Computer powering itself off in gameplay

[Boogdieb]

From what i assume, you were doing some hardware swiching around in your pc, try unplugging and plugging back in everything, something might be not properly connected, had that once with CPU radiator, one pin holding it was not inserted fully properly, caused shutdown problems just like yours.

Yea I did move some wires around in the case couple days ago. Not sure cause I never ran a game before I did that but may be a good idea to check all those wires. Now as for the psu is there any program or test you can run on the pc to see what im putting out at the psu, or would I have to take it out and have it tested that way.?

[Schmilblick]

it's certainly heating.

[Ishimada]

I've faced this only with laptop, which forces itself to shutdown if too hot. Only I need the special cooler for my comp.

[Boogdieb]

Honestly, I am willing to bet its that PSU, Rocketfish is not a special brand at all, and Best Buy is not known for the products they make, just the products other companies make that Best Buy happens to sell.

http://www.amazon.com/Rocketfish-700.../dp/B001FHUYPI

A $75 pricetag on a 700 watt does not really evoke a quality power supply.

What I suggest is buy a power supply from a company like Newegg, Tiger Direct, CompUSA, or Micro Center, before the thought of Best Buy even comes to mind and and buy a quality power supply from any of the following brands:

Seasonic
Silverstone
Antec
Corsair (AX, TX, HX are the better lines, in this order)
Mushkin
Enermax
XFX

Because of your GPU and CPU, I would definitely get a 650 watt PSU from any of the above brands.

Thats the one I got lol bought it a few years back when the stock one in my old pc wan't enought to power my gpu. It was a little more than $75 when I got it (think somewhere around $100 but that was with my friends discount who worked for best buy)

[Eylia]

I've had a similar problem, the computer kept turning off when i ran heavy things like editing programs or games. The problem in my case was dust in the fans. You should check that

[Somnophore]

Had this issue before on my PC. It was caused by dust blocking the fan on my Graphics Card and CPU. No fan = no cooling = overheating = shutting down.

Just open your case and see it you can carefully remove some dust and check if the fans still work. Worked like a charm in my PC.

I know this does not seem like a fancy solution, but I just wanted to "throw it out there".

[Primernova]

This is usually a heat issue but it mainly indicates a hardware fault and the computer is trying to basicly save itself. Clean it up but if it continues just just keep pulling things out like ram, swap a (known good even if old)) video card in or even a sound card and then stress the hell out of it, until you find the offender.

But it's usually a heat issue so don't worry too much.

[AVPaul]

May be it's just BSOD? Sometimes BSODs are not shown on screen and looks like reboot due to power off.

[Bakis]

When it comes to PSU W doesnt matter, its what brand it is. There are tons of cheap crap PSU that boost that they have xxx W and they still suck cos they wont produce it in a stable manner.

PSU is the most forgotten and neglected part of a PC cos people stare themselves blind on RAM, CPU, GFX etc.
None of them matters if a PSU is of a poor quality.

A proper PSU cost ALOT but its worth 10 times more than a kickass CPU

[Drunkenvalley]

A proper PSU doesn't need to cost a lot. The OCZ ZT series are good and cheap. How the frag they did that? Dun' know.

[Fonix]

I just realized what your gpu was, and after re-reading that I would say that it is probably overheating. I had a 4850 myself and I could not play any high demanding games on it without turning down the gpu clock and memory clock to their lowest settings in CCC. Try doing this, and I would not be at all surprised if your problem went away.

[Fuzzykins]

Allow me to explain a few conclusions reached by the fine denizens of this board.

When you enter into a game, your system experiences a huge spike in load. (Insert witty innuendo here.)
Your graphics card utilization, processor utilization, RAM utilization, HDD utilization, and subsequently due to all of this, your power supply utilization.

The power supply may not be able to handle "Everything" that's going on at once, because it doesn't have enough amperage to push it's wattage through to your components, or because it is simply made of poor parts and not able to hit it's advertised wattage in the first place.

IF it's a processor issue, you'd be able to find out through a program like Prime95. If this doesn't crash your computer, then it's not your processor.
IF it's a RAM issue, you'd be able to find out through a program like MemTest. If this doesn't crash your computer, then it's not your RAM.
IF it's a hard drive issue, you'd be able to find out through either chkdisk or Crystal Disk Benchmark. If this doesn't reveal discrepancies, then it's not your HDD.

Here's where it gets tricky...

IF it's a graphics card issue, you'd be able to find out through a program like Kombustor. If this doesn't crash your computer, it's not your graphics card, and could either be your motherboard or power supply. However, if it DOES crash your computer, it could be your PCI-E controller, power supply, or graphics card. There's no real way to force your power supply to max out, so a lot of people are going to say replace the power supply because they can't think of a more conclusive way to test your power supply. Another reason they may recommend switching your PSU is because it's one of the weakest points in your build. In any case...

You could probably test your PCI-E lane a few ways. Switching your GPU and seeing if it crashes would eliminate both your PSU and Motherboard from the list of potential finicky parts.

But I digress.

[Drunkenvalley]

I can't say I'd be surprised if it's the PSU. Picture obtained via snipping from the manual.

[Barracks00]

A PC powering off is generally due to a crappy power supply, or something is overheating.

[Boogdieb]

So last night I dusted out the psu and the graphics card and checked fans are all going and other than those two everything else was spot less. Played for over 3 hours today with no issue. Then later on I played for about 2 hours and it shut down. I ran this gpu and psu in my old system but the processor wasn't as many core or as high demand for power. All the other pc parts were brand new. But I guess its a good idea to test them all to make sure I didnt get a doa or something. Thinking I may look into a new power supply know I can order one off newegg or I do think best buy just sells some (other than there brands) anyone know if I were to buy on and it ended up not being the fix if they can be returned??

---------- Post added 2012-01-13 at 04:56 AM ----------

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Corsair+...pply&cp=1&lp=2

How does that one look? Was shopping best buy cause if u can find a good one there in stock I can go pick it up and not have to wait for shipping as i am already going crazy without a pc lol.

[DeltrusDisc]

If you must buy from Best Buy, (I will bet there's a local CompUSA or Tiger Direct near your home) I would suggest this instead:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Corsair+...x650&cp=1&lp=1

It is cheaper, higher quality, and is actually 80+ Bronze. The GS is what I would consider Corsair's lowest quality PSUs, lower than the CX builder series line (which I believe i only 80+) and thus the GS isn't even 80+. I'm sure the power supply enthusiasts would agree with my suggestion over the GS700.

You could also go with this one from Antec, I don't believe it is partially modular however it is 80+ Bronze as well.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Antec+-+...ower&cp=1&lp=2

[Tyratops]

When it comes to PSU W doesnt matter, its what brand it is.

Pretty sure the wattage does matter.

[Drunkenvalley]

Pretty sure the wattage does matter.

It matters, but it is not what you should be judging by.

[dicertification]

Sounds like your power supply is going shot, if you are certain it's not overheating.

Get a voltage monitoring program. Since you have an Asus board I'd just get the one from Asus, think it's AI suite or something like that.
I would load the GPU with Furmark and the CPU with Prime95 and monitor the voltages. In the past I have had 2 power supplies die in this scenario, I finally learned my lesson and went back to buying quality power supplies. Worth every penny in the long run. Be warned it may not even show on the monitoring program, voltage could fluctuate and the machine could crash before the software does it's next poll.

[Boogdieb]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Thermalt...90559&st=Power supply&cp=1&lp=1

This an ok brand? Looking at ones that they have in stock near me. Id like to buy one from a store and not order in case its not my issue I can return it.