(Home computer) Bought new graphics card, machine randomly reboots on intensive games

[GrantA94]

As the title reads, I'm having a problem with my new graphics card and intensive games, in that it reboots after a few minutes. Any idea as to why? These are my specs (according to Speccy):

 

MB: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. M5A99X EVO R2.0 (Socket 942)

CPU: AMD FX 6100 Six Core 3.3Ghz Zambezi 32nm Technology

GPU: 4096MB ATI AMD Radeon R9 290X

PSU: Powercool PC-1050AUBA 1050w

HDD: 931GB Western Digital WDC WD10 EZEX-00BN5A0 SATA Disk Device (SATA)

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 802MHz

 

Edit: Updating information to be more accurate

Edited December 2, 2014 by GrantA94

[dwhyte85]

Hello,

 

That sucks... I've been there.

 

What is your PSU?

What temperature does speccy show on your card idle?

[GrantA94]

Hello to you too,

 

I'll link to the PSU store page here, as for temperature, it rests on something about 37, but in intensive games, goes up to about 50-60.

 

I've speculated that it might be the PSU, as it's been very dodgy with me before, so at the moment I'm looking at brand PSUs.

 

edit: forgot to link

Edited December 2, 2014 by GrantA94

[Boredguy]

I'd say PSU.

 

I found on my current rig that the 850W powercool PSU did the exact same thing, but the 650W model was fine.

[GrantA94]

I'd say PSU.

 

I found on my current rig that the 850W powercool PSU did the exact same thing, but the 650W model was fine.

 

Ah, you had the same problem with them, so would you say it's just the higher spec versions of that brand?

[Boredguy]

Its a combination of factors.

 

My 850W which hated my i5 and GeForce GTX setup works perfectly happily on my older Athlon 64 and the same GeForce GTX.

 

When it first occurred I sent all the kit back to Scan and they tested with a 650W Corsair PSU and it was fine all day long. I already had a Powercool 650W that I had been running previously and that now run my i5 and new GTX 770 happily still.

[GrantA94]

Its a combination of factors.

 

My 850W which hated my i5 and GeForce GTX setup works perfectly happily on my older Athlon 64 and the same GeForce GTX.

 

When it first occurred I sent all the kit back to Scan and they tested with a 650W Corsair PSU and it was fine all day long. I already had a Powercool 650W that I had been running previously and that now run my i5 and new GTX 770 happily still.

 

Would you know these factors, so I know what to look out for?

[mikeyw]

If you are running a graphics card like that i would invest in a decent power supply. I my self have just suffered from a bad power supply. (Was meant to be a decent one).

Ended up with several dead drives and a flaky motherboard.

[GrantA94]

If you are running a graphics card like that i would invest in a decent power supply. I my self have just suffered from a bad power supply. (Was meant to be a decent one).

Ended up with several dead drives and a flaky motherboard.

 

Thank you mikey, I was looking up known brands like XFX and Corsair, so I'll likely get something in the 850W area, what do you think?

[Arthur]

An EVGA Supernova G2 850W would be an excellent choice. Overclockers are selling it for £99.95 this week.

 

Review: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=377

[mikeyw]

Thank you mikey, I was looking up known brands like XFX and Corsair, so I'll likely get something in the 850W area, what do you think?

Some of the new xfx power supply are actually seasonic, i would recommend some research.

If you can afford it i would get something like the corsair ax760 power supply or along them lines.

(I just replaced mine with a corsair ax760)

[Sagima]

Mine (HD7950) was doing that and I thought it was the power supply but it turned out the heatsink mustn't have been attached properly because resitting it sorted it out. Took me a while to catch it as the temp only hit over 90+ for the tiniest fraction of a second before the computer shut down/rebooted and most games played fine (It was Batman Arkham Asylum that kept doing it at first)

So much quieter now than it has ever been and usually stays under 50C. There was about a tube of, what was once, goo between the heatsink and the gpu but I just used some of the stuff that came with my cpu heatsink. Took me longer to clean it than to disassemble and reassemble it.

[abillybob]

It could be a range of factors, if you have just upgraded your GPU have you made entirely sure you have removed all drivers from the previous GPU you had in? First thing I'd try is to back up your system and then run a fresh OS install and see if that makes a difference, if not then you can rule out a software problem.

You have already checked temperatures and they don't seem bad so it can't be that.

 

Your PSU seems adequate enough to be able to handle your new GPU so I wouldn't automatically say it was that although as others have said it wouldn't hurt to get yourself a better PSU, I never skimp on that end, I have a Corsair AX760 which is amazing to say the least so I can recommend that.

 

Though all this could be because of a hardware fault on your GPU first thing I'd do is send your GPU back and see when you receive the replacement whether or not the problem has resolved itself, at least then you have tried everything and if it hasn't resolved itself you can assume it must be the PSU.

 

Hope this helps

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Definitely sounds like a PSU problem, or a thermal one.

 

As mentioned, check your temperatures and see if it spikes before reboot.

 

My bet is in the PSU though as I had something similar on my old machine with my GTX 570. New PSU fixed it with no problems

[LosOjos]

Your PSU seems adequate enough to be able to handle your new GPU so I wouldn't automatically say it was that although as others have said it wouldn't hurt to get yourself a better PSU, I never skimp on that end, I have a Corsair AX760 which is amazing to say the least so I can recommend that.

 

A lot of people assume that as long as the PSUs stated wattage is high enough, it'll be fine. In fact, I know a few who buy the most powerful PSU they can get their hands on, then shove it in a machine that barely scrapes 300W under load

 

I won't pretend to know the exact ins and outs of it all, but essentially it's quite common for cheaper PSUs to vastly overstate the wattage their capable of delivering. Always buy a reputable brand PSU; aside from being able to deliver what it promises, it's more likely to have proper overvoltage/overamp protection so if it goes bang, it's less likely to take the rest of your PC out with it.

@Arthur's recommendation is excellent - in fact, any advice you get on PSUs from Jonny Guru is excellent!

 

PSUs and cases are always the first thing to get skimped on in PC builds, but experience has taught me that spending a bit more on both will make for a much more reliable machine.