New Computer Freezing - Please Help!

[felixman11]

Firslty I'd like to apologize if this is in the wrong section... I didn't really know where to go for help :S

Ok, so i had this computer built for me by some guy at a computer fair a couple weeks ago and here are the stats (or what i gathered from "device manager" and his hand-written receipt):

Motherboard: Gigabyte EP45T-DS3R
Processors: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 @ 3.16GHz
GPU: inno3D NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+
RAM: 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 (Corsair)
HDD: 150BG (don't know much more than that)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Gaming Case
PSU: 600 Watt (i think)
OS: Vista Home Premium 32

I took it home, installed vista and everything was going great. Then i installed Warhammer Online and STILL everything was fine... but then something very frustrating started happening, and has continued for the last couple of weeks:

Basically, i turn my computer on and i can play for a few hours, then the screen freezes and i have to restart.
Turn it back on, same thing happens in 1 - 2 hours.
Try again, freezes after 30 mins.
Try again, 10 mins.
Try again, freezes after 20 mins of me looking for solution online.
Then finally vista won't even load when i restart (black screen)


I leave it for at least half an hour and it gets better, but then tends to freeze within the hour.
If i leave it say a whole day, the whole process restarts from the beginning (read above).

I checked that ALL of my drivers were up to date... didn't help.

THen I thought my GPU was simply overheating, so i installed Rivatuner and cranked up my fan speed, whilst keeping an eye on GPU temp.
However i found out that it was regularly freezing with a GPU temp in the low 30 degrees celcius... which, correct me if i'm wrong, is a perfectly fine operation temperature.


I am really getting frustrated trying to fix this problem and i could use some advice...
I'm not GREAT with computers, but i know my way around them and can follow instructions well enough...

Any advice on what to do would be greatly appreciated

 

[Mondoman]

Your symptoms are classic "something's overheating" symptoms. Could be GPU, could be some motherboard component -- it's hard to know. First step is to figure out whether it's just not enough airflow blowing through your case, or whether an individual component is not properly cooled.
Take off the side panel of your case and fire up the computer. If this helps the problem, that suggests that you don't have enough airflow through your case (photos of the insides of your case and a description of what fans are where and which way they are blowing would help a lot here).
Otherwise, it's likely a component overheating. While you have the side off, take a close look at all the heatsinks inside and blow out any accumulations of dust with an aerosol duster can -- that may fix your problem.

 

[mike99]

If you have cheap noname PSU it may be overheating, or not moving enough air and causing case to overheat. How hot is air from rear of PSU? Install Speedfan and check CPU & GPU temps.

Mike.

 

[felixman11]

Ok well i will try using it with the case off (which i am doing right now) and see how it goes... I'll also install Speedfan and see what the temps are.
If the problem persists then i will proceed to take photos and upload them.

Thanks for your help

P.S.
What are safe temperatures for my CPU/GPU?

P.S.S.
Another symptom i have noticed lately (that could be related?) is that my internet has been going VERY VERY slow compared to usual... I don't know if this is an ISP problem, or possibly a problem with my network card... ?
Any insight would be much appreciated.

 

[gamerk316]

Normal "safe" CPU temps are below 65 degrees Celcius at full load, which usually means around 45-53 degrees idle.

For GPU's, anything under 95C at full load is safe, as those components are capable of meeting the stress (although I use 60C for CPU and 85C for GPU as my red-line temps).

 

[Guest]

i find networking on vista realy slow which is why all my systems still use XP ........ have tryed vista on my machines they run okish but between each machine theres hardware problems that Microcrap havent added drivers to the OS to use them or the manufacturers have stated on there sites they wont make vista drivers so = no point me even BUYING VISTA to then have to BUY NEW HARDWARE when what i ve got now works fine.

dont get me wrong theres things in vista i like but i hate it at same time

the freezing problem you ve got if vista fails to load i highly dout its the gfx card, to me sounds like cpu/ram/psu problem i had a recent problem on a pc got 4gbs ram on it and the mobo only saw 3.2gb system booted but once in XP the system randomly locked up swapped all the ram still problem so got 2 new ram sticks and worked a charm

 

[felixman11]

mmmk... thanks for ur help.

A few people i've spoken to have suggested that it may be my PSU...
And another has suggested it may be ram...

I'll try switching the ram for the ram from my old computer, and if it still crashes i'll go and buy a better PSU.

Thankyou very much for all of your help

 

[coolx247]

did that end up fixing the problems changing your ram, i have almost the same set up and just purchased it at the end of November and wither it be just typing a word document or playing a game, it will freeze with out any option of just closing program, have to restart almost like it was lagging. I cant seem to figure it out my self