Games are crashing after about 30mins of play

Jimbe

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A few days ago I started to get a CTD while playing Metro 2033 (which used to play fine). Initially I thought it must be a problem with the game, so reinstalled it, patched etc. Still crashing. I tried Mass Effect, same thing.
I think this only happens on more demanding games, I will have to test later on an older game.

First I checked for virus'. None to be found.
Next I updated video drivers, audio, updated BIOS. Didn't help. I rolled back to another driver; Nope, still crashing.

Thinking it could be an overheating issue, I cleaned dust off of the CPU fan and Graphics Card; minimal difference, if any. Next I gave the Power supply a cleanout. This seemed to delay the crashing, I could play for about 30 mins now.
I monitored the temperature of the graphics card while playing, it never went far above 50C.
I'm not sure what temperature the CPU reaches when the game crashes, i'm going to test that shortly. The CPU is running at 36C right now.

Did a memtest; 0 errors after a few hours. I'm going to leave it running overnight though. I have one 2gb stick and two 1gb, they are of the same brand and all DDR2 800Mhz, but could this still cause CTD?

Could this be an inadequate or faulty power supply? Faulty Graphics Card? Bad RAM?

Specs:
Power Supply: OCZ500SXS [500w]
Graphics Card: Nvidia 9800GT
CPU: AMD Phenom X4 9650
RAM Memory: DDR2 4GB [2GB+1GB+1GB] 800Mhz Kingston(I think)
Hard Drives: 120GB Internal + 500GB External

Thanks in advance :sol:
 
Temps look ok for gpu and cpu.
PSU output should be ok.
Try running with the 2x1GB, may not like running with a single 2GB stick, PC work best with same size/brand sticks on the same memory channel.
 

Jimbe

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Nah still crashes unfortunately :(, thanks anyway though.
Took a look at the temps with speedfan just after, all seem ok. One was in the 60-70 range, not sure what it is. CPU was in the 50's.
 

Jimbe

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No, i'm not a pirate

Anyway seems the problem only occurs when the system is put under stress for a certain amount of time, so it's likely to be a hardware fault, no? Someone correct me if i'm wrong.
 

rassen

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I think the hardware is not in sync with the software, it sometimes occurs some cases as we do not want
 

Mottamort

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This same kind of problem happened to my friend recently. His problem was that his cpu was overheating. But the REASON it crashed was because in his BIOS it was set to shut down after the pc reached a certain temp. You said some temp goes to 60-70. Maybe wanna look into it?

Just a thought :)
 

Jimbe

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Well I think it's something on the motherboard getting hot, and also my internal hard drive gets pretty hot. The problem is; the fans on my computer case have stopped working a while ago. I just leave the side panel off the computer and it's been fine, untill now it seems. I wanted a new case anyway, so i'll see if this cures the problem.

Edit: One temperature reached 70C on the Motherboard (I think)
CPU: Only reached 47C
Graphics Card went up to 60C, Though i didn't have my custom fan settings on.
 

Mottamort

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Im no expert on hardware but it could be a combination of stuff heating up the air around your case causing the sensor to pick up 70 and not like it. You mentioned you updated your bios, did you check its failsafe settings to check that isnt perhaps crashing cause its set to do that whenever it reaches those temps? even just one fan circulating air in (or hot air out) can make quite a difference to the temp compared to nothing.might be worth checking out. Good luck :)
 

Jimbe

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Hmm, looks like the only failsafe setting I have on is Alarm when CPU exceeds 60.
Well i'll wait for my new case to arrive, and see if better air circulation makes the difference. If not, then i'll probably look toward upgrading my graphics card, if it's still crashing by then i'll be throwing toys out of my pram.

Thanks your replies :)
 

rassen

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CTD is, I do not understand
 

kashifme21

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You wanna stress test the CPU for us? maybe run prime 95 for 15-20mins and see where the cpu temps get to?

Also if your case temps are getting betweeen 60-70c thats pretty hot. My brothers computer was having simular issues. We installed 2 fans the case temps are now 40c and the crashing is gone.
 
" The fans stopped working a while ago", a direct quote from you. Think the damage has already been done ? Truly sounds like heat got to your processor, video card and or mother board. You can try under clocking the ram on your video card and re-applying thermal paste to your processor and the processor on your video card. Then you can try reducing the settings in the games control panel. You really don't have the hardware to run that game considering all the demands that puts on your hardware..... like no other game yet.
 

Mottamort

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@rassen...what? are you asking what CTD means? (Crash to desktop). otherwise i dont understand your post.

And swifty hit the nail on the head i think. :)