System keeps shutting self off during game play

Symptoms such as this can often be related to overheating as well. Take the side cover off your case or crank your cpu/gpu fans up manually and see if the powering off stops.

I recently had a similar problem which turned out to be my gtx 280 overheating and crashing the system.

Install gpuz and CPUID HW Monitor and keep them in the background and run the game.

Stop after 10 minutes and look at the temps in those apps to see how you are doing.
Post them here if you need help.

Then take the cover off and run again.

Yeah I was gonna say heat then PSU in that order as things to check.

It doesn't seem like you gave a brand for the PSU so it could just be a PoS.

Ultra is the brand of the PSU. Ultra X3 is what it says on the box and it was a $100 PSU at the time. What is a good 3rd party HW monitor for CPU and GPU temp that will monitor in Win7. and what temp should my gtx be running at?

Here is a spec breakdown for those that might find it useful:
AMD Phenom II X4 940 3.0Ghz
8G Patriot 800mhz memory (2GX4)
ASUS M4N72-E Motherboard
Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 (BFG manufacturer)
2XSeagate 500GB SATA HDs
1xWestern Digital 250GB EIDE HD
Ultra X3 800 watt ATX PSU

and this is the info i sent to the people at BFG about the PSU, cause i'm sure they will assume it's someone elses part first:

OUTPUT
Max output current "+V5" "+3.3V" "+12V" "-12V" "+5VSB"
28A 24A 60A 0.8A 3A
Max Combined
Wattage 160W 720W 9.6W 15W
775W 25W
800W

Output Current
Output Voltage Min.[A] Max.[A]


"+3.3V" 0.8 24


"+V5" 0.5 28


"+12V" 4 60


"-12V" 0 0.8


"+5VSB" 0.1 3

Over Voltage Protection
Sense level Over Voltage


"+V5" 6.6V/max


"+12V" 15.6V/max


"+3.3V" 4.5V/max

I aslo checked the voltage in my Bios and this is what it read
V Core Voltage 1.312V
3.3V Voltage 3.392V
5V Voltage 4.945V
12V Voltage 12.352V

Oh and i forgot to add, i have two intake fans in the front and three output fans (one on topis the only 180mm, others are all 120mm) one on the back and one on the side basically sitting over the processor. The PSU also has a big ass fan shooting air out the back and pulling from the inside of the case (two fans total for it). I have them all set to their highest settings.

And how do you adjust the GPU fan manually, I didnt see anything for this on the brick itself, unless it is something you do from the OS, but i would be willing to amp that up too if it will help, because yes, originally I did believe it was my GPU but i just dont know anymore and dont know how to diagnose this well. Keep in mind, this ONLY HAPPENS during game play, i ahve left my PC on for a week straight while DLing Torrents and such, not playing anything, just maybe doing school work and checking email, and it didnt shut off once.

Thanks again

With your 15 million fans I doubt heat is the problem. Try to get another PSU for testing. Just leaving it on for a week stright is nearly letting it just sit and idle, and more than likely your CPU has it's cool'n'quiet type thing having it run slower on top of it. That is not a very power intensive thing (and also therefore not very heat intensive)

You could probably cause it to happen if power is the problem by running both prime95 and furmark concurrently. If you want you could use SpeedFan to see temps while it's still up.

Okay, i DLed Speed fan and installed it first, i have yet to try prime95 and furmark yet, but will as soon as I am done with this. The GPU reading is at 51C and there is a little flame symbol next to GPU, so I am already assuming my GPU is running hot. Temp 1,2,3 are running at 31C, 32C, and -128C, respectively. I dont know what these values are supposed to be, but Core is running at 35C and I am assuming this is my CPU or a combined avg of my CPU's cores. If anyone know what the other three Temps represent that would be nice to know, becasue i wnt to know what is running like an iceberg inside my pc (-128C? WTF?)

Run OCCT and check the temperature / voltage graphs to look for anomalies.

http://www.ocbase.com/perestroika_en/index.php

I ran Furmark and my GPU temp according to Speedfan plateaued at 80C and stuck between 79-80 during the stability test at 1680X1050 and MSAA 8x. It didnt really affect my Proc emp much, so I ran Prime95 on the third test option from the top, the one that uses lots of memory and it maxed all 4 core usages and raised my core temp to 55C while my GPU temp was around 79C, but my machine didnt shut off. Ive read that GPUs run as hot as 90C ( seems ridiculous) and i know from talking to someone at AMD about my proc's temp it should not run hotter than 62C (55C was pushing it for me).

That's all i have so far, anything else? Ill try OCCT and get back to you guys

Well that tosses heat and power possibilities.

I guess if that isn't it maybe it's a windows/driver issue.

i think ill try a new PSU or see if i can replace mine. Alos, should my GPU be running that hot at load? its avg 75C while im playing righ now, and steady there

I experience the same problem it seems

Hello,
I've got a decent system with
- 2 GTX 260 in SLI
- Asus M4N82 MB
- CoolMax 850W power supply
- CoolerMaster HAF case (lots of extra fans)
- AMD x3 720 OC 3.6GHz, ThermalRight True 120 + 2 fans

This is what I see:
- Earlier I had a 1920 display with one 260=no problem
- I had to replace my display to a 1680x1050. Everything on max of course. No problems
- I added a second 260, no SLI = no problem
- I replaced the display with a 1920x1080

Now i experience the following:
- ModernWarfare 2: once in a while, in the middle in the game, the computer abruptly shuts off
- Installed crysis warhead, settings tuned up quite a bit. Same thing, but much more often; within a couple of minutes the machine just shuts down.

This happens only during gaming, otherwise the machine and OC is very stable; verified with prime95 24hrs.
Also, heat shouldn't be a problem with my highly airy case. CPU temp barely reach 40C during max load.

My gut feeling is that now when running 1920 the graphics is working hard and pulling a lot of current and the PS cannot deliver. But on the other hand I've got 850 W!

Thanks in advance for any insight and continued discussion on this topic

Replying to myself...

I posted the same question to slizone forum at nvidia.com, and a kind soul replied the following. Obviously the reply pertains to my system, but as long as on has determined that there are no heat issues ( as discussed in other postings on this thread), this assessment could be true for other systems as well. Especially if it ONLY happens during heavy gaming for which high amp draw is likely

FROM 'Goddess84' @ slizone:

110% definitely a PSU issue.

Buying a cheap brand (non-name brand) is never a good idea on power supplies. Chances are your rails are not enough amperage for SLIed GTX 260s, and the PSU is shutting the system down to prevent damage to components, otherwise you'd probably have fried video cards by now.

I've had the exact same issue before, and it was my power supply.

Get a single-rail PSU from Silverstone, PC Power & Cooling, or Ultra (X3 or X4 line only) that's at least 800W and I guarantee you you won't have any of the problems you're having now.

It's not that your PSU doesn't supply enough Wattage, it's that it doesn't have enough amps to properly power your system under high stress. Easiest way to correct that is to get a single-rail PSU because it has all it's amperage on a single rail, which makes it nearly impossible to "not have enough amperage" on something.

I have an Ultra X3 800... so what now?

cpuid
gpuz
It could be a couple of things;

-Install cpuid and gpuz to check the temps while the game is running
-Also I think it could be the PSU from your description. Sounds like it is. Have it checked out.

To merco


Try uninstalling your video drivers and them reinstalling them. I OC as well and find that periodically my video drivers become corrupted. I think my OC has something to do with this thou it all checks out well with all the current tests available.

Also while playing disconnect from the internet and shut off your A/V program. Sometimes during game play your A/V will decide to do a system scan which could cause your symptoms.

Good luck  

I tried re-installing my video driver and I still got a shutdown within 24hrs. Previously I had a new Ultra x3 850 shipping to swap out my old 800watt version and it arrived two days ago and i installed it. played last night from about 7pm to 3am and no problems yet. I hope this is the fix, if not I am going to see if i can RMA my video card with BFG.

This is what I would suggest if the PSU and heat aren't causing it. I've seen antivirus programs increasingly cause problems when they a) update themselves when you're playing a game, b) decide to start a scan or other background task while you're in a game, or c) open a pop-up bubble to let you know about either of those things. If the a/v program tries to access one of the same resources the game's using, it can cause a conflict and crash you out of the game or hang the system, sometimes with an error message, sometimes not. Haven't heard of it shutting down a system entirely, though, but I suppose anything's possible.

I run Avast, but it's def not the AV cause it's done it while that was off too. I'm slowly but surely narrowing this down