Help - Frustrating Computer Crashes

BazMcG

Hello,

I have had an ongoing problem with my PC and I am starting to lose hope with my rig. Basically the computer started crashing when I was doing semi intensive things such as watching youtube or gaming.

The crash makes my screen go black and my GPU fans seem to max out and become very loud. This made me suspect that my GPU was the problem so I sent it back and used a replacement until I just got my new GPU.

Now the one that I used until I got my new GPU was a lower power card I believe a Geforce 7300 or something, this card didnt make the PC crash once, which backed up my idea that the previous GPU was the problem.

So My new card arrived (6870 1GB) and after installing the card my computer did the crash again This makes me believe that the power supply is the problem? I mean I had a new motherboard put in and it didnt make a difference. The fact that the PC didnt crash with a low power card in makes me believe the PSU is the problem.

I really am losing patience with the problem as all I want to do is play some shogun lol If you know any testing I can do to narrow this down that would be great.

My PC Specs:

Intel Core i5 750 @ 2.67GHz
4.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 532MHz (7-7-7-20)
MSI Twin Forza 6870 1GB (Brand New)
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. P55A-UD3 (Socket 1156) (Also Very New)
59GB OCZ-VERTEX2 ATA Device (SATA)
488GB SAMSUNG SAMSUNG HD502HJ ATA Device (SATA)
Corsair 650w Modular PSU (HX I believe)

Thanks,
Baz

massy086

have you tested your ram with mem teat one stick at a time

mp22

Is your power supply able for the load?

BazMcG

The PSU will carry that load no bother, I am running mem test now

BazMcG

I ran the test and the results came back fine. I will be able to get an identical PSU of a mate to test out the system. Is there anything I can do in the mean time?

massy086

how long did u run mem test and did you do one stick at a time

BazMcG

I thought it was complete but it turns out that this test takes frigging ages lol left it overnight and all, its been going for 17 hours although it hasnt picked up a problem yet.

massy086

BazMcG wrote: »

I thought it was complete but it turns out that this test takes frigging ages lol left it overnight and all, its been going for 17 hours although it hasnt picked up a problem yet.

you only really need to do 8 hours per stick of ram .another thought did you run driver sweeper in safe mode before you fitted the new gpu if not here it is http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/.tbh the corsair psu,s are great and rarely give trouble.did you also have the power connections plugged into the new 6870 and could you also link your card cheers

ressem

Both of the non-working cards were AMD / ATI?

There are possibilities other than the power supply and memory.

When buying really new hardware you can end up waiting for motherboard and graphics cards to get properly working firmware.

When AGP x8 came out I spent 8 months waiting for a combination of firmware that would get an ATI 9700 to work stably with a Gigabyte motherboard.

I would find that it would crash if the card was pushed to any stress until finally a motherboard bios patch and set of graphics drivers sorted the issue. After that all worked fine. I have never bought state-of-the-art since.

massy086

ressem wrote: »

Both of the non-working cards were AMD / ATI?

There are possibilities other than the power supply and memory.

When buying really new hardware you can end up waiting for motherboard and graphics cards to get properly working firmware.

When AGP x8 came out I spent 8 months waiting for a combination of firmware that would get an ATI 9700 to work stably with a Gigabyte motherboard.

I would find that it would crash if the card was pushed to any stress until finally a motherboard bios patch and set of graphics drivers sorted the issue. After that all worked fine. I have never bought state-of-the-art since.

Well I don't really agree with it being too new hardware as it's not that new I have the very same mobo and I have a corsair 620 and a 6850 and no probs at all and my rig is heavily overclocked with 7 fans and 3 hard drives and I have no power issue,s

unkel

OP - is the graphics card really hot when it crashes? Do you use appropriate cooling? If no and yes, then I'm with ressem. Upgrade your BIOS and try a different graphics driver.