Full build info:
PSU - Rosewill HIVE 550w
Motherboard - ASRock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3
CPU - Intel Core i5-2500k /w default cooler
RAM - g.skill Ripjaws X 4gb x2
HDD - old Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM purchased in 2007
GPU - old EVGA Nvidia Geforce 8800GTS 320mb, purchased in 2007
Windows 7 x64
This is a largely brand new build, only 2-3 weeks old for most of the primary components; the mobo, CPU, PSU, and RAM are all brand new. I kept my old case (de-dusted in a big way before installing the new components of course), and HDD, and GPU, though I'm looking at updating that next as soon as I get the money to do so.
Every little while after playing various games; Starcraft 2, League of Legends, DOTA 2, and others, my PC will lock up. It's been slightly different in the specific things that have happened, but either my monitors both go blank (still have power to them, but no video), or the video on screen freezes and my computer locks up. One example was while playing LoL with a friend, and we were on mumble as my PC crashed right as a game finished. I was still able to talk to him on Mumble, but couldn't manage to do anything else as far as alt+F4 or open the task manager or alt tab. In that case and the previous ones where my monitors just lose video signal, my computer remains on, though I can't seem to get it to respond to anything. Also, in most of the times this has happened thus far, the sound stutters or just indefinitely repeats the same tone it played when it crashed.
I ran memtest86+ for about 10 hours overnight the other night, and the RAM checks out perfectly, 10 or 11 passes and no errors found. Real Temp and HWMonitor both say my CPU temperatures are about 38-45 degrees celsius while idle, and go up to 60-65ish under load. It puts my GPU temp at about 65-68 idle, and it goes up pretty significantly under load, up to 80-85 usually after I've been playing a game for 40+ minutes.
I'm guessing the problem here is almost certainly video card overheating, though I've had one person suggest it might be the CPU, so I'm not entirely sure. With no BSOD or error messages since it is most certainly a hardware issue, what might be a good way to find out for sure what the culprit is? It was suggested to me to try opening the side of my case and putting a fan beside it blowing in onto the video card. I've done this, and it does seem to keep the temps down a bit just for the sake of testing and seeing what the problem is, however I still had a crash again yesterday, while the temps were CPU cores @ 54-57c, and GPU @ 73c. I also ran Prime95 for over an hour last night, and my CPU package temperature never went above 70-71c, and never had an issue. Today I might try running it for a much more extended period, like 2-3 hours and see what happens, but I'm still unsure if the CPU is the problem factor here. In thinking about it, my HDD is also quite old, but I don't know if it would produce this kind of lockup, especially when it otherwise appears to work fine.
Any assistance as far as what might be a problem or what to look into more specifically would be a huge help. Even if there are any other things I should test or check during a crash if it would provide more info would be helpful, I'm at a loss here as far as nailing down what the problem is.
PSU - Rosewill HIVE 550w
Motherboard - ASRock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3
CPU - Intel Core i5-2500k /w default cooler
RAM - g.skill Ripjaws X 4gb x2
HDD - old Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM purchased in 2007
GPU - old EVGA Nvidia Geforce 8800GTS 320mb, purchased in 2007
Windows 7 x64
This is a largely brand new build, only 2-3 weeks old for most of the primary components; the mobo, CPU, PSU, and RAM are all brand new. I kept my old case (de-dusted in a big way before installing the new components of course), and HDD, and GPU, though I'm looking at updating that next as soon as I get the money to do so.
Every little while after playing various games; Starcraft 2, League of Legends, DOTA 2, and others, my PC will lock up. It's been slightly different in the specific things that have happened, but either my monitors both go blank (still have power to them, but no video), or the video on screen freezes and my computer locks up. One example was while playing LoL with a friend, and we were on mumble as my PC crashed right as a game finished. I was still able to talk to him on Mumble, but couldn't manage to do anything else as far as alt+F4 or open the task manager or alt tab. In that case and the previous ones where my monitors just lose video signal, my computer remains on, though I can't seem to get it to respond to anything. Also, in most of the times this has happened thus far, the sound stutters or just indefinitely repeats the same tone it played when it crashed.
I ran memtest86+ for about 10 hours overnight the other night, and the RAM checks out perfectly, 10 or 11 passes and no errors found. Real Temp and HWMonitor both say my CPU temperatures are about 38-45 degrees celsius while idle, and go up to 60-65ish under load. It puts my GPU temp at about 65-68 idle, and it goes up pretty significantly under load, up to 80-85 usually after I've been playing a game for 40+ minutes.
I'm guessing the problem here is almost certainly video card overheating, though I've had one person suggest it might be the CPU, so I'm not entirely sure. With no BSOD or error messages since it is most certainly a hardware issue, what might be a good way to find out for sure what the culprit is? It was suggested to me to try opening the side of my case and putting a fan beside it blowing in onto the video card. I've done this, and it does seem to keep the temps down a bit just for the sake of testing and seeing what the problem is, however I still had a crash again yesterday, while the temps were CPU cores @ 54-57c, and GPU @ 73c. I also ran Prime95 for over an hour last night, and my CPU package temperature never went above 70-71c, and never had an issue. Today I might try running it for a much more extended period, like 2-3 hours and see what happens, but I'm still unsure if the CPU is the problem factor here. In thinking about it, my HDD is also quite old, but I don't know if it would produce this kind of lockup, especially when it otherwise appears to work fine.
Any assistance as far as what might be a problem or what to look into more specifically would be a huge help. Even if there are any other things I should test or check during a crash if it would provide more info would be helpful, I'm at a loss here as far as nailing down what the problem is.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram