Whenever I play any game software, my computer shuts off.

Whenever I play ANY game software like Sims 3, Need For Speed Undercover, or Starcraft II Beta, my computer shuts off after about 10 minutes of play.

Things to note: I check my cpu's temp. it never goes higher than 48 degrees. I have run memtest, and it comes back fine.

My system specs:
8GB DDR2 Ram
Dual 4850x1GB ATI Radeon Graphic Cards
AMD Dual Processer running at 3.11 GHZ.
500GB HD with 50GB Space free.
Installed Coolermaster V8 Cooler.

One thing to note - one of my video cards isn't working. The other should be more than enough though to handle the games I play. I am not running anything like Crysis on Max settings.

If more info is needed, I will provide it.

Also on a side note occasionally when playing Sims 3, an error pops up saying "atikmdag has stopped responding and recovered." I don't know if this is a related issue or not but it only happens with Sims 3.

 

Well first off if one of the cards is dead, you need to remove it.

Also you say you checked your CPU temps, what about GPU temps? as these are very often more the culpret over CPU.

Something like GPUZ available here on MG's for download will tell you your graphics card temps, if it's happening on all games then this is a high possibility.

 

I downloaded GPUZ like you suggested. I have no idea what the normal temp is for Video Cards. It was running at an average of 75C but when I played Sims 3 it steadily increased. I stopped playing when it hit 80C, because, as I said, I have no idea what the temp is.

As for the dead card, I don't know how I would remove it as it has professional wiring done on the inside and the cards seem to be hooked up to my power supply.

 

75 is too high for that card realistically, 80 is definitely too high for comfort.
Given those temps it is quite likely that you are hitting the temp shut off and continuing will damaged your card, it will get weaker as time goes on to the point it will run on idle at 80+.

When it crashes do you lose picture before sound or does the whole thing just shut down without warning?

Even if it isn't the main cause it's still something that needs addressing.

Firstly like I said, if you have x-fired cards and one of them is toast then remove it, not only will this eliminate the possibility of compatibility issues but will also increase airflow around your working card.

Make sure your pc is clean and free of dust inside, clogged vents and grills will build heat quickly.
If possible you want to fit some fans to your case.

Intake on the front and exhaust on the side and back.

Many are under the impression that if you leave the side of the case off it will help, when in actual fact it could make it worse, you need air flow, not just air.
Air flow works best when only intake and exhaust are letting air through.
Bottom line, you need to keep air moving through your PC so it comes in, swirls around your hardware and then flows out taking the heat with it.

Try to tidy your cables to help with air flow too, ribbon cables and clumps of wires hovering around intakes or exhausts will slow air flow.

Think of your PC like a tunnel.

This is a pretty easy and cheap upgrade, if anything is unclear please don't hesitate to ask.
I'm off to work but will look in later or someone else will quite possibly take over where I've left off.

One other thing that will help for now is turning the graphics settings down to alleviate the pressure and workload on your card.

Hope this helps

 

It's weird, I went into my ATI Catalyst Control and disabled xfire mode, now both cards are working.

My cards both idle at around 68C when I am not doing anything.

I will do what you suggest and post back with any updates.

 

Didn't see a way to edit my post.

Anyway, I took out one card, saw that it was full of dust and dirt, so I took out the other and it was too. Used canned air on both to clean it out, replaced my xfire connectors with new ones (had some spares) and will see how it runs, but I am guessing the dust buildup was probably the source of my problems.

EDIT: Nope. Now my card is running @ 83C and my GPU TEMP for MEMIO is 90C. And it's Sims 3 I am testing with all settings @ low. There is plenty of room inside my pc for airflow, when I had it build I had professional wiring installed. Very spacey inside. My fan runs @ 59%, is there a way to boost that higher? Keep in mind I am a noob at this internal stuff.

 

Yes in ATI CCC there should be a manual fan setting, you will have to click the unlock button most likely and you can turn your fan up.

But if your temps are that high then it's possibly been damaged due to overheating, I've had this issue myself, the only fix for it is to add more fans to your case.

What fans do you have fitted to your case?

The 4850's do run warm but 85-90C is way too hot. Running Sims 3 you would expect them to run at around 60-75C max.

If your ATI CCC doesn't have the fan settings then you should be able to update it from ATI/AMD's website, if you still can't figure it out you could download and try "Speedfan" , providing speedfan recognises your card you should be able to boost the fan speed in that.

You could also try underclocking your cards in CCC if you have the option. If it's there it will be in the Overclock section and move the sliders left (down) to drop the peak performance of the cards, obviously this makes your cards less powerful.

But at this point you really need to get some heavier airflow by adding fans to your case, continuing on the road your on will simply result in your card(s) getting weaker and weaker until they finally just give up.

I would try running 1 card at a time, note the temp and then switch to the other card and see what your temps are like. Running x-fire and having those 2 cards back to back generates a lot of heat between them.

The only other solutions would be to remove, clean and reseat your GPU heatsink, but this is not something to be done unless you know what you are doing as doing it wrong will make matters worse. Do this at your own risk! , or to add aftermarket heatsink's and fans to your cards, but again, this is not something you should try if you do not know how. Again, Do so at your own risk.

Good luck, I hope you get it sorted out.

 

That did the trick. Both cards are working again in xfire mode, the temp goes no higher than 71 degrees with the underclocking and the fan control was there. Thanks so much!!!!

 

It was at least a big contributor. I once killed a GPU because I allowed dust to build up to the point where it trapped the heat on the ICs and toasted the card.... :eek Very glad to see you got it sorted before it got to that point! 71 under heavy load is perfectly acceptable, you should be fine from here on.

Now go buy Ned a beer! :drink

Enjoy the new game :wave

 

Glad to see you got it stable