Help! Pc keeps restarting during gaming

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Shwam

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Hi

My pc keeps restarting randomly during gaming.

It started when I installed a pirate copy of sniper elite v3 which I downloaded off kick ass.
The game ran perfectly without any issues but my pc started restarting randomly during game play. Happened twice before I uninstalled the game and even deleted all the download files.

After that, my pc restarted while playing skyrim once.

I also recently installed battlefield 4 which my pc now restarts occasionally.

My specs are as follows.

i5 4690k at 3.5ghz (no oc)
MSI ZH87-G43 motherboard
8gb RAM 1866mhz (running at 1600mhz)
128gb ssd
1tb hdd
650w psu (thermaltake)

Any idea what the issue could be?
Started only after installing sniper v3.

Using avg free for anti virus. It's up to date and cannot find any viruses (except false positive on some dll files in sniper which have all been deleted).

Also using my stock cpu cooler.
After a restart my cpu temps are around 50 to 60 c but I can see the max on one of the cores reached near 74 and the other cores about to 70.
In my bios there is a max temp of 70 I think but I know my cpu has reached higher without restarting before I installed sniper.

I also used to play the witcher 3 on ultra settings for hours on end without an issue.

Any advice is welcome!
 
Check your GPU temperature. This can start to be an issue if the card is dusty, so you might need to clean it a bit. If you install some monitoring software, you can also check the fan speed - this can cause it to overheat if the speed is too low for your card.

The fact that it restarts only when gaming suggests your hardware is under load - so it could also be a faulty RAM address which you can check by running MEMTEST. BUT the restart from this would include a brief BSOD and memory dump.
 
First thought would be cpu and gpu temperatures forcing a restart.

Have you checked your windows logs for alerts?

Have you updated any drivers or Windows recently?
 
Possibly updated my gpu driver quite recently.
How do I check my windows logs?

It's def not my gpu temp. That doesn't really go above 65.
Could possibly be my cpu temp but I doubt it as it also usually sticks around 60 while gaming.
 
K it's def not my cpu temp.

Just played some battlefield and before I exited I checked my temps.
Cpu was at 65c n everything was running smoothly.
I exited the game by right clicking on bf4 on the task bar and clicking exit. Pc froze for a few seconds and then restarted.

Any ideas?
 
1st thing id do is turn off auto restart;

control panel>>>system>>>advanced system settings>>>>advanced tab in system properties box,
then untick automatically restart;

see if it BSOD'S with a code you can google, or at least point you in the right direction;

next id try a defrag on this pc just to be safe;
next id try to clean my pc really well out; clean all the dust off it; preferably with a blowing machine;

next id try carefully check my ram with memtest to make sure its not a bad address or faulty ram thats slowly going bad;

next step if it keeps happening is try doing a repair install of win 7 see if it makes any difference?
also check what games does it happen in? maybe one of them is addressing something in RAM that windows dosent like?

unfortunately troubleshooting this is kind of like saying my car wont start........
need to try many many things just to see where the problem is at.....
 
Rickster said:
Refer to this thread .

How old is that PSU?
Click to expand...

Had the same issue. Tested with parts from a friend (mobo, gfx card, etc). Turns out it was the PSU all along. Replaced it and haven't had the PC randomly dying on me during a gaming session since.
 
Don't think it has anything to do with BSOD and auto restart only affects BSOD? So not sure if I should untick that.

Have windows 8.1 n will try repair install that. Just need to get a copy from a buddy.

The psu n the entire pc was only put together in Jan.
Never had a restart issue while playing games like the witcher 3 or arma 3 (on ultra) for hours on end.
Only when I installed sniper v3 the other day did this start.
But it does sound like it could be my psu judging from that other thread.

Really hope it isn't.
Is there any way to confirm that it is?
And is a 650w (thermaltake) psu enough for my set up?
Also does anyone know anything about returning a psu to rebeltech (bought in jan) that could possibly be faulty.
 
I'm installing a cooler Master seidon 120v this afternoon when I'm back from work.
A 650w psu should be enough to handle everything?
 
Shwam said:
I'm installing a cooler Master seidon 120v this afternoon when I'm back from work.
A 650w psu should be enough to handle everything?
Click to expand...

Not so sure about that, there's a great calculator on the net, to tell you if your psu is adequete enough.

Win 8.1:banghead: is very tricky with troubleshooting.....

I'd try turning off auto restart just to see what transpires think its in a diffrent place though
Windows 8 is like a car you need to relearn how to drive again....

Next thing I'd try is with another psu just to test,

Maybe you'll get lucky.....
 
Thanks for all the advice.

I think the problem might have been my gpu driver. Think I updated the driver just before the issue started and a new update was ready when I got home last night. Installed it and didn't have a random restart. Only gamed for about an hour n a half though and everything was smooth.

Only problem now is that cooler Master seidon. Idle temps at around 30. Pc got to 79 while gaming n wouldn't drop below 40 after gaming.
What a piece of crap
 
Also check you've not installed any malware or trojans... I once inadvertently installed bitcoin mining app during installation of something else... put a helluva load on my machine and caused chaos until i figured it out.

Would bet on PSU too though.
 
Ah forgot that

MSI gtx 970 gaming

Using avg free for anti virus and it doesn't pick anything up.
Didn't get a restart last night but if it happens again I'm gonna completely clean out my pc and reinstall windows.
 
Try Malware bytes, for malicious software. Its a free (Fairly decent) malware removal tool.
 
Rickster said:
Look in processes for a thing called IEHIGHUtil.exe

Do you have it?
Click to expand...

Do I look for that in the ctrl alt delete process screen thingy?
Sorry I'm a bit of a noob.
N not sure if windows 8.1 has that process screen.

@joka, thanks will download it when I get back from work tonight
 
Shwam said:
Do I look for that in the ctrl alt delete process screen thingy?
Sorry I'm a bit of a noob.
N not sure if windows 8.1 has that process screen.

@joka, thanks will download it when I get back from work tonight
Click to expand...

aka task manager.
 
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