My Computer Crashes when playing games

[AndrewWales1986]

Ok the computer i have is a:

WINDOWS VISTA ULTIMATE (32 bit)
INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q6600 8MEG CACHE,
ASUS P5N-E SLI NFORCE 650 BOARD,
500GB 16MB CACHE SATA HDD,
MASSIVE 4GB DDR2 MEMORY,

NVIDIA 8500GT SLI 1024MB GRAPHICS CARD,

and when ever i play a game (i mostly play UT3 or COD 4) after about 5 - 10 minutes of playing the whole system crashes.

i have run MEMTEST (dos version) and it passed 5 tests in a row with no errors so i know its not my ram,

could it be that my GC is over heating?

other changes i have made to the system is only that i have added a Network card so i can link my xbox360elite up to the net with a shared con from my PC.

if the respons i get concludes its my GC over heating whats the best way to keep it cool?

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

I'd suspect either poor heat dissipation or a PSU that is either not able to provide your system with the power it demands or is just flat out faulty.

Check the temperatures on your components while under load and if they look fine try a different PSU.

 

[Route44]

If you can attach your minidumps that will help. It could be a video card driver issue. Or as Zenosincks points out it can be a heat ssue because when vid cards go under a load like when playing games the heat generated can go up substantially.

Also, what is the make and model of your PSU?

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Not sure I'd suspect a driver malfunction just because you'd likely have an error message and the system would probably lock up rather than totally shut off. Still worth checking the minidumps though I suppose.

Keep us updated ...

 

[AndrewWales1986]

ok last time it crashed it came up with this

 

[AndrewWales1986]

grrr why do you need 3 posts any way its in next post

 

[AndrewWales1986]

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Okay, well, scratch what I said earlier then.

It's almost guaranteed to be a software issue. Those minidumps would be more useful than ever now if you can get them.

I'd be willing to be it's a problem with NVidia's drivers on your system. If not directly than indirectly.

Uninstall NVidia's Network Access Manager from your machine via Add/Remove Programs if it's installed and see if it helps anything.

 

[AndrewWales1986]

ok ill try that now im just gunna install my new VISTA x64 seens as i got 4gig ram and ill try it

 

[AndrewWales1986]

All i got is NVIDIA Drivers thats all nothing about network manager

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Post. Your. Minidumps.

 

[AndrewWales1986]

if by minidump (im not great with this stuff) you mean screen shot here it is

this is a fresh install of Vista but im getting same error as before

 

[Route44]

When conflicts occur that might that the potential to cause damage to your PC Windows automatically shuts down your system and displays a Blue Screen (Blue Screens of Death; BSOD) reporting blah, blah, blah, and then gives an error code.

I don't know about Vista but XP has a MInidump Folder in the Windows Folder in Drive C. Within that Minidump Folder are minidump files that give us more detailed information.

It is these files that we need you to attach in your next reply. Note the Managae Attachment button below when you are responding.

 

[AndrewWales1986]

it didnt create one but i know the folder. last time it just crashed the computer no BSOD nothing just crashed and freezed up completely