My PC keeps turning off...please help

[Rillifane]

I had this problem a few weeks ago, whenever anything graphically intensive was used my computer would turn itself off, turned out my PSU wasn't able to cope with the power needed to fully run my graphics card as it (my PSU) was getting old. Even though you have stated your parts are only about 1.5 years old that doesn't mean the parts that make up your PSU are fine, you could have been sold one with slightly bad parts which has caused it to expend its life span much sooner. IF you have a friend with a 700W PSU you can borrow off them to test it you can see it's most likely a PSU problem.

Also when people mention about temps they aren't just talking about GPU temps, they are talking about CPU temps as when the CPU gets too hot all systems turn themselves off to prevent damage to the CPU.

[wolfsspirit]

for techies interested ,, PSU's problems explained :

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/s...d.php?t=548862

[HeiZei]

Definitely sounds like a fried video card or under powered PSU

[Sasse]

Video card overheating wouldn't cause his entire system to shut down, would it?

Sounds to me more like an overheating cpu, or bad power supply.

[Alhanelem]

my card isnt overheating, running at 40 degrees.

Your CPU is overheating, not your GPU. If it's not that, then it could be your PSU is at the end of its rope. It could either be your power supply doesn't have enough wattage to handle your GPU under load, or it's dying and not putting out enough power.

CPU overheating usually causes it/the driver to crash and reset, causing the screen to go black for a few seconds. It doesn't generally shut your PC down. CPU overheating, however definitely will cause a shutdown- it's a failsafe to prevent damage.

[Kobolt]

Video card overheating wouldn't cause his entire system to shut down, would it?

Sounds to me more like an overheating cpu, or bad power supply.

if ANY component of a computer overheats it will shutdown as a safety measure for your computer. i had that problem with my old card. when my computer was shutting down, I just removed the cover and felt the card by touch when I was playing games. the card almost burned my finger, hot enough to fry bacon.

[Rage89]

does your power supply provide ample wattage to your video card? (what wattage is your power supply?). also try to look inside your power supply if any of the cylinders (towers) (capacitors) have bulged tops. if there is no screen and your computer simply shuts down then its 95% likely to be the power supply in some way or another.

Note: high end machines typically require at least a 500 watt power supply to run the fans/video cards/harddrives ect....

[Gilraen]

was only playing on high, but went to standard, testing that now. and i would never overclock my card lol, i'm a noob. plus i am monitoring my card since my last one was an overheater, this one purrs through the game on max at 43 degrees, but i'll go standard and try, check in in 15 min

If you know it's not your GPU, why are you still testing your GPU? Try testing your CPU, try using a different power supply. If you feel you've eliminated one possible culprit, move on to the next. You problem is clearly a hardware issue, you just have to find which it is.

[Talligan]

Here's a cheaper option that might solve the issue:
1) Open your case, look at the power cables running from PSU to MB/CPU. Jiggle them, make sure they're firmly clicked in.
2) There should be a single cable running from the PSU to the graphics card. It should be a 6 pin connector. Make sure that it's 1) connected, and 2) connected solidly. If it's not connected then you need to connect it.

To everyone mentioning PSU issues/overheating my first instinct was that the CPU heatsink goup was not properly applied. If that's not done well then your CPU won't be able to handle much in terms of loading.

[NickZenith]

Have you recently dusted out the inside of your tower? I was having similar issues not long ago, my desktop would usually make it about 20mins then power off. I opened it up, used a compressed air duster, cleaned all the connections, and got all the dust build up out. I haven't had a single issue with it since.