Computer crashing while gaming

Hey all,

I've been having problems with my computer crashing while gaming. Usually, when I'm playing Doom3 or DAoC, it will crash anywhere between 5 minutes and a few hours. The crashes are varied: my computer reboots, or i'll get a bsod, or the game itself will simply close (crash to desktop).

My system is custom built: Intel Pentium 4 2.8, Asus P4P800 motherboard, PNY Geforce 6800 GT, Creative Audigy, 2 clips of 512 mb pc3200 ram, 1 WD SATA 120 Gb HD, 430 watt power supply, etc. No components are overclocked and my system doesnt seem to be overheating -- my gpu runs at a MAX of 71 c under load and my cpu runs at about 60 under load. I've recently run memtest86 on my ram with no problems reported. My ram is in slots 1 and 3, as specified by the manufacture. So, I don't think it's a ram issue. I have the latest versions of directx, the most recent verision of BIOS, and the latest drivers for all my devices and my mobo chipset. I'm at a complete loss of what I can try next. Any ideas?

 

what version of windows are you running?

sounds like it could be your PSU overheating ... what brand is it?

 

I had similar problem with rise of nation.. I had SP2.. after uninstall of it, everything was fine.
like pirate said, check U'r hardware temp cause when U run games, it take a lot of ressources so it may cause that the temp goes higher.

 

Is your system below/meets/exceeds the system requirements for a game. If you don't at least meet them you could cause serious hardware problems.

 

I'm running windows XP Professional with SP2 and my power supply is an Antec 430 Wt power supply. I would have considered each of these as part of the problem. However, I had the same instabilities while gaming while running SP1 and with my old 350 Wt power supply. As far as my psu overheating, it *does* run much hotter than my old 350 Wt psu. I was thinking that might be contributing to my problem, since my psu is blowing it's hot air right onto my cpu, but since my cpu is running at 60 c while under load, I didn't think it was a problem. Could be mistaken though.

 

Strange Idea! Why not open the case and let it vent while running? Should keep all hot air out!

 

how can I find out what my temps are while gaming? I'm having the same exact problem when running farcry or the sims 2. I have SP2 and had hte same problem before SP2. THanks.

PS: According to my bios, my cpu temp WAS 150*F but I cleaned out dust from fan and heatsink and got it down to 100*F. Just checked after my system was restarting from crash and cpu temp was 120*F. Do I need a better fan/cooling system? Where to buy? THanks again.

 

Heh. Actually, I tried this too. I opened my case and put a floor fan on it. It *seemed* to increase the time between crashes, but I've had plenty of crashes with the floor fan. I say *seemed* because there is too much randomness between my crashes to say for certain. The fact that I crashed at all with a floor fan that's bigger than my tower makes me think it's unlikely that it's heat related.

 

My asus board comes with a utility called asusprobe that monitors the cpu/mb temps, fan rpms, voltages, etc. I usually keep that running in the background when i want to moniter my cpu temp. For my video card, my 6800 has a utility that also monitors temps that I neep running in the background when I want to monitor my gpu temps. (for me, it's under display properties on the 6800 gt tab)

As far as cooling devices, www.coolerguys.com seems pretty good. Me personally, I've installed a zalman cnps 7000 heatsink/fan on my cpu, an vantec spectrum duel fan pci card blowing on my gpu, an nv silencer heatsink/fan for my gpu, 3 new thermaltake 80mm case fans, and heatsinks on my memory. Heh. I think I've pretty much exhausted all traditional options for cooling on my system. The next step for me would be liquid cooling.

Not sure what your connectivity is, but I've read that updrading your drivers for your network adapter could help. Worth a try, anyways.

 

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

you might want to check there to make sure your PSU can handle your equipment, if it is close like 420 when the PSU heats up it's not going to give your rig enough juice ... i put your specs up there and the first time it came out like 350ish but when i put in fans and lights and PCI cards etc it came out to be like 430

maybe im on the wrong track

also you mentioned that your PSU blows air INTO the case? That shouldn't be. I have an Antec PSU and there is a 92mm fan that sucks air into the PSU and an 80mm fan that blows it out of the case ... the open part of the fan is usually the side that sucks ... jeez that dsounds dirty ...anyway ...

and according to these guys: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=44804 the asus monitor isn't very accurate .. i might suggest using motherboard monitor

 

71c seems high to me. If that's normal or even "ok", I don't want one. You should look into that temp man. That can't be right.

 

i would bet its a power supply problem. a geforce 6800gt and pentium cpu is sucking a lot of juice at full load.

 

Thanks for the power supply calculator site, pyrate. According to that site, my system's power rating is 393 watts. Heh. I had no idea my 6800 was pulling 105 watts alone.

And, yeah, my power supply is blowing into the case. One of the major revisions of the ATX form factor over the AT form factor was the direction of airflow from the PSU -- ATX blows in, AT blows out. That's the standard, anyways. I wonder why yours is blowing out? Is there a way to change the direction of airflow in an ATX psu?

 

That would be my assumption too, but according to the psu site listed below, my system is only pulling 393 watts.

 

71 c seems high to me too. 71 c is the highest I've ever seen it go -- that's under full load. Under normal operation, like right now, it's running at 57 c. I sent an email to PNY's tech support, and they said that it's a little higher than normal, but well within range of operational specifications.

Thanks for all the suggestions, by the way, all. Keep em coming

 

atx blows IN???? at blows OUT????? are you REALLY sure?

i use all different types of power supply and they all blows air OUT of the case wathever the type is...

it's completely not logical to draw hot air IN the system.....

 

Sorry bout the confusion about the airflows. I was referring to the ATX specifications. The ATX specifications do, in fact, specify that PSUs should blow air into the case. I agree with you -- that makes no sense. What I didnt realize is that most PSU manufacturers are ignoring the specifications and are reversing the fans and polarizations on ATX PSUs to blow air out of the case.

Here's a quick reference that I found:
http://www.heatsink-guide.com/casecool.htm

 

intel's specification about what an atx powersupply should be


ftp://download.intel.com/design/motherbd/atx_201.pdf

 

These new games and systems tax the PS. I would try one of the new 520W OCZ PS's that has regulated power to the vid cards or a PCPower and cooling 510W. These power supplies keep the power on as temps rise. Doom III Hell level will cause all temps to rise!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

when running @ full load the PSU heats up and does not deliver the full wattage specified ... like when it gets hot it might deliver 390 watts when you need more thus the system crashes ... you might try removing some components like a sound card, lights or an extra CD/DVD player that you dont need ... or try an old video card that doesn't use as much juice ... just to reduce the amount of stress you are putting on the PSU to determine if that is truly the cause .. i would think if you reduced the amount to about 350w in that link and it still crashes it is probably something else

and i would put your video card on its own power cable, if you haven't already

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I gutted my system last night to try to isolate the errors --- just left 1 HD, 1 CD rom, and my video card connected. I'll take a look at my wiring and I'll try putting my video card on a seperate power cable.

I swapped out my 6800 GT with an old ATI radeon 9700 yesterday. Heh. I was actually happy when my system crashed with my ATI video card. At least that ruled out my 6800 GT as being the culprit. Since I modified it and put a new heat sink and fan on it, I wouldn't have been able to return it if it was defective.

The saga continues...

 

My guess is that if the 6800 gt was not on its own power cable, that is your problem??? the gt does suck down some power even though it is less than the ultra.

 

Ok, my 6800 is on it's own power cable now. Let's see if it works. I'm seriously going to have to take you guys out for a beer or something if this is the solution Will let you know...

 

Well, I was sure we were on the right track with putting the 6800 on a seperate power cord, but I just crashed -- blue screen of death. Back to square one

 

you might try sisoft sandra which has alot of programs that you can stress each component and if it crashes during a certain test than that is your culprit ... also you should put each test on for an hour or so, as it isn't crashing regularly

Prime95 tests your CPU, it's a favorite among overclockers to test for CPU statility

 

Did you turn off fastwrites off? alot of 6800GTs have some bios updates from mfg cept PNY to fix this issue with 6800's and high end games