Nazi power is (unfortunately) in my computer

[chispas]

When I start Wolfenstein (2009 edition) the computer shuts down - that is, powers off without any warning. Today, I hadn't even started a new game, and it shut down in the menus. The weird thing is that the temps are all good - Speedfan and CoreTemp both agree about the following things:

Ignore Temp 3. Temp 1 is the video card.

Also strange is that other games don't make the computer crash, yet Wolfenstein (a game my pc runs easily @ 1680) causes it to die - DAMN YOU NAZIS!!!

My PC:

Coolermaster M600 Silent Pro
M3N78PRO ASUS
PHENOM 9950 BE
500GB SAMSUNG
4GB (2x2GB KINGMAX) 1066
PCIe 4850 Powercolor
One pretty good case fan.

I took the computer apart, changed heatsinks, reapplied thermal paste, reseated ram, checked ram with memtest86+, checked hard disk, stress tested the gpu for an hour with a free video stress program (nothing happened - temps barely went over fifty degrees), ensured connections between psu and mb weren't loose or anything, inspected north bridge in case it was getting too hot (it doesn't evidently), and so I can't understand what makes the crash happen. Then I double checked the Vcore voltages - they remain constantly at 1.26 - 1.28 even at full load - I turned off Windows 7's power management just in case this was a software problem, power saving is also disabled in bios.

Then I ran Wolfenstein again, at the same time as the gpu stress test, and surprisingly it didn't crash. It went at 4fps, but it didn't crash. The figures remained exactly the same, no change in Vcore, nothing. Can someone solve this mystery? Let me express it in cluedo-like fashion:

Is it the brand-new video card that should be RMA'd?
Or is it the power supply, also within six months old, and with a six year warranty?
Could it be the RAM, confidently sitting in the corner with a luxurious lifetime warranty?
Or is it simply that Nazi forces have invaded my PC?

Any help is of course appreciated very much, thankyou.

 

[o1die]

Seriously, I wouldn't continue taking apart your system just for one game. I would focus on the video card drivers or power supply. Coolermaster isn't a high end ps; you can start by turning down the resolution settings and see if that helps. Also, it's reported that larger screen lcds also require more power.

 

[delluser1]

Also strange is that other games don't make the computer crash, yet Wolfenstein (a game my pc runs easily @ 1680) causes it to die

Make's me doubt it's hardware related.
That psu is fine ( unless defective )
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=134

 

[chispas]

Thanks so much for the advice, I just realised I've been using Catalyst 9.9, which is known to be a little buggy, so will uninstall with driverloader, load 9.8 drivers and post back. The LCD I have is a BenQ 22" display, which is quite generic, but I'm not sure about the power draw - going to make sure all the plugs are plugged in properly though, so thanks for reminding me.

Update: Last night I played Crysis in a window @ 800x600 with all settings high, and there was no crash (also no changed in vcore), then I disabled Desktop Compositing in the shortcut settings for Wolfenstein and the game played fine (in a window @ 1280 x 800) without crashing whatsoever.

Going to try it all again, this time full screen @ 1680 and will post back.

I know that it's silly taking apart the computer for one game, but I suppose I just had to assume it was something more serious when the software part of the computer wasn't providing me with any information to go off. Thanks for all your help though, back soon with a post.

 

[chispas]

So I uninstalled Catalyst 9.9 with driversweeper, and installed the latest Windows 7 ATI driver from Windows Update, and the game ran perfectly fine for an hour. I remembered that I turned Cool and Quiet off while I was troubleshooting, so I turned it back on in the BIOS, and still no problems whatsoever in the game. Then I went into Windows power management, and changed it from Balanced to High Performance. Next thing, pc goes off while playing Wolfenstein. Suffice to say, it must be a Windows glitch when communicating between the motherboard or cpu or something. Going to revert to previous configuration and make sure the problem won't reproduce. Thanks for all your help folks!

 

[chispas]

Looks like this is a nazi-related problem after all, Microsoft. On High Performance the computer dies with Wolfenstein. Probably will get fixed in an up-coming service pack. I suppose this is solved.

 

[chispas]

Well after thinking this was solved, it happened to reproduce itself again. Is there any further way to troubleshoot this?