PC randomly restarts during gaming.

BennyAUZ · Sep 13, 2015

Hi, I bought this PC almost a year ago and pretty much ever since I have had this problem.
The computer just restarts outa no where when playing most games.
Some games such as GTA V and Mad Max are almost impossible to play due to the amount of crashes that occurs.
But then some games work, such as League of Legends without any problems at all.
I have tried many different things such as:
Cleaning out my computer.
Scanning the hardware and files for virus.
Uninstalling and reinstalling the graphics drivers (Which has appeared to make it worse).

I have checked the temps while playing the games and it is nothing out of the ordinary.

My PC specs:
Intel i5 CPU
16 GB RAM
AMD R9 200 Series GPU (I believe it is the 280x)
750 watt power supply
Windows 8.1 64 bit

Any help will be greatly appreciated because this problem is really beginning to annoy me.
Thanks so much!

Dom_79 · Sep 13, 2015

Does it actually restart or do you get a BSOD and then it auto restarts?

madchemist83 · Sep 13, 2015

What brand and model that psu is ?

BennyAUZ · Sep 13, 2015

Dom_79 :

Actually at first it was a BSOD but I did something to fix that problem, but now it is almost like somebody has pulled out the power and then turned it back on. There is no error.

BennyAUZ · Sep 13, 2015

madchemist83 :

It is a Thermaltake but I am unsure about the model.

Dom_79 · Sep 13, 2015

Shutting right down without BSOD points to the PSU. It's pretty much the only thing that can cause that.

Thermaltake aren't known for making good PSUs so I'd suspect that before anything else.

BennyAUZ · Sep 13, 2015

Dom_79 :

Is there any way to find out for sure that it is actually the PSU?

Dom_79 · Sep 13, 2015

There are ways to tell if the PSU is going to work at all without it even being installed/connected to the PC but finding out if it will work under a heavy load (like when in the games you mentioned) is not something I know how to do.

You could try uninstalling the GPU (be sure to setup your system to run on the integrated GPU first) and then run some stress tests ( like IBT or prime95 or AIDA64 ) and see if it BSODs or crashes but almost always when the PC just shuts down/restart without even a BSOD that means that as far as the computer is concerned there was no power (like someone pulled the plug out of the wall) and that is because of the PSU shutting down/off do to insufficient power.

BennyAUZ · Sep 13, 2015

Dom_79 :

There are ways to tell if the PSU is going to work at all without it even being installed/connected to the PC but finding out if it will work under a heavy load (like when in the games you mentioned) is not something I know how to do.

You could try uninstalling the GPU (be sure to setup your system to run on the integrated GPU first) and then run some stress tests ( like IBT or prime95 or AIDA64 ) and see if it BSODs or crashes but almost always when the PC just shuts down/restart without even a BSOD that means that as far as the computer is concerned there was no power (like someone pulled the plug out of the wall) and that is because of the PSU shutting down/off do to insufficient power.

I do have AIDA64 installed but I'm not sure how to run stress tests.

Dom_79 · Sep 13, 2015

BennyAUZ :

http://forums.aida64.com/topic/481-stress-test-help/

BennyAUZ · Sep 13, 2015

Dom_79 :

Would you suggest I run stress tests both with and without my GPU installed?

Dom_79 · Sep 13, 2015

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

I would recommend reading through that list of PSU first. You will notice that your PSU is ranked in the seconds worst tier with this heading:

Tier Four
No Japanese capacitors found. Only Taiwanese capacitors and may even include Chinese capacitors. Very basic safety circuits or even thin gauge wiring used. Not for gaming rigs or overclocking systems of any kind. Avoid unless your budget dictates your choice.

If you still really want it to be something else then yeah try stress testing without your GPU (you've already been stressing your system with those games so it's pointless to run a stress test with it)

The only reason I suggested running the stress tests without the GPU was to try and put load on the PSU that didn't include the GPU as a factor (the GPU draws a fair bit of power... more than the CPU in fact)

BennyAUZ · Sep 13, 2015

Dom_79 :

Well if this all points towards the PSU I think this computer is still under warranty. I will contact the place I bought it from and see if they can replace it.

capt_taco · Sep 13, 2015

Everyone's going to say the power supply, but this is also the exact same thing that can happen with unstable RAM. Can you post the full specs of your memory? Are you by chance using two different brands, or 4x4 GB instead of 2x8 GB?

As for the power supply - Thermaltake makes a lot of crap PSUs except for some in their higher-wattage Toughpower line, so knowing the exact model would help. In any case, I think with 750W you would have a lot of headroom and even with a lower-quality model, you'd be unlikely to reach the point where you would overstress the PSU as a whole unless it had a bad defect. And if that were the case, my experience is that it would have quit on you a while ago, possibly catastrophically. If it's a PSU issue, I'd look at things like whether an individual rail could be overloaded, whether there's a 6-pin cable plugged into an 8-pin port, two molex plugs with an adapter to a 6-pin, etc. So knowing the full specs of both the PSU and video card would be key.

Dom_79 · Sep 13, 2015

It should still be under warranty but, they will most likely just replace the PSU with another low end PSU (which will put you in the same boat sooner or later) or they may even use a worse PSU that could take other components out with it.

When you contact them about this, find out what PSU they intend to replace this one with. Maybe you can get them to give you a credit of the value of the replacement towards buying a decent PSU.

If this place built this computer with a PSU that isn't for gaming/heavy use while selling the PC as a gaming computer they most likely won't get it right the second time

BennyAUZ · Sep 13, 2015

capt_taco :

Everyone's going to say the power supply, but this is also the exact same thing that can happen with unstable RAM. Can you post the full specs of your memory? Are you by chance using two different brands, or 4x4 GB instead of 2x8 GB?

As for the power supply - Thermaltake makes a lot of crap PSUs except for some in their higher-wattage Toughpower line, so knowing the exact model would help. In any case, I think with 750W you would have a lot of headroom and even with a lower-quality model, you'd be unlikely to reach the point where you would overstress the PSU as a whole unless it had a bad defect. And if that were the case, my experience is that it would have quit on you a while ago, possibly catastrophically. If it's a PSU issue, I'd look at things like whether an individual rail could be overloaded, whether there's a 6-pin cable plugged into an 8-pin port, two molex plugs with an adapter to a 6-pin, etc. So knowing the full specs of both the PSU and video card would be key.

Ram: DDR3 16GB 1333MHz Kingston (2x8GB)
PSU: 750w Smart Thermaltake

BennyAUZ · Sep 13, 2015

Dom_79 :

I'll probably try and send them on a guilt trip and see if I can get them to install a better PSU for previously installing a faulty one.

capt_taco · Sep 13, 2015

BennyAUZ :

Do you know the exact model number on the RAM? That's important to know for the timings and voltage. For example, if the memory runs at 1.65V by default instead of 1.5V, a motherboard on "auto" RAM settings may or may not be smart enough to deal with that properly on its own. If it's giving it too low of a voltage, that can cause random crashes and freezing for no apparent reason, and changing the settings yourself would usually fix it.

If this turns out to be standard 1.5V memory, then I would say time to move on to the power supply as the likely suspect.

BennyAUZ · Sep 13, 2015

capt_taco :

BennyAUZ :

Do you know the exact model number on the RAM? That's important to know for the timings and voltage. For example, if the memory runs at 1.65V by default instead of 1.5V, a motherboard on "auto" RAM settings may or may not be smart enough to deal with that properly on its own. If it's giving it too low of a voltage, that can cause random crashes and freezing for no apparent reason, and changing the settings yourself would usually fix it.

If this turns out to be standard 1.5V memory, then I would say time to move on to the power supply as the likely suspect.

No I'm not sure of the exact model number.

Is there a way to find out?

capt_taco · Sep 13, 2015

BennyAUZ :

Almost always, there will be a sticker on the outside of the memory stick itself that tells you. You may have turn the machine off and remove the side panel to take the stick out, but it should be on there. Then just type the model number into Google or Newegg and you should be able to find the full specs from there.

You know, MOST DDR-1333 that you see today is going to be 1.5V, but occasionally you get something different.

BennyAUZ · Sep 13, 2015

capt_taco :

BennyAUZ :

Almost always, there will be a sticker on the outside of the memory stick itself that tells you. You may have turn the machine off and remove the side panel to take the stick out, but it should be on there. Then just type the model number into Google or Newegg and you should be able to find the full specs from there.

You know, MOST DDR-1333 that you see today is going to be 1.5V, but occasionally you get something different.

Okay I'll just take a look now and write down the number.

BennyAUZ · Sep 13, 2015

capt_taco :

Okay so both the sticks had the numbers 07009 on them next to the bar code and I'm guessing that's the model number.

BennyAUZ · Sep 13, 2015

Hmm I can't seem to find anything about the RAM, did I look at the wrong number?

renealexander · Sep 13, 2015

Same problem here, answers here just seem to confirm that it's the psu. thanks yall

Vic 40 · Sep 13, 2015

For the ram can you look with cpu-z (freeware) too,just look under the spd tab for a partnr.

Other option is this,

Download hwinfo32,
http://www.hwinfo.com/download32.html
open it,
click run,
close the top window which is the system summary,
click save report at the left top,
in the next window at the bottom check=⓪ "short text report" after that next,you'll get to see what is in your pc,
copy that by clicking "copy to clipboard" and right click and paste in you next post.

Maybe this shows the partnr as well.Maybe you need to look at the ram at the left side where the parts are mentioned in the main window,means click memory (+)->then the module,after that info will be given at the right side.

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