New gaming box shuts down ramdomly while playing.
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
Question for a gaming GURU!
I just got done building a new system for my home use. I'm an IT guy and built several systems in the past, but I usually left games for the Xbox 360 or PS3 so this I'd say is my first gaming box. With that said I needed my new system to be fast, reliable, and somewhat capable of playing games. The typical use for this system is mainly general office nonsense, multiple virtual machines (training), and now some gaming here-and-there.
Here's the Spec's:
* AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor
* ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard
* OCZ AMD Black Edition 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Memory
* CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC
* XFX GS250XZDFU GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
* 1 150GB Western Digital Raptor 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive
* 2 1TB Hitichi 7200RPM SATA Hard Drives
* 1 LG SATA DVD-CD DL Burner
* Windows 7 Enterprise x64
Initially, I was going to go with an ATI card for the graphics but from past experiences and some blogs I read leaned me to go with the nVidia for more stability through their drivers. Also, I will never likely use the Crossfire or SLI technology so going with an nVidia card on the Crossfire only mobo wasn't a big deal to me.
Ok, here we go. I first built my new system using my existing video card (nVidia Quadro FX 3450) tested and ran it for a couple weeks with zero problems. (Typically, after I put together a new system I test them for a day with memtest86, another day with Prime95, the finally I'll run Prime95 and GPUtool for a couple hours while monitoring the tempatures. --All good!) Also, when I fired-up COD MW2 with the old nVidia Quadro FX 3450 video card I didn't have any problems asides the slow frame rates (100% stable).
Now here's the kicker. I bought and installed the new nVidia Geforce GTS 250 card, used the Windows 7 drivers from MS, and fired-up COD MW2 on the highest settings and everything seemed to work excellent; however, after five minutes or so my computer went dead with some beeping codes (I think 1 long and 3 short) than it restarted (without the blue screen of death). Finally, I tried the latest video driver from nVidia, tried disconnecting the 2nd and 3rd hard drives, (while continuously monitoring the CPU/GPU temperatures which all seemed good), tried running COD MW2 with the lowest possible settings and still the same thing --BAM! SHUTDOWN!!
My question is where do I go from here? Bad video card or GPU over heating (it seemed to stay under 70C)? Insufficient power supply or AMPs (this PSU is rated +12V@41A)? Memory issues (didn't have problems with old video card)? --I'm clueless please help!
Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
I just got done building a new system for my home use. I'm an IT guy and built several systems in the past, but I usually left games for the Xbox 360 or PS3 so this I'd say is my first gaming box. With that said I needed my new system to be fast, reliable, and somewhat capable of playing games. The typical use for this system is mainly general office nonsense, multiple virtual machines (training), and now some gaming here-and-there.
Here's the Spec's:
* AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor
* ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard
* OCZ AMD Black Edition 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Memory
* CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC
* XFX GS250XZDFU GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
* 1 150GB Western Digital Raptor 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive
* 2 1TB Hitichi 7200RPM SATA Hard Drives
* 1 LG SATA DVD-CD DL Burner
* Windows 7 Enterprise x64
Initially, I was going to go with an ATI card for the graphics but from past experiences and some blogs I read leaned me to go with the nVidia for more stability through their drivers. Also, I will never likely use the Crossfire or SLI technology so going with an nVidia card on the Crossfire only mobo wasn't a big deal to me.
Ok, here we go. I first built my new system using my existing video card (nVidia Quadro FX 3450) tested and ran it for a couple weeks with zero problems. (Typically, after I put together a new system I test them for a day with memtest86, another day with Prime95, the finally I'll run Prime95 and GPUtool for a couple hours while monitoring the tempatures. --All good!) Also, when I fired-up COD MW2 with the old nVidia Quadro FX 3450 video card I didn't have any problems asides the slow frame rates (100% stable).
Now here's the kicker. I bought and installed the new nVidia Geforce GTS 250 card, used the Windows 7 drivers from MS, and fired-up COD MW2 on the highest settings and everything seemed to work excellent; however, after five minutes or so my computer went dead with some beeping codes (I think 1 long and 3 short) than it restarted (without the blue screen of death). Finally, I tried the latest video driver from nVidia, tried disconnecting the 2nd and 3rd hard drives, (while continuously monitoring the CPU/GPU temperatures which all seemed good), tried running COD MW2 with the lowest possible settings and still the same thing --BAM! SHUTDOWN!!
My question is where do I go from here? Bad video card or GPU over heating (it seemed to stay under 70C)? Insufficient power supply or AMPs (this PSU is rated +12V@41A)? Memory issues (didn't have problems with old video card)? --I'm clueless please help!
Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
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Best solution
Considering you level of technical knowledge, and your obviously attentive approach to system stability, I would have to guess at a bad card. Your PSU is definitely powerful enough (and a good quality brand) so at this point RMA of the card might be your best option.
BTW: The chatter on forums and message boards about chronic ATI driver problems is an old myth. In my experienceThe only time ATI drivers cause significant frustration is when an ATI card is replacing an Nvidia card, and the drivers aren't properly cleaned out. The same cannot be said for replacing an ATI card with an Nvidia product. Food for thought![:D]( ":D")
BTW: The chatter on forums and message boards about chronic ATI driver problems is an old myth. In my experienceThe only time ATI drivers cause significant frustration is when an ATI card is replacing an Nvidia card, and the drivers aren't properly cleaned out. The same cannot be said for replacing an ATI card with an Nvidia product. Food for thought
JofaMang said:
Considering you level of technical knowledge, and your obviously attentive approach to system stability, I would have to guess at a bad card. Your PSU is definitely powerful enough (and a good quality brand) so at this point RMA of the card might be your best option.BTW: The chatter on forums and message boards about chronic ATI driver problems is an old myth. In my experienceThe only time ATI drivers cause significant frustration is when an ATI card is replacing an Nvidia card, and the drivers aren't properly cleaned out. The same cannot be said for replacing an ATI card with an Nvidia product. Food for thought
Hehe...your monkeys proved to be faster. Didn't even bother to finish my reply because you covered everything I wanted to say.
JofaMang said:
Considering you level of technical knowledge, and your obviously attentive approach to system stability, I would have to guess at a bad card. Your PSU is definitely powerful enough (and a good quality brand) so at this point RMA of the card might be your best option.BTW: The chatter on forums and message boards about chronic ATI driver problems is an old myth. In my experienceThe only time ATI drivers cause significant frustration is when an ATI card is replacing an Nvidia card, and the drivers aren't properly cleaned out. The same cannot be said for replacing an ATI card with an Nvidia product. Food for thought
Thanks for the help! I'll give the RMA thing a try and let you know the results.
I wish I new the ATI myth beforehand. I've dealt with ATI problems in an engineering enviroment (first-hand) and know Quadro's are the only reliable one's for 3D CAD design (hence my original Quadro video card) Next time I'll dump my thoughts to the forums before I make a guess when it comes to gaming. Good info!
Thanks again!
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I had a similar problem but with a much simpler system. My problem turned out to be overheating.
Have a look inside whilst the pc is running and check the fan is running properly. Have a look at the heat sink and check it isnt clogged in any way, dust or hair, if so clean it out. And far simpler, this is a good test. Take both the sides away from your case, run the game and see if theres a difference. It will be a lot cooler with sides off and if it runs fine its deff an overheating problem.
Also make sure your pc isnt against a wall which might impede the air flow into the system.
Have a look inside whilst the pc is running and check the fan is running properly. Have a look at the heat sink and check it isnt clogged in any way, dust or hair, if so clean it out. And far simpler, this is a good test. Take both the sides away from your case, run the game and see if theres a difference. It will be a lot cooler with sides off and if it runs fine its deff an overheating problem.
Also make sure your pc isnt against a wall which might impede the air flow into the system.
JofaMang said:
Considering you level of technical knowledge, and your obviously attentive approach to system stability, I would have to guess at a bad card. Your PSU is definitely powerful enough (and a good quality brand) so at this point RMA of the card might be your best option.BTW: The chatter on forums and message boards about chronic ATI driver problems is an old myth. In my experienceThe only time ATI drivers cause significant frustration is when an ATI card is replacing an Nvidia card, and the drivers aren't properly cleaned out. The same cannot be said for replacing an ATI card with an Nvidia product. Food for thought
Alright, apparently I think this video card is over-heating. I found this useful GPU tool called FurMark , ran it, and everytime the GPU temperature hit 80-81 Celsius my pc shutdown.
Now here's my new questions... I already issued the RMA and am planning on shipping it back to NewEgg this Monday. Do you think it is still a defective card or do I need more cooling because NewEgg is just going to ship me the same one? Right now I have one 120mm (exhaust fan) and one 90mm intake fan. This thing is actually in my kitchen so if I need to turn this thing into a wind tunnel I think the wifey is going to kill me. Do I have any other options?
Also, I don't think the GPU fan kicks in 100% (it progressively gets faster as the temp goes up but right when I turn on the computer I can tell the fans RPM's are much higher for a few seconds) --is there a good free program to override the GPU fan? I currently use SpeedFan for my mobo fans and cpu but it doesn't support the GPU fan only the temperature.
Finally, if I'm SOL on this card I was going to give an ATI a try instead. What would you recommend for about $150?
Thanks for the help!
JofaMang said:
Considering you level of technical knowledge, and your obviously attentive approach to system stability, I would have to guess at a bad card. Your PSU is definitely powerful enough (and a good quality brand) so at this point RMA of the card might be your best option.BTW: The chatter on forums and message boards about chronic ATI driver problems is an old myth. In my experienceThe only time ATI drivers cause significant frustration is when an ATI card is replacing an Nvidia card, and the drivers aren't properly cleaned out. The same cannot be said for replacing an ATI card with an Nvidia product. Food for thought
Hey, just wanted to let you know that I got the new (RMAed) card today and everything is working great! Next go-around I'll have to take your advice on the ATI info as well. Thanks for your help!
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