Pc hard freezing while gaming

I ran across these forums on my quest to find out the reason for my current PC problem and seeing how much you guys have helped others I figured I would ask here .The first thing I will say is I bought this PC off of tiger direct about 8 months ago as a deal they had going on. had a friend help me put it together when it arrived and has been working fine otherwise besides this problem which didn't show up until about 5 months into having it.
While I'm gaming at random intervals and with many different games my PC will hard freeze in the game with the screen still stuck on what was happening with no ability to close it, the only way to fix this issue is to hold the power button on my PC and hard restart it. This has happened to me with many games such as payday 2, batman arkham city, overlord and skyrim. outside of gaming it has never had this issue so i'm guessing the problem is more gpu based but i'm not sure what would be causing it since these games aren't pushing the PC hard and from what i have checked the gpu is not at all overheating

Operating System

Windows 7 Ultimate (x64) Service Pack 1 (build 7601)
Install Language: English (United States)
System Locale: English (United States)
Installed: 1/1/2009 12:35:43 AM
Boot Mode: Legacy BIOS in UEFI (Secure Boot not supported)

Processor

3.40 gigahertz Intel Core i7-3770
256 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
8192 kilobyte tertiary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (4 total)
Hyper-threaded (8 total)

Drives
2000.29 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
1065.37 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-224BB [Optical drive]
ST2000DM001-1CH164 [Hard drive] (2000.40 GB) -- drive 0, s/n Z1E392E6, rev CC26, SMART Status: Healthy

memory modules
8146 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM0' is Empty
Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM1' is Empty
Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM0' has 8192 MB (serial number B536C855)
Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM1' is Empty

Display
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 [Display adapter]
DELL S1709W [Monitor] (17.2"vis, s/n XX-0K419D-XXXXX-873-037L, July 2008)
Samsung SMB2330HD [Monitor] (23.1"vis, March 2010)

 

Welcome, Spike.

What PSU make/model#?

 

Do you have any utilities he can download to check his memory?

Also having one 8GB stick will slow down performance verses having 4x2GB sticks.

 

I have this one Kingwin ABT-650MM Maximum Series ATX Power Supply - 650W, 120mm Fan, Single +12V Rail


And i didn't realize that about the ram I'll have to go out and grab myself two 4 GB sticks then to fix just having the one

 

650 Watts Can handle far more than your system but that depends on how good the PSU is. Low quality PSU's can degrade in power output over time so this may be the case with your PC.

Memory can also be the issue in this case as well. You can download memtest86 and check the ram (link below). When testing memory I usually start this test in the evening before sleep and leave it overnight, that way the memory is tested long enough to report any errors.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/memtest86.html

8GB Ram is good for gaming but I'd never use 1 stick when going over 4GB. As theHollyWood pointed out you have slightly better performance with 2 sticks, I also prefer 2 sticks over 1 in case of damages, If 1 stick goes bad I'll always have the other one and my computer can still be useable.

If any of these 2 components happen to be your problem, I'd suggest getting a good branded PSU (Corsair, Antec, Silverstone) they cost a bit more but you'll get your money worth in the long run.

I googled your PSU model and doesn't look anywhere near reliable for gaming. Even if your PSU may not be the problem here I still advise you to plan on a better one.

 

Yup, that PSU is close to junk, 1 of the reviews on Newegg for it (3*) had power dropping on the 12V rail after a few months, very much fits your description.

Download HWiNFO64 and run it Sensors only, wait for it to populate and run a game for ~5 minutes, then study the stats for voltage, save the data so you have a baseline. Reboot into the BIOS and check the voltages there. List the range of voltages, 12V is most important, here.

Seasonic/XFX PSUs would be my choice if the PSU is failing, they're all made by Seasonic = high quality; a 450W should suffice (80W CPU + ~125W GPU +100W for 'board, drives and USB - should be sub-300W under gaming).

If you buy from TigerDirect: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1143934&CatId=5430 (or the 550W if you want to play supersafe), from Newegg's range: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...600479294 600038000 600037998 4026&IsNodeId=1

 

It sure sounds like heat to me. What are your temps? Is the case interior free of heat-trapping dust? Are all fans spinning?

I agree that Kingwin PSU has more than enough power, but Kingwin is not noted for quality. Also, it is not 80 Plus certified. That typically means it does not meet the stringent efficiency ratings across a wide range of expected loads.

I would not immediately go out and buy a new 80-Plus certified PSU, but I would sure swap in a known good PSU while testing this problem.

Well, not exactly. First and foremost, we don't know what motherboard is being use. We might assume it supports dual-channel memory since it has 4 RAM slots, but assuming can get us into trouble.

At any rate, 1 stick does not slow down the system, it just does not allow dual-channel mode to be enabled to improve performance. Semantics, perhaps, but again, without knowing the motherboard model, we can only guess and assume.

At any rate, you need to read the motherboard manual to determine which pair of RAM slots you need to use to enable dual-channel - assuming that feature is supported. On some motherboards, for the first pair of sticks, you use slots 1 and 2. On other boards, it is 1 and 3.

If me, I would buy another 8Gb stick with identical specs as the first 8Gb and install that for 16Gb total.

 

OK I ran a full memory test while i was at work today for about 9 hours. from what i saw when i got home I had no errors with my memory at all
I also know its not from heat because i have been monitoring them to see if they got out of control and was barely heating up at all. i blew out my fans just to be sure even removing my gpu and then replacing it after.
Im not sure if this may be part of the issue but i have also noticed as an experiment i was running my games in windowed mode when the freezes were happening. starting to run them purely in full screen i have yet to have a crash happen.

 

I ask again, what are your temps? Sorry, I know you said they are fine, but without actual numbers, we cannot be sure. You might try blasting a desk fan into the open side of the computer and see what happens.

What do you mean you removed the "GPU"? If you really mean the GPU (graphics processing unit - the actual processor "chip" or integrated circuit (IC)) - that is not normally a good idea. The risk of ESD destruction or physical pin damage is great. Plus, it is then absolutely essential to thoroughly clean the mating surfaces of old TIM (thermal interface materials) and apply a fresh new layer of TIM before remounting the HSF assembly.

If you meant you pulled and reseated the card from its slot, that too is risky - especially if not careful about ESD control and/or you forgot to unplug the computer from the wall first. Also, modern slots seal card contacts tightly so removing and reinserting the card rarely does any good because dirt and debris does not get in the way (assuming a properly inserted card in the first place).

If you have another graphics card, you might try that. But again, before buying anything, I would try another PSU.