First, I'm sorry if this thread doesn't belong here. This seemed the best place to put it.

 

Okay, so here's the deal; we (being my brother, father, and myself) recently built a gaming computer. We had a few problems with the process, as it was our first time doing it. However, we did get it into working order in two days. As it stands, its been about four or five days. We've been able to install all our desired programs so far without a hitch. Most of the time, it seems to run fine. However, on occasion the computer will completely crash. There is no warning or error screen, then entire machine simply shuts off entirely. The standby light remains on the motherboard remains on, however the code indicator on it (which always displays a code when the computer is running) turns off. The only way to get the computer to turn back on is to completely cut off the electricity to the power supply for a few seconds, then turn everything back on.

 

Now, this has happened five times. The first time, the computer wasn't being used at all. The other four times, however, it was playing (what I'm pretty sure are) pretty graphically intensive games (Skyrim and Far Cry 2), on either their highest settings or very close to. After the initial crash, it has not crashed unless playing a game.

 

I'm fairly certain that it isn't a overheating issue, as the case we have has two big fans and a lot of ventilation. However, anything is possible I guess. My personal thoughts were that it may be a power supply issue, but my dad pointed out that it is a 600W power supply, which he believes should be enough.

 

Well, I guess I'll post the specs of the the machine as well, as I really want this issue resolved (my brother, who will being doing the most gaming with it, is pretty disappointed).

 

CPU: Intel Core i5 3570k Ivy Bridge

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H

Hard Drive: WD Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX) - 1TB, 7200RPM, 64MB Cache

Solid State Drive: Samsung 840 Series 250GB

Graphics Card: Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 Evga 2GB

RAM: 16GB (Don't know the brand, sorry)

Wi-Fi Card: TP-Link TL-WDN4800

Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 600W

Case: Cool Master 912 HAF

 

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for any help.

When you say built, did you mean that you coded it yourself?  That could be part of the problem.  There are lots of things in coding that can cause a computer to crash.  There could be an infinite loop, you could have run out of storage, or somehow divided by 0.

Man, that must be pretty disappointing.  I'm honestly curious about that power supply, though.  I apologize, I'm not very savvy when it comes to PC specs., I too have just built my first gaming PC.  I'm wondering if the power supply is strong enough, because you seem to have a pretty strong rig, but again, I'm just guessing.  My advice would be posting this same question on the Steam forums.  They have helped me from start to finish when I was building my first gaming rig.

Good luck!

Looks like you have a powerful rig there, I'm kinda jealous lol. Intel is an option I wouldn't have made, though I prefer AMD over Intel.

 

ANYWAY. It could be a number of things, though to my reasoning it shouldn't be many. To me, it looks like your computer isn't getting the power it needs to do what you want. Example: When playing your high-graphically intensive games like Skyrim, your computer needs to pull a bit more power to the processor and GPU. So, with that said, and going off what was stated above, also that the 660 auto overclocks itself when needed, pulling even more power from a source that you just don't have enough to spare.

 

All in all, try getting a better power supply, I would recommend this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151102

But it's your computer and your choice.

 

Or it could be the cooling you have.

As in, there isn't enough. I just looked at the case and if i can visualize it correctly, there isn't much room to do much, am I correct?

 

 

The one thing I can tell you that I'm certain of, is that your problem isn't software related. It's seems to be the hardware giving you trouble.

Edited March 9, 201312 yr by Paranoia

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

You could use that in order to check if it really is not a heat issue. Worked fine with my brother's PC.

When you say built, did you mean that you coded it yourself?  That could be part of the problem.  There are lots of things in coding that can cause a computer to crash.  There could be an infinite loop, you could have run out of storage, or somehow divided by 0.

No, we didn't do the coding, that's way to far advanced for us (and pretty much everyone I know). By built, I mean we bought the motherboard, graphics card, tower case, CPU, RAM, etc. all separately so that we got exactly what we wanted, then we put everything together. 

 

 

 

Man, that must be pretty disappointing.  I'm honestly curious about that power supply, though.  I apologize, I'm not very savvy when it comes to PC specs., I too have just built my first gaming PC.  I'm wondering if the power supply is strong enough, because you seem to have a pretty strong rig, but again, I'm just guessing.  My advice would be posting this same question on the Steam forums.  They have helped me from start to finish when I was building my first gaming rig.

Good luck!

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.

 

 

 

Looks like you have a powerful rig there, I'm kinda jealous lol. Intel is an option I wouldn't have made, though I prefer AMD over Intel.

 

ANYWAY. It could be a number of things, though to my reasoning it shouldn't be many. To me, it looks like your computer isn't getting the power it needs to do what you want. Example: When playing your high-graphically intensive games like Skyrim, your computer needs to pull a bit more power to the processor and GPU. So, with that said, and going off what was stated above, also that the 660 auto overclocks itself when needed, pulling even more power from a source that you just don't have enough to spare.

 

All in all, try getting a better power supply, I would recommend this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151102

But it's your computer and your choice.

 

Or it could be the cooling you have.

As in, there isn't enough. I just looked at the case and if i can visualize it correctly, there isn't much room to do much, am I correct?

 

 

The one thing I can tell you that I'm certain of, is that your problem isn't software related. It's seems to be the hardware giving you trouble.

Ah, I wasn't aware that the CPU would automatically overclock itself! That definitely sounds like it could have something to do with it. I was also pretty sure it wasn't the software either, since it pretty much worked fine doing anything else. That Power Supply you linked to seems to be on sale for $40 less, so I'll definitely consider it! As for the case, I have pictures:

 

 

 

*sorry for sideways pics* I thought it had some decent ventilation. Fans in front and back. The inside is a little cramped, but it isn't terrible.

Funny story, btw, just after I took these pictures, it "crashed" again.

 

 

 

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

 

You could use that in order to check if it really is not a heat issue. Worked fine with my brother's PC.

Thanks for the link, I'll be sure to try it out.  EDIT: Okay, tried it out, and it didn't seem to work on my computer. I did find something similar (I think it was similar) that measured the heat of my CPU. It was normally around 30-40 degrees Celsius normally, and while playing Skyrim reached around 50 degrees Celsius. 

Edited March 9, 201312 yr by DragonMaster

Ah, I wasn't aware that the CPU would automatically overclock itself! That definitely sounds like it could have something to do with it. I was also pretty sure it wasn't the software either, since it pretty much worked fine doing anything else. That Power Supply you linked to seems to be on sale for $40 less, so I'll definitely consider it! As for the case, I have pictures:

 

 

 

*sorry for sideways pics* I thought it had some decent ventilation. Fans in front and back. The inside is a little cramped, but it isn't terrible.

Funny story, btw, just after I took these pictures, it "crashed" again.

Not the CPU, The graphics card (GPU). If you install the software on the disk that came with the 660, you can monitor the temp levels of what your graphics card is at, along with the power and voltage it's running at. and you can see it overclock itself.

 

Anyway, it couldn't hurt to get more fans in there, it looks like you can put a 200mm fan on the top, and a 140mm fan on the side. Fans aren't expensive, even for the LED kind (I have green LEDs in mine:D). So if you can, at least get one for the top of your case. Cooler Master cases are great for keeping your processor cool, but it doesn't hurt to put as much cooling options in there as possible. It's called future-proofing your rig. If you have to options to make it last a long time, then do it. lol

 

But I believe your problem is the power supply, upon further thinking. There is just way too much power that is needed to run that beast, and it just isn't getting what it needs.

Not the CPU, The graphics card (GPU). If you install the software on the disk that came with the 660, you can monitor the temp levels of what your graphics card is at, along with the power and voltage it's running at. and you can see it overclock itself.

 

Anyway, it couldn't hurt to get more fans in there, it looks like you can put a 200mm fan on the top, and a 140mm fan on the side. Fans aren't expensive, even for the LED kind (I have green LEDs in mine:D). So if you can, at least get one for the top of your case. Cooler Master cases are great for keeping your processor cool, but it doesn't hurt to put as much cooling options in there as possible. It's called future-proofing your rig. If you have to options to make it last a long time, then do it. lol

 

But I believe your problem is the power supply, upon further thinking. There is just way too much power that is needed to run that beast, and it just isn't getting what it needs.

Gah, sorry. I really don't know too much about computers (to be quite honest, we really had no business building a computer), so CPU and GPU kinda just ran together in my head. Next time we go to MicroCenter (electronics store where we bought our parts), I'll make sure to look into the fans. I'll definitely try to convince my dad that we need a bigger power supply (he seems pretty adamant that it isn't the problem). 

 

Thanks so much for your help!

Gah, sorry. I really don't know too much about computers (to be quite honest, we really had no business building a computer), so CPU and GPU kinda just ran together in my head. Next time we go to MicroCenter (electronics store where we bought our parts), I'll make sure to look into the fans. I'll definitely try to convince my dad that we need a bigger power supply (he seems pretty adamant that it isn't the problem). 

 

Thanks so much for your help!

Lol, Well I just started getting into this myself, so don't worry. But I have watched a lot of videos, plus my friend showed me the ropes on what everything is and does, If you are interested, I can link you to a pretty cool Youtube channel the covers much of the basics when it comes to computer hardware ^^

Lol, Well I just started getting into this myself, so don't worry. But I have watched a lot of videos, plus my friend showed me the ropes on what everything is and does, If you are interested, I can link you to a pretty cool Youtube channel the covers much of the basics when it comes to computer hardware ^^

Actually, that would be really nice!

http://www.youtube.com/user/razethew0rld

Look at the playlists, and you will find a bunch of videos pertaining to first time builds and such.

Edited March 9, 201312 yr by Paranoia

Okay, thanks.

 

I asked on the Steam forums, as Flying Cattle suggested. They also seemed to believe that it was a Power Supply issue, and my own investigations have lead me to believe that as well. So I guess that I'm going to need a new one.

Yeah, 600W just isn't going to cut it with full modern hardware these days. You could've gotten away with it maybe 5 years ago, but not with power standards today.