Question Aurora R4 not running games anymore

[Vakaahr]

Hey everyone,

I bought an alienware Aurora R4 a while ago, since the last year I've been getting blue screens whenever I run certain games (most games). It used to only be high graphic intensity games but recently it's also low graphic games like Star Wars:KOTOR. I'd be playing the game for a few minutes and my computer freezes. Some games freeze on startup, other games freeze as soon as I change th resolution to something higher. I can play Assassin's Creed 1 en The Witcher for some reason... I've done anything from deleting drivers and reinstalling and fully updating to a complete clean install. If what I can find online is right it has to be a hardware issue.

The blue screen I get is DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION



My question is, what hardware should I replace, and if I replace let's say my graphics card (wich I think is the problem), should I also replace any other hardware?



Speccy: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/oHctrcdtLnqO4crp7wWJ6H1



Thanks in advance!

 

[Obakasama]

No real idea, but I did notice that Speccy notes a rather low +5V rail reading and a high +12V rail reading (both beyond the usual accepted deviations), which to me would flag a PSU problem.

It seems you have two GTX 690s in this PC? Two GTX 690s would require a 950W PSU according to this site: http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
And as a prebuilt I have my doubts it would come with a PSU of that wattage.

EDIT: as for the BSOD, have a look at this to see if it helps.
https://www.tomshardware.co.uk/how-to-fix-dpc-watchdog-violation-windows-10,news-57606.html

 

[Vakaahr]

No real idea, but I did notice that Speccy notes a rather low +5V rail reading and a high +12V rail reading (both beyond the usual accepted deviations), which to me would flag a PSU problem.

It seems you have two GTX 690s in this PC? Two GTX 690s would require a 950W PSU according to this site: http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
And as a prebuilt I have my doubts it would come with a PSU of that wattage.

EDIT: as for the BSOD, have a look at this to see if it helps.
https://www.tomshardware.co.uk/how-to-fix-dpc-watchdog-violation-windows-10,news-57606.html

I'll check it out, thanks in advance!

 

[Vakaahr]

I'll check it out, thanks in advance!

My powersupply is 875w, so I guess it's too low, it never presented an issue in the past though?
As to fix DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers are nowhere to be found in my device manager.

 

[Obakasama]

A good quality PSU should mitigate some of the power variance, and if it has just started to lose a bit of power it may explain the timing. But do check up on the voltage readings (either BIOS or using something like HWiNFO). Best to rule out a faulty PSU where possible and don't want it popping and damaging other components.

Try following up on updating other drivers the article suggests as well to rule out a driver issue.

 

[Vakaahr]

All my drivers should be up to date, I checked manually aswell just to be sure.
I guess I'll have to switch out my PSU at some point anyway, might give it a try...

Thanks for the help!