- Apr 3, 2012
- 15
- 1
- 10,520
PC Components:
I have recently realized that this occurence is mostly tied to particle effects in games (Such as using magic or gaining souls in dark souls 2 or the various particle effects in orcs must die 2). Even though I have pin-pointed the problem, I still do not have a solution, nor can I find a post with this same problem that has a solution, so I hope I can collectively get some good ideas for this on what to try and what might be the problem.
I would also like to say, that I couldn't find a good way to log information just before the crash, so if there are some programs out there that could help me do that I would certainly be open to trying them. From what I have seen from my AI Suite all of the Temps never rise above 50 C and usually hover in the 30s or close to 40 C
Here is a list of the things I have attempted to try so far to help remedy the situation (to no avail):
Any help / suggestions are appreciated.
***Update 04/02/2017:***
Sorry for not updating sooner and Thank You for the suggestions. I ran HWInfo and saved the info to a .csv file.
Here is the link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz28x8zZfVmVNkNEZ3BRUTA0c28
The .csv file should cover the computer running at idle. Then running at prime 95 for maybe 10 seconds, just to see how much power my cpu takes up while it is doing intensive calculations. Finally, at the end I ran unigine heaven 4.0 on medium until it crashed. I am not sure how long after the crash the log stopped, but I waited a good 30 seconds until manually shutting off the computer.
I have managed to get a hold of a power supply from a friend. It is a corsair GS600 , so it is rated 150 W lower than my current 750 W PSU, but seeing as, from what I am seeing, I can't even get up to 300 W according to the HWInfo, I would think 600 W should cover it. I also took the time to run my build through a few PSU TDP calculators and they typically ranged from 500 - 600 W so that should be good.
I don't know if the HWInfo could tell me anything else though about the crash, so if someone could take a loot at it and let me know what they think I would appreciate it.
I will go ahead and test out the 600 W PSU in my build tomorrow and report back any results.
***Update 04/03/2017:***
So I switched out the PSU to the Corsair 600 W PSU and still have the same problem.
I have a link to my HWInfo stats for that run here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz28x8zZfVmVcUpTN0Ixa0p4d0U
So looking more closely at the stats from the two HWInfo files I found that at the end of each file, before the crash my GPU temperature jumped from around 40 C all the way to 100 C in a matter of seconds. The GPU is obviously overheating, and since I have already tried this out on two different PSUs I think I can say with a fair bit of certainty that my problem is not coming from the PSU.
I also visually confirmed that my GPU fans were indeed spinning the whole time, so that wasn't the issue.
I would never have found out about this without the help of HWInfo, so thanks a lot RaDiKaL_ for the suggestion.
My next question would be, is my GPU problem fixable? If I simply apply new thermal paste to the unit would everything be ok, or is this problem more serious?
Thanks
***Update 04/07/2017:***
SOLVED!!
I am fairly sure I solved my issue by simply applying new thermal paste to my GPU. I cleaned off the old thermal pad on my ASUS Direct Cu II GTX 670 with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol and some paper towels. I then applied Arctic MX 4 using the "Pea-Sized Dot" method in the middle of the GPU and put the card back together. I tested with some gameplay is Dark Souls 2 and I had an average temperature reduction of 37.5 C !! That was even with the temperature spikes to over 100 C that I used to get when obtaining boss souls and shooting magic. Looking at the temps, I honestly can even definitively say that I saw a rise in temperature during those moments this time around, it just hovered around 42 C the whole time during gameplay. For good measure I also applied the Arctic MX 4 to my CPU using the "X-Method" to replace the 5 year old Arctic Silver 5 application I had on it. I saw a 10 C drop in my CPU temperature and a 10 C drop to my overall component temperature during gameplay.
I still have to swap back my other PSU into my computer, but I am certain that the PSU had nothing to do with my issues at this point. If for some reason I start having issues again, due to the swap I will do another update, but this is probably the last one.
Thanks again goes to RaDiKaL_ for the suggestion of using HWInfo.
Bottom Line to those with similar issues: Download HWInfo and run a log to a .csv during gameplay (or whenever the problem usually occurs) to help diagnose what issues your computer has with info from the sensor readouts it gives you. If you crash the .csv should stop and save automatically; look towards the end of the time-line on the .csv file to see if anything abnormal stands out, which in my case it was the 100 C + readings I was getting off of my GPU. My fix, as stated, was just applying new thermal paste to my GPU and it fixed my issue.
Hope someone else finds this helpful
Intel Core i5-3570K w/ Hyper 212 Evo
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL9D-8GBXM
SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE250BW 2.5" 250GB SATA 6Gb/s (Runs Windows 7)
Seagate Momentus XT ST750LX003 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 2.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s Solid State Hybrid Drive (Holds Steam Games)
ASUS GeForce GTX 670-DC2T-2GD5 VGA - 1137 MHz Boost Clock - 2GB GDDR5
Rosewill CAPSTONE-750 - 750-Watt Active PFC Power Supply - Continuous @ 122 Deg. F (50C), 80 PLUS Gold
CoolerMaster HAF 212 Mid-Tower Case
I have recently realized that this occurence is mostly tied to particle effects in games (Such as using magic or gaining souls in dark souls 2 or the various particle effects in orcs must die 2). Even though I have pin-pointed the problem, I still do not have a solution, nor can I find a post with this same problem that has a solution, so I hope I can collectively get some good ideas for this on what to try and what might be the problem.
I would also like to say, that I couldn't find a good way to log information just before the crash, so if there are some programs out there that could help me do that I would certainly be open to trying them. From what I have seen from my AI Suite all of the Temps never rise above 50 C and usually hover in the 30s or close to 40 C
Here is a list of the things I have attempted to try so far to help remedy the situation (to no avail):
A complete sweep of the system with avira anti-virus, spybot search & destroy, and malwarebytes, along with a registry clean by wise 365 (All free versions).
Validating all of the crashed games through steam, to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with the local files.
Used the guru 3d "Display Driver Uninstaller" (DDU) in safe mode then reinstalled my display driver from nvidia's website.
Did a fairly good general dusting of the inside of the case using an air canister and a vacuum cleaner. I then proceeded to take off the fans off of my Hyper 212 heatsink and clean off the caked dust on the heatsink fins and fans. I followed this by taking out the graphics card, cleaning the surface with 91% isopropyl alcohol and air dusting the interior. I also did the same with the two memory sticks, and for good measure blew out the slots on the motherboard that for all of the memory slots and the PCI-E slot that held the graphics card. I think I could have done a more thorough dusting if I took off the cpu heatsink, but I didn't have any thermal paste on hand so that wasn't really an option. In the future, I hope to do a more thorough cleaning, but I think what I did do should have been more than enough to solve my issues, if dust was the cause (but I could be wrong).
Any help / suggestions are appreciated.
***Update 04/02/2017:***
Sorry for not updating sooner and Thank You for the suggestions. I ran HWInfo and saved the info to a .csv file.
Here is the link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz28x8zZfVmVNkNEZ3BRUTA0c28
The .csv file should cover the computer running at idle. Then running at prime 95 for maybe 10 seconds, just to see how much power my cpu takes up while it is doing intensive calculations. Finally, at the end I ran unigine heaven 4.0 on medium until it crashed. I am not sure how long after the crash the log stopped, but I waited a good 30 seconds until manually shutting off the computer.
I have managed to get a hold of a power supply from a friend. It is a corsair GS600 , so it is rated 150 W lower than my current 750 W PSU, but seeing as, from what I am seeing, I can't even get up to 300 W according to the HWInfo, I would think 600 W should cover it. I also took the time to run my build through a few PSU TDP calculators and they typically ranged from 500 - 600 W so that should be good.
I don't know if the HWInfo could tell me anything else though about the crash, so if someone could take a loot at it and let me know what they think I would appreciate it.
I will go ahead and test out the 600 W PSU in my build tomorrow and report back any results.
***Update 04/03/2017:***
So I switched out the PSU to the Corsair 600 W PSU and still have the same problem.
I have a link to my HWInfo stats for that run here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz28x8zZfVmVcUpTN0Ixa0p4d0U
So looking more closely at the stats from the two HWInfo files I found that at the end of each file, before the crash my GPU temperature jumped from around 40 C all the way to 100 C in a matter of seconds. The GPU is obviously overheating, and since I have already tried this out on two different PSUs I think I can say with a fair bit of certainty that my problem is not coming from the PSU.
I also visually confirmed that my GPU fans were indeed spinning the whole time, so that wasn't the issue.
I would never have found out about this without the help of HWInfo, so thanks a lot RaDiKaL_ for the suggestion.
My next question would be, is my GPU problem fixable? If I simply apply new thermal paste to the unit would everything be ok, or is this problem more serious?
Thanks
***Update 04/07/2017:***
SOLVED!!
I am fairly sure I solved my issue by simply applying new thermal paste to my GPU. I cleaned off the old thermal pad on my ASUS Direct Cu II GTX 670 with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol and some paper towels. I then applied Arctic MX 4 using the "Pea-Sized Dot" method in the middle of the GPU and put the card back together. I tested with some gameplay is Dark Souls 2 and I had an average temperature reduction of 37.5 C !! That was even with the temperature spikes to over 100 C that I used to get when obtaining boss souls and shooting magic. Looking at the temps, I honestly can even definitively say that I saw a rise in temperature during those moments this time around, it just hovered around 42 C the whole time during gameplay. For good measure I also applied the Arctic MX 4 to my CPU using the "X-Method" to replace the 5 year old Arctic Silver 5 application I had on it. I saw a 10 C drop in my CPU temperature and a 10 C drop to my overall component temperature during gameplay.
I still have to swap back my other PSU into my computer, but I am certain that the PSU had nothing to do with my issues at this point. If for some reason I start having issues again, due to the swap I will do another update, but this is probably the last one.
Thanks again goes to RaDiKaL_ for the suggestion of using HWInfo.
Bottom Line to those with similar issues: Download HWInfo and run a log to a .csv during gameplay (or whenever the problem usually occurs) to help diagnose what issues your computer has with info from the sensor readouts it gives you. If you crash the .csv should stop and save automatically; look towards the end of the time-line on the .csv file to see if anything abnormal stands out, which in my case it was the 100 C + readings I was getting off of my GPU. My fix, as stated, was just applying new thermal paste to my GPU and it fixed my issue.
Hope someone else finds this helpful
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