Computer crashes after few hours of gaming

[Temescal]

I just built a new pc a few days ago. Specs are:

CPU: i5 2500k
GPU: Geforce TTX 560Ti
Ram: 8gb Corsair DDR3 1600 (2 sticks)
PSU: Rosewill RG630
Mobo: Asus P8Z680-V
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate

I was thrilled to get it working and was playing skyrim on it. First day played a few hours and everything was fine.

Second day, installed service pack 1. After a few hours in skyrim (~3) game would freeze and repeating sound in the background. Cannot access task manager or anything. Have to hard reset computer. This happens in Civ 5 as well anywhere between 1-3 hours of playing. BIOS and intel chipset were updated to latest version. GPU driver updated to latest version,

I've been searching all over for how to resolve the issue. I downloaded a hotfix for SP1 for Win7 as there was a compatibility issue for some users experiencing the same problem. Didn't work. Tested CPU and GPU using OCCT. Seemed fine. RAM seems fine. I uninstalled all of the utility programs that came with the mobo. This seemed to work, but then after about 3 hours of skyrim, same problem. I downloaded OCCT and did a PSU test and after a few minutes the computer froze up. Had to reset it. Tried again. After a few minutes the computer shut off and rebooted. This would lead me to believe its a PSU issue, except 1) the test is known to be very demanding (only forum post I found was some guy who crashed his 1200W PSU) and 2) my PSU is 630W and from a calculator for my specs I only need about 400W. I'm really not sure what the issue is, if it's hardware end or software compatibility issues. If anyone has any insight into this I'd be incredibly thankful!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The OCCT PSU test has been known to kill quite a few less than premium PSU's and the Rosewill certainly fits that category. You said you completed the OCCT GPU and CPU tests..... how long ? What were temps ? What were voltages ?

What is BSOD message if you getting ? What does event viewer say happened ?

Did you run memtest86+ overnight ?

 

[COLGeek]

Heat and/or power cause these issues. You are on the right track. How are your system temps at idle and under load? Are you using a new PSU or did you recycle an older one?

 

[DelroyMonjo]

Is your heatsink/fan properly seated? Are you using the stock Intel fan or an aftermarket HSF? Those press in retainers for the stock HSF can be tricky. Are you doing any overclocking? Next time this happens, touch your heatsink to gauge how hot it feels.

 

[DelroyMonjo]

Jack, at least look at a review of that PSU before claiming it's suspect. It passed the 'sniff test' here: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Rosewill-Green-Series-630-W-RG630-S12-Power-Supply-Review/881/1
The OP is hardly pushing the PSU to it's limit with his current hardware.

 

[jdenova007]

"After a few hours in skyrim (~3) game would freeze and repeating sound in the background" - I had this exact issue when playing BFBC2, my onboard sound card was not compatible with the game. I had to add a sound card to one of my PCI slots, and disable my onboard sound. Issue resolved, no more sound loop requiring hard shut down. Verify its not your sound card, could be that simple.

 

[Temescal]

The OCCT PSU test has been known to kill quite a few less than premium PSU's and the Rosewill certainly fits that category. You said you completed the OCCT GPU and CPU tests..... how long ? What were temps ? What were voltages ?

What is BSOD message if you getting ? What does event viewer say happened ?

Did you run memtest86+ overnight ?

GPU test was for 4 hours. CPU test was only about 30 min. Temperatures never reached higher than 54 C though. There was no BSOD. Just Screen freeze, sound in a repeat loop.

 

[Temescal]

Is your heatsink/fan properly seated? Are you using the stock Intel fan or an aftermarket HSF? Those press in retainers for the stock HSF can be tricky. Are you doing any overclocking? Next time this happens, touch your heatsink to gauge how hot it feels.

I'm not using the stock fan nor the stock thermal paste. Bought a cooler master fan as well as arctic silver 5 thermal paste. No OCing at all. I've never seen temperatures go over 54ish C even running OC tests.

 

[Temescal]

"After a few hours in skyrim (~3) game would freeze and repeating sound in the background" - I had this exact issue when playing BFBC2, my onboard sound card was not compatible with the game. I had to add a sound card to one of my PCI slots, and disable my onboard sound. Issue resolved, no more sound loop requiring hard shut down. Verify its not your sound card, could be that simple.

Looks like this could be the issue. When I updated my nvidia GPU's drivers it installed some sound drivers. Since I don't use HDMI and can't access the GPU's sound, I disabled these and updated my mobo sound driver. It appears to be a bit more stable now and every so often I hear what sounds like the beginning of a sound loop freeze, only to have the sound stabilize.

 

[Temescal]

Best answer selected by Temescal.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey