PC crashes in games

[1000FPS]

Hello all
Im having problems with a recent build, my PC always crashes in games (sometimes 5 minutes, sometimes an hour into the game). If Im not playing games, then it will never crash, Ive stress tested the CPU and graphics card for hours, and no crash. A few days ago I actually replaced my HD 5770 with a new GTX 460, thinking it was the graphics card, but the same thing happens. Ive updated the bios, tried different drivers, ran memtest (no errors), underclocked my Phenom II x3 720 from 3.4GHz to stock (2.8), and still no luck. I never have a BSOD, and after the crash I can always get back into windows by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del. But after the crash, the computer is very unstable until I reboot. Temperatures are fine (CPU is 40 under load, graphics card is 60 under load)

Specs:

ASUS M4A78L-M motherboard
Phenom II x3 720 (did have it overclocked to 3.4, but brought it back down to stock)
4GB Corsair DDR2 800MHz ram
New Zotac GTX 460 768MB version
Thermaltake toughpower 650w PSU
Two year old Seagate 250GB Hdd
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

Please help because this is really annoying me, especially since I went out and bought a new GPU, only to discover that the problem was not solved.

Thanks

 

[1000FPS]

small bump!

 

[capt_taco]

What specific model of Corsair DDR2, and is it 2x2GB or 4x1GB? RAM problems (usually not enough voltage) are the most common cause of random freezing, though more often than not it causes a BSOD too. Not always, though.

Anyway, if your memory takes 2.1V and the motherboard is supplying the default 1.8V (which most DDR2 boards do), that's likely your problem and you need to fix that setting in the BIOS. It could also be happening if you have 4 sticks of 1.8V RAM; sometimes filling all 4 slots causes you to have to overvolt it slightly (maybe 0.05V) to get it stable.

Other than that, it could also be the power supply deciding it doesn't want to work. Does it happen at a specific point within any game? If so, there's a decent chance that your GPU is getting particularly stressed and sucking up a lot of wattage at that point, and the PSU can't handle it. Though, just as RAM issues usually cause a BSOD, that problem with the PSU would usually cause the machine to restart.

 

[1000FPS]

Thanks for the reply, its 2x2GB, and it only needs 1.8V, so I dont think thats the problem. I cant actually remember the model off the top of my head but its CM2x2048 or whatever corsair calls it. And no, the crash can happen at any time in a selection of games. It will never crash in a less graphically intensive game like Trackmania nations. It mostly crashes in Assassins Creed 2 and Dirt 2 (I havent yet tried it in Crysis). Yeah I did begin to wonder if it was a PSU problem, but if it is, why does it not crash in ATItool or in Trackmania?

 

[1000FPS]

Another bump!

 

[1000FPS]

Anyone?

 

[1000FPS]

Ok I did a noob mistake I thought I had put my CPU back at stock clocks but when I looked in Windows it still said it was at 3.4GHz. When I was returning it to stock I must have accidentally not saved the Bios options. So now it really is back at stock clocks and Im just playing a load of Dirt 2 to see if it crashes. Been playing for 15 minutes... So far so good...

 

[guanyu210379]

Have RAM freq, voltage, and latency the stable setting?
Proc bus freq, multiplier, and voltage?
PCIe freq?
Temperature of components? Specially the proc.
Enough juice (power) for the OC?

Try Prim95 or SuperPI or any other torture software and run it "long enough" to test the stability!

 

[1000FPS]

Have RAM freq, voltage, and latency the stable setting?
Proc bus freq, multiplier, and voltage?
PCIe freq?
Temperature of components? Specially the proc.
Enough juice (power) for the OC?

Try Prim95 or SuperPI or any other torture software and run it "long enough" to test the stability!

Yeah all the settings are right, the temperature is very good, and Ive been running Everest torture test for hours and no errors

 

[guanyu210379]

Hmmm...crashes still appear or are they gone now? Under OC I mean.

 

[1000FPS]

Hmmm...crashes still appear or are they gone now? Under OC I mean.

Yay! Ive been playing Dirt 2 for 2 hours now at stock CPU settings, and no crash so it looks like its stable. But I wonder why it crashes under such a smallish overclock. I should be able to go to at least 3.6 before it comes unstable. I had a fair amount of voltage too

 

[guanyu210379]

Try different settings :
Try different RAM freq and/or latency time.
Try different multiplication and freq.
Or perhaps you are unlucky, how high you can OC your system depends also with your proc nature, sometimes you can not go high enough because the proc you have is simply not stable enough for that frequency.

 

[1000FPS]

Try different settings :
Try different RAM freq and/or latency time.
Try different multiplication and freq.
Or perhaps you are unlucky, how high you can OC your system depends also with your proc nature, sometimes you can not go high enough because the proc you have is simply not stable enough for that frequency.

My motherboard is pretty cheap so it may just be that my motherboard is not good at overclocking

 

[guanyu210379]

the micro ATX stuff could also be the problem.