Nearly all my PC games are crashing!

[PwncakesNRofls]

Hello people of Tom's Hardware, I am need of your assistance. My more PC intensive games are crashing due to an unknown reason. These are the games that will crash in order of how often they crash


1. Shogun Total War 2 [note: I only have the Fall of the samurai DLC not the full game]

2. Skyrim

3. Empire Total War

4. Civilization V


There are two games that I play that do not crash. They are Minecraft and Medieval Total War 2. I have had this problem ever since I got my computer, which was 4 months ago. I have tried a countless number of things software-wise to fix this dilemma and I am wondering if it might be my hardware, particularly my power supply. Here is a list all the components that make up my system.


Graphics card- EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti SuperClocked 1GB GDDR5

CPU- AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition AM3 CPU

RAM- Patriot Gamer 2 4GB DDR3 PC10666 1333MHz, and CRUCIAL 8GB KIT (4GBX2) DDR3 1333 MT/S

Motherboard- ASUS M5A97 AMD 970 Socket AM3+ Motherboard

Hard drive- WD Caviar Blue 500GB SATA HD 7200/16MB/SATA-6G

Disk drive- Sony Optiarc 24X DVDRW SATA OEM

Case- Cooler Master Elite 430 Mid Tower ATX Case

CPU Heatsink/fan- Cooler Master V6 GT Multi-Socket CPU Cooler


So that's my predicament, I would very much appreciate some wisdom on what to do to fix this.


P.S. I really didn't know which forum to put this under so sorry about that...

 

[Guest]

and your PSU is?

 

[PwncakesNRofls]

haha wow sorry its a Cooler Master Elite Series 460W Power Supply

 

[Guest]

haha wow sorry its a Cooler Master Elite Series 460W Power Supply

ding ding ding ding!
Cooler Master Elite Power 460 W Power Supply Review

Cooler Master Elite Power 460 W is simply an Elite Power 400 W with a new label. The two units are absolutely the same (the only component that was upgraded was the rectifying bride, but this change didn’t make any difference in performance). This is simply unbelievable. We wouldn’t be surprised to see this kind of thing still happening in China, but here in the United States? C’mon…

Another example of false advertisement is the manufacturer listing over current protection (OCP) as a feature available on this power supply: inside the unit the space labeled “OCP control board” is empty.

This unit can’t deliver its labeled power – like Elite Power 400 W, it can only deliver up to 420 W. To make things worse, this unit is sold for USD 10 more than Elite Power 400 W – an extra 33% profit for Cooler Master for counterfeiting their own power supplies.

granted you probably aren't hitting 400 watts with your set up but . .it could be close enough.

 

[PwncakesNRofls]

oh yes I have read that review before... I am thinking about getting the ULTRA LSP750 750W. Is that a good option PSU? Also here is a link to it and thanks for the reply!

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3276567

 

[zakattak80]

yeah, theres about a 99.9 percent chance of it being the PSU. if it wasn't doing this before recently, it's probably your house or living quarters temperatures rising and is causing you system to run hotter. more heat causes your system to pull more power off the wall

 

[PwncakesNRofls]

Well Now that I know that it is the problem I would like to know if a Ultra LSP 750W power supply would be a good replacement and If it would be good I were to do a dual Radeon HD 6850 set-up in the future?

 

[Guest]

you really don't need a 750 watt psu unless you have a heavy sli or crossfire configuration. a quality 500-550 watts is plenty for just about any single card set up.

this is my absolute favorite for a great price:
SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W $59.99

 

[Guest]

Well Now that I know that it is the problem I would like to know if a Ultra LSP 750W power supply would be a good replacement and If it would be good I were to do a dual Radeon HD 6850 set-up in the future?

you can use that but its also not a great PSU.
Radeon HD 6850 & 6870 CrossfireX review
Measured power consumption two 6850 cards

System in IDLE = 186W
System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 393W
Difference (GPU load) = 207 W
Add average IDLE wattage x2 ~ 19W (ATI specified)
Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 245 Watts

you can still use the seasonic i suggested.

edit: i posted the specs for a 6870 crossfire . .my bad.

 

[dudewitbow]

its a good rule of thumb to search for a psu that is at LEAST certified.

 

[PwncakesNRofls]

Certified by who?

 

[Guest]

Certified by who?

80 PLUS

80 PLUS is an initiative to promote energy efficiency in computer power supply units (PSU). It certifies products that have more than 80% energy efficiency at 20%, 50% and 100% of rated load, and a power factor of 0.9 or greater at 100% load. That is, PSUs will waste 20% or less electric energy as heat at the specified load levels, thus reducing electricity use and bills compared to less efficient PSUs. Sometimes rebates are given for manufacturers who use 80 PLUS-certified PSUs.

also the more efficient a PSU is the cooler it will run, be more reliable and last longer.

 

[PwncakesNRofls]

Ok thanks guys I will finally be able to enjoy my games again! I will go with the SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W as a replacement.

 

[PwncakesNRofls]

Best answer selected by PwncakesNRofls.

 

[ricardois]

for that system you don't need anything better than this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

if you are thinking in SLI in the future or uprgading your Gpu to a 690 or something buy something better like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021&Tpk=corsair%20750