PSU or Overheating Issue?

[Uncleadolph]

I posted a thread a while ago on the Elder Scrolls forums and I thought I would post it here aswell to get more replies.

I've quoted my posts in the thread for you

Ok, recently I've been having a few problems... again tongue.gif

I got myself some Geil Ultra 6400 DDR2 to replace my old 2GB of 5300 RAM, I also got myself a Thermaltake DuOrb cooler. Before I did this I was running Crysis, Oblivion and Bioshock fine. After this however, I have been getting a crash after ~30 minutes play. It freezes with lots of red lines across the screen. I then have to restart my PC to sort this out.

I believe it may be either overheating or my PSU.

When I added my DuOrb I was not sure if I had applied the thermal paste correctly. I had put a huuuuge blob on as the instructions didn't say clearly how much to put on. Would this simply be the cause of it?

Secondly, could it be to my PSU (Hiper Type-R 530W) not being able to support the new cooler (another molex cable)? I have a huge amount of stuff drawing power, which I will list below:

2x 120mm fans with LED
2x 80mm fans
1x 250mm fan
1x 8800GT w/ DuOrb
1x E6300 @ 2.4Ghz w/ Zalman 9700NT
1x 7200RPM HDD
1x DvD-RW
1x Floppy Drive

Now, I am hoping that it would be overheating. However I wouldn't think this to be the issue. The 8800GT idles at 39-40C. It hits 50C max on WoW. I see it in the range of 50-60C on Crysis, Oblivion, Bioshock and UT3 Demo (which it strangely hasn't crashed on).

Would this be a PSU issue? I need to be 100% sure with many replies as obviously replacing a PSU isn't a cheap job.

Cheers.

CPU is around 35C idle. I've seen around 40-45C on load, once had it at 50C.

Sorry about taking a while to reply...

I've done a Memtest and have no errors. I also cleaned the GPU and removed the thermal paste, applying a tiny bit this time and it still happens. I tried the nVidia stability test. What I noticed was that it was 41C idle, and 41C during the stability test. Now this doesn't seem right.

Any other ideas?

[Scinto]

dont think your PSU is enough,

[Uncleadolph]

dont think your PSU is enough,

Thanks very much for your reply.

Would the PSU not being powerful enough cause this? Because like I said It plays for 30 mins maybe on STRESSFUL (Stresful being Crysis, Oblivion, Guitar Hero 3 O.o) games. It doesn't crash on WoW.

If anyone else could give some more input and backup/disagree to Scinto's comment that would be great. I need to be 100% certain it is the PSU as that would be a £90'ish hit to my bank balance.

Edit: Also, would adding the fan really cause this? Note it ran perfectly well before I added this fan and supposedly it draws a tiny amount of power. Although I suppose it could be the straw that broke the camel's back. Is there any way for me to find out whether it is the PSU that is causing this?

[Scinto]

whered you get that PSU for £90.. the 580w version is £46 atleast

[Uncleadolph]

whered you get that PSU for £90.. the 580w version is £46 atleast

No, I meant it would cost me something like £90 if I was to replace the PSU (with a different PSU of course).

I would really like some more feedback. Is there any way for me to find out whether it is the PSU causing it? Running the GPU with the molex from the DuOrb unplugged? But that could cause overheating as it would be running passive on a mega-hot GPU.

-----

I don't really want to invest £90 in a new PSU (I have the Corsair 620W in mind) and find that wasn't the cause after all.

Oh, and when I bought the Hiper-PSU it was £40. It was recommended by some people on the Elder Scrolls forum as being good value for money.

----

Well, i've cleared out my computer.

I took everything out and sprayed the case with compressed air. Re-applied thermalpaste to the CPU/GPU.

And it still crashes...

Incase you wanted to know, these are the things that are plugged into my PSU. Each '-' represents a different cable, I have a total of 5 cables plugged in, excluding the big chunky one to the mobo.

-ATX 12v

-6-pin GPU plug

-Floppy Drive, DvD-RW, HDD

-DuOrb, 250mm side fan, 120mm LED fan

-120mm LED fan, 80mm fan, 80mm fan

NOTHING is overclocked as of now. Everything is at stock. Excluding the 8800GT which was a stock overclocked edition.

On the Elder Scrolls forum it was suggested that the damage had been done already to the GPU and it would have fried it. Surely this could not be possible as it is recording 40C temps idle and 50C load.

Please can I have some feedback, i'm getting frustrated here not being able to play any of my games (excluding WoW) any longer than ~30 mins.

...god I hate automerging doubleposts...

[Uncleadolph]

Bump.... >.<

[Uncleadolph]

Sorry i've taken a while to reply again... I've been overloaded with coursework and stuff.

Anyway, something interesting I noted. I played Crysis for about an hour today ( I left the side of my case open and that 'might' have helped) and I noticed that according to my temperature sensor on my 8800GT the temperature stayed at 41C from the moment I started up Windows to the moment I finished playing Crysis. It didn't change, not one bit. So quite obviously something is up with the sensor and i'm getting innacurate readings which could be why i've discarded it as an overheating issue.

[Hellsent 2.0]

Cool..hopefully nothings frying...

[Uncleadolph]

Cool..hopefully nothings frying...

Cool? O.o

Its still crashing, a lot.

And at the most inconvenient times... Just managed, after 3-4 days at it, to complete Through the Fire and the Flames on Hard and it crashes just as I play the final note... FFS. This is taking the piss.

[jake_]

From my small knowledge it sounds like it "might" be an overheating problem. Do you have anything overclocked?

Then again you've got a lot of stuff plugged into your PSU, including a lot of fans and stuff. And it was running fine before. So... *shrugs*

I don't think its possible to mess anything by installing the cooler wrong either, but don't hold me to it.

[Trevortt]

I would personally test the memory using memtest. You will have to leave it atleast 12 hours tho.

[Uncleadolph]

Nothing is overclocked now.

I'll run a memtest and see how it fares.

Memtest x86 would be the Memory test that I should use?

17 hours, 34 passes and 0 errors.

[Uncleadolph]

17 hours, 34 passes and 0 errors.

Bump.

Automerged Doubleposts... ughhh.

[Vash2051]

Yea another molex for a cooler isn't going to be the thing that pushes you over the edge. The power draw from a fan is almost negligible. Your first step is a new PSU. It might cost some money but it's a good possibility. And if you ever think of upgrading in the future you'd need it anyways.

[chaos555]

Same thing happened to me a few weeks back.
I fixed it by uninstalling all my nvidia drivers, and any graphics driver. Then when I restarted I booted in Safe mode, and reinstalled my drivers. When I went back to play I had no problems again. I did notice that certain settings for my nvidia panel caused the lines to come up though, so I am running on balanced right now, and everything runs perfect.