PC Hardware or Software Failure?

naima23catak

Prominent
Sep 21, 2017
4
0
510
PC Specs
CAS: NZXT Phantom 410 Mid Tower Gaming Case w/ front USB 3.0 [+5] (Black colour)
CASUPGRADE: NONE
CD: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+/-R/+/-RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE. (BLACK Colour)
CD2: NONE
COOL: NONE
CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.50 GHz Eight-Core AM3+ CPU 8MB L2 Cache & Turbo Core Technology *** Extreme OC ***
CS_FAN: Default Case Fan
DONGLES: NONE
EXPAN: NONE
FA_HDD: None
FAN: Cooler Master Seidon 120M (AMD) Quiet Liquid Cooling system w/ 120mm Radiator (Cooler Master CPU Water Cooling *** Extreme OC ***)
FLASHMEDIA: None
HD_M2PCIE: None
HDD: 2TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64M Cache 7200rpm Hard Drive (Single Hard Drive)
HDD2: NONE
HOMEINSTALL: NONE
IEEE_CARD: NONE
INSURANCE: NONE
KEYBOARD: NONE
MEMORY: 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3/1866mhz Dual Channel Memory (HyperX Fury White w/Heat Spreader)
MONITOR: NONE
MONITOR2: NONE
MONITOR3: NONE
MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P AMD 970 Chipset, ATX mainboard w/ 4 RAM slots, 7.1 Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III, RAID, 1 Gen PCIe x16, 1 Gen PCIe x4, 3 PCIe x1, & 2 PCI
NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/1000 NETWORK CARD
OS: Windows 10
POWERSUPPLY: 600 Watts Power Supplies (Cooler Master 600 Watts B600 B2 Gaming Power Supply, 80+)
RUSH: NONE
SERVERUNIT: NONE
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
SPEAKERS: NONE
TEMP: NONE
TVRC: NONE
UPS: None
USB1: NONE [+0]
VIDEO: AMD Radeon R9 280X 3GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+57] (Single Card)


Hi,
I have had the strangest issues with my computer and I simply don’t know how to amend it. This issue arises when I play only certain games however it comes with several unexplainable side effects.

So far I’ve experienced it on games such as Terraria and League of Legends and not the plethora of other video games that are way more demanding than it such as Doom, Dark Souls III etc.

What happens is that after playing for a short time on those games, my computer will display flickering lines across the screen and then flicker uncontrollably to the point that it the whole image on the screen looks like a glitch. The pc then distorts colours and even the aspect ratio until a few moments later where it will crash my whole computer.

After those times, I would restart my computer, change some settings and try again, what I don’t understand is that the issue that persists is so inconsistent with varying effects. It could flicker 5 minutes in or 5 hours in during the game.

I’ve tried updating my display drivers, graphics card drivers and updating windows to no avail.
My pc also has been emitting a noise from inside almost like a buzz which hasn’t occurred before, my competence is usually quiet anyway unless the fans are on full speed.

The pc now doesn’t want to turn on, by that I mean once you push the switch, it will randomly turn off by the time it gets to or just after the windows logo.

Could anyone recommend me what parts I should look for that may be faulty in some way? I’m only confused about the fact that these types of games, which are one of the least demanding games I have in my library are causing these issues. Perhaps it may be issue with those games.

As a side note; I’ve been browsing on a different forum and one user briefly mentioned that a certain GPU unit that is required for those types of games and not the other is faulty and that is what is causing the issue.

Thank you for your time.
 
The computer seems quite old, but the parts should be fine. What you describe could be a temperature problem (or something else, we'll see). You will get visual glitches when playing if the GPU is too hot. And your PC won't be able to boot if not cooled properly, which could be because the pump on your watercooling loop might be broken. If you were hearing a sound that wasn't there before, it might have been a part breaking down. There are several things to check.

First, is the computer's interior clean? Are the CPU radiator and the GPU heatsink free of dust? Also between the radiator and the fan? There might be dust inside the GPU's shroud. Do all fans work, those on the liquid cooling radiator, and the ones one the GPU?

Can you enter the BIOS (DEL or F2 when booting)? If so, there should be a "System status" or "System Health" or something like that, where you should be able to see the temperature of your CPU, which is it?

You say you can enter windows, so no more tests for the time being, let me know about these questions.
 

naima23catak

Prominent
Sep 21, 2017
4
0
510


Hi, I’ll open my case today and see what I can do, then check the BIOS.
 

naima23catak

Prominent
Sep 21, 2017
4
0
510
I’ve checked the pc, It was quite dusty. Within the Bios the temperature was around 35-40 degrees on the system health section. I’ve managed to boot and launch a different game and a new issue arises, temperature.

The pc rose to over 70 degrees after half an hour which usually in previous cases is bad for me since it’s degraded performance so heavily causing stuttering etc.

I’ve ordered some air cans, so within a few days I should be able to clean the dust out of the machine.
 
A CPU temperature of 70C is perfectly normal and no problem at all. The CPU will not throttle at those temps. Temperature should not get higher than 90C (aproximately, it depends on the CPU model), but 70C under load gaming is not bad (it's not great either, but definitely not bad). Good idea to blow some air in the case, remember to blow in and under the fans, which is where most of the dust will be.
 

naima23catak

Prominent
Sep 21, 2017
4
0
510

Alright then, it was just unusual in my case since the game in play (I think Counter Strike) is usually below 60, and was strange since the games performance was harshly stuttering as it peaked passed 70.

Anyways I’m still waiting for those air cans to arrive so I’ll let you know when it’s done and dusted.
 

TRENDING THREADS