Random restarts in some games but not others

[JTKTR]

So heres the deal. My computer has been chugging along for awhile now (about 3 years when I first built it). Its taken awhile to achieve relative stability but I still have problems playing some games. My main problems are Bioshock and Far Cry 2.

Now heres the issue. It ruins Fallout 3 perfectly (albeit Fallout 3's numerous errors) from Steam but doesn't run the other games. I just bought UT3 and Crysis to see if my system can run those but frankly I'm very confused.

My set up:

AMD Phenom X4 9750 (Not overclocked)
GIGABYTE GA-MA790FX-DS5 AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX
2 gbs G Skill DDR2-800
EVGA 8800 GT

I bought more RAM which'll be here on monday to see if thats the problem but really I don't get it.

Also, ran a videocard stability program and it came up unstable but I'm not sure how much that says if it could run Fallout 3

 

[MyLeftNut]

An unstable videocard will crash certain games. I have the same problem with my 8800gt when overclocked. Some games that are more intensive on specific areas of the videocard will cause it to crash.

 

[Blazer7]

I think that you should check your drivers and temps.

Download the latest WHQL (180.48) from nV's site or one of the latest betas (181.00, 185.20) from Guru of 3D just to be on the safe side.

During gaming all cards get stressed and temps go up. If the card's cooling solution can't dissipate heat effectively the card will overheat and this can cause all kind of problems, restarts and freezes are the most common ones. Most GTs came with a single slot cooler and because of this all generated heat remains within the case and this doesn't help much. Try gaming with your case open and see if this helps. If not, try borrowing a card from a friend. This way you'll know if it is your card that causes the problem or something else.

 

[Keysplayr]

First culprit for random restarts, especially when entering a 3D game, is the power supply. If the video card isn't getting enough power, random restarts are common. Even if your power supply is rated well above what is required of your system, there could be a problem with it. The power supply is the first thing to test in a random restart situation. Once the PSU is deemed "OK", then we can look at other things.

Certain games like Fallout 3 may not tax the video card as much as other games such as BioShock or FarCry2, and therefore not drawing as much power to run the game. Power draw can change from game to game.

 

[cubeless]

had to drop clocks on vid cards for left4dead... not sure why, but it seems to be a troublemaker... cod4 was problematic, too...

 

[JTKTR]

My 8800 GT is factory overclocked so I can look into dropping the clocks but that seems odd.

My PSU is pretty new. Its a silverstone DA700 700W. How do I go about testing to see if its the issue?

 

[JTKTR]

I forgot to mention this and I think its pretty important.

The restart occurs after about 5 minutes of game play. Not after a couple hours or even half an hour. Bioshock sometimes lasts up to ten before restarting but never more than that

 

[AzN]

You should test your computer with orthos, memtest, atitool

All found on the web. It stresses component to see if it fails.

 

[Qbah]

Maybe you got a dud card? Happens to everyone. Is there any way you can get another one and test the system with it? Cause 700W could power SLi'd 280GTXs and a quad core...

 

[Denithor]

Memtest86 first.

A few years ago on an A64 3000+ system I could run all my games perfectly except for Divine Divinity. As in many much more intensive FPS games would cruise right along without issues but DD would crash within 5-15 minutes every time.

Couldn't figure it out until I ran memtest on my 2GB Corsair DDR400 sticks. Found lots of errors on one stick. Pulled that stick and ran with 1GB and DD was totally stable with no issues. For some reason it was apparently accessing a region of memory that no other games used and causing problems as a result.

 

[JTKTR]

All my drivers are up to date. And tomorrow my new ram will arrive so ill throw that in and see if i still have problems and if I do Ill make sure to run memtest

 

[JTKTR]

Alright. Update. I installed new ram, nothing. And now, the restarts are when I'm streaming videos too.

But ONLY when I'm streaming videos. I can watch tv on it no problem. Any ideas??

 

[Qbah]

Put in just the new RAM, one stick if possible and retest.

If it still hangs at least it's not the RAM (the chance of the new sticks having a similar flaw is pretty slim ).

I'd say give it a shot with another GPU then. Also, doesn't that board have an IGP? If it does try running the tests on it

 

[JTKTR]

The RAM is fine. Now I have a new problem (or the same one manifested in a different form (this feels like house))

The computer won't get to the logon page. It gets to the point where vista is loading, shows a quick BSoD (not enough time to write down any information) and then reboots. At first I thought it was the RAM so I switched to my old set. Those produced the same result.

Any ideas?