PC Rebooting while playing certain games

T

the eskimo

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
531
Reaction score
108
I need help troubleshooting why my PC would randomly reboot while playing certain games.

These are mostly the more recent titles (2014+) such as GTA5, Far Cry 4, Black Ops 3. After about 20-30 minutes of play, The PC just reboots. Older games run fine.
This occurs whether running at high settings or lowest settings

I suspected it could be a heat issue, but I'm running everything stock and the cooling I have should be fine for my use. CPU and GPU temps remain relatively stable in game at <60 dec C in most situations with occasional spikes up to 65-70.

SPECS:
4790k with H110 running at stock 4.0 GHz (I thought it might be the el-cheapo paste I initially used from Matrix Warehouse, but I replaced it with some Arctic Silver 5)
Gigabyte GTX970 WF3
32GB RAM
Gigabyte Odin 720W
MSI Z97M Gaming
Corsair 350D
2x SSDs (One for OS, one for critical Apps and Games)
2x 2TB WD Green drives for media storage

Maybe the PSU is just too little. PSU calculators say 550W will do the trick, but the PSU is over 7 years old now. I do hope it's not this, I don't have 2k right now to buy a new PSU.

Anything anyone can suggest I try?
 
In MSI afterburner enable OSD and then you can view your GPU temps and CPU temps in real time.


Who says a <850W PSU costs 2k? (unless you want gold or plat certified)


I got a 850W Xigmatek Vector S 850W (silver certified) for R1800 at Matrix Warehouse about 5-6 years ago, still going strong.
 
Last edited:
Most likely option is that the PSU is overheating or providing too little power due to age.
It could also be RAM or Motherboard heat, but very unlikely unless you have really bad ventilation.
Take some of the load off PSU by unplugging the 2 normal HDDs and DVD drives and so on, then see if it still occurs.
 
Vaughan said:
Most likely option is that the PSU is overheating or providing too little power due to age.
It could also be RAM or Motherboard heat, but very unlikely unless you have really bad ventilation.
Take some of the load off PSU by unplugging the 2 normal HDDs and DVD drives and so on, then see if it still occurs.
Click to expand...

Im going with PSU too.
 
Once had a problem, graphics card boot and next day don't. The problem was dirt from graphics card fan falling in 2nd pci-e port. Clean it and worked perfectly. Before cleaning the 2nd pci-e port I was convinced it was my PSU. Finding the problem is not allways easy. All post above give you good suggestions and I'll add check what driver you have, there were bad beta nvidia driver release month or two back.
 
Rickster said:
In MSI afterburner enable OSD and then you can view your GPU temps and CPU temps in real time.

Who says a <850W PSU costs 2k? (unless you want gold or plat certified)

I got a 850W Xigmatek Vector S 850W (silver certified) for R1800 at Matrix Warehouse about 5-6 years ago, still going strong.
Click to expand...

I'm using OpenHardwareMonitor to check temps. That not real time?

If I do buy a new PSU, I'd want to future-proof a bit for when I do upgrade my GPU and/or decide to OC the 4790k. So I'd rather spend a bit more on higher quality than something that will be fine just for now.

I too bought a PSU from Matrix that I'm still running 10 years later on my Download/Media PC. While most of their stuff is junk, one can find some good stuff on occassion.

Vaughan said:
Most likely option is that the PSU is overheating or providing too little power due to age.
It could also be RAM or Motherboard heat, but very unlikely unless you have really bad ventilation.
Take some of the load off PSU by unplugging the 2 normal HDDs and DVD drives and so on, then see if it still occurs.
Click to expand...

Ventilation might be a problem. There's not much space for anything inside a 350D especially with a H110.

I'll try what you suggest to remove some load off the PSU and report back. The PSU has been running almost non-stop in a PC for it's entire life.

DanDango said:
Once had a problem, graphics card boot and next day don't. The problem was dirt from graphics card fan falling in 2nd pci-e port. Clean it and worked perfectly. Before cleaning the 2nd pci-e port I was convinced it was my PSU. Finding the problem is not allways easy. All post above give you good suggestions and I'll add check what driver you have, there were bad beta nvidia driver release month or two back.
Click to expand...

I cleaned out all the dust a couple of weeks ago with compressed air.

Drivers shouldn't be an issue, as far as possible I use the stable versions and keep them up to date.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far!
 
What about something as simple as reapplying thermal paste on CPU?
 
how full are your drives?
and what about something like borrowing a PSU and playing the games that cause the freeze?

another option, how clean is your M/B? and when you reapplied paste, and took your CPU off?
did you reattach your Fan unit properly, sounds silly, but I had something like this once, turned out one of my Pins wasn't fully home.....

can you try with a stock cooler, what happens then?
 
Check event viewer to see whether reboot is caused by critical kernel error.
How do you apply thermal compound?
 
the eskimo said:
I need help troubleshooting why my PC would randomly reboot while playing certain games.

These are mostly the more recent titles (2014+) such as GTA5, Far Cry 4, Black Ops 3. After about 20-30 minutes of play, The PC just reboots. Older games run fine.
This occurs whether running at high settings or lowest settings

I suspected it could be a heat issue, but I'm running everything stock and the cooling I have should be fine for my use. CPU and GPU temps remain relatively stable in game at <60 dec C in most situations with occasional spikes up to 65-70.

SPECS:
4790k with H110 running at stock 4.0 GHz (I thought it might be the el-cheapo paste I initially used from Matrix Warehouse, but I replaced it with some Arctic Silver 5)
Gigabyte GTX970 WF3
32GB RAM
Gigabyte Odin 720W
MSI Z97M Gaming
Corsair 350D
2x SSDs (One for OS, one for critical Apps and Games)
2x 2TB WD Green drives for media storage

Maybe the PSU is just too little. PSU calculators say 550W will do the trick, but the PSU is over 7 years old now. I do hope it's not this, I don't have 2k right now to buy a new PSU.

Anything anyone can suggest I try?
Click to expand...

Your temps arn't normal for a watercooler. I have a Intel watercooler on the same cpu as you and i've never seen it climb past 40.
 
My son had similar symptoms with roughly the same games ....

i7 4790k
MSI Z97 gaming 7
GTX 950
8 gigs
730W PSU

Turned out that under load - gaming - the PSU was faulty. The time interval between reboots got shorter and shorter, before he just decided to replace the PSU.

Replaced it under warantee and problem went away ...... (was a bit of a discussion with supplier mind you because re-installing the PSU into another machine didnt show the issue).
 
ODTech said:
Your temps arn't normal for a watercooler. I have a Intel watercooler on the same cpu as you and i've never seen it climb past 40.
Click to expand...

Do you live in the arctic? :D

Remember the 4790k runs quite hot so those temps are not unreasonable at all.

I'd swap out the PSU and make sure it's not that causing the issue.
 
So I can confirm it is the PSU. I disconnected a few drives and devices and then swapped out the PSU for a spare 550W PSU (of a similar age though) that I had lying around and didn't have the same problem.

Seems like I'll have to buy a new one as the spare isn't going to have enough power when I reconnect everything

Any suggestions?
Budget ideally R1500, but can go up to R2000. Takealot preferred, how about this:
http://www.takealot.com/evga-750b1-bronze-series-750w/PLID40660698 ?

I do intend to upgrade GPU in about a year's time and will consider overclocking the CPU at some point in the future so will need to have some juice for that
 
the eskimo said:
I need help troubleshooting why my PC would randomly reboot while playing certain games.

These are mostly the more recent titles (2014+) such as GTA5, Far Cry 4, Black Ops 3. After about 20-30 minutes of play, The PC just reboots. Older games run fine.
This occurs whether running at high settings or lowest settings

I suspected it could be a heat issue, but I'm running everything stock and the cooling I have should be fine for my use. CPU and GPU temps remain relatively stable in game at <60 dec C in most situations with occasional spikes up to 65-70.

SPECS:
4790k with H110 running at stock 4.0 GHz (I thought it might be the el-cheapo paste I initially used from Matrix Warehouse, but I replaced it with some Arctic Silver 5)
Gigabyte GTX970 WF3
32GB RAM
Gigabyte Odin 720W
MSI Z97M Gaming
Corsair 350D
2x SSDs (One for OS, one for critical Apps and Games)
2x 2TB WD Green drives for media storage

Maybe the PSU is just too little. PSU calculators say 550W will do the trick, but the PSU is over 7 years old now. I do hope it's not this, I don't have 2k right now to buy a new PSU.

Anything anyone can suggest I try?
Click to expand...

That power supply is not really 720Watt. Those Odin's can only run at those wattages for 1min.

My money is on the power supply. Get something decent that's rated for continuous and peak.
 
the eskimo said:
So I can confirm it is the PSU. I disconnected a few drives and devices and then swapped out the PSU for a spare 550W PSU (of a similar age though) that I had lying around and didn't have the same problem.

Seems like I'll have to buy a new one as the spare isn't going to have enough power when I reconnect everything

Any suggestions?
Budget ideally R1500, but can go up to R2000. Takealot preferred, how about this:
http://www.takealot.com/evga-750b1-bronze-series-750w/PLID40660698 ?

I do intend to upgrade GPU in about a year's time and will consider overclocking the CPU at some point in the future so will need to have some juice for that
Click to expand...

I would have recommended Wootware.

However theirs is R 1.00 cheaper and excludes shipping :o
 
Pitbull said:
I would have recommended Wootware.

However theirs is R 1.00 cheaper and excludes shipping :o
Click to expand...

Would also usually use Wootware or Rebeltech, but need it now and planning to buy on Credit Card and payback at month end, also #eBucks.
 
the eskimo said:
So I can confirm it is the PSU. I disconnected a few drives and devices and then swapped out the PSU for a spare 550W PSU (of a similar age though) that I had lying around and didn't have the same problem.

Seems like I'll have to buy a new one as the spare isn't going to have enough power when I reconnect everything

Any suggestions?
Budget ideally R1500, but can go up to R2000. Takealot preferred, how about this:
http://www.takealot.com/evga-750b1-bronze-series-750w/PLID40660698 ?

I do intend to upgrade GPU in about a year's time and will consider overclocking the CPU at some point in the future so will need to have some juice for that
Click to expand...

That is a good option.

Also:
http://www.wootware.co.za/seasonic-...us-bronze-certified-desktop-power-supply.html

Actually even this would be fine for your build:
http://www.wootware.co.za/seasonic-...us-bronze-certified-desktop-power-supply.html
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X