gotmilk Posted May 20, 2007 CID Share Posted May 20, 2007 My computer has been acting strangely lately. I use NVIDIA's NTUNE software to overclock (no overclocking options in BIOS). Every time I turn on my computer, I overclock my CPU from 2,412 MHz to 2,520 MHz (whoooooo), my PCI-E slot from 2,500 to 2,625 MHz, I drop my memory timings down a little bit, and overclock my graphics card from 450/660 to 542/732. Sometimes, though, when I play games, my computer just randomly shuts off. It does it way more often on Vista than on XP, and on Vista, I've even had it shut down while I was just browsing the web. I don't think it's a temperature problem, but maybe I'm wrong. Could it be a bad power supply? My power supply is a generic brand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJVageli Posted May 20, 2007 CID Share Posted May 20, 2007 Sounds more like something is overheating...probably cpu..or voltages are too high..but im thinking its the cpu Im not 100% sure..but thats my take on the situation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotmilk Posted May 20, 2007 Author CID Share Posted May 20, 2007 Ok, I'm going to lower the voltages and see if that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJVageli Posted May 20, 2007 CID Share Posted May 20, 2007 Ok..and if you have nvidia monitor..check to see what its showing you...if you see high temperatures...lots of red in the voltages...and you dont have sufficient cooling then you can try to see if you can compromise with your computer haha...just like me..I had this happen..but that was me being stupid with the voltages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starship_troopers Posted May 20, 2007 CID Share Posted May 20, 2007 yeah, i'd take down some of the overclocks first, and the voltages, and if that doesnt work, even though it should, i'd look into using a new power supply to test that. or another cpu, or something. but taking down the overclocks/voltages should work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kamil234 Posted May 21, 2007 CID Share Posted May 21, 2007 1. don't tighten timings even more if you overclock. 2. don't overclock PCI-E slot speed don't listen to DJ, nvidia monitor sucks =P it shoed my card at like 150 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJVageli Posted May 21, 2007 CID Share Posted May 21, 2007 1. don't tighten timings even more if you overclock. 2. don't overclock PCI-E slot speed don't listen to DJ, nvidia monitor sucks =P it shoed my card at like 150 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmer Posted May 21, 2007 CID Share Posted May 21, 2007 I would agree with DJ for a couple of reasons... Overheating sounds more likely because windows XP is less of a resource hog.. Meaning that less processing time, both video and CPU, are required. So if you are overclocking and the computer just shuts off.. it is most likely due to a thermal event. I don't know if Vista/XP log thermal events but checking the logs might be a good start. To begin with I would lower the graphics back to stock... Vista's display is based on DirectX.. So there is nothing static like previous editions.. So basically you are playing a game all of the time when you are using Vista with Aero. That might solve your random shutdown problem... The other issue could be power if you are pulling max wattage from your power supply for extended periods of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudmanc4 Posted May 21, 2007 CID Share Posted May 21, 2007 Just curious , what games do you play? I have noticed w/ elderscrolls , and Gothic 3, I have this issue regular. But I'm runnin an old AMD 3200+ OC'ed to 2400, 1.5 gig's 3200 ram, and an even older ATI 9800 pro w/ a huge fan.W/ an Antec Neo HE 430 PS. Mostly w/ Gothic3 , as it streams from the HD. I have two 120 gig Hdd's in hardware raid0, that helped tremedously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voltageman Posted May 21, 2007 CID Share Posted May 21, 2007 Just wondering, you never stated what kind of video card you have... Also, you stated you have a generic power supply..How many watts and how many amps? My last build did the same thing. It would just randomly shut off. It turned out to be the power supply(antec neo 550watt). The watts were plenty, but the amp rating was not high enough. Try going into bios, and go to the page where voltages are displayed. Watch the voltages, and see if they drop way off from time to time. Try to o/c it, and then look at the voltages in bios. Also check the idle temps in bios for your processor. See how high it is at idle. That should give you an idea on how much room you have to go before you overheat, if that in fact is the problem. I would not rule out the power supply, especially considering you stated it is a generic brand. Overclocking would tend to stress your psw a little more, and perhaps it was already sitting on the edge of failure, and the o/c just pushed it past it's limit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xs1 Posted May 21, 2007 CID Share Posted May 21, 2007 Sounds exactly like my old pc whenever i OC'd my video card. Never shut off in gaming, but if i left it idle , whew. Off it went. Lowered ( than eventually removed ) my OC'n options... Bam! Problem gone. Sorry to all of you for speaking this "intense Geek Lingo " ( ) , but.. frankly i dont care much anymore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voltageman Posted May 21, 2007 CID Share Posted May 21, 2007 LOL no idea how this post happened..Guess I hit quote, not modify.. In my above post, PSW should be PSU...Duh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotmilk Posted May 21, 2007 Author CID Share Posted May 21, 2007 Ok..and if you have nvidia monitor..check to see what its showing you...if you see high temperatures...lots of red in the voltages...and you dont have sufficient cooling then you can try to see if you can compromise with your computer haha...just like me..I had this happen..but that was me being stupid with the voltages Well, NVIDIA Monitior shows my CPU voltage as 1.55V, but I think that's wrong. I used AMD Power Monitor and it showed 1.35V. use SpeedFan to check temperatures and Prime95 to stress the CPU to 100% to check the temperatures (use Orthos if you have dual core processor) (your processor should be under 55 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kamil234 Posted May 22, 2007 CID Share Posted May 22, 2007 if you open up the case look at the sticker on the power supply under the +V12 column Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kamil234 Posted May 22, 2007 CID Share Posted May 22, 2007 if you open up the case look at the sticker on the power supply under the +V12 column i just checked it online, it has 2 rails of 22A each. you can always get a adapter that puts 2 rails into 1 that plugs in the card (like the ones they include with the 8800's) i dont think the 7900GS takes that much power, so it might just be a heat problem, you have good airflow in your case? also might be just your ram. if you overclock the reference speed or whatever the slider is in Ntune it also overclocks your ram and you can't set dividers so if its too high it'll just shut down the computer. does the ram have heatsinks or is it like the value kind of ram? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotmilk Posted May 22, 2007 Author CID Share Posted May 22, 2007 Mmm, airflow. My case doesn't really have good airflow. My RAM does have heatsinks, though. It's kind of generic, but it's not value RAM. By the way, what is considered "too hot" for a video card? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
resopalrabotnick Posted May 22, 2007 CID Share Posted May 22, 2007 touch it. if it feels so hot you wouldn't want to rest your nads on it it's probably too hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kamil234 Posted May 23, 2007 CID Share Posted May 23, 2007 my GTS is 60 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotmilk Posted May 27, 2007 Author CID Share Posted May 27, 2007 Ok, I discovered that it is either my processor or my memory that's making me shut down, although my video card causes problems, as well. I can't overclock my CPU/RAM at all on Vista without having my computer shut down. As far as my video card goes, when I run Halo on full settings with 16x AF and 1280 x 1024 resolution, and have my normal overclock on my card (from 450/660 to 538/732), my card doesn't even reach 60oC, and I hardly ever drop below 60 FPS (only if its 16 people on a small map with heavy weapons or something like that). On Vista, though, with the same overclock, running Halo with the exact same settings, I average probably 40 FPS and my video card reaches as high as 89oC. Would switching from Vista 64-bit to Vista 32-bit help? I already ordered a new case (with much better airflow) and a new heatsink and fan for my video card from Newegg, but I don't know if that's going to help enough. EDIT: Here's what I ordered from Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811103012 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118011 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835129246 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835100007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotmilk Posted May 27, 2007 Author CID Share Posted May 27, 2007 Sorry, I posted some wrong info in there. On XP, with Halo running on those settings, plus overclock, my card reaches a max of 70oC, not 60. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotmilk Posted May 28, 2007 Author CID Share Posted May 28, 2007 Ergh, sorry for the triple post, it actually was 60oC. Why does the "modify" button disappear? AGH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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