System rebooting while gaming, unsure which component is the issue.

brotherbiscuit

Commendable
Aug 24, 2016
6
0
1,510
My system is restarting randomly when gaming. There is no BSOD and no crash dump created even though I've got it set up to do so.

Specs:
CPU - AMD 8350
GPU - R9 290
Memory - 8 Gigs Gskill
PSU - SeaSonic Platinum Series 1200w
MOBO - Biostar TA990FXE

My knee jerk reaction was that it must be my graphics card because it only crashes during gameplay, but because the crashes create no dumps and they cause reboots half the time I think it might be a faulty PSU (Which would make me very sad because I bought this PSU because it was in the Tier 1).

Additionally, I've tried underclocking my GPU to solve the issue and that has gotten me nowhere. It seems the time to crash/reboot is independant of graphical settings. I've tested it with DE:MD on ultra settings and medium, and the crash time has been fairly random and independent of the settings. Additionally, a clean install of Windows 10 did not solve it either.

When it crashes and doesn't simply cut to black and reboot, it crashes with a frozen screen and a looping sound.

Temps are very unlikely to be a problem. I've monitored them with MSI and RealTemp.

Does anyone have ANY other ideas on how I can actually diagnose this issue without simply purchasing new components before I can really know whats wrong?

UPDATE:

I've tried running HWMonitor in combination with Prime95, and my system does not crash during it. HOWEVER. Once I let the test run for a while and then stop it, my computer then crashes. I've confirmed this by repeating it 3 times. Additionally, HWMonitor shows my +-12V rails as only putting out 4.9V and -4.8V respectively. I know HWMonitor has its issues but it does give some credit to the bad PSU theory I have.

UPDATE 2:

Installed Furmark and ran it. GPU temps got high until I realized that I didn't have the fan cranked up the whole way. Once I did so the temps fell to reasonable levels. However towards the end of the graph the performance of the card became very unstable, from around 100fps average to 50 or 60. Upon stopping the test the system did not crash or reboot. I ran Prime95 again and ran it for about 15 minutes and then stopped the test. This once again caused the computer to reboot.
 

Grantmacintosh1

Reputable
Nov 24, 2015
29
0
4,540
From what I can see, your GPU is either faulty or is not receiving clean power from the PSU. Even though it is a tier 1 PSU, (and a very nice one!) you can still have issues unfortunately.

If you have another GPU lying around that you can test the computer with, that would be my first step. Especially an older, power hungry GPU such as a GTX 590, GTX 480 or a Radeon HD 6990. If the computer is fine with the older GPU, we can rule out the PSU.

This is identical to a problem one of my friends had with his computer, as it would freeze randomly with looping sound. He presumed the problem was the GPU. After testing the GPU extensively in a another computer we found out that his AX1500i was the root cause of the problem.

The last tidbit I can add is the fact that Biostar motherboards are not the most well reviewed boards in the world, but yours seems to be pretty good, so not likely to be causing problems.
 

brotherbiscuit

Commendable
Aug 24, 2016
6
0
1,510


I have yet to crash my PC by just running furmark alone. This further makes me think that I have a faulty PSU. I might have a friend with some spare parts that I can try to swap things around, hopefully he has a PSU that can handle my rig.

This is unfortunate because I REALLY didn't want to undo all my cable ergonomics and deal with an RMA, but such is life I guess.

I'll post updates as I do them. Anyone else have anything to add?
 

brotherbiscuit

Commendable
Aug 24, 2016
6
0
1,510


I underclocked my graphics card which reduced the amount of resets, but did not eliminate them. At that point i figured "fuck it" and replaced the card with a 1070. This eliminated the resets.

I do want to stress that the possible causes for this are vast. If you're unsure, try replacing your ram with a good set. Ram goes bad and causes failure to boot and resets, and a new set is like 80 bucks.

That being said, replacing my video card fixed the issue for me.