Playing games causes reboots

toffee_paul

toffee_paul

toffee_paul

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7 Mar 2007
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26
Hi all,

My computer restarts after a few minutes whenever I play a game (Sims 3, 007 Blood Stone, Batman: Arkham Asylum). This problem has coincided with the new GFX card being installed but I'm pretty sure its not a faulty card; i'm thinking maybe its power related?

I have a new Radeon 6950 with two 75W 6-pin connectors from my 500W PSU going in to it, as recommended on the AMD website.

I ran FurMark in stability test mode wth all other options set to default (Xtreme Burning mode off). The GPU temp gets to about 86 degrees then suddenly the computer shuts down for about 2 seconds then reboots itself. As it's going through the usual post screens I can hear the GPU fan doing its nut for a few seconds before it slows to normal speed.

AMD website recommends a 500W PSU minimum for this card and I have an Akasa PaxPower 500W as shown here (it was new in 2007 when purchased!")
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-039-AK&vat=1

I have also 4 internal SATA hard drives and a DVD writer installed. Obviously these are all using power but is this alone enough to cause reboots? Also tested with taking side of case off to see if that made a difference, upgrading/downgrading Catalyst drivers; all to no avail!

Please help as i've waited years for a decent GFX card to play new games on and now I can't play longer that 30 minutes before it reboots!

Cheers,
Paul
 
Happened to me for a year before I got my 5870 card RMA'd. Though now I have a new PSU too but when it wouldn't reboot I'd get amdkdapp errors in the event viewer and AMD Display Drivers stopped responding. See if there's any record of the error in your event viewer may help narrow the search if anything's there.
 
I'd definitely be wary of that PSU, I'm not convinced it's enough to power a 6950. Hard drives draw almost no power, except from during boot.

86 degrees is very high for the GPU to go, it sounds like you're reaching a cutoff point and the computer is switching off as a safety feature. Have you overclocked or flashed the card at all? Which 6950 is it?
 
I would put all my money on the PSU. 500W is the recommend minimum for a 6950, and the PSU will automatically restart the PC if too much voltage is drawn. I'm running a 6950 on a 520W PSU and am taking it very easy, nothing more that a little COD, certainly wouldn't let it touch a benchmark until I get a new PSU. I would recommend you do the same as you are pushing the PSU to the limit which could cause it to die and take the rest of your rig with it.
 
Thanks for the help fellas.

Right, I'm not getting any errors in Event Viewer.

I've updated my signature with the spec. Neither CPU or GPU is overclocked and the card is by HIS.

Gundog, now I am worried lol! I'll still to nothing more then OpenTTD for now :)

I'm having to watch the electricity bills like a hawk these days so will upgrading the PSU, assuming that's the problem, result in a really big increase in power consumption?

Cheers,
Paul
 
6950 draws around 200W. Lower your settings and turn on vsync so your 6950 works less hard and retest.

In addition run Gpu-z and check your other gpu related temps such as vrm.
 
Just to close this topic and for the benefit of any others having a similar power related problem.... fixed this by investing in an 850W (80 Plus) PSU. No reboots since attaching it so obviously the 500W was not giving out enough power. All good now.

Thanks to the guys here for their help.
 
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