PC Problemo

[Uriel]

My friend bought my computer a bit ago and now he is having problems with it. I feel obligated to fix it.

He has an 8800 GT and I'm not sure what the wattage is on his power supply but I'm guessing it's one of the two.

Everytime he plays a 3d game, the computer will run for about 5-10 minutes and then the monitor will turn black and as I understand, the computer is still running, usually having sound repeating itself. The higher he cranks the graphics, the faster it does this.

I tried goofing around with the fan speed but I don't think I successfully made it permanent . I had it running at 80% at all times, but the stock fan speed was already at 70.

Is this a power supply issue? Or is this related to the video card?

I also told him to open the side of his case and play a game and see if it lasts any longer. My idea was to make it cooler, but he said it turned off even sooner.

Halp me ;(

 

[PimpinPenguin]

Try making the fan run at 100% when he is gaming. Sometimes opening the case can be worse as it disrupts the airflow. Next time try playing for around 3 minutes then alt-tab out and see what temps it's running at.

 

[Sir Phoenixx]

When you open the case sit a small table fan on your desk pointed at an angle at the open case. When our last AC started getting bad and then died I was able to use a small table fan to keep the PC cool enough to keep gaming when it was over 90°f in our house.

Does your friend's PC have an onboard graphics chip? Or do you have a video card you can temporarily switch with his video card? Use the onboard garphics chip or your video card to see if it still crashes or not, if it still crashes then it's most likely not the video card.

When the game crashes, are you able to get back to the desktop or do you have to reboot? If you can get back to the desktop then get Rivatuner if you don't already have it. Run Rivatuner and open the hardware monitor so you can see the temperature graph, play the game with Rivatuner in the background. Note the time that the game crashes, when you get back to the desktop look at the temperature graph up until it crashes to see if it was over heating. 50°c-60°c, maybe a little more, is normal for a load temperature, you might have a problem if the temperature is getting around 80°c or (quite a bit) above.

Open the case and look at the label on the side of the power supply to find the watt and amp ratings.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Some 8800GTs have problems with their fans not cooling fast enough and get stuck on 40% or slightly more. Use speedfan to get a good idea of the temperature it's running at. Most 8800GTs run really quite hot when idle (mine used to run at 74C idle), and with his combined room temperature & load temp the card could be cutting out.

If this is the problem, there are several possible solutions.

 

[Barney Fife]

eVGA precision perhaps?

 

[Uriel]

I can't alt-tab out of the game because he said the monitor turns off completely. Anyone have an idea of whats going on?

 

[CyberPitz]

I can't alt-tab out of the game because he said the monitor turns off completely. Anyone have an idea of whats going on?

It's most likely overheating. People have given you the answers on how to diagnose this. When they say "Alt Tab" that means BEFORE the screen blacks out on you. So play for a couple of minutes, and alt tab to check the temps. You could also use SpeedFan to make the fans run 100% all the time.

 

[jverne]

i had a similar problem, turned out my power supply unit was weak and crappy..so i bought a new one and it worked nicely.

 

[VirusType2]

I'm pretty sure the card is crashing due to overheating and/or overclocking.

Tell him to stop.