PC Shutdown While playing [certain] Games

Hey guys, new here and seeking some help

Recently started experiencing some problems with pc shutting down while i play some games. Only started to occur past 2 weeks (have recently changed thermal paste on cpu and cleaned out case). Dont think it is undervoltage issue as its normally always been fine and running 730W PSU. Took side of case off and put room fan blowing into case, doesn't result in any improvement. Only games it has been crashing on so far is anything from Warcraft III upwards, Can play diablo II for several hours without any issues, which instantly points me towards a problem with the GFX card. Any advice would be appreciated!

A List of past problems all now fixed (if it helps )

Had blue screen a while back while playing games, figured out there was undervoltage on RAM, upped voltage by .025V and fixed it, no problems since (4+ Years)

CPU overheating, Removed heatsink, applied new thermal paste, set room fan on side, Working (1+ Year even w/o Room fan)

Cheers!

Specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.00GHz
2GB RAM
Nvidia 9800 GTX
730w Hiper PSU
Vista 32 Bit Home OS
(if you need any more details let me know)

 

Welcome to the forums

From what you are describing 2 things spring to mind.
1: Are all your drivers up to date?

2: Settings too high in game? Have you turned down graphics settings?

3: PSU is starting to give out.

4: And I honestly think this is most likely.....Heat. unless you have no case fans, taking the side of your case will have little to no effect or could even raise the temp. Putting a fan on it is more likely to simply result in the same temps as with the side case on.
Airflow through the case is more concentrated the more the case is sealed up.

So, download and install this ....

http://majorgeeks.com/Speccy_d6358.html

Note temp of CPU and GPU on idle (just on your desktop)
Fire up a game.
Play for 2-3 mintues or longer if possible, 10 minutes would be good.
Minimize game and note temps again.

I'm assuming you have had the 9800 a while and have played lots of games, it might be that it's just getting weaker and heating up too much.

Also check your 9800 is clean and fan is working.

Post results

 

1: Are all your drivers up to date?

2: Settings too high in game? Have you turned down graphics settings?

I would agree with Nedlamer your computer looks all so like it does not have enough Ram as well 2 gigs is not enough any more too play any newer games.You are probably maxing out your Ram while playing the games.

 

erm... I never mentioned RAM and while 2gigs is a bit on the low side, the min requirements for games such as Battlefield 3 are 2GB of RAM.

The symptoms showing lead me to believe it has nothing to do with RAM at all, since the PC is powering down but will last longer on older games it points directly to the GPU in my opinion. Of course I could be wrong, I often am :-D
Also lack of RAM wont usually shut your PC down unless there is an actual error, at least not in my experience.

 

It won't. It might crash the application using up all the RAM, or cause everything to grind to a halt while it gets caught up, or it will just run disturbingly slow, but instant shut-down? No. Not lack of RAM. It doesn't work that way.

Add me to the list of "it's probably the GPU"-voices, though I would also suggest checking out the power supply and monitor the temperatures both when idle and under heavy load. The Speccy program Ned linked to is accurate nad very easy to use.