New Mobo - powering off & staying that way

[Sytrus]

I recently bought a new motherboard and CPU, the gigabyte GA-MA790x-UD4P and phenom II x4 955 BE. Upon installing them and running my comp, everything was fine (windows needed to reset several times to get everything installed). I ran coretemp to make sure I had properly installed the new cooler (cooler master hyper 212+), and temperature readings on the CPU were around 28C idle to 50C under 100% load from prime 95. I wanted to test out the capability of the new processor in gaming next, so I booted up GTA IV and ran it for about 5 minutes (it ran great!) - until my computer shut itself off on its own, and would not power back on. Not being able to get it working, I gave up and went to sleep, and upon waking up, lo and behold, it could power on again just fine. I ran another prime 95 test (for about 15 minutes), and it was fine, with the same temperature range on the CPU as before.

What would cause the computer to do this? I've had computers overheat before, and all they did was reset themselves instead of completely powering off and being unable to come back on. Given that prime95 only put the temps at 50C after 15 minutes, I don't think CPU cooling is the problem. So what could have caused this...?

Thank you for your time.

 

[capt_taco]

Honestly, the machine shutting off and not coming back on unless you wait sounds EXACTLY like overheating. GTA4 is also known as one of the most CPU-intensive games in history, so that's one more reason to suspect heat. Have you checked the coretemp results when you're running GTA4?

Also, if the CPU itself is not overheating, these symptoms are possible when the power supply is either a) overheating b) failing or c) just too small to do the job. What are the rest of your system specs.

Finally, it sounds like you've got an additional problem because you apparently didn't re-install Windows when you put in the new motherboard. You have to do that, or you'll be in driver conflict hell, and you'll get all kinds of random crashes, churning, freezing that are impossible to untangle. Windows restarting itself several times? That was probably your system trying to recover from the errors you get when you don't reinstall the OS. If you don't reinstall the OS, odds are you'll never get it completely stable. This definitely could be a major factor in the problems you're having.

 

[Sytrus]

I'll check coretemp with GTA4 later today, thought I can't imagine the temps would be higher than a prime95 torture test.

My other specs are:
9800gt
4gb ddr2-800
580w xion PSU
win7 pro

Yeah, the PSU is about as bad as you can get. I didn't know that when I bought this PC, though. I had no problems with this PSU with my old mobo+proc, and I can find literally no information about it on the web relating to voltages and amps.

I went ahead and reformatted today, so we'll see if the problem persists.

 

[Sytrus]

Ok, after running GTA4 again, the same thing happened - the system powered off mid-game after five minutes and stayed that way for a little over an hour, unable to boot up in the meantime. This is post-reformat.

I went ahead and ran prime95 with a max temp / power test for 30 minutes, and it ran stable. Considering the extreme stress to the CPU, I doubt it is overheating - my max temp measured with coretemp was 57C.

Given that prime95 does not stress the GPU (but GTA does), is it possible the GPU is overheating?

Also, just from feeling the exhaust vents in the back of my case, it feels like the exhaust from the PSU fan is much warmer than the exhaust from the case fan. Does this indicate the PSU is overheating?

Thanks for your time, again.

 

[branflakes71]

I'd say your power supply is failing. If you want to eliminate the GPU, run something like HWMonitor and watch those temps under Prime95 and GTA IV. It can also give you other temps and you can see if anything else is out of whack.

http://www.cpuid.com/index.php

 

[capt_taco]

Usually, the video card can withstand a higher temperature than the CPU -- it's not uncommon for them to be at 70-80C and running smoothly. PSUs are the same way -- usually they can also stand more heat than the CPU ... but the more power they're providing, the more heat they generate, so it's not always easy to guess the PSU temperature from the overall system temps.

Another way that the PSU can overheat independently of any other components is if its intake fan is broken, or if it's full of dust. So check that out also.

One other possibility that you were SORT OF on to when you worried about GPU temperature ... when you're running GTA as opposed to Prime95, I don't think it's as likely that the GPU itself is actually overheating, but it could be generating enough heat to make the whole system hotter and the CPU shuts down. The AMD Phenom II x4 series all give a max safe temperature of 62C, and 57C is pretty close to that. So it's certainly conceivable the extra heat from the GPU is enough to push it over the limit.

In any case, I would definitely investigate all kinds of heat issues first, as 57C is on the high side, and if nothing improves, test the voltages on your PSU to make sure it's not about to conk out on you.

 

[Sytrus]

I get this while running a prime95 heat test: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/Arokh/temps.jpg

How would I be able to monitor hwmonitor while running a fullscreen app?

I'm guessing the idea of a high case temp is probably right - I removed the intake fan on the side of my PC in order to fit the monster cooler master hyper 212+ inside, and haven't re-mounted it on the outside of the case yet. If it matters, this is the case in question: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144211&cm_re=apevia_x-telstar-_-11-144-211-_-Product

This was my first experience installing my own CPU and HSF, so I'm afraid I may have applied the thermal paste incorrectly / incorrect fan installation. I put a BB size drop of AS5 in the center of the CPU and simply lowered the HSF onto it evenly - should I have manually spread it? Also, is the fan on the HS supposed to be on the side of the HS closest to the case exhaust fan or the opposite side (not sure if it's intake or not)? This is probably 15 hours into the 200 hour break in period of AS5, by the way.

Finally, is there any definitive thing I could do to determine if it's the CPU overheating or the PSU failing that is making my system shut down?

Thanks for your time again!

 

[branflakes71]

All of those temps look fine, if that's under load. I think you're looking at a power supply problem.

And the amount of paste you applied to your cpu was perfect. No need to manually spread it.

 

[Sytrus]

Alright, tried to run Crysis and got a tid bit into the first level when the system powered off. This time I suspected that it was the power supply since previously, after leaving the system for two hours and it not powering on, I unplugged & replugged it in, and it powered on. I did the same this time, only leaving it for five minutes before unplugging it for a minute and then replugging, and the system came back on. So apparently the time interval does not really matter, all that matters is that I unplug the system and plug it back in.

This seems extremely indicative of some problem with the PSU. I'll be purchasing a new one shortly, so any recommendations? I've heard good things about Corsair (TX I think?) but any other recommendations are welcome. Probably won't be running any cards in crossfire anytime soon, since my next video card upgrade will be a 5850.

 

[branflakes71]

Corsair and Antec are my two favorite brands.

This is the one I bought for my i7 build last Sept:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025

 

[Sytrus]

Best answer selected by Sytrus.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey