Intel i5 2500k going bad on Games

[WolfgangVondi]

Hello all,

I got an 2500k (no overclock) on an ASUS P8Z68-VLX, 8GB 1600Mhz Gskill ram ( at 1.5v ), OCZ SSD Agility3 120 GB and an sumsung F3 1TB. all powered up by a Corsair Cx500. (win7 64bits)

I am using the intel HD3000 (on the I5 chip)

Everyting is fine, when i am working on windows, Office, illustrator, Photoshop, browsing the web.. but i have tried 3 games and all freeze my computer after an while.
(Games: skyrim, Mass effect3, company of heroes).

I already up date bios and intel drivers for the HD3000.

But the system still freezes while playing.. and theres a horrible sound on speakers when the system freezes. like loud static or something like that. some times takes 10m to freeze other times can take over an hour... And rarely i can play over 2hrs whit out freezing the system.

I have run some Mem tests and the return Ok.
I am thinking is something wrong whit the i5 CPU.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

thanks

 

[rds1220]

Your CPU is fine. Most of the time a CPU either works or it doesn't. The problem is your trying to play games with integrated graphics which really isn't that great. It's good for doing office work or fooling around on the Internet but it's not really great for gaming. For the best results it's probably a good idea to get a discreet video card.

 

[jsc]

You are going to need a separate video card if you want to play those games.

Pick your budget. Then, a good place to start:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fastest-graphics-card-radeon-geforce,3085.html

 

[geekapproved]

You need to buy a video card, I would recommnd HD6870/GTX560 minimum.

 

[fb39ca4]

Wait, those games are actually starting up and you can play them for a while on HD 3000 graphics?

 

[theuniquegamer]

What You are playing these (specially the 1st 2 games) with your integrated graphics !!!! Thats amazing. They are some gpu heavy games. Alright you need a $100 gpu to run the games at low to medium settings on hd and in lower resolution you can play it in almost high settings. So you need a 5670 or 6670 if you have a 500 watt psu no need to go for high end cards because they require a good pricy more than 550 watt psu.

 

[jaguarskx]

The Intel HD 3000 graphics core is not really that powerful. See below for some benchmarks.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/11

 

[rds1220]

I would look at something like the Nvidia GTX 550 or Radeon 5770 at the very least.

 

[gamerk316]

Everyone, slow down a second. Hard freezes are both rare and annoying to track down, since the system doesn't even get a chance to BSOD. I had an old system that did that; turned out to be a crappy northbridge of all things...I'm not automatically blaming the HD3000 for this, and am not convinced simply adding a GPU will make the problem go away...

From my experience, these issues are almost always RAM or Motherboard related.

 

[bgrt]

Considering the time it takes to crash is varied, it sounds like a heat issue or unstable PS. To check if it's heat, get something like Core Temp that warns you when your CPU temp goes over a certain threshold. Power supply issues is harder to diagnose. Best thing to do there is to swap it out with something else and try.

But the other people are also right, don't play Skyrim on Intel graphics, you're not doing yourself much favors there.

 

[WolfgangVondi]

Heys, thanks all for your comments.

bgrt i was thinking about heat too, that was like one of my first thougths. But the CPU temp never go above 51c .. and i think the i5 can do very well whit temp around the 70c or even a bit more. Normal my (when gaming), is around 40 - 49c

About the Power Suply, its brand new.. but ofc that dont stop that something mybe be wrong whit it. I am gona try borrow another to see if resolves the prbl.

Some one knows about a utility to test the motherboard? : )

By the way, yesterday i download and instaled the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool.. and the CPU passed all tests.

STill i must say that before i had updade the HD3000 drivers, the crashes freezed the pc and made the screen full of graphical trash.( a lot of green and some other colors) Now, after the vga up date drivers, the pc stell freeze, still makes an horrible sound.. but normal the image keeps prefectly clean. ( or sometimes whit only a bit of vga trash in a small spot of the screen.)

thats why i cant help but think that theres something wrong whit he hd3000 chip on the cpu.

And yes, i know, for gaming nothing better that a dedicated VGA Card, but the main job of the Pc is work, not play. I only discuvery the prbl, like one moth after i had the machine, when i tried an game for the firs time on the PC (skyrim). And the hd3000 realdy does a good job for casual playing. skyrim for exemple runs very well at 1280x800 whit medium quality.

Button line, i am not worry about the best gaming experience.. I am worried about having some fault component on my machine, and I cant tell what is it.

thanks all for helping and merry xmas

 

[RetiredChief]

To verify voltages (primarily the +12 V).
Use either the Program for the MB that allows you to monitor the +12 V (can also download HWMonitor which will display min and max).

Download and run Prime95. This will test both the cpu and memory. Monitor voltages (and cpu core temps). The +12 V should not drop below +11.4 (I use 11.6 V as a Min)

Download and run furmark. Run in a window, not full screen and in benchmark mode. It will only run for 60 sec (But you can change that). This will test IGP and again will load the +12 V.

Recommend a low cost dedicated GPU as indicated by other posters. A good quality 450 Watt PSU is good upto to 6870 class of GPUs. (My OC I5-2400k w/ATI 6870 only drws 350 Watts when loaded down (ie running furmark)

 

[WolfgangVondi]

Hey Retiredchief,

thanks very much for your post.

Finally, the Pc freezes in something besides when gaming.

I downloaded and Run Prime95, chosen the "blend" option (testes some of everything) and the PC freezes at the 7th test.

The temps did go much higher on this, that on gaming.. hit the 69c.

The +12V was pretty stable it dint go down the 12v ( I think this is a good PSU from corsair. its one whit the 80 plus certificated thing. Corsair CX500 builder series v2)

So... I guess the PSU is not to blame right?

 

[RetiredChief]

Sounds like the PSU is OK. Read one post where the +12 V looked good, but the problem was eccessive ripe and spikes on it, This is rare and only can be rulled out By either using an O'scope (Expensive and few have), or by tring a 2nd PSU.

The freeze runing Pime85 is often memory problems (Better check than Memtest86) Normally though Prime95 showes memory errors
. Also how did furmark do.

 

[WolfgangVondi]

Hello RetiredChief,

Well i have let memtest86+ run for almost 4h and all was Ok.
I have made a an USB Pen boot whit linux and run prime95 again, just to be certain that theres no drive prbls on Windows .. and prime95 on linux also crashed the system.

I dint run furmark.. after i see on ther website the burned gforce, i got scared something on my pc would catch fire running furmark. lol

well, i am now thinking that the only way to nail the prbl is for me to lend my CPU to a friend that has a identical system to my. and see if he will have prbls running (and testing) my CPU in his system.

I will keep the post up to date, letting every one know how that will go, in case the post can be helpufull for some one else whit similar prbl.