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[Naftman]

If feel dwarfed as an IT consultant asking this, but I'm not extremely well-grounded when it comes to hardware problems, hence this thread.
I'd like to thank people in advance who make an effort in reading this.

Problem description:

Most of the time, I play TF2. Some other times I play League of Legends (LOL), which is from my point of view a game that has lesser requirements in terms of hardware than TF2.
When I play TF2, 90% of the time, everything goes fine. When it DOES crash, it usually crashes to desktop.
When I play LOL however, 50% -> 70% it crashes. And not only does it crash, it shuts down my pc. Entirely.
It litterly goes like this: happy-happy-fun-times-in-LOL, INSTANT shutdown.

This annoys me, like it can only annoy a Naftman.

Timeline:
- a year ago, no problems, just the "usual Steam/TF2 crashing", which happend to me on my previous pc as well.
- 3 or so months ago, all of a sudden this "shutdown" problem. But ONLY when playing LOL.
- Last couple of weeks: I install Age of Empires III, all of sudden this "shutdown" problem occurs while playing this as well.

What I've allready tried:
- First thougt that came to mind: hardware overheating. Ran a temperture monitoring tool: Nothing much to see here.
  CPU stays around 50°, GPU however gets to 85° sometimes during LOL, but I figured: it should be able to handle it
- Lowered all settings on LOL: resolution, detail level, anti-aliasing. Still shuts down.
- Reinstalled graphic driver: you guessed it, same result
- Tried a memory test from boot yesterday, took a shitload of time, went to gym (program told me it would show results after windows logon), came back, no results. Will try again today.

And this is why I was so hesitant to post this here:
I've googled a lot about this problem (you know: LOL shuts down computer, browse results), many say it's a hardware problem, that it could be fixed by updating drivers, and so forth. And at first (months ago) I thought it was only LOL. But having several games completely shut down my computer pretty much points to a problem with the computer, not the game.

[TL;DR]
So................... Simple question: I think I'm missing something, something I might not even have come up with. Anyone with similar problems in the past. (Searching forum didn't turn up much)

[EDIT]
Oh feck I forgot to write down my specs in here:

- CPU: Intel i7 920
- GPU: Nvidia GTX 260
- Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
- Ram: Corsair XMS3 - 6 GB ( 3 x 2 GB ) - DIMM 240-pins - DDR3 - 1600 MHz / PC3-12800 - CL7 - 1.65 V
- Hard disks: 1  WD VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS, 4 more older HD's.
- EnerMax Infiniti - PSU ( internal ) - ATX12V 2.2/EPS12V - 100/240 Volt AC - 720 Watt -active PFC - European
- Both TF2 and LOL installed on C: (Velociraptor disk)

[Hzza]

Ummm...I've never had any problems with Steam/TF2 randomly crashing my computer so thats not "usual" for a start!

If its shutting down your computer could it be a PSU issue maybe? Iunno, I'm probably the least qualified person on the planet to answer this, but thats where I'd be looking.

[DeadlyAvenger]

Is your power supply sufficient for your PC/on it's way out?

It might be that while your stressing your PC by playing games that it's not delivering enough current and just shuts down - seems like the most obvious cause of the problem to me.

Overheating would be the other obvious suggestion - have you got plenty of airflow around your case etc. - it could be that maybe the northbridge or another component is overheating since your CPU temps look fine. 85C is pretty hot - but not that out-of-the-ordinary for a GPU.

What have you got inside your pc hardware wise (e.g. components etc.)? It may be for example that your power supply can't deliver enough current to your graphics card (even if the overall power rating is sufficient).

It's highly unlikely that your PC would just instantly shut-down due to a software issue. (without at least blue-screening first - and even then it would probably restart rather than shut down)

[Lazzars]

i would have thought it would blue screen if it was overheating, sounds like a dying psu really

[claws]

PSU not a bad idea. Anything in your event logs? 85 deg on GPU sounds rather high to me, but i'm not up with the latest in reasonable GPU temps.  

How about a prime95 etc benchmark? If CPU stress doesn't hurt anything, that would point to GPU.

Edit - oh yes : when you say shuts down, do you mean it turns off instantly?

[Naftman]

Just posted my Specs in the original post, copy here:

I had considered my PSU giving up on me, but that thought makes me go "AW HELL THAT SUCKS BALLS", because I spent quite a lot of hard-earned euros on it, trying to avoid a posible situation like this. (Thing cost me €170/£145)

Thx for your replies !

- CPU: Intel i7 920
- GPU: Nvidia GTX 260
- Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
- Ram: Corsair XMS3 - 6 GB ( 3 x 2 GB ) - DIMM 240-pins - DDR3 - 1600 MHz / PC3-12800 - CL7 - 1.65 V
- Hard disks: 1  WD VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS, 4 more older HD's.
- EnerMax Infiniti - PSU ( internal ) - ATX12V 2.2/EPS12V - 100/240 Volt AC - 720 Watt -active PFC - European
- Both TF2 and LOL installed on C: (Velociraptor disk)

[Hzza]

PSU calculator says you're running about 692watts; don't know if thats close enough to your 720watts to cause problems though. How old is the PSU?

[Naftman]

PSU calculator says you're running about 692watts; don't know if thats close enough to your 720watts to cause problems though. How old is the PSU?

About a year and a half.
It was supposed to be a tough little bastard. Is there any way to test this without actually physically buying a new PSU and trying it ?
(Hardware is expensive in Belgium, compared to Germany for example, new PSU 1000Watts costs €240)

[r007]

What with all the EU-Wide shipping, just order one from Germany then.
Also, try a Power supply tester. (Linking to french because I dunno which part of Belgium you live in   )

PS: Every good geek should have one of those, just in case.

€dit: Does is actually properly shut down or just turn off?

[Naftman]

€dit: Does is actually properly shut down or just turn off?

A cold unanounced shut down, instant black screen, instant fan stop, instant everything. It... dies.

Like if you would unplug the power cord.

[DeadlyAvenger]

Try taking out any unnecessary hard-disks and trying it again - if the games are installed on your C: drive, then unplug your other drives from the PSU, and try playing LoL again. That'll reduce the load on your PSU.

And if those power supply calculations are correct that you're running at 692W of a 720W PSU then it's almost definitely your PSU. The 720W calculation of the rating is based on the total power it can provide on all of the rails (different circuits inside for different voltages) and the chances of you using each of them evenly is very slim.

Also - as your PSU ages - the power it can supply will go down - just like a car.

Also - OUCH at those prices man. Definitely order from somewhere else if you can!

[r007]

Yeah, sounds like PSU giving out. Maybe overloaded, maybe one of the components dying. The latter should be apparent on the PSU tester by one of the voltage rails fluctuating more thang a tiny bit or not quite getting to the required level. The former, well, depending on your PSU it's just one of the rails that is overloaded, and replugging might help.

Usually the PSU has two or more +12v (the most commonly used) rails, and ratings for the rails printed on a sticker, make sure you're not having to much on a single rail. (Although figuring out which connector belongs to which rail might be another thing entirely, maybe RTFM.)

€dit: If i were to design a PSU, you symptoms sound like the protection circuitry (heat sensor, overload detection) decides the PSU has had too much and yanks the main supply connection.

[claws]

Alternatively, drop one or two of the 5 Hard drives

[Naftman]

Also - as your PSU ages - the power it can supply will go down - just like a car.

I knew this, but this, in combination with Hzza's post about my possible power consumption just made me go "aha" in the 3rd degree.

See: I used to have only my faster Velociraptor C: HD, and 3 other, much older HD's. But in may I bought another 2TB HD, which possibly might have made my PSU (who was sufficient at the time) age faster...

So... theoretically, using Hzza's tool: Power consumption now: 692(I got 699 somehow) / with only fast 10000 rpm disk enabled: 582.

Even if it aged and let's say, lost about 30 Watts of its capacity, then this should work. Unless it allready lost over 100 Watts, which would be a little drastic to assume.

I'm definitely going to try this tonight.

Very useful tips, thx.

[r007]

Just wanted to add: There's also single rail PSUs, which avoid the load distribution hassle, see this picture for example