PC keeps restarting with new Graphics Card

Larry_77 · Nov 15, 2016

Not sure if its because of my new GPU or updating to Win 10. But now every time I play a game my pc will just restart randomly. I noticed if I lower the graphics quality of a game it will restart much less often. The PC only does this when playing somewhat demanding games, such as Overwatch but wont restart with a game like League of Legends. I can leave my pc on all day and night with no problems, only when i play a game.

My specs
Motherboard - Asus z87-a
GPU - XFX Radeon RX 480
CPU - i5-4670K 3.4GHz quad core
Ram - 24 gig
Power supply - Roswell rx850w
1tb HDD

Im not terribly familiar with PC's but I have looked all over the place as to why my pc keeps restarting. I have updated GPU driver unplugged and tried different power connections to the GPU. I am stumped. If anyone has any tips or I am missing some information please let me know.

Thank you!

Themastererr · Nov 15, 2016

Could you download a program called HWmonitor. Open it up and keep it open while gaming for roughly 5-10 minutes. Take a screenshot of all the values and post it here.

This way we can get an idea of your voltages, temperature's and more general information about what's going inside your system.

Larry_77 · Nov 15, 2016

This is while playing Overwatch on lowest settings. I tried turning the settings to max and my PC shuts off right away.

http://imgur.com/a/HOjzS

http://imgur.com/a/G3C4r

Just wanted to add, With my older GPU RadeonHD 7870 I ran everything with no problems at all and had the graphics quality on medium.

Themastererr · Nov 15, 2016

Voltages look healthy. GPU looks good. CPU is running too hot. The max temp for that CPU is 72'C on the heatspreader, which you are exceeding.

At this point you need to inspect your CPU cooler for issues. Because you only switched the graphics card, my guess is the thermal paste is dried up and needs to be replaced. It's also possible the cooler is simply dirty or need to be tightened down properly

You could also go into the BIOS and try to increase the CPU cooler fan speeds to see if your issue is alleviated.

Larry_77 · Nov 15, 2016

Thanks! Ill look into getting some more paste and tightening down the cooler and see if that works.

Themastererr · Nov 15, 2016

Larry_77 :

Ya I hope it works out for you.

What's interesting is when you use your old card, it works o.k.

My theory is that when you upgraded the GPU, it put more stress on your PCI-E controller inside the CPU, as well as heating up the CPU more because your bottleneck from the old GPU is removed, thus, the CPU is doing more work.

Let me know the results.

Larry_77 · Nov 16, 2016

So I cleaned off the old thermal paste and reapplied some more, I also cleaned the fan out, although there was little dust. But I still seem to have the same issue. Is it possible because of an older CPU, faulty graphics card or not enough power?

dontlistentome · Nov 16, 2016

Your CPU fan seems to top out at 1400 rpm, that seems unreasonably slow to me. I have an AMD CPU but at a quiet 60% speed it's at 1700 rpm. So I think there's something wrong with the fan.

Larry_77 · Nov 16, 2016

I'll try to see if i can get a program to change the cpu fan rpm and see if it will help. I tried to change it in the Bios but it gave me a "CPU fan failed" message.

Themastererr · Nov 16, 2016

Larry_77 :

Which motherboard header is the CPU fan attached to? Are you sure it's on the CPU_FAN one?

Larry_77 · Nov 16, 2016

I believe so, its plugged into the one that says "CPU FAN" other one next to it says "CPU OPT"

Does it matter which power supply cords I use to plug into the gpu?

Themastererr · Nov 16, 2016

O.k. Well it shouldn't be giving you the CPU_FAN failed warning, that's odd. I feel like there's an issue with your CPU fan as well. Like dontlistme said, the RPM's are unusually low. I'm assuming you don't have another heat-sink and fan setup to test if yours is malfunctioning?

Larry_77 · Nov 16, 2016

I sure dont, I can pick one up tomorrow though... at this point I'll try anything.

I know it can spin faster because when im in BIOS the fan will become louder and spin up to 3k rpm...

Themastererr · Nov 16, 2016

Larry_77 :

I wish I could give you a more solid answer, but it's tough to pinpoint what's going on. Clearly it's an issue with the cooling of your CPU, but what exactly that issue is hard to say.

Larry_77 · Nov 18, 2016

Well i figured out what was causing the cpu to overheat, the heatsink must have bumped loose when i installed the GPU somehow. I made sure it was installed nice and tight and now its now it hasnt gone over 53C. Then again I havent played long enough for it to get that hot either. But at least I have some progress... I can turn the graphics up and it will stay on a bit longer but still ends up shutting off. I heard turning on the "compatibility mode" can help, it does to an extent but still not a solution. I also tried booting up the pc without a GPU, using DDU and reinstalling the drivers again. And if i try to change the mobo bios settings to "preformance" it wont even start. giving me "overclocking failed" error. Ive read countless forums, I feel like maybe i need a newer mobo or maybe my PSU is not working well? I have no idea at this point...

Larry_77 · Nov 18, 2016

So I tried running the game in windows 7 compatibility mode and it ran for longer than anything else Ive tried. Ended up restarting after about 15 min. Makes me feel like its not a hardware issue but something else. Do you know why just changing the compatibility would allow me to run a game longer?

Themastererr · Nov 18, 2016

Larry_77 :

I'm honestly not sure at this point. I haven't heard of a piece of software forcing the computer to restart. If all of your temperature's are o.k then it is possible the PSU is faulty. It's possible the GPU is faulty as well. I'm not sure though.

If you feel that it's a software issue, reformat Windows completely and see if you get the same issue.

Themastererr · Nov 18, 2016

Larry_77 :

I'm honestly not sure at this point. I haven't heard of a piece of software forcing the computer to restart. If all of your temperature's are o.k then it is possible the PSU is faulty. It's possible the GPU is faulty as well. I'm not sure though.

If you feel that it's a software issue, reformat Windows completely and see if you get the same issue.

Larry_77 · Nov 19, 2016

I finally found out the problem, which was actually a simple fix. My friend let me borrow his PSU... and bingo that's all it was. So far I've been able to play for 2 hours without any problems. I really appreciate all the advice and help you gave me though Themasterer. I suppose my PSU just got old or something.

Themastererr · Nov 19, 2016

That's awesome you found it out either way. Sorry I didn't suspect the PSU right away...I thought for sure it was a heat issue. We're all learning one way or another right? Enjoy man.

PC keeps restarting with new Graphics Card

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