Intermittent freezing

[FRAGaholic UK]

I have had this computer for approx. 6 years and it recently started to freeze even when idle. I have to manually restart my computer by holding down the power button. I am running Windows 7 and i know that it isn't a software fault because it freezes in the Bios. Here are my computer specs:

Processor: AMD Athlon x2 5400+
Motherboard: Biostar NF520-A2 TE
RAM: 8GB Generic memory (4x2GB)
Case: Galaxy III case
PSU: G7 780w Extreme Power
Graphics card: Asus Nvidia GTX 550 ti 1GB
Sound card: Asus Xonar DG
HDD: Hitachi 750GB + Samsung 2TB

I have tested the RAM and the hard drives and they seem to be okay which narrows it down to the Processor or Motherboard.

Any help on how to fix this would be appreciated.

 

[butremor]

Check temperatures it may be overheating problem
Upgrade videodrivers.

 

[FRAGaholic UK]

I am using Coretemp and it is saying that at idle it is running at around 35C. I have a Arctic Cooling 13 Pro cooler installed and the graphics card is idling at 33C. I don't think that it's a overheating problem because i fixed that before after buying a bunch of new fans for it.

 

[twelve25]

With a computer this old, I would really suspect the power supply. If you can easily pull off the top of the power supply, check for bulging or leaking capacitors (without touching anything, they can still hold a charge even unplugged).

 

[butremor]

Oh yeah, or check for swollen capacitors on motherboard

 

[FRAGaholic UK]

I have just checked the capacitors on the motherboard and i can't see anything. The power supply is only about a year old and so the warranty label was still on but when i used a torch i couldn't see anything. I can't think of anything else that may be the problem.

 

[twelve25]

I didn't realize your power supply was new.

I just looked up the specs and it's a piece of crap, to put it blunty. It's got all kinds of watts, but it splits them among 4 rails so each Rail only has 16A.

The 550 Ti wants about 24-25 Amps. It only has one PCIe connector, so you can't even split the load among two rails. So basically, even with 780W, your power supply doesn't meet the minimum requirements for your card. If it worked when new, then you were just barely cutting it and normal output loss due to capacitor aging has dropped it below the minimum.

You need a new (good) single rail power supply.

 

[FRAGaholic UK]

Thanks for the help and to be honest i think it is time for me to get a new computer altogether. I am going to but a new PSU, motherboard and processor soon.