Restarting pc during games and pixel lines, power supply?

jordiramos

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Jun 25, 2011
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18,510
hey guys, first time poster, but ive been reading for years, great job

basically about 6 months ago i build myself a custom pc with new parts with no problems, specs below:

Quick facts

q6600 over clocked to 3.4ghz from stock 2.4ghz, all proper configerations and cooling systems

for about 2-3 months i could hear strange sparking sounds comming from the pack of the power supply where you plug in the lead, i discovered that the lead head had melted abit, i then changed the power lead. i still hear strange skarking sounds though at times, usually during gamming.

keyboard led's simulartaiously light up like a blink this is once in a while though

STOREY

about a week ago i was playing fifa 11 against the computer, i then minimized the screen to check facebook, i then noticed the desktop was covered in colums of white dots vertically positioned and of the same size, i dont have the screen shot for this but ive tried to recreate it on microsoft paint, the link is also below, anyway i restarted the pc and these colums of white dots apeared on the bios screen, i then wend to bed and in the morning i switched on my screen and the dots apeared like before, i then decided to swap the ram sticks around but this did nothing till i took out the 1 gb stick of kingston ram, when i switched on the pc everything looked fine again, i then decided to start playing fifa 11 again but after an amount of time (it varies) it crashes and restarts the computer with a warning, the pc has even frozen on me when im on the desk top doing nothing much, but this is rarer, i then have to manually restart. so anyway i decided to open up the power supply to check for dest, inside there was a build up of dust surrounding the live wires that connect to the power supply socket, so after cleaning the power supply i reconnected it and switched on the pc. i played fifa 11 for a good while but i felt that is was abit sluggish, i did feel a slight halt at times but im not totally sure, after a while though the pc kicked me outta fifa 11 but no restart! ive had no restarts in 3 days but the pc kicks me off the game with an error message at times. but today ive been kicked outta the game after 15 mins seem each time it seems so maybe things are getting worse. today i got kicked outta the game and a coloured line appeared across the screen, this pic is included below


pictures: (paint) http://oi52.tinypic.com/2dtur7r.jpg (real) http://oi53.tinypic.com/124zbdh.jpg

specs

cpu: q6600 intel core quad
motherboard: p5q turbo pro
ram: Crucial 1gb DDR2 RAM, 240 pin (667 MHz) and also a 2gb stick of the same brand and specifications (total 3gb)
graphics card: nvidia pny 8800gt
hard drive: maxtor ide 160gb
cd/dvd rom: sony 16x
power supply:storm 600w......................................very light i think its cheap
 

venjhammet

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Dec 4, 2009
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It's either the PSU or the GPU heating up. Have you tried checking the GPU temp during gameplay? What is your PSU brand you're using? It could be possible also that your PSU is not giving you enough power
 

jordiramos

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Jun 25, 2011
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18,510
hey venjhammet, thanks for the reply

ive checked all the temps, ive even tested my graphics card on ati tools, the max heat load is 75c which i think isn't bad

the brand of my power supply is called 'storm' i found a link to it on ebay, mines 600w version

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STORM-SILENT-500-WATT-ATX-PC-POWER-SUPPLY-UNIT-PSU-500W-/110497130048?pt=UK_Computing_PowerSupplies_EH&hash=item19ba246640

i was wondering if its possible for a power supply to start, degrading and giving less power, and if so why?