PC just restarting, Is this a CPU cooling, power supply or other problem?

Question

Hi, recently I upgraded my graphics card to a Radeon HD5670 on my Intel d945gtp motherboard. Beforehand it was using onboard graphics. The restarting was vvery in frequent at that stage.

Two weeks later I then upgraded from 1 Gb RAm (2 x 512 sticks), to 3gb. Thats 2 x 1gb and 2 x 512mb stick, so 4 in total.

My power supply is 300 watts (and is not a very good brand), my CPU is a pentium D and runs idle at 61 degrees Celsius and can go up to 83 degrees celsius when playing games.

After the memory upgrade It started just restarting more frequently when playing games like Saints Row 3 and other graphicly intense programs.

I have checked and my PSU is about enough to run all my components.

I would like to know what is causing this problem(CPU cooling, PSU or another issue), I need an experts opinion and recommened upgrades (and parts) if possible.

I will update the question if you need more details.

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi, firstly I would like to isolate the issue, you have to perform system restore, go to the time before you installed the driver for you graphics card. Now once you have done that you should find the latest driver for your graphics card.



Go to your BIOS and disable the onboard graphics, there might be an issue with the on-boards graphics card.



Then is the RAM. RAMs can be one of the major causes of restarts.



Let's talk about CPU overheating, a computer that has a overheated processor merely shuts down it does not restart. And until it has cooled down it will not swith ON. Keeping that in mind we can safely say that the CPU is not the issue here.



However a CPU working under hot conditions does not perform as well as a cooler CPU, it might not be able to process the data that you're sending to it. Also a reason to crash. In my opinion 83 is a bit too hot, I set mine to switch off at 70.



That said I could put this down to 3 issues, RAM, Graphics card driver and the on-board card conflicting with the graphics card.



If you want to know more about why a computer restarts:

"Why does a computer freeze?"

http://computingmadeasy.com/2012/02/02/why-does-a-computer-freeze/



"How to fix a freezing computer"

http://computingmadeasy.com/2012/02/02/how-to-fix-a-freezing-computer/



Though the article is about freezing, some of the causes are the same as to why your computer restarts.

Answer 2

Computer restarts could also be hardware issue. It could also be from mismatched RAM. Try taking out the original 2 512 and only have the 2 1gb sticks and see if the restarts occur with the integrated graphics connected, since you stated restarts did occur once in a while.



The PSU is not really enough for that card. Per AMD 400 Watt or greater power supply recommended and 600w or larger for Crossfire. The entire system may not be getting enough power consistently enough, so it's shutting down.



Also those CPU temps are way too high at idle.Clean the fan/heatsink and around the socket area. It's also possible over time the thermal paste or especially the crap thermal pads manufacturers use instead of paste, degrades over time. You may have to take off the heat sink, clean it good, and reapply thermal paste. You an find many instructions on how to remove a heatsink/fan, clean it and apply thermal paste.

Answer 3

To me, it sounds like you have at least two problems. The CPU is way, WAY too hot. 61 is about as high as you'd want to see that CPU get, ever. That's after hours of hard-core gaming use, BTW. 70C is a safety cut-off point...many motherboards will simply shut down to protect the CPU if the CPU gets that hot.



Hopefully the CPU isn't permanently damaged yet. But unless you are getting some funky temperature readings, that CPU is overheated constantly.



Now the CPU being too hot COULD cause the system to restart.



But a more common cause of the system restarting would be a bad power supply.



I would recommend you install a new CPU heatsink/fan combination with new thermal paste (should come with the heatsink)



I would also recommend you replace your power supply with an Antec Earthwatts EA-380D.



If you do those two things and still have a problem, I would suspect that your CPU is already damaged due to the fact that it's been (literally) cooking itself for quite a while.

Answer 4

Your hardware is really outdated outher then your graphics card. But if your cpu is getting up to 83 degrees that is probably what is causing the restarts, Computers will shut down if your CPU over heats to protect itself from burning out, open your case and get a can of compressed air and give it a good spraying espcailly around the Cpu Heat sink should make a big difference

Answer 5

Remove the 2 x 512mb RAM, use only 2 x 1 GB RAM, this could be the problem due to not identical RAM configurations.

Answer 6

oops .dude something wrong on your processor cooling fan ..... normally processor temp should be 30 - 60 max after 70 -80 over heat limit ..... when the over heat system automatically restart.....



options --- check your processor fan

check your processor heat sink is touching the processor

if you over clock the processor that also reason for over heat ..check you BIOS overclock settings

Answer 7

put a DVD in the drive, and if it crashes whilst trying to spin the disc, it is 100% a PSU issue. Go for a recognised brand (i.e. corsair) and go up to at least 400W

Answer 8

you need a better heatsink for that cpu