Help! My computer keeps restarting while playing high quality games!

[Blitzkrieg808]

I searched all over these forums and found many answers to the same problem. But I just wanted to confirm the problem with my computer. Whenever I play certain games such as BF3, Diablo 3, and Blacklight Retribution, my computer just randomly restarts itself. My computer even restarts while playing 3 hours of League of Legends, it gets so annoying sometimes because it randomly restarts while I'm in a game. Okay so here are the specs on my computer:

CPU: AMD FX-4100 3.60 GHz Quad-Core

Mobo: [CrossFireX] ASUS M5A97 AMD 970 Chipset

PSU: 700 Watts - XtremeGear SLI/CrossFireX

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 2GB

Memory : 16GB DDR3/1600MHz Dual channel memory (Kingston HyperX)

cooling: asetek 510 liquid cooling system 120MM radiator & Fan
default case fans
and on top of that I also have a regular fan to help with the cooling

I don't really want to spend a lot of money trying to fix this problem. I'm not quite sure what is really wrong with it. I've updated the graphic drivers to the latest ones and right now I plan to update my BIOS. Not really sure what that is for but people say to keep it up to date.

I am currently using MSI Afterburner to lower the performance of my system. It surprisingly works quite well but I am getting quite tired of it and want to be able to play games without it. I'm thinking that it is a PSU problem, not quite sure if 700w can support all the hardware and also not sure if it is a faulty psu. When playing the high quality games, the cooling fan in the psu begins to spin faster to help cool it down, I also have a seperate fan blowing onto it. But when it does this, I hear this sound that sounds like the fan is hitting a wire or something.

Any advice is much appreciated

 

[oxford373]

i read about FX processors problem can be fixed by bios update and 500w seasonic or FSP or any other good brand PSU is enough for all your hardware

 

[Blitzkrieg808]

Is 500W enough for it though? I just took a look at the Therlmaltake Power Supply Calculator and it recommends 765W.

 

[oxford373]

actually i didn't notice your power supply brand at the first time but i have never heard a bout it before may be your PSU is the problem.

 

[unksol]

Is 500W enough for it though? I just took a look at the Therlmaltake Power Supply Calculator and it recommends 765W.

that's because thermaltake makes horrible PSUs that can't deliver their rating. Never heard of your PSU but its probably not the best, but you're nowhere near load so its probably fine.

Download gpuz and enable the log to check your GPU.temps. This is THE most likely cause since you solved it by downclocking the card. Check that the gpu fan is working and your case airflow is good. make sure the fans are not fighting eachother.

What case do you have? how are your case fans setup? if the power supply is in the bottom is the intake facing the ground like it should?

you DONT want to blow heat from the CPU or GPU into the PSU. So your seperate fan worries me. no typical fan setup would have a fan pointed straight at the PSU and it shouldn't need the help.

Also run prime 95 for several hours to check CPU stability and temps

 

[Blitzkrieg808]

I have the NZXT M59 Gaming mid-tower case with see thru window

there is one case fan mounted on the side of the case pointed directly at the gpu
also, the gpu fan is indeed in working order

I will monitor the gpu temps with gpuz while playing the games.

Oh and what settings do I put into prime 95?

 

[unksol]

prime 95 has a torture test setting. it will Max out your CPU. one of the 3 options says maximum heat/power which is what I use for temps. make sure you watch the temps till they stabalize. they can shoot up REALLY quick if you have a cooling/heatsink problem so if it gets near your CPU limit shut it down.

 

[Blitzkrieg808]

How fast is really quick? 10 min? 20 min?

 

[unksol]

How fast is really quick? 10 min? 20 min?

a minute or 2 if the heatsinks not on right or there is a paste problem lol. if its just cooling you'll see it keep climbing at a pretty steady rate. if the cooling is fine it will level off pretty quick and stop climbing after 10 or 20 minutes or so and you can let it keep running to make sure its stable. worst case the CPU will throttle or shutdown if it gets to hot.

 

[Blitzkrieg808]

Okay so the test has been going on for about 20 minutes and the cpu is staying at a solid 35C

 

[unksol]

thats a really really good load temp. you can leave.it running to test stability and it might go up some more but if you aren't overclocking it shouldn't be an issue.

So check GPU temps. if they are OK see if you can find a PSU you can borrow for testing. those extreme gear PSUs are pretty bad, and they do lie about the wattage. it should have enough anyway but it might be running out of spec and making it unstable.

if you can't get a spare I'd just replace it. (but I would even if it wasn't the problem)

 

[Blitzkrieg808]

I found quite a bit of dust on the intake filter and removed it. Also I was wondering if laying the desktop on it's side would do anything