Jun 12, 2015

Geek Jed :

The FX-8350 doesn't even need to be overclocked for it to reach the temp throttle point. I had mine on stock settings and in certain games it would get to that 60-65C mark and throttle like hell and even freeze my comp.

goneferal · Jun 12, 2015

Cydone :

Thanks for your input my friend. Sounds like you had the same issue. Shame i had bought an aftermarket cooler and I still need more. Water cooling must be the way to go, Will look into it! Thanks a bunch man +1

EDIT: Just bought an H60 for myself. Hopefully this does the trick!

Cydone · Jun 14, 2015

goneferal :

Cydone :

Thanks for your input my friend. Sounds like you had the same issue. Shame i had bought an aftermarket cooler and I still need more. Water cooling must be the way to go, Will look into it! Thanks a bunch man +1

EDIT: Just bought an H60 for myself. Hopefully this does the trick!

I am extremely happy with mine. Only down side with the pull configuration I have it setup as is the radiator gets caked with dust. So, it's a must to clean it like once every month to 2 months at the latest.

LetsPlayThisBro · Jun 16, 2015

Cydone :

Two reasons I never use a rad as an intake, first, what you listed, the dust issue, it's marginally better when you run it as an exhaust out the top of the case because it's going against gravity as any dust that gets through the dust filter tends to settle at the bottom of the case from the front intakes. And second, if it goes out the top it's obeying thermodynamics, heat rises/cold descends, but also the heat is immediately exhausted from the case no re-circulation of air that's been warmed up vs an intake. Only real negative is it may make the ambient temp in the room go up a degree if the rig is working hard.

Cydone · Jun 17, 2015

LetsPlayThisBro :

Cydone :

Two reasons I never use a rad as an intake, first, what you listed, the dust issue, it's marginally better when you run it as an exhaust out the top of the case because it's going against gravity as any dust that gets through the dust filter tends to settle at the bottom of the case from the front intakes. And second, if it goes out the top it's obeying thermodynamics, heat rises/cold descends, but also the heat is immediately exhausted from the case no re-circulation of air that's been warmed up vs an intake. Only real negative is it may make the ambient temp in the room go up a degree if the rig is working hard.

Oh I would have mounted it on the top of my case, but there was literally no space to do so. I have a mid-tower and from where the cpu socket sits to the top of my case is about 3 inches lol. Where as from the back of my case to the cpu socket is about 5 inches. I do have a 120mm fan on the top of the case though, one that can control the RPM just by turning a knob. Seems to work fine.

LetsPlayThisBro · Jun 18, 2015

Cydone :

LetsPlayThisBro :

Oh I would have mounted it on the top of my case, but there was literally no space to do so. I have a mid-tower and from where the cpu socket sits to the top of my case is about 3 inches lol. Where as from the back of my case to the cpu socket is about 5 inches. I do have a 120mm fan on the top of the case though, one that can control the RPM just by turning a knob. Seems to work fine.

Yes but you can still have the fans exhaust air rather than intake it, just reverse the fans. The difference may be marginal but I'm in the desert and take the opinion that every degree counts. If you're getting good temps and good airflow it matters a bit less, and a lot of this is a matter of the ambient air.

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