Handful of games (and google earth) crashing my computer?

SilvioA

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Nov 22, 2013
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I've had my computer (home-built) for nearly two months now. Since the beginning, every game I've thrown at it has run flawlessly at maximum settings and lightweight, general use is never a problem. However, for some strange reason, some of my games, and google earth, cause my computer to crash after 5-10mins of use. This crash isn't to desktop either, it's a completely system lock-up. I end up having to cold reboot. I've monitored my gpu temps and they're averaging at 42-53C, I haven't monitored my cpu yet though. I also ran memtest and found 0 errors with my ram. Any ideas what could be causing this? The games that lock up are Rage, Torchlight 2, Fligh Simulator X and Rust.

Specs:
MOBO: ASRock 990FX Extreme3
CPU: AMD FX 6350 (3.9ghz)
GPU: Asus Radeon R9270x DIRECT CU II TOP
PSU: Corsair cx600M 600W
RAM: 8gb GSkill RIpjaws (2x 4gb sticks)
 
Solution
Okay well we poked to see some problems occur and try to generate the problem through different methodologies. Based on these responses the current choices as follows:

1) Uninstall your video drivers, then download and run Driver Sweeper to really remove them (this is a critical difference!). Reboot and be in VGA mode most likely. Download the newest drivers (Beta at the bottom of the page I believe when you look at the list) and reinstall. Then test again.

2) if it still doesn't work, click the orb and run Windows Easy Transfer to a external drive. Download DBAN and wipe the drive clean. Do a clean install of Windows from DVD, then run all updates and options (except bing). Download and run SlimDrivers to install all updated...
Doing the basics, run Windows update and all options except BING. Run SLiMDrivers make sure your using the latest. Check those games for updates, patches or similiar issues and see if they have a common fix (like for example rerun DirectX). Download and run Autoruns, remove anything from Startup you don't need to make Windows work (for example Adobe Reader Update, or Quicktime). Download and run Memtest86, then run HDTune, make sure both don't show anything else wrong would be my steps to looking at discovering the underlying problem.
 

SilvioA

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Nov 22, 2013
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Ok so I ran multiple stress tests (Prime95 to be exact) and here's what I got:

CPU: 64C (Highest was 64C)
GPU: 68C (Highest was 71C)

Now, my system didn't freeze or lock up or anything until I decided I wanted to make it do so. The first time was within 10 minutes of watching a show on netflix, and the second time and third times were while playing rust (happened within 10mins the first time, around 1min the second time).

My idle temps are:

CPU: 13C
GPU: 35C

I also ran memtest multiple times and made sure 7.6gb of ram were used. This ran for over two hours anf found 0 errors. Any ideas?
 

Beezy

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Nov 4, 2013
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in prime95 you look at the top bar where it says file, edit, tools ,stuff like that. in the first one I think its file, it says "worker windows" click that and you see a box with priority number in it, change it to something high, like 8,9. then apply. re run the test and don't touch the computer while it runs. open HWmonitor before you start the test, so you can watch the temps while the test runs.
 

SilvioA

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Nov 22, 2013
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Hey again, thanks so much for helping. Alright, so I set my worker window priority to 9 and I've been running the torture test for approximately 3 hours now and nothing has crashed. I'm also running the test that specifically stresses my cpu (I forgot the name, FPU option?). Anyways, here are my current temps (I'm writing this from my laptop, in case you're wondering, haha):

TEMPS:

CPU IDLE: 14C
CPU (Being tortured): 60C (highest temp reached was 63C)

So, what now? It's looking to me as if everything's fine with my hardware.

UPDATE**
Ok so it's been around an hour since I made my last post and just thought I'd mention that my screen is flashing black. Haha, My temps are stable, same as they were before. Is it just the stress?
 

Beezy

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Nov 4, 2013
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I would say anything over 61c is too high...the fact that u hit a Max of 63 might mean the ram os getting too hot or the gpu is getting too hot. Try to back down so your temps Max around 60c at the most. See if that helps any. While the settings may be stable it still has to stay within its temp range
 

Beezy

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Also run a small fft torture test. So we only test the CPU. the other tests are designes to put more stress on other parts as well as cpu. See if the lines are avproblem w our CPU oc or something else.
 

SilvioA

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Nov 22, 2013
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I believe that's the test I ran. I left it running overnight, 12hrs total, and 0 errors were found on all 6 of my cpu's cores. Also, the 63C i hit was only for a second, the temps remained at 60C overnight. All my other components, as expected, were running fairly cool. Either way, I'm considering getting some water cooling/ extra fans to help with cooling.
 

SilvioA

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Nov 22, 2013
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I haven't tried it yet, but I sure as hell will once I get a chance tonight. I was really caught up with running the other tests, but I'll broaden my horizon :). Thanks for the suggestion btw, I'll post my results when I'm done.
 

Beezy

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Nov 4, 2013
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at this point im thinking it might be the power supply. obviously CPU and RAM are fine...im not sure you mentioned, does a crash mean blue screen of death? a straight up freeze and need to hold down the power button or unplug? or just shuts off instantly.
 

SilvioA

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Nov 22, 2013
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Ok so here's how the freeze goes. I'll be playing a game (or looking around on google earth, nothing special) and at any random given point (usually within 5-10mins of gameplay/usage) the screen will freeze, my mouse won't move, my keyboard won't work, I can't bring up task manager (obviously), and that's it. The whole system locks up and I have to hold down the power button. Another odd thing is that sometimes, not every time, when I try to reboot, my monitor and keyboard (LEDs) won't boot up. I'll usually have to give it around 10mins before I can use them again. Also keep in mind this happens only on torchlight 2, flight simulator x, rust, and google earth. I can run games like battlefield 4, skyrim, DayZ, and bioshock infinite at max settings with no problem.
 

Beezy

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Nov 4, 2013
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sounds like power supply is going, or the hard drive is failing. run those HDD tests since that's easier than testing the power supply. if the HDD health is fine (google how to run check disk on windows ___) then its probably the PSU. I say that since you said sometimes the keyboard and mouse (through the usb I take it) don't get the power they should on boot. if you can test another PSU please do so. But test the HDD first in the way mentioned above, and also use windows built in "check disk" function
 

SilvioA

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Nov 22, 2013
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I'm currently running the HDD tests, but just wondering- why would my PSU be responsible for my games crashing? They're lower-end graphically and it never happens with the real power-hungry games (with the exception of flight sim)
 

SilvioA

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Nov 22, 2013
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Ok, so I ran HDtune and did a Benchmark and Error Scan and everything seems just fine, no errors were found whatsoever, and my benchmark graph looks decent.