computer issues as of late.. please help

im goin to tell u the specs of my pc then get into my issues...
AMD Phenom 9950 X4 Black Edition
OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
ASUS EAH4850 MATRIX/HTDI/512M/A Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard

the pc is 3 yrs old and have been using it to play the same game for 3 yrs now and issues just started in december.. i would get a blue screen after playing wow and listening to music at same time with the pc output to my 52inch tv... i had no issues playing for 8 hrs a day everyday and not turning off pc next to ever till end of december... i noticed around new years my video cards fan died so i called asus.. they had me send it in and they replaced it.. while they had it a month i went out and bought a new video card till the asus one got fixed.. 1st card did same thing.. i figured it was just a junk card.. took it back and got another card.. same thing...so i waited till i got the new card from asus and put it in and issues still there blue screen and it would restart.. so i figure outputing music and video to my tv was the reason so i quit playing music while i played.. its still happening.. more and more frequent... today the pc lasted 1 hr playing b4 it restarted itself.. so i look online and find prime95 stress test.. i run it on blend.. after about 3 min pc resets...then i let it sit awhile and i run it on small fft and again after about 3 min the pc reset.. i did notice the processors temp went to almost 160 degrees right b4 it locked up...while typing this its sitting at 134 degrees... would you people think i have a processor issue causing all these blue screens... i feel the pc aint worth fixing.. and i doubt it will run diablo3 with the issues its been having but i would like to wait a lil while b4 i build another pc... ty in advance

When it comes to computer temps it's better to talk Celsius. I think 160 deg F is appox 72 deg C which would explain why it's crashing on you. That temp is too high. Something wrong with your CPU and possibly case cooler. Might be worth taking everything apart, giving everything a good clean, reseat and reinstall the CPU heatsink and fan. Don't know what you currently have for CPU HSF, but if you are planning on keeping this system for a while it might be worth looking for a new HSF. Cooler Master Hyper 212+ or EVO is good for the money.

the heatsink i use is the one that came with the cpu and i had no issues up till dec

joshcha said:

the heatsink i use is the one that came with the cpu and i had no issues up till dec

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Things change. Maybe is so clogged up that it's no longer working efficiently enough? Only thing I can tell from your post is that the temp is too high. That's why it's crashing. So it would stand to reason that the device responsible for cooling the CPU down is not working as it should.

makes sense

After 3 years I guarantee the heatsink/fan will be clogged up with lint and all that crap if you haven't ever cleaned it.
Take off the side panel and get some of that dust/lint out
Get some canned air or something and blow out the heatsink and fan.

ordered the heatsink and 2 140mm case fans adding 1 and replacing 1..if it works ill keep this pc for awhile longer and maybe buy 2 video cards for it if its stable after install...as for running diablo 3 i guess ill wait and see.. i can run wow at ultra when i dont have issues

On top of dust clogging, and high temp, I guess your problem is very likely on PSU. Bad PSU not only gives dirty power.... It takes some parts with it.

As you mentioned you have already killed 2 GPUs, I am afraid...... you might kill some other computer parts as well.. if its PSU problem.
What kind of PSU do you have? Make Model and wattage? Is it a OEM computer or self assembled?
I suggest you cleaning dusts and lints using some compressed air......... As temp is high.... Thermal paste might have been dried out....... resittng heatsink with fresh paste might help.
If possible check it with another PSU (power supply unit).
Its very very very likely PSU and heating for your problems.

Just another thing to point out : the plastic bracket with the two tangs that hold the CPU cooler on can become brittle with exposure to heat. I put a Jetway board in my brother-in-law's PC, and this exact thing happened. The clip snapped on one side. The top clip held, though, and the suction from the thermal grease kept the heat sink fastened, but with no pressure on the CPU. It would shut itself off after overheating after a while. And that was just an X3 8650; an X4 9950 uses a lot of juice and puts out a lot of heat, so that doesn't help your cause.

So check that one for the short term until your cooler arrives. You'll need to remove the bracket to install a 212 EVO, anyway, so I guess you'll see if that's a problem eventually.

drosera01 said:

On top of dust clogging, and high temp, I guess your problem is very likely on PSU. Bad PSU not only gives dirty power.... It takes some parts with it.

As you mentioned you have already killed 2 GPUs, I am afraid...... you might kill some other computer parts as well.. if its PSU problem.
What kind of PSU do you have? Make Model and wattage? Is it a OEM computer or self assembled?
I suggest you cleaning dusts and lints using some compressed air......... As temp is high.... Thermal paste might have been dried out....... resittng heatsink with fresh paste might help.
If possible check it with another PSU (power supply unit).
Its very very very likely PSU and heating for your problems.

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+1. That might explain why you keep frying video cards, too. I wonder if the voltage regulation on your PSU has gone south. In your first post system summary you said nothing about your case and PSU. If the PSU was a cheap one its now three years old and well . . .

the psu is a coolermaster 500w mu case is antec three hundred black steel mid tower..i took heatsink off of processor and the grease was dry as dirt i rubbed it off of processor and heatsink ill go buy some in morning when stuff opens again..nothing brittle or broken on the heatsink bracket that i can see..i doubt there was anything wrong with my video card i bought due to same issues with any video card..i just assumed the cards fan quit when blew up my video card..i didnt see or look at any temps while it happened

well with new paste on my processor i have been running torture test for about 15 min or so without an issue the cpu hasnt went above 64 degrees C this will get me through till the new heatsink gets here...

Did you dust off your system? 64 c is still way high on stock setting. I guess your psu is okay although it is old. Antec 300 should have good airflow if you have good case fans.

i will be gettin a new psu soon any recomendations on which one to get and what wattage to get i wanna try and run 2 gpu's and up my ram a lil

Did you dust off your system? 64 c is still way high on stock setting. I guess your psu is okay although it is old. Antec 300 should have good airflow if you have good case fans.

Get an air compressor or a can of compressed air from an office supply store and blow out your heatsinks. Be careful to stop the fans on them and not let the compressed air spin them because that high speed spin will ruin the fan bearings.

drosera01 said:

Did you dust off your system? 64 c is still way high on stock setting. I guess your psu is okay although it is old. Antec 300 should have good airflow if you have good case fans.

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Yep.

high load..normal opperation (wow and itunes) of my pc the max temp it hit was 53c i did clean out pc in dec and today when i put on the paste.. the 64 was doing a torture test

Was 64 C. the core temp or the CPU temp?

joshcha said:

high load..normal opperation (wow and itunes) of my pc the max temp it hit was 53c i did clean out pc in dec and today when i put on the paste.. the 64 was doing a torture test

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64 C is too high even on torture test if it is core temp. Socket temp upto 64 may be okay. You really dont want to push your system until you get new cpu cooler installed.
Even system may not show obvious error or crash, too high temp may throttle your performance and of course reduce the life of comp parts.