Not sure which forum to post in, please move accordingly.

I've got a PC that shuts off whenever I try to run any type of video game. I usually test it with Team Fortress 2 and Portal - which aren't usually considered high end graphic intensive games.

I've replaced the Graphics Card from a 7900 GTX to a 9800 GT.

Essentially, what happens is when I begin to play, my screen goes black/PC stops functioning. I can hear fans spinning in the box and the power light is on but nothing is responsive. The only way to remove the PC from this state is to do a cold boot by holding the power button.

Here are my specs via dxdiag:

System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 5/20/2009, 08:29:52
Machine name:
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Enterprise (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.090302-1506)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: BIOS Date: 12/14/05 11:50:14 Ver: 08.00.12
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ (2 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Page File: 1340MB used, 2994MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode

Some things to consider:

This did not happen when I had Windows XP installed. I tried running Memtest86+ last night but came in this morning to the same "dead" computer so I couldn't see the results. Also, the power supply is 450w.

I'm sort of thinking it's the Power Supply but why would it happen now and not when Vista was installed? All drivers are up to date, by the way.

If it's not the power supply than Processor? Or RAM? But the RAM and Processor are both showing up just fine.

Any other tests I should run to get the exact error that's occurring? Or maybe someone has experienced this and can give me a solution.

Thank you!

I've replaced the Graphics Card from a 7900 GTX to a 9800 GT.

Did the computer shut down with the 7900 too, or just the new card?

450W is cutting it pretty close - but without knowing the make and model, we don't know if there is enough of that available as current on the +12VDC rail - critical for stable graphics operation. Use the eXtreme PSU Calculator Lite to determine your power supply unit (PSU) requirements. Plug in all the hardware you think you might have in 2 or 3 years (extra drives, bigger or 2nd video card, more RAM, etc.). Be sure to read and heed the notes at the bottom of the page. I recommend setting Capacitor Aging to 30%, and if you participate in distributive computing projects (e.g. BOINC or Folding@Home), I recommend setting TDP to 100%. Research your video card and pay particular attention to the power supply requirements for your card listed on your video card maker's website. If not listed, check a comparable card (same graphics engine and RAM) from a different maker. The key specifications, in order of importance are:

1. Current (amperage or amps) on the +12V rail,
2. Efficiency,
3. Total wattage.

Then look for power supply brands listed under the "Good" column of PC Mechanic's PSU Reference List. Ensure the supplied amperage on the +12V rails of your chosen PSU meets the requirements of your video card. Don't try to save a few dollars by getting a cheap supply. Digital electronics, including CPUs, RAM, and today's advanced graphics cards, need clean, stable power. A good, well chosen supply will provide years of service and upgrade wiggle room. I strongly recommend you pick a supply with an efficiency rating equal to, or greater than 80%. Look for the 80 Plus - EnergyStar Compliant label. And don't forget to budget for a good UPS with AVR (automatic voltage regulation).

Rebooting during MemTest+ would rule out Windows, and points to hardware.

Umm, the below is not too helpful - You might check out the D-A-L Hardware Scan program at the top of this page.

System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name

What are your temperatures? Is the case interior clean of heat trapping dust?

Originally Posted by Digerati

Did the computer shut down with the 7900 too, or just the new card?

450W is cutting it pretty close - but without knowing the make and model, we don't know if there is enough of that available as current on the +12VDC rail - critical for stable graphics operation. Use the eXtreme PSU Calculator Lite to determine your power supply unit (PSU) requirements. Plug in all the hardware you think you might have in 2 or 3 years (extra drives, bigger or 2nd video card, more RAM, etc.). Be sure to read and heed the notes at the bottom of the page. I recommend setting Capacitor Aging to 30%, and if you participate in distributive computing projects (e.g. BOINC or Folding@Home), I recommend setting TDP to 100%. Research your video card and pay particular attention to the power supply requirements for your card listed on your video card maker's website. If not listed, check a comparable card (same graphics engine and RAM) from a different maker. The key specifications, in order of importance are:

1. Current (amperage or amps) on the +12V rail,
2. Efficiency,
3. Total wattage.

Then look for power supply brands listed under the "Good" column of PC Mechanic's PSU Reference List. Ensure the supplied amperage on the +12V rails of your chosen PSU meets the requirements of your video card. Don't try to save a few dollars by getting a cheap supply. Digital electronics, including CPUs, RAM, and today's advanced graphics cards, need clean, stable power. A good, well chosen supply will provide years of service and upgrade wiggle room. I strongly recommend you pick a supply with an efficiency rating equal to, or greater than 80%. Look for the 80 Plus - EnergyStar Compliant label. And don't forget to budget for a good UPS with AVR (automatic voltage regulation).

Rebooting during MemTest+ would rule out Windows, and points to hardware.

Umm, the below is not too helpful - You might check out the D-A-L Hardware Scan program at the top of this page.

What are your temperatures? Is the case interior clean of heat trapping dust?

This is a custom PC and does not have a brand name/system manufacturer.

I'll run some tests with the Power Supply.

The PC did not reboot with the 7900 GTX when running Windows XP. After the upgrade the PC rebooted with both the 7900 GTX and now the 9800 GT.

I'll post back with results and Power Supply manufacturer.

Originally Posted by fatkitty420

This is a custom PC and does not have a brand name/system manufacturer.

I'll run some tests with the Power Supply.

The PC did not reboot with the 7900 GTX when running Windows XP. After the upgrade the PC rebooted with both the 7900 GTX and now the 9800 GT.

I'll post back with results and Power Supply manufacturer.

Recommended PSU is 412 Watts.

Power Supply is an Antec SmartPower 450W. Trusted seller.

Could it be RAM?

Originally Posted by fatkitty420

This is a custom PC and does not have a brand name/system manufacturer.

Do you mean that someone got all of the pieces him/her-self and soldered them together? I hope you understand when I say that that is not really likely. Even if it is a custom built computer it probably still has a manufacturer for the board as well as the other parts. You can use CUP-Z or PCWizard [advanced] to find out the motherboard information. There is a site that will tell you if your computer "can run it" but I doubt that that is your problem at least when I comes to your GPU but you still need to consider the rest of your computer especially if a graphics card switch didn't fix the problem. Vista is significantly more system intensive but I'll admit that you have probably covered your bases on that.

One thing that I do need to ask is did you uninstall the drivers when you switched graphics cards? If you had crashing on your system before switching that probably isn't the problem but even if you where still going with the same manufacturer the drivers still should have been uninstalled and reinstalled. Who knows the drivers might be slightly different or the drivers might be corrupted. Switching cards without reinstalling drivers wouldn't have fixed that.

I agree that you need to make sure that your CPU's heatsink is free of dust or it will overheat and it will shutdown if it gets too hot. Download speedfan and test your CPUs temperature while putting stress on your computer. I recommend running Prime95 to put stress on your computer which will just overload your CPU and not your GPU. However when my CPU overheats my computer just shuts off. It doesn't hang or reboot.

It is a very good point that your PSU could be underpowered for such high end cards. The specs for your new one require a PSU of at least 400 watts. Can you run it might help you determine if that is what the problem is. Digerati knows more about that then I do so follow his advice.

Something else to try is to put the card in another PCI-express slot. The others don't have as high a bandwidth as the x16 but they can still run it. This is to test weather or not it is slot.

I think that it is interesting that it crashes under Vista but not XP but that is probably coincidence. A hardware problem that just started to come forth after installing a new OS. To solve your problem you took the extreme route to figuring out the problem. There where other things that you could have done before replacing the card and you might not have had to replace the card.

I just noticed this:

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ (2 CPUs), ~2.2GHz

2 CPUs? Are you sure? That would not be typical. Dual core does not mean 2 CPUs.

Upon further reflection it hit me that if your graphics card requires 400 watts [according to nVidia] and you only have 450 watts [which is the maximum output] under heavy GPU demands like playing a game that could leave as little as 50 watts for the rest of your computer!!! Thats 50 watts [if not less] for the CPU, MB, hard drives(s), ram, and whatever else you have in your computer or connected to it. Now I couldn't find out what your former graphics card required but that very well could have been your problem there. Now I'm not a PSU expert so I don't know what kinds of fatal system errors that would have created but I think that your instincts about the PSU are correct.

412 watts is that what the power supply calculator said? Thats not very much wiggle room.

Originally Posted by townsbg

Do you mean that someone got all of the pieces him/her-self and soldered them together? I hope you understand when I say that that is not really likely. Even if it is a custom built computer it probably still has a manufacturer for the board as well as the other parts. You can use CUP-Z or PCWizard [advanced] to find out the motherboard information. There is a site that will tell you if your computer "can run it" but I doubt that that is your problem at least when I comes to your GPU but you still need to consider the rest of your computer especially if a graphics card switch didn't fix the problem. Vista is significantly more system intensive but I'll admit that you have probably covered your bases on that.

One thing that I do need to ask is did you uninstall the drivers when you switched graphics cards? If you had crashing on your system before switching that probably isn't the problem but even if you where still going with the same manufacturer the drivers still should have been uninstalled and reinstalled. Who knows the drivers might be slightly different or the drivers might be corrupted. Switching cards without reinstalling drivers wouldn't have fixed that.

I agree that you need to make sure that your CPU's heatsink is free of dust or it will overheat and it will shutdown if it gets too hot. Download speedfan and test your CPUs temperature while putting stress on your computer. I recommend running Prime95 to put stress on your computer which will just overload your CPU and not your GPU.

It is a very good point that your PSU could be underpowered for such high end cards. The specs for your new one require a PSU of at least 400 watts. Can you run it might help you determine if that is what the problem is. Digerati knows more about that then I do so follow his advice.

Something else to try is to put the card in another PCI-express slot. The others don't have as high a bandwidth as the x16 but they can still run it. This is to test weather or not it is slot.

I think that it is interesting that it crashes under Vista but not XP but that is probably coincidence. A hardware problem that just started to come forth after installing a new OS. To solve your problem you took the extreme route to figuring out the problem. There where other things that you could have done before replacing the card and you might not have had to replace the card.

I ran Drive Sweeper to clean up all the driver information from the former graphics card.

I didn't take the extreme route to try to fix the problem. I had already purchased the card before the problem appeared, it's just arriving now so I figured I would wait to switch it out before I went forum diving.

I'll try running it in another PCI slot.

I don't think it's a heat issue. The box itself is still relatively dust free and I can leave my PC on for days without any issue. It seems like this only crops up when I'm running hardware intensive programs. I'm not too sure what to do as of now... I guess I'll stress test the CPU and post back.

Originally Posted by Digerati

I just noticed this:

2 CPUs? Are you sure? That would not be typical. Dual core does not mean 2 CPUs.

That's a direct copy/paste from DXDIAG.

[img=http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/3963/dxdiagimage.jpg]


It's a 1 socket CPU though, not 2 separate CPU's.

Hardware intensive programs are more likely to overheat the CPU to the point of it crashing than leaving it running idle of several days so you still need to check the heat sink to make sure that it is clear because if it isn't the heat can't dissipate. But I think your problem is either in a underpowered PSU or perhaps one that is starting to mess up. Your graphics card needs to be in another PCI-x if you switch it out. If you have another PCI-express x16 that would be best but if it is one of the smaller ones that would still work but again don't expect the same performance because the bandwidth is significantly less. This is just to test that slot. What about the MB make/model?

Upon further reflection it hit me that if your graphics card requires 400 watts [according to nVidia] and you only have 450 watts [which is the maximum output] under heavy GPU demands like playing a game that could leave as little as 50 watts for the rest of your computer!!!

That is incorrect. PSU requirements for graphics cards are always are based on whole systems, not just the card.