PC restarts while playing games

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Stickfigure

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Hi all.

I have a rather irritating problem atm. Whenever I play a game my PC restarts. Sometimes I can play for an hour without it restarting and other times I'll play for 5 minutes and my PC restarts. I have tried numerous OS (XP, vista, 7) and my PC has restarted in all of them.

I'm pretty sure it's the graphics card but I'm not 100% sure. I have a 4870 and I've checked the temps which are in the 40's so I know it's not overheating. My PC is absolutely fine when I'm on my desktop, listening to music, watching a movie etc. When my PC restarts then screen goes blank and the graphics card fan turns down.

Any suggestions?
 
How much ram do you have installed?

Have you tried another hdd? Have you tried with the different memory sticks.
 
4GB (2x2GB)

Haven't tried another hdd although I might just do that tonight. Also haven't tried using other ram but I'll try swapping the 2 I have now around.
 
What psu do you have and what's the rest of your rig consist of?

i have a feeling it's a psu problem. My gpu also "powers off" randomly i.e. The fan stops spinning and the screen goes black this is because of my crappy PSU
 
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Don't swap them around, game with 1 x 2gb is it still resets remove that stick and try the other one, in different slots as well.

What is your cpu temp when it restarts?
 
Specs are:

e8500
Asus P5Q Deluxe
4870
2x2Gb RAM
ISonic 600watt

How would I check if there are issues between the mobo and gpu? Will have to check up on CPU temp.
 
That deluxe is crossfire right? Can you put the vga card in the other pci-e slot or not, just wondering out of curiosity.
 
I would also say it's probably the CPU temperature, but maybe try using alternate memory modules (1 in, 1 out and vice versa). Are you sure there was not a flash of blue while you were playing?
 
+1 on Temp - are you sure the card temp is 40's under load? Or 40's when you just switch on? And then as mentioned the CPU temp - check what it is under load.
 
Somehow I don't think it is a driver issue - I think Windoze realises that something has gone wrong and just blames the drivers.
 
Ok.

Well I decided to test out my temps with COD4. Played for about a minute and then my pc restarted. Luckily I checked the temps a few seconds before my pc restarted:

CPU - 33
GPU - 48

So it can't be overheating as my cpu and gpu don't have enough time to heat up. Will test with only one module of ram in now. Also no flash of blue. Monitor just goes black. Also yes 9.6 is the latest (downloaded a few days ago)
 
Try updated drivers.

Try a different PSU.

Maybe it's memory, try other memory.

I know it's easier said than done (getting other stuff) but it can help if you can loan for a day or so.
When it's comes to gaming, finding a problem is very hard.

In most cases, I would format, reload, only install the latest drivers and then the game in question, update the game to the latest version and try playing it.

If it's not hardware, it's problem drivers or something.
 
Ok.

Just had another restart with only 1 ram module in. Temps at restart were

CPU - 37
GPU - 51

Trying the second ram module now.
 
my money is on either RAM or the MB

i would give memtest a run and see what happens... that usually picks up screwed up ram!
 
Go download and run a program called OCCT and Core Temp. Open Core Temp, note down the temperatures. Then run OCCT, basically this program will stress your PC. Set the timer for 15 min and let it run. When it's done, it will generate graphs in .jpg's or .gif's. Upload these graphs somewhere and I can check it out. This will gives us more information as to what happens inside your PC when it's under load. It could be power dipping, over heating.

Have you overclocked your PC at all?

*edit*

Also run Memtest as HTC_guy said. This will take a long time, but you never know.
 
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