Computer Freezes/Screen Goes black. Please Help

[undercovrr]

Hi everyone, I'm not sure if i'm posting this in the right section, but here is my issue. I recently built a computer and it works perfectly fine until I start playing demanding games. If I play games like Skyrim or War Thunder for more than 2 hours (sometimes, but rarely, less) my computer freezes, with a black screen, and the sound starts skipping. Nothing I do fixes the issue unless I restart it.

I initially thought the problem was the PSU because It died on me after this happened a few times (A Corsair CX600). I had it swapped with a meaty TX750 but the problem still persists, only a bit rarer. I have no idea if its the motherboard, the GPU, the CPU or the RAM.

My system specs are:

CPU: AMD FX-4300
GPU: AMD HD 7850
RAM: Corsair 8gb ddr3 RAM 1333mhz
PSU: Corsair TX750
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 AM3+
Hard Drive: Seagate 500gb

I would really appreciate if someone could help shed some light on this issue because I'm becoming really worried.

Edit: I would like to add that the temperatures are fine when I ran Prime95 for maximum power/heat consumption. The highest they go for the CPU is 60 Celsius and about 40-45 for the MOBO

 

[Airm3n-1292454]

Running on a decent power bar i assume with no other issues with things plugged in around you? Not a 20 cent power strip from walmart but an actual surge protector usually cost around 10-20 bucks. Have you tried resetting your bios to defaults? Run a scan on your hard drive I think the WD diagnostics might work on seagate drives(maybe someone else can confirm that) to check for any possible SMART errors. Check to make sure the fan is spinning up on the video card when it goes under load. Do you have adequate airflow in your case? Ensure that your cpu cooler is firmly attached and not only 1 clip which once it starts to heat up would lock up the computer as it throttles down.

 

[undercovrr]

Running on a decent power bar i assume with no other issues with things plugged in around you? Not a 20 cent power strip from walmart but an actual surge protector usually cost around 10-20 bucks. Have you tried resetting your bios to defaults? Run a scan on your hard drive I think the WD diagnostics might work on seagate drives(maybe someone else can confirm that) to check for any possible SMART errors. Check to make sure the fan is spinning up on the video card when it goes under load. Do you have adequate airflow in your case? Ensure that your cpu cooler is firmly attached and not only 1 clip which once it starts to heat up would lock up the computer as it throttles down.

Powerbar is not an issue. The fans are spinning on all components inside the computer and there is decent airflow because the Prime95 heat tests do not break 60 degrees Celsius for the CPU even if left for 3 hours. And I doubt it would be my Hard Drive, that is the least of all the components affected by gaming.

 

[Airm3n-1292454]

ok now i would check to make sure the video card is getting adequate power. Try changing to a different power connector to the video card. If that doesn't work try using the 4 pin molex adapter that came with the video card. Also ensure that the power connectors are all securely in the motherboard as not getting enough power through the pci-e could cause these issues as well.

 

[undercovrr]

ok now i would check to make sure the video card is getting adequate power. Try changing to a different power connector to the video card. If that doesn't work try using the 4 pin molex adapter that came with the video card. Also ensure that the power connectors are all securely in the motherboard as not getting enough power through the pci-e could cause these issues as well.

The PCIE power connector has to be working fine because the same issue occurred with my CX600 psu. And every power adapter is plugged in properly, that's the first thing I triple checked. The only weird thing is that my RAM latencies do not match. For one of them it is 666.5 x 2. but for the other one it says 533 x 2 in CPUZ. However, when I bought the two RAM slots, both are labelled to be 1333 mhz. Maybe this could be the issue?

 

[Airm3n-1292454]

Yea that is possible though i'm not sure how much effect that would have on the game i would think that it was auto downgrade the ram speeds to the slowest installed. Do you have another video card to test out in the system that would be helpful in narrowing it down?

 

[undercovrr]

Yea that is possible though i'm not sure how much effect that would have on the game i would think that it was auto downgrade the ram speeds to the slowest installed. Do you have another video card to test out in the system that would be helpful in narrowing it down?

I'll try to use my friend's video card. But meanwhile, is there a way to test out my RAM to see if there are any errors for it?

 

[Airm3n-1292454]

In your bios you should be able to set it to do an extended test on bootup. I'm not entirely sure but I think maybe something like sisandra I believe it was called might test your ram in windows. Someone correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[undercovrr]

In your bios you should be able to set it to do an extended test on bootup. I'm not entirely sure but I think maybe something like sisandra I believe it was called might test your ram in windows. Someone correct me if i'm wrong.

Ok I ran that test. I tried replacing the video card too. The problem is still occurring. What could it be? Does anybody know?

 

[Airm3n-1292454]

What kind of temps are your video card getting? Good airflow getting to it?