My computer randomly restarts when playing games. Halp

[Scotta1212]

I have had my computer for over a year now. It started crashing within a few months of getting it. I did a reinstall of the graphics drivers by using driver sweeper first. This got rid of the problem but a few months later it started happening again. I updated the BIOS after this and again, it solved the problem. Recently however, it has started again and I can't find anything that will fix it. Crashes generally happen when playing games like SC2 and ArmA 2 and a BSOD screen isn't given on reboot - I have auto reboot unchecked.

One extra thing to note: I recently removed my sound card and its drivers. Before this, the crashes were accompanied with a loud buzzing noise. Afterwards, it seems like the computer is just performing a regular restart, when it shouldn't be of course.

SPECS: Processor (CPU) AMD PHENOM II X4 QUAD CORE 970 (3.50GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3)
Motherboard ASUS® M5A78L-M/USB3: M-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM) 4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 550 Ti - DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 1TB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply 450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card Sound Blaster® Audigy™ SE (since removed)

The minidump file says it was caused by driver: ntoskrnl.exe.

Any help would be much appriciated!

 

[Scotta1212]

anyone?

 

[fl@sh]

i was encountering the same problem , u have first to change windows to make sure the problem not in hardware,then also to make good cooling for ur nvidia graphic card cause it get too hot while gaming made it restart to prevent damage or even shut down ,also to make sure ur processor in good cooling like the vga card . hope u get it fixed soon

 

[haider95]

Ahh fermi graphic cards, You need an atomic powerplant to power them, they run like absolute grabage, only buy them if YOU LOVE THE SMELL OF BURNING GTX IN THE MORNING!


But seriously dude, monitor gpu and cpu temperatures while gaming and get back to us. Use EVGA precision tool to monitor temps while gaming, keep an eye on the temp counters and report back when it shuts off

 

[haider95]

Wait, You're using a 450w unbranded PSU? WELL THAT MIGHT BE YOUR PROBLEM RIGHT THERE MISTER

 

[haider95]

Oh man hahaha for all the fermi card owners out there, they need to watch a video on youtube called

Hitler is informed about nvidia gtx 680 kepler

im still laughing ahahah

 

[Scotta1212]

I monitored my temps and found that the highest gpu temp was 75 and the cpu was 62. When it did crash the temps were not at 75 or 62 and the 12V rail was still providing 12V. I managed to play ArmA 2 for 3hrs then SC2 for 2hrs perfectly fine until it did another random restart.

I honestly don't know what to do now as i dont want to spend a load of money on a psu when that might not even be the problem. Anything else it could possibly be?

Thanks!

 

[haider95]

Run memtest for at least 5 cycles
or reset bios