Computer rebooting when playing games

Hi Guys

I have a computer with the following specs:

Intel Q9300 CPU
ASUS P5QL MOBO
Kingston 2x2 dual channel RAM
ASUS GTX260 GFX

It runs on a Windows 7 64-bit OS with all current drivers. (A full format has been performed, without luck)

When I play games, doesnt matter which, it crashes randomly, with a full reboot.

The gfx seems to run at normal temp, same as CPU and mobo, nothing is overclocked.

Does anyone have a clue to what could be wrong?

Thanks in advance

What about your power supply?, which BTW is probably your problem...

I think you are on to something

Without overclocking, random reboots usually indicates a bad power supply. Bad RAM, or a corrupt or file conflict can cause it too sometimes. However, its happening during game play, so that would indicate to me a power supply problem.

That was mas first intuition, the power supply is a random model that came with the case. It has 750 Watt.

I'll try to run a diagnostics on it, any recommandations to which software to test it with?

Cown said:

the power supply is a random model that came with the case. It has 750 Watt.

Click to expand...

Instantly I know that's the most likely problem.
Run Memtest and HDTune error check bit to ensure that's the problem.

Does it also crash when Priming or Furmarking?

Well, 750W should be plenty for that system even if that PSU only puts out half its rated power guys...now if its clean or not is another story. That of course doesnt exclude it from being the problem...

There isnt any software, correction...ACCURATE software that can tell you if its the PSU. You can test the rail (12v specifically) with a Digital/Analog Multimeter. If its 5% off, its out of spec.

1. Run memetest86
2. I would suggest running Prime95 Torture test Small FFT for a bit and see if that yields a reboot. If it doesnt, try running Furmark alone for a bit to see if that yields a reboot. If those dont do it by themselves, run both at the same time. If that doesnt do it, then I would doubt its the PSU.
3. Switch drivers for your videocard.

Earth Dog has some good suggestions. From personal experience I would lean towards the PSU as well. I tried making do with a knock off psu a couple of rigs ago, and it ended up being a fatal decision. The best way to ensure that it is the psu imo would be to pop in a known working power supply, and see if the problems go away. If you dont have a spare do what has been suggested above to make sure all of your other hardware is good.