Heating Problems?

[tezzer2006]

Hi everyone. Right now I'm unsure of what my problem is, but I'm fairly sure it's to do with my graphics card and I was wondering if I could get some input from you guys.

Basically my problem is that when I turn up the graphic settings for many games (Battlefield, Dishonoured, GTA 4, Just Cause 2 to name the ones that come to mind) my PC, although able to run those settings just fine at 40-60+ fps depending on the settings, will suddenly switch to an unresponsive state. The monitor will go into power-saving mode and my the hard drive activity LED doesn't blink at all. It's literally a case of one second I'm playing fine, the next I'm staring at a blank screen. I have to hold the power button to switch my PC off and then boot it back up again, with Windows doing the obligatory "Start up in safe-mode?" thing in the process. I don't get any error messages or anything.

It's a new computer, having bought it in August so I seriously doubt dust is an issue here, although I did have to bend pins back on my motherboard when it arrived (I used my jeweller's kit and an illuminated magnifying glass to carefully bend them back into place without breaking them).

What do you guys think? Hypothetically, if I didn't have a retail copy of Windows and hypothetically I'd used a keygen for a downloaded Windows 7 64, could that be an issue? Or am I looking at a heating problem?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[maniac]

if the pc switches on, the bent pins issue is not an issue anymore.

the thing I'd do first is go to the windows event viewer and find the last critical error and see what it says.

 

[Wraith]

When the screen goes blank have you tried hitting Alt+Enter to make sure it's not a resolution issue?

 

[tezzer2006]

Hi and thanks for your responses.

When the screen goes blank have you tried hitting Alt+Enter to make sure it's not a resolution issue?

Yes I have. The computer is completely unresponsive to anything and everything I push on the keyboard; alt+F4, alt+tab, ctrl+alt+delete, alt+enter don't change anything.

if the pc switches on, the bent pins issue is not an issue anymore.

the thing I'd do first is go to the windows event viewer and find the last critical error and see what it says.

I'm not too sure how to do what you suggested, but I'm assuming it's this that you're looking for...?

If it is what you were looking for, it looks to be something to do with my PSU. At least that's what I see. I have a Novatech PSU, do you think I should buy a name-brand PSU instead?

In case it's of any use, my computer's specs are:
Intel i5 3570K Stock
AMD 7850 2GB Pre-overclocked by manufacturer
4GB RAM
1TB HDD
600W 80 Plus certified Novatech PSU
Asus P8Z77-M

 

[barnsley]

Yeah get the cx 600m, that should be good while being cheap.

 

[tezzer2006]

Yeah get the cx 600m, that should be good while being cheap.

Thanks but before I buy anything I'd like to be sure of what my problem is. I don't have money to throw around hoping to solve a problem when I could just fix it myself.

Although I'm about to Google it myself, do you guys know of any tried and tested ways of testing a PSU?

 

[maniac]

Thanks but before I buy anything I'd like to be sure of what my problem is. I don't have money to throw around hoping to solve a problem when I could just fix it myself.

Although I'm about to Google it myself, do you guys know of any tried and tested ways of testing a PSU?

It looks like its a dying psu to me, is it possible to borrow a psu from a friend? if you have a spare pci-e power connector you can try changing with the one you're currently using with your gpu, it might be a single rail thats dying. Also try unplugging the things you don't need like extra hard drives, fans, lighting, etc. Or you can take to a shop and have them test it for you.

 

[tezzer2006]

It looks like its a dying psu to me, is it possible to borrow a psu from a friend? if you have a spare pci-e power connector you can try changing with the one you're currently using with your gpu, it might be a single rail thats dying. Also try unplugging the things you don't need like extra hard drives, fans, lighting, etc. Or you can take to a shop and have them test it for you.

Thanks for all of your help. I don't actually have any additional componentry connected to my PC, other than the single rear exhaust fan and an LED I have disabled - the rest is the basic hard drive, GPU, CPU, PSU, mobo and RAM.

I've bought a 650W XFX PSU that should arrive on Tuesday. I'll keep you guys posted.

 

[tezzer2006]

Got my new PSU but the problem still seems to be occurring, although now it just seems to take longer or require more 'stress', I guess would be the word.

I've included an example of what will sometimes happen instead. In this scenario I'd been playing a video game for about an hour and a half. When the computer did this, the sound was repeating itself very quickly.

Image 1

Image 2

 

[Davva2004]

Seeing as your PC was purchased in August, it'll still be under warranty. Have you contacted the seller? Reason I ask is I've googled your symptoms and in a fair few cases it turned out to be the motherboard that was failing.

 

[tezzer2006]

I assembled my PC on my own, purchasing my parts from various sources. My motherboard was purchased first-hand from an eBay seller...

 

[Davva2004]

Go to http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html and download Bluescreenviewer to see if there are any dump files left over from any of the crashes.

Also, if you are concerned it may be heat related, run the Unigine Valley benchmark continuously and keep an eye on the GPU temperature in the top right of the screen, that'll tell you if your GPU is overheating.

 

[alxcsb]

I think your problem is the graphics card. I returned my Sapphire 7850 because of it. Try a different graphics card, if you can, and if that solves it, return the card and get something else, from a different manufacturer. Also, does the sound play in a loop when the black screen occurs? If it does, I'm pretty sure your graphics card is causing it. Sapphire especially, but not only, had a batch of 7850 with some issues, mainly to the capacitors providing power to the graphics core itself, which weren't able to keep a steady flow of electricity.