Computer Shutting Down Randomly while in-game

[ActiveGear]

Hey! I was wondering, why does my computer randomly will shut down for while in-game? To be honest this only seems to happen in Serious Sam 3: BFE which is unusually the only game I lag in, though my CPU Temps are usually at the 50 - 65 mark while my GPU is usually at 50 - 60. PC SPECS:
i7 2600K @3.40Ghz
12 GB of RAM
nVidia 580 GTX 3GB Edition
And a Asus Xonar DX.... Keep in mind this is powered by a 750 Watt PSU.
Keep in mind that I do live in Australia which at this time (Summer) it can reach up sometimes to 40 Degrees Celsius. My drivers are all up to date by the way... so is it the heat that's shutting my Computer down or is it the game?
My cooling in my computer isn't GREAT but it's okay. I don't know, Reply soon. (Linus or someone else)

Thanks!

[sswilson]

The phrase "keep in mind that this is powered by a 750 Watt PSU" doesn't tell us all that much....

What's the brand-name / model of that PSU? Is it a quality unit, or is it a $30 no-name special that only weighs 1/2 a pound?

I would certainly be looking at heat as the first culprit... what kind of case do you have, can the cooling be upgraded? If the problem can be replicated fairly easily, I'd try leaving the case side off and directing the airflow of a house fan on your components to see if that resolves the issue... if it does then you know you need to do something about the cooling in your case.

Another possible culprit could be an issue with your sound card / drivers (especially if it only seems to happen in a single game). Try running the game using onboard audio with the sound card removed. If that resolves the issue... try removing / reinstalling the latest drivers, and/or checking to see if there is an option on your motherboard to re-assign the PCI slot resources.

[Avenger212]

I would really blame your problem during these temperatures of 35-40 degrees. Because even if you have exceptional air-flow there is little humidity during these temperatures. (Its like a blow dryer if no one knows it yet) All your PC fans are doing is bringing in the Hot air to your PC increasing its temperatures. I would recommend that you don't turn your PC on during these temperatures, if you do want to use it. Get a stand fan or if possible a turbo fan and point it a your case intakes (at the front or side of your PC if there are at the side) to help it push the hot air out. If possible use an air-con to bring in cold air to your PC. I had the exact problems you are having now during these temperatures. 3 years ago when Adelaide experience a week with 40 degrees I even went to extreme measures just to cool-off my PC... (like putting ice on top, But I never recommend it. That's just me being stupid.)

[Bond007]

What power supply is it?

[bignick277]

Originally Posted by sswilson

The phrase "keep in mind that this is powered by a 750 Watt PSU" doesn't tell us all that much....

What's the brand-name / model of that PSU? Is it a quality unit, or is it a $30 no-name special that only weighs 1/2 a pound?

LMAO... That statement just made my day. So true. So true. I've had so many friends who have had the exact same thing happen due to cheap power supplies. Remember the infamous ugly golden 600W no name power supply? That one was so light it was basically just a tin box and couldn't power a light bulb without failing.

[ActiveGear]

Originally Posted by sswilson

The phrase "keep in mind that this is powered by a 750 Watt PSU" doesn't tell us all that much....

What's the brand-name / model of that PSU? Is it a quality unit, or is it a $30 no-name special that only weighs 1/2 a pound?

I would certainly be looking at heat as the first culprit... what kind of case do you have, can the cooling be upgraded? If the problem can be replicated fairly easily, I'd try leaving the case side off and directing the airflow of a house fan on your components to see if that resolves the issue... if it does then you know you need to do something about the cooling in your case.

Another possible culprit could be an issue with your sound card / drivers (especially if it only seems to happen in a single game). Try running the game using onboard audio with the sound card removed. If that resolves the issue... try removing / reinstalling the latest drivers, and/or checking to see if there is an option on your motherboard to re-assign the PCI slot resources.

Yeah, the PSU is actually 850 Watts, and yes, It's one of those Bootleg PSU's (Named COOLERPOWER) I'm not sure, if it's half a pound though :P ...I still find it odd, that SS3 is the only game that makes my computer restart automatically, while I play Crysis and such. Reply Back?

[sswilson]

Originally Posted by ActiveGear

Yeah, the PSU is actually 850 Watts, and yes, It's one of those Bootleg PSU's (Named COOLERPOWER) I'm not sure, if it's half a pound though :P ...I still find it odd, that SS3 is the only game that makes my computer restart automatically, while I play Crysis and such. Reply Back?

Yeah, if it's only one game, then you should probably check for a game patch and/or "known"issues reported in the gfx driver write-up.

Have you tried switching audio yet?

[ActiveGear]

Originally Posted by sswilson

Yeah, if it's only one game, then you should probably check for a game patch and/or "known"issues reported in the gfx driver write-up.

Have you tried switching audio yet?

Indeed I have, and it didn't work, Thanks for the advice though. Sadly it didn't solve the issue. But I will look into getting a new case soon. (The case I have is one of those no-name with poor ventilation.)

[LionRed]

Perhaps I am wrong ...but I could have sworn most times with heat issues the computer will freeze or lag along...not shut down/turn off. I don't ever remember seeing a computer reboot due to heat issues (I could be wrong though).

Most of the shut down/turn off/ or reboot problems i've ever seen are related to -
MB is dying
or
PS is dying
or
Perhaps bad ram and or driver issues...and or game patches ...windows issue with windows system failure is setup to reboot.

As for living in a hot weather climate area....this is a guess on my part. But I would think home computers/computer parts are designed to work in any house any where in the world at stock clocks even with stock cooling? Even 40C air is cooling a cpu.

[Arinoth]

I doubt it's the video card heating up as these days the nVidia drivers restart, essentially making your game crash to desktop to protect the graphics card.

If the game is rebooting, there could be some bad sectors in RAM that the game is running into causing the computer to restart. I'd recommend running memtest86 to rule out memory.

I wonder if its the north or south bridges overheating and causing the restart. You could try touching either of them once your computer restarts to see if its them, or you could put/point a fan at them and see if your system restarts at all.