Computer Freeze

[Blackberry Bun]

New occurrence

3 Mar 2014: While browsing a moderately heavy site

I'm kinda occupied, so I haven't done anything new yet. I'll see what I can do when I have time.

Still, his PC and mine are technically twins, and mine doesn't have such annoying problem. The only explanation I can think of is that his PC has a faulty hardware somewhere, but which? Likely the GPU, but I can't be certain.

Other than this annoying mysterious problem, the PC always works fine. No graphical problem during games.

[RAMChYLD]

Well, The only two things I can think of is power supply and CPU temperature. Even though power supply is less likely, I still suspect it because there are cases where the PSU will start up fine but then surge out during moderate load. Ie my first uber rig, aka Sally's first incarnation.

My recommendation would be to install more exhaust fans, and try out a more powerful power supply. Power supplies are each unique, no two are alike even if they both claim to be 600w.

[huckleberrypie]

And invest on a branded one. They're a tad more expensive than off-brand models yet you're confident that it won't fry your rig or worse.

[RAMChYLD]

And invest on a branded one. They're a tad more expensive than off-brand models yet you're confident that it won't fry your rig or worse.

A tad more expensive is an understatement. A CoolerMaster or Antec 600w power supply can cost three times as much as an AVF or PowerLogic. But then an AVF or PowerLogic won't have graceful fail (they tend to explode when they die), don't have surge protection and overload protection, and more than often they overheat very fast if you run them at 600w peak, and once they start overheating they start pumping out less power, causing BSODs and freezes.

[Blackberry Bun]

So, I just downloaded an application (Hwmonitor) to check on temperature. I opened Borderlands 2 on his PC for about 10-15 minutes, and then I used the application. Every part of the PC is shown to be about 40 degrees Celsius. That's still a normal temperature, right?

If it comes down to power supply, is there a way to check the performance of the current power supply? I want to make sure first before blowing money on a new one.

[RAMChYLD]

40 degrees celcius should be normal. In fact, it's considered cool compared to the temperature Edison and Dongwa II rakes up normally (around 60 to 70 degrees celcius on the GPUs and bridge, and about 50ish for the CPU, after a half hour Borderlands 2 run).

So the only thing left is the power supply. There's no real way to check except to open up and note the label on the power supply box tho. If it says it's 500w or less, consider upgrading to at least 600w.

[Blackberry Bun]

So, I went to the computer shop from which I ordered both PC and asked what kind of power supply they installed. They said 450w.

Maybe I really should upgrade when I have the chance. Hopefully not in vain.

[RAMChYLD]

450w is baseline by Pentium 4 standards. If you use a core 2 or newer, consider upgrading to at least 600w. if you want to future-proof, go with a PSU rated between 650w to 700w.

[Blackberry Bun]

Updating the occurrence log

3 Feb: While playing a game
25 Feb: While watching Youtube
3 Mar: While browsing a moderately heavy site
10 Mar: While playing Skyrim
12 Mar: While playing a visual novel
15 Mar: While playing a visual novel

[Blackberry Bun]

It's getting increasingly often lately, looking at the occurrence log so far.

Anyway, it seems the highest available power supply over here is only 530w. Not sure if it will mean much over the current 450w.