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Another shutdown when gaming

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My computer has been working well for about 4 years no problems, about 2 years ago upgraded graphics card to ATI Raedon HD 4550 and have played happily on it ever since. Newer games have come out and card seemed to be ok and used to play PES 2009 and 2010 ok, but last night the computer shut itself off. Also tried to play Just Cause 2, but this only last 5 mins before computer shut itself off. Having read some of your other posts, I downloaded Furmark and at the start my graphics card temp was 92C, then went up to 119C in about 4 mins before the computer shut itself off.

I must be really thick, but what does this mean? do i need a new graphics card, new PSU?

System : Dell Inspiron 530s.
Vista SP2
Dual Core E6750 2.66GHZ
Power supply 120W
Graphics ATI Raedon HD4550

More about : shutdown gaming

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CPUs Master
Graphics card Master

120W PSU? Really? If that is indeed true then i would definitely swap that PSU as its likely the source of your problem. If your system takes a regular PS2 style PSU you can pick up a Corsair 400CX reasonably cheap, if it takes a long narrow one you can get the 300W Seasonic TFX unit.
CPUs Master
Graphics card Master

the DELL 530s came with a 250w or 275w continuous power supply. i forget which.

and he can't install the corsair 400w because the 530s is a slim line case.

if your card is hitting 119c then its shutting itself off. I suggest you clean it off of any dust, as well as the rest of your PC.

Sorry, yes the Dell has a 250W supply! not 120W.

Is the low PSU the reason why the PC shuts itself off, or it is the overheating of the graphics card and this should also be replaced, when the PSU is replaced?
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CPUs Master
Graphics card Master

the 4550 draws 20w, its the card overheating. The PSU is fine. frankly the 4550 is not a gaming card. clean off your card of any dust. it can add up quick and cause over-heating.

perhaps something like the low-profile ATI 5570 would be a better fit for you.

Thanks very much for your help, on looking at this graphics card, it says DDR3, will this work with my basic 530s? or do I need to check the RAM sticks I have?
CPUs Master
Graphics card Expert

The ram on a video card has nothing to do with compatibility on any other part of the system, has nothing to do with your system memory so don't worry about it.

A 5570 would also run circles around your current card in performance.

Do you know your current cpu temps? Have you ever cleaned your computer? Dust can fill up and literally cover heatsinks/fans inside a computer and make the cooling almost worthless, a simple clean can make a huge difference, you may not need to replace anything.
CPUs Master
Graphics card Expert

The ram on a video card has nothing to do with compatibility on any other part of the system, has nothing to do with your system memory so don't worry about it.

A 5570 would also run circles around your current card in performance.

Do you know your current cpu temps? Have you ever cleaned your computer? Dust can fill up and literally cover heatsinks/fans inside a computer and make the cooling almost worthless, a simple clean can make a huge difference, you may not need to replace anything.

Thanks guys for all your help. The last time I tested the CPU temp it was between 28C and 32C, do you have a link to a website, so I can review this now?

When the computer first shut itself off, I did take out and dust off surface dust the graphics card fan had collected, I will take this out and try and scrub this before I buy a replacement, as I said earlier it worked previously.

Should I also remove the heatsink fan over the processor and dust this off, someone said if you do this, the fan will make a lot of noise afterwards.

And finally how many watts will a new 5570 graphics card use?
CPUs Master
Graphics card Master

you can use HWmonitor to watch temps
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

use compressed air to clean off the heatsinks. you can get the cans at microcenter, walmart, best buy, etc.,

if you take the heatsink off the cpu, you need to re-apply thermal paste.

actually this 4650 will work better with your motherboard. all the 5570 are pci-e 2.1 and tend to cause issues with pci-e 1.0 x16 slots.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.techspot.com/review/245-ati-radeon-hd-5570/p...

Thanks again, is there a lot of difference between the 4550 and the 4650, i.e. will it play the latest games, or will I be back in the same position in 6 months time i.e. is it good for gaming?

Can you tell me what issues i would have with using the 5570.
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