BleepingComputer.com: Custom built computer keeps crashing on games

Hello, this is my first time posting to this website and I'm just looking for some help.

I recently built a computer, and everything went smoothly. The only problem is when I play a game, the computer crashes and forces me to do a manual reboot. So far it has happened while playing Borderlands and Team Fortress 2. Everything else works fine, it's just games that are giving me trouble.

This are the specs of my computer:

Mobo:
ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

Processor:
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

Case:
HEC Blitz Black Steel Edition ATX Mid Tower Computer Chassis Gaming Case

RAM:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory

HDD:
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"

Power Supply:
COOLER MASTER GX Series RS650-ACAAE3-US 650W ATX12V v2.31 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Video Card:
ASUS ENGTX560 DCII OC/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready

Optical Drive:
ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS

Any help would really be appreciated.

Are both of the six pin power connectors on the video card plugged in? Second thought is it might be heat related. make sure your video card has plenty of space on the fan side (nother card up close) so it is getting all the air it can handle. Where are your case fans located and how many are there? If you only have one it should be in the back pulling air out of the case. If there is one on the front as well it should be pulling air into the case. Final thought would be to the drivers mostly the video card but they all should be upgraded to their lastes versions if they haven't been.

Both six pin power connectors are plugged in. I have 3 fans, one in the front, one in the back, and one on top. Currently the back fan is blowing out, the front fan is blowing out, and the top fan is blowing in. All of the drivers have been updated. The video card is the only thing I have in right now, so it has plenty of room. I've been monitoring the temperature of the video card while I play games and it doesn't seem to ever go above 70 C. I have been trying to play Battlefield 3, but the computer crashes about 15 or 20 minutes in every time.

This post has been edited by LupusD: 02 November 2011 - 11:19 PM

Hi,

Try taking one of the RAM modules out and running on just 4GB. (Your system may run a little slower)
If you get the same problem swap the modules over and run on the other one.
If it doesn't crash with one specific module - the other is faulty.

Ken-B, on 03 November 2011 - 04:43 AM, said:

Tried this, same problem. Also ran memtest, no errors. I've tried different fan arrangements too, and all of them have the same result. It's always 20 minutes into a game and the computer crashes.

While 70C isn't off the charts it is on the upper end of the cards theoretical maximum ay 99C. I was having a similar problem that would crop up when playing Assasin's Creed. I ended up underclocking my video card's GPU and Memory slightly and the crashes went away. My card is a 4870 and it was only hitting the 70-72C mark but underclocking reduced the heat enough I now have no more issues. You should be able to do this with rivatuner if the software that came with the card doesn't offer that feature.

I tried a new fan setup that seems to be working. I moved my top fan to the back and positioned it so that it is blowing out of the case. Then I took the front fan and flipped it over so that it is blowing into the case. The way the two are positioned, air is being pulled directly over the video card and CPU. I've been playing BF3 for the last 90 minutes with no crashes. The temperatures of the video card and CPU have have been holding steady at 62C and 55C for the entire duration. Is it possible I'm just getting lucky, or could that have actually been the problem? I have rivatuner installed right now, and will underclock if I get one more crash.

I was going to suggest almost the same fan setup you changed to. Typically most of the computers I have worked on and built have fan setups near that.

I would try having the front fan blow in, and both the top fan and rear fan as an exhaust and blow out. Heat rises and the top fan definitely needs to blow out. Also this seems to be a common standard for cooling as most cases have this setup. My Thermaltake V9 Black Edition case has many fans, but I have a 120MM Front intake fan, and a 230MM side intake fan, then a 230MM top exhaust fan, and a 120MM rear exhaust fan.

Early on when building a system, it was hard to get used to the fact that more fans need to be exhausting heat then bring in cool air. I think if you did the front intake, and the rear and top exhaust that will give you your best cooling. If your case can add a side fan then buy a side fan and run that as an intake as well, but it is not needed.

Also, you can try editing the fan controls using Riva Tuner. You can create a custom fan profile where instead of the fan automatically speeding up and slowing down it can run at any percentage you want. You could set it to spin up to 100% then play a game and try that.

EDIT: ^^ Just wanted to clarify that I am talking about your Video Card cooling fan in the above sentences

This post has been edited by AdobeJesus: 03 November 2011 - 11:59 PM