Semi-random freezes
 

Halindir's new computer, its magnificent in every way. Except for the XFX GeForce GT520 2gb graphics card I bought - because I have no knowledge in computer hardware.
And the dreaded game freezes.

No matter what setting I set my games to, they freeze, with not option to tab out, or ctrl+alt+del. I have to reboot, every time it happens.

They do seem to run smoothly at mid/high settings though, until they freeze

When the freeze occurs the game music stops, and the ambient sounds continue. Until i press alt+tab or ctrl+alt+del - which doesn't do anything.
If I wait long enough, the computer will reboot, after freezing.

My specs (of which i know of)
ASUS MZN-E SLI
AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core 6000+
4GB RAM
XFX GeForce GT520 2GB

The freezes happen wether the computer is completely cool, or slightly warm (like the forehead when you've got the olde common cold)
All fans are spinning
And no dust

I tried taking all the RAM-sticks out, and using only one at a time. The pc booted normaly, on all of them

Im pretty desperate here. And I don't really want to fiddle with the hardware except if its really necessary - testing the RAM felt like handling plutonium :C

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

That the PC boots does not confirm that the RAM modules are 100%. Get Ultimate Boot CD or Hirens' Boot CD, boot your machine with it and run Memtest to test your RAM properly.

Are you sure your power supply can handle that system on maximum load? The description sounds rather similar to my experience with failing PSUs.

I've already run Memtest, with no errors. But i'll look into Ultimate Boot CD/Hirens' Boot CD

My PSU has/is 250Watt. I don't know how much the different components in the pc use.

The way your computer freeze and reboot all by itself lead me to think that this is a overheating problem. I know of no other problem which can reboot the computer on its own after freezing.

Since it doesn't seem to be your problem though, I'd look driver side for problems. Since it only happen when you play games there ought to be something which put an undue strain on a part of your system when you play games... So I'd start with the graphic card. You have a GeForce so I'd start by looking for and installing Omega Drivers for GeForce and see if it solve your problem. Most of their "up to date" drivers really suck, this could help a lot.

But the pc freezes even when cold. My old pc had on average much higher temperatures, than this one, without anything like this happening.
But I guess, different hardware, different herpaderps.

I'll try out the Omega Drivers.

Speaking of drivers. I am a bit nervous about updating my BIOS, I don't know if its up to date. I don't even know how its done. And i've heard some grim tales of updating BIOS on Windows7.

First: 250W is really low.( Djees, many P3 had a 250W PSU -or even more ... - just saying)
Second: not only the wattage is important, but also how much amp the PSU is able to deliver on each voltage line , a short voltage drop on one of the supply lines is enough to behave as you describe.

For a 50/60€ you can get a 450/500W PSU.
Get it.

I've been looking at an Inter-Tech EPS-650W Ultra Silent..its pretty cheap.

After having installed the Omega Drivers, the game (Oblivion) actually lagged for a bit before freezing. Not sure if that good or bad, or helps in any way to indicate the problem.


Also thanks guys, I really appreciate your help :)

First of all, if the computer is new and within warranty, you should return it immediately and demand a 100% trouble-free replacement, no questions asked. I encourage you to do this, and ignore the rest of my post... Hardware problems are a pain in the ass, even just identifying them. And don't you think that you can solve the problem by taking it to a computer repair shop, they will only try what any of us could, sometimes they don't know a lot actually, and if the crashes are random and can't be reproduced, you're liable to get the computer back and being billed and told that it's now good, only to find later that the problem remains.

Hey I have a GT520 too, although mine only has 1 GB.

So does this happen only with games? Are you experiencing any other problem--small as it may seem in comparison to total system crashes?

250 watts sounds like very little to me. I have 375 W, and only my GT520 recommends at least 300 W (and that's if the rest of the parts aren't specially demanding). But I'm no expert, you could list your hardware at the forum over at http://www.tomshardware.com/ for example, and get a recommendation of minimal power rating. Also depending on the manufacturer of the power supply, I heard, some of them list in the specs a power rating that they can give constantly, whereas others like to list peak values that they can't sustain. Anyway you should be able to see the power requirements of your parts on the website of each manufacturer. For example my nVidia was made by Gigabyte:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...px?pid=3826#sp

Even if your power supply is poor, it needn't be the problem here, specially if these crashes aren't being caused by high load (?). My experience (see below) biases me towards RAM, RAM, RAM. And the only way to be sure may be to run with different sticks for long enough periods. RAM is such a basic part of a computer, that a problem or conflict with it is capable of causing problems in other parts, that use RAM, and the symptoms will point to those parts which are good, instead of the real culprit. Just like when I was dead sure there was a problem with my old ATI...

As Horseman says, even if the computer starts with each RAM stick--as it starts with all of them together--there may be a fault. Memory test programs that run inside Windows are limited because they can't access all the memory.

http://download.cnet.com/Ultimate-Bo...0_4-51584.html

Even if scans find no defects, for example I recently had problems because even though all my RAM was good, two halves of them (not even in dual channel) had slightly different undocumented characteristics, so they caused problems only when used at the same time. But if your computer is new and you haven't added or replaced RAM, this shouldn't happen, unless you got the computer at a shop where some guy assembled it from separately bought components.

250 W is positively too low for the kind of build you describe.
A computer's power supply unit MUST be picked out with taking into account the sum total of each component's peak power consumption - and you should add a 20% to 25% overhead, because PSUs can't sustain a 100% load for extended time periods (and as they wear down with age and use, the max output only goes down).

Faulty power supply can cause damage to your machine's components.
It sounds like he built the thing himself?