PC Freezes when launching anything graphically demanding - which component is letting me down?

[LennonPlays]

Hi, I'm new here, and I'm by absolutely no stretch of the imagination an expert, so I'm going to supply as much detail as I know, and if you need anything else, feel free to let me know.

I'm a speedrunner of The Simpsons Hit and Run (not a graphically demanding game, but enough none-the-less), and after about 10-15 minutes of gameplay, my PC powers off (as if someone had momentarily pulled the power supply out) and restarts immediately after. There is neither a blue screen nor an error message.

I've spoken to some Hit and Run experts who study comp-sci, but they're unable to diagnose my issue. I tried updating my GT270 card's drivers with no luck. My power supply is ~850w which should be more than sufficient. The issue only started occurring yesterday which makes me question what's happening; I've had this PC since summer 2014, it was ~£500 at the time and has served me very well.

When I play Rocket League (to trial), the game lasts about 10 seconds before the PC restarts itself. The temperature has never flickered above 40 degrees celcius and it barely ever makes a whisper of sound.

Any answers or attempts to help will be so valuable and greatly appreciated - this is a really frustrating issue that cripples how I can speedrun.

Thanks, guys!

 

[Wolfshadw]

System reboots like the ones you are describing usually fall into one (or more) of three categories.

1) BSODs - Make sure you have Windows set up to actually display a BSOD message before rebooting.
2) Graphic Card Failure - Typically, you would see this with unusually high temp readings, but it only takes one temporary fan failure to botch up a perfectly good graphics card. For whatever reason, one day, your graphic card cooling fan failed (but works fine now) and it borked your graphics card to the point where it will not function.
3) Power Supply failure - To be honest, this is the most likely scenario. An 850 watt turd is still just a turn (you don't mention the make and model number), but even quality power supplies can fail.

I would probably start troubleshooting with a different power supply (extra you have on hand or borrowed from a friend with a similar build). If you could provide us with the make and model of the power supply, we may be able to make some better recommendations.

-Wolf sends

 

[LennonPlays]

System reboots like the ones you are describing usually fall into one (or more) of three categories.

1) BSODs - Make sure you have Windows set up to actually display a BSOD message before rebooting.
2) Graphic Card Failure - Typically, you would see this with unusually high temp readings, but it only takes one temporary fan failure to botch up a perfectly good graphics card. For whatever reason, one day, your graphic card cooling fan failed (but works fine now) and it borked your graphics card to the point where it will not function.
3) Power Supply failure - To be honest, this is the most likely scenario. An 850 watt turd is still just a turn (you don't mention the make and model number), but even quality power supplies can fail.

I would probably start troubleshooting with a different power supply (extra you have on hand or borrowed from a friend with a similar build). If you could provide us with the make and model of the power supply, we may be able to make some better recommendations.

-Wolf sends

Brilliant! I tried my dad's PSU which has the same watt use, and everything is good. Seems as though that's the problem. Thank you! Turns out I had a bad quality one.