My computer shuts down whenever I play a game.

Here are a few techniques you can use to test:


This first one worked for me:

Set your card's memory and gpu speed back to factory default (nvidia) settings. In Oblivion, until I underclocked to factory default, I could not play for more than 3 minutes. Every single time I went outdoors I had a hard lock. I just keep my card turned down all the time, now. My problem is that I have a lack of power from my PSU because it's really old.

Check your connections and make sure you're getting power to the video card.

Try a different power supply.

Try a different video card.

your motherboard is nicer than mine, but i had the same problem before. swap your memory around the slots. i did this and realized that 2/4 of the ram slots were bad.

IMO, the problem is the video card. The 7900GTCO is the one with the inadequate cooling; when they (eVGA) overclock it, it's not stable. What are the GPU temps? A SmartPower SP-500 is enough to run a 7900GT: it's probably an overheating problem with the card. Perhaps you could try the video card from your computer?

PSU looks fine... try adjusting Vic and power connections to it... also try underclocking like baladorr suggested.

whats your powersupply?
if your computer shutdowns might be that its not giving enought power to the ridge you have.

If I'm not mistaken, the CO is the edition with the best cooling. CO stands for "copper" telling that the cooler is all copper under the plastic guard. If I am incorrect, please correct me.

I have heard of problems with the KO edition with overheating though. I am going with the overheating side of the solution, if that isn't it, try using an older driver from Nvidia. I have had a few problems like this in the past that were solved by rolling back drivers.

If I'm not mistaken, the CO is the edition with the best cooling. CO stands for "copper" telling that the cooler is all copper under the plastic guard. If I am incorrect, please correct me. .

You're right; the cooler is all copper, however, it doesn't cover all the memory, and it has a very small fan. That kind of cooling may (hence the "may") be adequate for stock speeds, but not when you're pusing the card to 550/1580MHz core/mem. The 7900GT KO is the one with the copper cooler for all the memory, plus a bigger fan. The clock speeds on both cards are the same.

vga card is reporting temperature of 50deg idle.
under full load, it's under 65 deg..

my psu is Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W
aka Antec SP-500

just to rule out a few things.
what is your cpu temp under load.
what is the voltages on you psu 12volt rail in the windows envirnment?
have you oc'd the gpu?

Just use stock speeds for CPU and GPU.

The more you overclock, the less are your chances of getting laid!!  

oh s#$@
Im in trouble

my system temp never went above 40 under full load
it usually stays around 30 idle
never oc'ed gpu since it was already oc'ed

my system temp never went above 40 under full load
it usually stays around 30 idle
never oc'ed gpu since it was already oc'ed
Good temps
A little unusual but none the less very good.
What about the psu voltages under load?
How about Prime 95 for a few minutes and see if you get any hardware errors

If I'm not mistaken, the CO is the edition with the best cooling. CO stands for "copper" telling that the cooler is all copper under the plastic guard. If I am incorrect, please correct me. .

You're right; the cooler is all copper, however, it doesn't cover all the memory, and it has a very small fan. That kind of cooling may (hence the "may") be adequate for stock speeds, but not when you're pusing the card to 550/1580MHz core/mem. The 7900GT KO is the one with the copper cooler for all the memory, plus a bigger fan. The clock speeds on both cards are the same.

Thanks for the clarification. I guess I could have gone and looked at a picture of the card, but I own a 7800GT CO which has an excellent stock cooler so I *assumed*   the 7900 was the same! Thanks again.

You didn't say what type of ram you have.

Try upping the ram voltage by .1 if its not to high. Try .2 if that doesnt work. Try upping the MCH voltage by .1. The PCI E voltage by .1. If that doesn't work up the cpu voltage by .125, or .250.

Double check all your components in the case to ensure theres no ventilation dead zone, maybe a ram, or north or southbirdge is not getting adequate cooling.

Lastly I don't know how old your set up is, but there is a possibility that a capacitor on your motherboard or in your power supply has overheated. The antec is a good power supply. But electrolytic capacitors are a weak spot on both motherboards and power supplies especially if there is a hot zone without adequate ventilation.

Hopefully that can help you. If you don't know what a broken capacitor looks like there are pics on wikipedia.

Seems like a problem I had before with memory, maybe your RAM is clocked to high or set to spd if this the case set it to defaults.

oh yea, the ram in the system is following:
OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 500 (PC 4000)
Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory
Model OCZ5002048ELGEGXT-K

and it is currently set for 250mhz

thanx for the help guys.
i found out the problem now..
it was my psu... now my psu is completely dead.
it doesn't even turn on.
so, i gave my seasonic s-12 600W to my brother..
it works fine, but now my computer don't have psu in it..
can anyone recommend me a good psu that's around 600W for cheap price?
how's that Hiper Type R 580W thing?

I cant resist but:

Maybe your not allowed to play those games becaue they are rated to high? They do have programs that read the game's rating and block the ones your not allowed to play.

I personally have an Enermax 460Watts PSU on my 2 years old PC and everything is rock-stable even tough I have 4HDD + the config you see below. It's also very quiet with it's big 92mm fan to cool it down.

Sure you'll have to get something a bit more powerful, but I think it's a good brand.

Your resolution works out great as long as your brother isn't a computer guy and reads places like this. That way you can go buy a brand new PSU and your brother can use the old one and life can continue like normal. :arrow: