Computer freezes to multicolored static then goes black. Occurs when playing games

[Paytonbock]

While playing games, the computer randomly freezes to a multi-colored static screen then soon after goes black. The computer continues to run but no video appears until a manual restart.. This can happen between 10 minutes to an hour of usage. Audio can be heard for about 5 seconds before I have to force shutdown the computer. Certain games crash more than others such as Chivalry and Garry’s mod while some games like Elder Scrolls Online have never crashed with medium settings. I suspect the GPU to be overheating. a graphics card failure, or a faulty power supply. Compared to my brothers computer his temperatures are much lower than mine( we have the same model). I have manually increased fan speeds from 30% to 100% but the freezes still occur but seems to be less frequent. Any ideas? Thank you

Amd Radeon R7 240 2gb

Power supply is 300w

 

[thejackal85]

This honestly sounds like your graphics card is overheating; what you described is the typical standard of what happens when it does. Also, I would upgrade your power supply there, that might be why the card is overheating, it doesn't have enough power. I would go to a minimum of 450W.

 

[Paytonbock]

This honestly sounds like your graphics card is overheating; what you described is the typical standard of what happens when it does. Also, I would upgrade your power supply there, that might be why the card is overheating, it doesn't have enough power. I would go to a minimum of 450W.

Would a new graphics card such as a nvidia 950 in addition to a new power supply(thinking 500w) fix the problem?

 

[thejackal85]

Assuming it is a graphics issue, yes. One way to tell would be to get another graphics card to test with if you have one.

 

[Paytonbock]

Assuming it is a graphics issue, yes. One way to tell would be to get another graphics card to test with if you have one.

I don't have another graphics card handy but I recently switched the settings in my BIOS from Optimized(focused on performance) to balanced which has seemed to increased the time of usage before crashing. Does this tell us anything about a lack of power or Graphics card failure?

 

[thejackal85]

Each board has a different explanation for "optimized". If you ask MSI, they allocate more power to the graphics card for overclocking. But theoretically, yes, this should tell us that it looks like it's definitely a power or graphics card issue. I would go the cheaper route first and get a new PSU and see what that does.

 

[Paytonbock]

Each board has a different explanation for "optimized". If you ask MSI, they allocate more power to the graphics card for overclocking. But theoretically, yes, this should tell us that it looks like it's definitely a power or graphics card issue. I would go the cheaper route first and get a new PSU and see what that does.

Thanks you for the information. I will order a new power supply first and get back to you on the outcome. Thanks you so much!

 

[thejackal85]

You are very welcome!