BleepingComputer.com: New Computer randomly freezes or reboots

Hey,

I recently bought all the parts I'd need to put together my gaming PC. But, I've been having problems keeping it up and running.

It seems while doing strenuous activities (Starcraft II / league of Legends) the computer will either reboot itself or just go into a hard freeze where ctrl+alt+delete won't do anything and I'm
left with the reboot button. The parts I put it together with are as follows:

Processor: AMD Athlon II X3 450 3x 3.2GHz 1.5MB Cache
RAM: 8 GB DDR3 Patriot G2 series
Motherboard: Asus M4N68T-M V2
Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX460 1GB
Optical Drive: Dual Layer DVD Burner
Hard Drive: 640GB WD Caviar Black
Networking: Wireless : PCI : 300N : Trendnet : TEW-643PI
Case: Cooler Master Elite 350 w/500w PSU
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

I have checked and all the drivers for the parts are up to date, I ran registry checks, and ran a full disk check to no avail. I don't think it's an overheating problem as the computer is still around room temperature if it goes off.

I need help!

Thanks!

I have a question regarding the heat sink on the processor.

When you assembled this computer did you make sure that you applied thermal compound to the processor heat spreader before attaching the heat sink?

Did you also double check the heat sink to be absolutely sure it is making full, level contact with the heat spreader?


As for your GeForce GTX-460 video card below is a link to a web site rating the card's power consumption.


http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-460-review/13


Recommended Power Supply
Here is Guru3D's power supply recommendation:

GeForce GTX 460

On your average system the card requires you to have a 450 to 500 Watt power supply unit.


GeForce GTX 460 in SLI

A second card requires you to add another ~200 Watts. You need a 650 ~700 Watt power supply unit.


Now with what is stated above, you also have to consider what other peripherals you have in your system and what drain they also put on your PSU.

Bruce.

EDIT: corrected QTX to correct name GTX

This post has been edited by MrBruce1959: 02 May 2011 - 02:21 AM

Here's the killer, the suggested PSU is only 450W. But! They want to see a 12V rail @ 38A.

I tried to find any information other than the case included a 500W PSU, but couldn't find any information further than that. The problem here is that usually when the PSU is sold with a case the PSU isn't one of the best.

See if you can find the make and model of the PSU on the case of it. If there is one please post it here.

Here's the PSU I have installed. It didn't come with the case, bought seperate.

Cooler Master : eXtremePower Plus : 500-PCAR3
Model RS-500-PCAR-A3 / RS-500-PCAP-A3
Type Intel Form Factor ATX 12V V2.3
Dimension (W / H / D) 150 x 86 x 140 mm
Input Voltage RS-500-PCAR-A3 / 90 ~132V/180~264V (Selectable)
RS-500-PCAP-A3 / 180~264 V
Input Current RS-500-PCAR-A3 : 10A at 115Vac / 6A at 230Vac
RS-500-PCAP-A3 : 6A at 230Vac
Input Frequency Range 47 ~ 63 Hz

As per the thermal paste I may grab some from the local shop and re-apply my heat sink on the processor.

This post has been edited by FoodIsFlying: 02 May 2011 - 09:02 AM

There are two 12V rails of which both are rated at 18A making the 36A suggested for the graphics card.

Did the CPU come with a thermal pad? If so, did you remove it and apply thermal compound?

The CPU did not come with a thermal pad. The heatsink already had a thin layer of paste on it which I determined was a thermal paste.

I would also like to say that I have CoreTemp measuring the temperature of the CPU. It never seems to get to a high temperature (last time it was around 41C when it froze) before it shuts down. Maybe the cpu isn't the problem?