Games crash requiring hard reset after 20 minutes of gameplay

[cary_fan]

Hi guys,

Last week I built a simple gaming rig but have run into a serious issue in games. I've noticed that after playing for about 20 minutes in it will completely hang: screen frozen, sound stuttering and requiring a hard reset. I can't escape back to Windows and all hard drive activity stops. Windows never generates any error messages aside from not being shut down properly upon the reboot, and I never get a BSOD. I'm at a loss for what's going on - I even replaced my power supply thinking that it might be underpowered for my rig, but I fired up the new one tonight (700W) and it's been crashing reliably in the game after about 20 minutes of gameplay.

Monitoring temps, my CPU never gets above 50C and my video card never above 65C. Stock coolers on everything. Stock speeds. In Windows I haven't noticed any instability.

Tested with:
- Battlefield Bad Company 2 (crash after 15 minutes)
- Civ 5 (crash after ~20 minutes)

Here are my specs:

- Windows 7 64-bit Professional
- Intel i5-2500K @ stock speeds
- Asus P8P67 B3 (TPU, EPU off)
- Powercolor Radeon HD 6850 775MHZ 1GB running latest Catalyst driver
- Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 7200.12 1TB SATA
- G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL Ripjaws PC3-12800 2X2GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24
- OCZ ModXStreamPro 700W (replacing an Antec Neo 450W)
- CoolerMaster HAF912

I'm in the process of running some benchmarks to try and isolate the problem. Someone in the [H] forums suggested memtest, and that passed without difficulty. I'm trying to download 3dmark vantage to see if that helps isolate the problem.

Any suggestions for what else could be causing this? I'm really stuck. I could really use some help!

 

[Harvey]

Did you check your CPU temp while gaming? Depending on the air flow in your case and your HS/fan, you may need better cooling specifically under the heavier load.

What thermal compound did you use, and how did you apply it? Thermal compound is intended to fill microscopic pits and gaps between the CPU's cooling surface and the HS/fan.

If you're using a retail stock HS/fan or any other cooler that came with its own thermal pad or compound, try removing the original and applying a VERY thin coat of Arctic Silver 5. Anything more actually impedes the transfer of heat between the CPU and the cooler.

My personal method is to put a BB size drop on the CPU surface and spread it with my fingertip. Windex is great for removing thermal compound from CPU's and fingers.

Do you have good air flow around your hard drive? You could check by touching it right after it locks up.

Have you tried another hard drive? If you have a spare drive, use Acronis True Image to clone your working system to it and test it. Seagate includes a free version of True Image in their DiscWizard toolset, which you can download, here. The only limitation on this free version is that at least one drive in the chain (source or target) must be a Seagate drive.

Side note -- Western Digital also offers a free version of True Image with the same restriction that one drive must be WD.

 

[cary_fan]

I had used the stock intel fan with whatever thermal compound came with it. As per your suggestion, I bought myself some Arctic Silver 5 and applied it after cleaning off the heatsink/cpu with isopropyl alcohol. The issue still persists - BC2 crashed after about 15 minutes with no hint of slowdown/artifacts. CPU temp was 50C and GPU temp was 69C about 5 seconds before the crash (just before I alt-tabbed back into the game).

The air flow is good in the case, though I am running it open right now. The hard drive is directly in the path of a case fan, so I don't think the hard drive is getting unreasonably hot. I haven't tried a different hard drive, though that's a good suggestion.

Still struggling to isolate the problem. I should run some more benches to see if it's something I can reproduce reliably rather than relying on "x minutes" of gameplay.

Thanks, still appreciate any suggestions.

 

[Harvey]

It sounds like something in your system is getting hot or otherwise breaking down under load. If it isn't the hard drive, I'd suspect a semiconductor or capacitor on the motherboard or graphics card.

If you can borrow another hard drive, use the free version of True Image to clone your drive and test your system using the other drive. If nothing else, it will eliminate another variable. You might want to borrow another similar vid card that can use the same drivers and test it for the same reasons.

If you still have problems, and your motherboard is still under warranty, contact Asus' tech support. You may want to RMA it for another board. Testing the hard drive and vid card before you do will help your case because, in both cases, you've eliminated other possiblities. Even the best manufacturers have occasional failures like this that pass their final test but fail in use in the field.

Hope that helps. After that, I'm afraid I'm out of ideas.

 

[lupi]

can you swap out the vid card, sounds like something I had occur once.

 

[BoomerD]

It's also entirely possible that it's your power supply. That model is a Sirfa build...and is not very good.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article/2008/11/12/ocz_700w_modxstream_pro_power_supply/9

"The Bottom Line

While we had high hopes for the OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro given OCZ's decent track record and the unusually low standards that other 700w units have set forth in our testing to date the OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro hardly lived up to its “Pro” moniker. The unit’s build quality was decent but the component selection was certainly questionable and in the end the unit was unable to complete our testing at full power."

Try your Antec PSU before replacing any other components. It's more than enough power for your build.

(of course, it could very easily be your board, CPU, or video card causing this, but you already have the power supply...and that's fairly easy to change out.)

 

[cary_fan]

Thanks for your suggestions guys. In the last few days, I've been trying to troubleshoot the problem.

I updated my motherboard bios (was 1502; replaced with 1503) and it seemed to help, but still crashes in-game. I have also set the fan speeds to be as aggressive as possible (ie. louder at lower temps). The CPU never exceeded 55C according to ASUS' logging utility. According to HWMonitor my video card never went above 70C (though I haven't figured out how to log those results aside from a current status readout). The system even crashed while I was staring at the temps with the game paused and running in the background.

Re swapping out the power supply: I had this problem with my original 450W power supply and I bought the 700W thinking that it would solve the problem. I've had the same crashing issue with both PSUs, so I don't think that's it.

I think I have isolated the problem to the video card. I borrowed my brother's 4670 for the past 12 hours and it hasn't crashed once. It's been running for hours now without a problem.

Sigh. I was hoping it was NOT the video card, because I am also hoping to get a mail-in rebate. I haven't cut out the UPC yet, but I have the feeling I can't RMA the card AND claim the rebate. And besides, I'll probably have to pay for shipping too. I purchased the components from NCIX.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I'm trying to get a hold of NCIX to see if I can do both the RMA and the rebate. I'm a little sour on the whole situation, especially since I take the rebate cost into account when I purchase components. Kinda sucks that if you have to return the card you don't get the advertised price.

It's also entirely possible that it's your power supply. That model is a Sirfa build...and is not very good.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article/2008/11/12/ocz_700w_modxstream_pro_power_supply/9

"The Bottom Line

While we had high hopes for the OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro given OCZ's decent track record and the unusually low standards that other 700w units have set forth in our testing to date the OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro hardly lived up to its “Pro” moniker. The unit’s build quality was decent but the component selection was certainly questionable and in the end the unit was unable to complete our testing at full power."

Try your Antec PSU before replacing any other components. It's more than enough power for your build.

(of course, it could very easily be your board, CPU, or video card causing this, but you already have the power supply...and that's fairly easy to change out.)

 

[Harvey]

You can't get a rebate on a card that you return. However, if you think just this particular card is faulty, and another of the same model will work, you should be able to exchange it. If it's new enough, the vendor should help you. If not, the manufacturer should, as long as it's still under warranty.

Before you exchange it, ask the vendor or the manufacturer how to handle the rebate. They should accomodate you on a defective new card.

Good luck.

 

[rok67]

Hello, I have the same problem. And i think i have bad news for you if you allready bought the new graphic card.
So.. I had some problems with my old graphic (it was broken - not my fault) card (ATI Radeon 5850 HD) so i went back to the store and ask them to fix that. They said it will take some time, so they gave me a card for the time i was waiting to get that one fixed. I got this GeForce (i don't remember which one) for 2-3 weeks. I started haveing just the same problems as you described. It was working fine when i was surfing on the internet or watching films. When i started any game (League of Legends, CSS, TF2, and other with much lower System Requirements) after 15- 25 min it crashed. Computer was still running like normaly.. but the screen was whole black .. no error signs or anything.. So i had to shut the power of to shut the computer down. And i tried that several times.. with serveral games... and there were no more games sounds or anything just that wierd sound.. So i just didn't play games for those 2 weeks.. When i returned that GeForce card and reclaim the old one back they gave me ATI Radeon 5870 HD. So the first thing i did i installed the newest drivers. And started playing.. and here we go the same problem again... With the brand new graphic card.. So i returned the computer in the store and ask them to fix it. 1 Month later they call me and tell me that they fixed the problem. They said it was a bad hard disk drive.. When i got my computer back i still had the same problem.. i went back again (few days ago) and tell them that my computer still wasn't working.. they said it was wierd becouse it was all working 2 days ago when they gave it back to me.. and they told me there might be problem with not updated windows (I have Windows 7) . I didn't want to take my computer back home and try doing that becouse that was the last day my Warranty was on date and there might be a chance that is not the thing that was wrong. So now i'm waiting to get my computer back fixed or not fixed If you still have not bought that graphic card try updateing windows.