Random black screens while playing games

[Smokei]

Hello,

I have the following problem for a while now and I've ran out of ideas on how to fix it.

So, while I play games, at random times, sometimes 5 minutes, sometimes an hour or more, my screen will become black and unresponsive. Sometimes I'm able to still hear the game sound after the screen goes black, and sometimes I can hear buzzing. The screen doesn't always go black, I can sometimes see, umm, lets say vertical stripes in different colours.

It happens in all games I play (Starcarft 2, League of Legends, Diablo 3..) and it is really really ruining the game experience for me.

Computer configuration is the following:
intel core i3 540 4
GB DD3 1333 MHz
radeon hd 5750 1 GB graphics
Samsun 24'' monitor
Win 7 64 bit windows

The computer is about a year old, and this problem wasn't happening from day one when I bought it.

So far I've tried many things including:
Antivirus scan - nothing was found
Memtest - no errors were found
Temperature checks - all temperatures were ok
Complete driver wipeout and reinstalling - didn't give any results
Motherboard, sound driver updates - didn't give any results
Various Catalyst Control Center tweaks - didn't give any results
Many many other things that I've read in threads where people had similar problem like me and it helped them

I am really running out of ideas and I'd really like to fix this.

Thanks in advance

 

[DM186]

What is your PSU brand and how many watts is it? You say you have checked your temps, how are you checking them and are you able to check durning the game? You might have malwear.

It could be your PSU on its way out. When was the last time you cleaned out your rig with caned air? Even your card could be going out too. The only way to check your card is to try it in another rig.

The PSU the same way. or try someone's else card and/or PSU in yours. Here is a link to the malwear. Hope this helps and good luck.

http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx

 

[Smokei]

It's a 500 W MS industrials PSU. It is not a custom made computer so I guess that when it was assembled they've installed a PSU that is powerful enough? I've checked temperatures during gameplay and they were normal.

I clean my computer from dust every few weeks so I doubt that it is causing any problems.
And for the malware & viruses , I've scanned the PC many times already and nothing was found.

 

[simon12]

Does the buzzing come from the PC or the speakers?

 

[Smokei]

It is coming from the speakers

 

[simon12]

I also suspect the PSU may be on its way out but it could be software related or even the GPU has become unstable, if you are unable to swap the PSU with another you could reinstall Windows from scratch to rule out anything software related.

 

[Smokei]

I don't think its software related, because it crashes in every game. How can I check if its PSU or GPU that is causing the crashes?

 

[simon12]

Really only by swapping them or using them on another system.

 

[Smokei]

Is it possible to somehow increase the power that GPU is getting from PSU? That is if its not getting enough.

 

[simon12]

No only a new PSU can do that

 

[DM186]

Yeah I agree with simon it could be your PSU. Generic PSU's don't last long and if you are a gamer then that reduces it life. If you know someone who has a rig you can try your PSU on or theirs in yours.

Here are some good brand PSU's if you do have to buy one. If you find them cheaper then you should get a good PSU and here are some that are good. Corsair, Antec, Seasonic, XFX, Silver Stone, and some OCZ brands. Good luck to you.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139033

This is the list of good to worst PSU's Tier 1 = best Tier 5 = worst.
http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx

 

[Smokei]

Maybe I should just go with replacing my graphics card? Or even both the graphics card and the PSU?

And is it 100% sure that by replacing both I won't have the problem again?

 

[simon12]

I suggest you just try the PSU first unless you wanted to upgrade the graphics card anyway.

 

[DM186]

Not 100% for sure. But I would do what simon said do the PSU first and see if that is your problem and if it is great. If not still would keep the PSU. Then try the new card. If not that one then there is something else causing the problem.

 

[Smokei]

Ok, I've taken my PC to repair to the shop where I bought it.

It was there a few days, I picked it up, the guy that repaired it said that computer nicely passed Memtest, prime 95, VGA test and wd diag.

He told me that I could reinstall OS, which I did and today again, played few games of SC II, and BAM it happnes again, in Diablo 3, it happened again.

I've updated all the BIOS, Audio/Video drivers, reinstall both starcraft 2 and diablo 3 and it still crashes.

Please help me somehow, I'm really out of options 🙁

 

[simon12]

Do you know what they fixed? I am not to sure myself but you could try a small overclock on the graphics card and see if it crashes in the same way more often. Alternatively you could try a GPU stress test such as furmark but when I did using a faulty GPU it ran it fine. If the overclock causes the problems to be the same but worse or a GPU stress test causes a crash then 99% its either the GPU or CPU. Unfortunately either can cause this type of thing. I still think its the PSU as it sounds like a dodgy brand.

 

[simon12]

You couls also repost in the graphics and displays section it looks like there are more experts on this type of thing posting there.

 

[DM186]

I live on both this and graphics. What OP needs to do is run his own memtest and run his own furmark. Or take it back to the shop and tell them they didn't fix the problem. So I will link you to some of those programs.

http://www.memtest.org/

http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

http://www.ozone3d.net/msi_kombustor/