Random crashes

[Salmonfishy]

my rig:
AMD FX 6100 six core 3.3 GHz
8.00 GB ram(4x2), 1333, 1.5V
Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit
Nvidia GTX 660 SC edition
600W PSU
ASUS M5A78L-MLX plus

soon i plan to upgrade to an i5 3570k and an asus sabertooth Z77.

anyway, when i play graphically intensive games (GTA4 with ENB, Hit-man absolution, Tomb Raider, etc..) my PC crashes, boots to the "windows has encountered an error" screen, asking if i want to boot normally or safe modes. no BSOD, it restarts as if i pressed the reset button.

any ideas? im thinking either PSU isn't powerful enough, or something to do with my micro atx, or possibly a cpu overheating issue. (not sure though, sometimes it restarts quickly after i get into the game (5-10 mins) or like 30 min to 2 hours into it.

 

[tiny voices]

What brand is the PSU. What are your CPU and GPU temps?

 

[Salmonfishy]

the PSU is diablotek
the gpu never gets above 70C and i havent clecked the cpu temps honestly, but ill game for awhile and check it right now

 

[tiny voices]

Diablotek is AWFUL. That unit likely makes less than 400w. I would guess this is the issue.

Get a 500w unit from Antec, XFX, Corsair, Seasonic.

 

[Salmonfishy]

haha. thanks.

 

[tiny voices]

No problem. Stick with the brands I listed and you will be good.

 

[Salmonfishy]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027
so something like this? im on a budget also, so im trying to stay fairly cheap

 

[tiny voices]

Yeah, should be just fine.

 

[Salmonfishy]

i played GTA4 with modded graphics for 10 minutes.
GPU: 67C
CPU: 90C.
i looked it up and my cpu's max operating temp is supposed to be 75C.
im going to buy the new motherboard and cpu first, but should i go ahead and save up for a new psu even if the problem doesn't persist? also, if a cpu overheats would that cause it to boot to the windows error screen? or would it have booted normally? this is my first rig, so im not to familiar. my brother got me hooked, but he isnt around for assistance.

 

[tiny voices]

90c is pretty hot. Did you apply the thermal paste correctly and properly install the heatsink?

 

[Salmonfishy]

yeah, i have mediocre case that gets terrible air flow, at least without the optional 3 other fans. im getting them when i order my new stuff in about 3 weeks. o i might order them sooner

 

[tiny voices]

That shouldn't really affect the CPU much though. You should check the heatsink and reapply thermal paste.

 

[Salmonfishy]

ill see.

 

[Salmonfishy]

off topic, but is there any cheaper motherboard you would recomend for my setup? i think the saber tooth is a little to extreme. or at least i dont feel like i need a 230 dollar motherboard.

 

[tiny voices]

Get any $100 AM3+ motherboard.

 

[Salmonfishy]

im switching to intel though, lol.

 

[tiny voices]

What CPU are you going with?

 

[Salmonfishy]

i5 3570k ivy bridge 3.4 GHz. for sure.

 

[tiny voices]

Get a z77 motherboard for around $120. The ASRock Extreme 4 is amazing performance for value

 

[Salmonfishy]

ill get it then, motherboards are my weak zone haha. thanks.

 

[PanicMaster85]

i have the extreme 6 its amazing i can overclock like no other and it has awesome tools/accessories

 

[Salmonfishy]

i haven't cared enough to fix my problem and just decided not to game much until the switch, but im kind of confused.
speed fan says my cpu is idling at 63C, and says Temp1 is also 63C. (there always the same temp, no matter what temp it is)
then i look at hwmonitor, and it says cpu is 45C, and has TMPIN0 reading 63C. why is speedfan showing cpu is a 63C while hwmonitor is showing something else as 63C and not the cpu? i think im missing something here..


Also all the times that my PC rebooted, is there a chance that it hurt any of my other hardware?

 

[PanicMaster85]

no the reboots will not hurt your hardware... the reason it is rebooting is possibly because your computer is trying to stop it from getting hurt


what do you mean by the way with it showing something else

 

[Salmonfishy]

I thought so, just making sure I didn't hurt my 660, haha. Anyway, speedfan was showing my CPU at 63C at idle, while at the same time, HWmonitor was showing the cpu to be 45C idle, but "TIMPIN1" to be at 63C.

 

[PanicMaster85]

download cpu temp
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

what ever this gives you, whether it be high or low then go off of that as your final tmep