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Frequent crashes while gaming, need help!

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dhende917

Registered
Joined
Jun 8, 2013
My computer crashes while playing games. The screen either goes black or more commonly some shade of gray with many white vertical lines. The current sound continues for about four seconds then starts skipping. Eventually the computer just turns off (usually I just turn it off).

The crashing is really variable. Sometimes it can happen five times in a day or not for a week. It seems to crash more using higher graphics (not at all on older games unless modded), but I have not kept a record. I will say the probability of a crash definitely goes up while gaming and streaming a video.

I've tried to fix this problem many times before, and here is a link to another thread I created for this problem recently with a few more details:
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1696128/frequent-crashes-gaming.html

I'm a total noob at this stuff and any help would be appreciated.:D


I built this computer from a techreport.com custom build guideline

Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LK
CPU: Intel Core i5-3450
GPU: Radeon HD 7850
RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 16GB (4x4GB)
Harddrives: OCZ Agility 3 SSD (runs operating system)
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB
Case: NZXT H2
Monitor: ViewSonic VA2248m-LED
 
I'm going to assume you're running Windows.

Reset ALL clocks back to stock. Enter your memory speed, timings and voltage as printed on the RAM labels into the BIOS (sometimes the motherboard may not "read" the stock settings on the RAM properly).

Run Prime95 for at least 10 hours in the blend or large FFT mode. Then test with Intel Burn Test or OCCT, also for at least 10 hours. Watch the temperatures, and don't let them get above 80°C.

If you don't have any problems with that, then next up it's time to test the GPU. Run Heaven for at least 4 hours, then do the same with 3DMark.
 
I went into BIOS and reset defaults. Changed the speed from auto to DDR3-1600. The timing and the voltage were set right. What's the difference between Prime95 and Intel Burn Test and Heaven and 3DMark? Just wondering
 
Prime95 is a CPU loading program. It'll put all cores to 100% usage.

IBT is similar to P95, usually hits higher temps on the CPU, but is less prone to showing instability.

Heaven and 3DMark are GPU benchmarks.
 
Played Deus X Human Revolution after reseting BIOS, Deus X freezes much more than any other game, and it still froze. I'm planning on running Prime95 overnight again (ran it for about 7 hours last night). I've already run Furmarks "burn-in" test. Would that be enough or should I run 3D mark for 10 hours?
 
I mean my hardware is at the top. Do I need to do Dxdiag and put some of that in here?
 
Played Deus X Human Revolution after reseting BIOS, Deus X freezes much more than any other game, and it still froze. I'm planning on running Prime95 overnight again (ran it for about 7 hours last night). I've already run Furmarks "burn-in" test. Would that be enough or should I run 3D mark for 10 hours?

You need to work on 1 thing at a time so you can rule out any components that you know are working. Remove your old GPU drivers, and install the latest.

Use Prime95, Intel Burn Test or OCCT (use at least 2, separately) to test the CPU. If you are satisfied that the CPU and RAM are fine (Prime95 blend mode also tests RAM up to an extent), then focus on the GPU.

Do it in that order, as GPU stress tests usually use a reasonable amount of CPU power and if it crashes then you don't know if it's the CPU or GPU unless you've already determined that the CPU is fine.
 
I mean my hardware is at the top. Do I need to do Dxdiag and put some of that in here?

No, follow my instructions above and then tell me which stress test is giving which problems. This may take a few days to do, so be patient.
 
Is there a program to check to see if all of my drivers are up to date? I know the GPU driver is up to date though
 
Is there a program to check to see if all of my drivers are up to date? I know the GPU driver is up to date though

Yes, but those programs generally tend to do a lot more harm than good. It's really just your GPU driver that you should update. Don't worry about the the other drivers as they are unrelated to your problem.
 
Ran Prime 95 for ten hours with no problems, about to start Intel burn test.
 
Ran Intel Burn test at maximum stress level with no problems. Cores 0 and 3 wavered around the low 80's and cores 1 and 2 wavered around the mid and high 80's (maximum temp of core 1: 90 C)
 
That's hot, but still in the safe zone for Ivy Bridge. CPU looks fine.

You can try Memtest86+ to see if it's the memory.
 
I am fairly positive the memory is fine. Unless three out of the four sticks that I've bought are defective or two of the slots. And I thought Prime95 ran a decent amount of memory anyway.
 
Running Heaven at max now. Benchmarked with a score of 742 at max settings. GPU temp around 59 C. CPU around 45-50 C
 
Running Heaven at max now. Benchmarked with a score of 742 at max settings. GPU temp around 59 C. CPU around 45-50 C

The Heaven benchmark results are irrelevant at this stage. What you need to do to test the GPU is leave Heaven alone for at least 4 hours, then repeat the process with another GPU stress tester such as 3DMark. 1 stress test alone is unreliable.
 
I ran Heaven for 4 hours and then 3DMark 11, but I don't think I can just run 3DMark, like I did Heaven, without buying it.
 
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