Computer crashing

[rat82883]

Hi everyone, I'll try to keep this as short as I possible can but if anyone can provide me with ANY insight or where to go, it would be HUGELY appreciated.

Basically, my computer is crashing with and it usually occurs an hour or so into playing Modern Warfare 2 online. When it crashes, the whole screen turns a single color (either black, blue, red or yellow) My computer is built just a little over a month ago and is the very first time I've built one. I tried to do my research on it but I am stumped. My computer spec is as follows :

MSI 790FX-GD70 Motherboard
AMD Phenom II 965 BE Processor (140W version)
Coolermaster V8 CPU Heatsink
Corsair TX750W power supply
8gb (4 x 2gb sticks) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 Ram (9-9-9-24) 1.65V
Diamond ATI Radeon 5850 GPU
WD Caviar 1TB Black
Windows 7 64bit version

(This bracket part is optional background info. When I first built my comp, I had an XFX 5850 Radeon card and each time, I would have to turn on my computer twice, as the first time, the computer would boot, but nothing would appear on the monitor. I dealt with this for 3 weeks as there was no other 5850's available for sale. During that time, my computer would crash 5 mins into starting up, turns out there was at least 1 bad stick of ram, so I exchanged it @ frys along with the video card when it came in stock. The double button boot was gone, but now I'm getting the crash as described here)

Now computer is crashing after about an hour or so of play in COD:Modern Warfare 2 and I can't seem to figure out what is causing it. I have replaced the graphics with another one, still the same problem. I thought my computer was overheating so I bought the Coolermaster V8 and chip shows temps in the 30's to low 40's during game.

I have heard that AMD's are unstable with 4 sticks of RAM. Is this true and is there any way around this? I have left everything stock. Is my RAM not compatible with my mobo? As you might know, since this is my first time building a comp, I am bummed that everything is not working out as intended.

I know most of the people here have quite a bit more experience than me, so I am appealing to you computer gurus out there as to offer me some advice if you have any that can help me. Maybe some test that I can run to pinpoint the problem? Huge thanks in advance for your effort and time and let me know if you need any additional info.

 

[dndhatcher]

Easy thing to try is drop back to 4GB RAM and see if the problem goes away. Sometimes you have to increase the RAM voltage when you add more sticks. Its probably best if you force the BIOS RAM settings to match your RAM sticks in case the auto-detect isnt getting it right.

 

[ace700]

AMD is not the best way for gaming computer. The problem with AMD is their chips that just came out is 1 or 2 generations behind intels Ci7 chips and amd cpus gets too hot. AMD can run on 4GB of ram but you wont see 4GB of when you check the system proties for 32 bit edtions. You will only see 3.75GB

 

[dndhatcher]

Ace, what you say is true of intel CPU systems also. 32bit OSes can only see 4GB and the video cards RAM has to come out of that 4GB. A 32bit OS with a 1GB graphics card leaves you with 3GB usable RAM regardless of AMD/intel. Its not relevant to his situation at all.

 

[Onus]

^^-1 for not reading; OP has a 64bit OS. And the comment about AMD CPUs being hot is untrue, particularly considering what the OP said about his temps. And the general slam at AMD for being behind Intel was not relevant.
Try what dndhatcher suggests, if only to simplify things. For it to happen after a delay though suggests a possible heat problem as well. The CPU may be fine, and even the GPU, but how about the chipset? Take the side panel off and aim a common fan into your PC; does the behavior change?
When you replaced your GPU, did you clean off then re-install the video drivers?
What are your GPU temps?

 

[rat82883]

I have been checking my graphics card temperature since the last crash and temperature during gameplay in Modern Warfare 2 is running @ mid 60's. I havent had a crash in the last couple days but I have done two things. I have unplugged the last 2 sticks of RAM and I have also turned off Input Director (a program which enabled me to use 2 comps with one mouse/keyboard). So far its been stable, but I havent had too much testing time, I guess i will try it more today. and then maybe try to plug in the last 2 sticks of ram if everything looks good today.

As for forcing the BIOS ram settings to match my RAM timings, I dont even see a place in the BIOS to automatically input timings.

Also, when i changed out the GPU, since it was the exact same model, I origianlyl didn't reinstall video drivers. However, after the crashes, I did uninstall and reinstall.