Is my PSU causing freezes?

[Dynasty]

Hi guys,

Since I threw almost a grand (at the prices back then anyway) at my PC, ive been getting these random freezes in demanding games such as World in Conflict, CoH (rarely though), DoW2 Beta, Crysis (rarely for some reason) and maybe a few others that I cant remember to put on the list, always at max settings and at 1400x900 with solid framerates.

Anyway, ive always been slightly suspect on my PSU, as the trusted woman I spoke to from Novatech.co.uk (got cheaper prices as I knew people that worked there) said it would be more than enough to power the new gear...which I hesitated on but went along with anyway.

Here's my specs:

ASUS P5N32-E SLI Mobo @ 83mhz.
Intel Core2 Duo @ 2.33ghz
Seagate Barracuda 7200 250gb
2x 1gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 RAM 6400C4
BFG Nvidia 8800GT 512mb (comes O/Cd a bit) - Originally had 2 x 8600GTs in SLI mode.
Samsung DVD/W, dont really know the details.
2 x 120mm fans
1 x 80mm side fan

PSU:
Thermaltake Toughpower 700w
ATX 12v 2.2
Frequency: 47-63hz +3.3v & 5v combined 180w
+5v 28a
+3.3v 30a
+12v1 18a

+12v2 18a
+12v3 18a
+12v4 18a
-12v 0.8a

Temperatures after high strain:
CPU 38c
Case 40c ish
Card: 60-70c

Now originally I bought a SLI mobo because I installed 2 8600GTs in SLI mode, and remember having problems after a while of gaming,
However I then bought an 8800GT, took out the 8600GTs, removed SLI bridge and installed the 8800GT into the top (now) free PCI-E slot and all was well.

Freezing still happens but not as often as when the 8600GTs were in.

Could there be a clash happening with the mobo, PSU and 8800GT?
I KIND of understand the concept of Rails on the PSU but im not sure what the +12v1 amp should be.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, sorry for the tl:dr!

 

[Barney Fife]

I don't think its your PSU. I use TT TP 850w since 2006 with dual 8800GTX without any freezes or any problem whatsoever. Matter of fact TT TP has high reputation amongst gamers.
What I do suspect though is your CPU settings and video-driver.
When you uninstalled the 8600GT, did you first uninstalled the driver, then the video-card. Installed 8800GT , then installed the 8800GT drivers? You may be having driver conflicting with the card. Meaning: You have 8800GT attached to the MB, and the 8600GT driver installed. Though Nvidia forceware drivers are unified in class, when you're installing it, the installer actually searches for your hardware class and installs the appropriate driver. Therefore you must uninstall the old driver whenever you upgrade video-card.
Also, this may sound dumb, but I've got to ask: When you uninstalled the 8600GT, you mentioned that you unbridged the cards, but, did you also uninstalled the second card or you have mixed GPUs there on MB?

If that isn't the case, try tweaking CPU a little, specially CPU frequency to like 2.8GHz. Most newer games love upper 2GHz, and thats probably why the hiccup.

Also do Disk-defragment, Windows update, hardware (MB Chipset) update, sound update, Video update, BIOS update. Search for any Viruses, Trojans, Spyware and Malware.

Good Luck.

 

[Asus]

I really don't think you are pushing your power supply's available power. But that doesn't mean it isn't failing (although I doubt that as well without further testing). My PC has a single 12v+ rail at 40amps I think (550 watt psu) so you have more power available on the 12+ volt rail than I do. I've used to have a Nvidia 8800GTS 512MB card in here and replaced it with an ATI 4850 512MB. Both use a good amount of power. I've measured how many watts my PC uses with a device from the wall outlet. And under load (games, video encoding) it goes just above 200 watts (2.5GHz intel quad, 4gb ram, 2 hard drives).

How does your PC freeze exactly. Does it do a blue screen of death for less than a second and restart. Does the last screen from your game stay up on the screen frozen and nothing with your PC responds? Or just a program crash and you can still use the PC?

Could be the 3d driver. Maybe just installed with issues or could just have conflicts with games which isn't uncommon. As 'new' games come out Graphic card companies are always tweaking, month to month, how their drivers run games. Could try older drivers or wait for new drivers that say they fixed problems with playing X game.
What sound are you using? Could be drivers with a card with hardware acceleration (creative).
Faulty RAM can often be the last thing people check regarding random restarts and hard to track down. Or the wrong timings used on RAM anyway.

 

[Sticky_Mick]

nVidia have been having all sorts of issues with their drivers of late. They're currently messing about with some sort of PhysX Extensions that get installed automatically when you update your drivers.

What happens if you go back to an earlier driver? I had to use old drivers for my 7600GT for quite some time until they fixed an issue with the latest drivers (No control over "Digital Vibrance" or "Image Sharpening") and they had the WHQL stamp.

As for PSUs, they're a bit of a black art when it comes to understanding them. I constantly get into arguments about what really matters. My belief is it's what the +12v rails are pumping out. Since upgrading from a 6600GT to the 7600GT I don't think my PSU is man enough. I have to flick the switch at the back a few times to get it to boot. Once it's running tho it's fine. I've got 450w with 15A on the +12, I've tried a 500w with 15A but altho it took me to the POST screen it wouldn't go any further.

 

[Dynasty]

Ive just updated my Nvidia drivers, seems to have made a bit of difference, havent had a hang yet but im always waiting for it to happen.

Yes the 8600GTs were completely removed, heh.

Funnily enough I tried lowering the core of the GPU from 625 to 600 and started experiencing graphical glitches on youtube videos and desktop backgrounds, so went back to the stock core speed (albeit 625 is BFG's overclocked speed) and the problems stopped, which I found weird. Only had those problems when I upped the speed.

I dont think ive ever uninstalled drivers then reinstalled the new ones after a restart prompt. Ive always just installed the new ones over the old ones. back when I had a 9800pro, I did it all the time and had 0 problems.

Ultimately in terms of what actually happens when a freeze occurs is either;

-Hang for one second or so then blue screen until I manually reset.
-Hang for one second or so then blue screen then computer restarts a second later.
-Hang, with a sound loop of whatever was happening at the time.

Freezing isnt predictable. For example I played the DoW2 Beta as a 3v3 online, about 20 mins in it hung.
Playing the same level with a 3v3 on all NPC factions on expert to give my memory a run for its money, and still on max settings at 1400x900res, I played for a solid hour or so on the same game and didnt get a hang.

Im never able to alt-tab out or go to windows in any way, and like i said above, what actually happens is usually one of those 3 each time. I never actually write down what the bluescreen error is though, but the last one I saw was something to do with a physical memory dump or some such.

Sound im using is a soundmax card that came with the motherboard that slots into a PCI slot of choice, but I cant update the drivers as for some reason the software refuses to recognise that I even have the card installed, therefore comes up with some verification error. However im planning on replacing it with a creative soundcard from home in my older computer whenever I get the chance to get back.

Just as an addition, I used Asus Probe and here's how im running:
Vcore - 1.31v
+3.3 - 3.22v
+5.0 - 4.95v
+12.0 - 11.65v
1.2VHT - 1.23v
SB Core - 1.50v
CPU VTT - 1.23v
DDR2 TERM - 0.94v
NB Core - 1.22v
Memory - 1.90v

Now frankly I dont know what the numbers should be, but thats just for anyone who knows what theyre talking about when it comes to power requirements.

 

[Sticky_Mick]

With regards to updating video drivers. This is the procedure I use: Uninstall via "Add Remove Programs", but don't restart. Next I go to my 'C' drive and delete the nVidia folder that's left behind (I've had istances where I've ended up with 2 nvidia folders, and it's caused conflicts). Then restart. When windows loads, I cancel the "Found New Hardware Wizard". Then I install the new drivers and reboot. Sometimes it reinstalls my monitor again, but that's no problem.

Next time you get a BSOD, make a note of the error and do a google search with that.

I get the Alt+Tab thing once in a while but it soon sorts itself out. I find if I leave a window open on the desktop I can Alt+Tab out of games without any problems.

It's also interesting what you say about your soundcard. I've got an ASUS A8V-Deluxe motherboard with a Soundblaster Audigy 4 Gold installed, and windows will kick that out of action once in a while, and I get told I've got no Creative hardware installed when I try to reinstall the drivers for that. I have to install the XP reference driver for it to work again.

Have ASUS Probe running again and look for any drastic fluctuations in the voltages.

 

[Dynasty]

Just had a good 3-4 hours of Farcry 2 on 1400x900 + all Very High settings.

Solid 40+ fps and no freezes.

It seems to pick when it wants to freeze. I dont know how much strain Farcry 2 puts on RAM though, as id imagine games like CoH and DoW2 require more from your RAM? Heh, im just grabbing at straws there.

 

[Asus]

Does it seem like it freezes more in Online games or does it also freeze with single player?