PC Random Shut Downs (During Games/ Other intensive programs)

[dylan_bobier]

I have a gaming PC, probably 6 years old now. Just today when I was watching a video on YouTube it froze requiring me to hard restart. This has happened a few times over the years doing various things so I thought nothing of it. I restarted but then it kept freezing within at least 5 minutes. I opened up the PC and cleaned/checked the fans and all was good. After starting it and limiting the programs/wifi connecting I defragmented both my hard drives. I have one solid state running my OS and then two disk drives synced up in RAID for my main storage. After that I restarted and ran a memory check, all came back clear. I have updated my drivers for everything, starting with essentials and moving up from there. Everything seems fine now except when I try to open anything a little more intensive, programs like Overwatch or a game off of Steam. I usually can get into a loading screen or the main menu and then it freezes again. Any thoughts or ideas on what it could be? I am running Windows 10.

 

[mlga91]

You need to post our specs, also, post what temps are you getting when opening a intensive program.

 

[Radioactive Gamer]

Download core temp and observe the temp readings, as well as perform a stress test with prime 95 while watching the temps. If your system shuts down with prime then your CPU is overheating. A mistake that many PC gamers make, is that they apply thermal paste once then forget about it. I apply good brand (Arctic Silver) thermal paste once a year. Make sure that your thermal paste is not old. I recently just applied new paste myself. I have an overclocked FX 4350 at 4.5 GHz. With good thermal paste my temps never went over 51-C at gaming loads, but after a year of use I ran into your situation and knew what my CPU needed. Shutdowns are an indication of motherboard overheating protection. Well, that is a troubleshooting option at least. Hope you figure it out. Troubleshoot and rule out the CPU temp and then move on to other hardware such as ram. Download a memory tester and check your ram. Ram not the issue? Then check for wrong drivers or driver conflicts, as well as corrupt windows updates. If that doesn't work, do a windows restoration. If you have windows 8 or 10, you can check for bad or corrupt files and it will replace them without needing a full reinstall. To access the recovery mode, start pressing F8 when the boot screen comes up.