Experiencing Crashes, CPU to Blame?

[welovekah]

Hello, I have been experiencing a number of sudden crashes lately (detailed below) and I am currently at a loss as to what component is the culprit. I understand a number of different hardware faults could be to blame here, so I would like to seek extra consultation to try and discover where the problem truly lies.

Hardware Information
■System Age: ~2 years
■Intel® Core™ i7-920 Processor
■ATI Radeon 4870
■Asus P6T Delux
■6 GB RAM (3x 2 GB) @ 534.5 MHz
■SilverStone ST-1000 Power Supply
■Running Windows 7

Problem Summary
Experiencing crashes that result in loss of video output to monitor, and all control from peripheral devices, followed by loss of audio several seconds later. Computer remains powered on.

Usually the crashes become more frequent if the computer is started back up again immediately after crashing. If left powered off overnight, can go ~2 hours without crash.

Crashes seem to occur more often during CPU-intensive activities, but after crashing one or two times without rest period, they begin to occur even during idle time, or even startup.

After installing and running SpeedFan, I believed that CPU overheating was the culprit, as both the CPU and Core temperatures displayed by SpeedFan were regularly entering warning levels. However, after applying new coolant to the CPU baseplate, resulting in significantly decreased temperatures, crashes still occur.

I then began running MemTest to try and discover if RAM faults were to blame, and experienced the same crashing issue while running MemTest. After a few tries, I was able to complete two passes of MemTest, with no errors flagged.

Troubleshooting Steps To-Date
■Backed up all the important data from my drives
■Ordered and applied QuickSilver coolant to CPU baseplate (resulted in a substantial decrease in CPU temperatures).
■Began running MemTest 86+ v4.20 to check for bad RAM. Ran two passes, no errors flagged.\
■Removed, identified, cleaned, and reconnected Power Supply.

Thank you for taking an interest in my crashing problem. If any more information needs to be added, please let me know and I will append it to the original post. Currently I'm trying to figure out what steps to take next in order to properly diagnose the problem.

 

[Deleted member 362816]

Simple check open up the case. Pull out the 4870 take a look at all of the caps to make sure none have broken open or are craked sounds like a video card issue anoter way if your mobo has onboard video enable that and run the computer and see if it crashes. also take a visal look at the baord to see if you see anything out of the normal. I would run a dish check program to test your hard drive for errors if there is a bad sector in the driver section this could cause issues to.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

You did not list your power supply. This sounds like a dying power supply to me. Do you have another you can test with?

 

[gamerk316]

1: Check PSU. Very likely culprit based on described symptons.
2: Check RAM, again, one stick at a time. You failed memtest [it crashed], which is very worrying. [CPU, Motherboard, RAM, or PSU could be to blame].
3: If a CPU was going, you'd know it. CPU's never kinda/sorta work; they either do or do not.

 

[welovekah]

You did not list your power supply. This sounds like a dying power supply to me. Do you have another you can test with?

Updated original post to include information on Power Supply (SilverStone ST-1000 Power Supply).

Unfortunately, I do not have a spare power supply to test with.

 

[welovekah]

Best answer selected by welovekah.