Computer Freeze

[RAMChYLD]

Well, is there any way to tell the shop to order a 600w power supply for you?

[huckleberrypie]

Well, is there any way to tell the shop to order a 600w power supply for you?

Yeah, I'm sure there's gotta be a shop or two in your place that sells beefier PSUs.

[Blackberry Bun]

I'll see to it.

By the way, is it possible that the problem lies in the motherboard? Like, some faulty minor component there?

Also, I just tried updating the GPU driver into the latest available compatible version. It fortunately went well, and playing Skyrim didn't cause the flickering screen I mentioned before. Let's see if this actually solves the mysterious problem. I'll deem it solved if it can run for one full month without any new occurrence. Otherwise, back to square one.

[huckleberrypie]

I'll see to it.

By the way, is it possible that the problem lies in the motherboard? Like, some faulty minor component there?

Also, I just tried updating the GPU driver into the latest available compatible version. It fortunately went well, and playing Skyrim didn't cause the flickering screen I mentioned before. Let's see if this actually solves the mysterious problem. I'll deem it solved if it can run for one full month without any new occurrence. Otherwise, back to square one.

Could be, especially if the capacitors are shot.

[Blackberry Bun]

Also, I just tried updating the GPU driver into the latest available compatible version. It fortunately went well, and playing Skyrim didn't cause the flickering screen I mentioned before. Let's see if this actually solves the mysterious problem. I'll deem it solved if it can run for one full month without any new occurrence. Otherwise, back to square one.

Aaaaand nope.

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
21 Mar: While playing a visual novel

If I want to bring it to a computer shop, I have to do it on a day where he goes to school while I don't, since he uses his PC all the time. Unfortunately that kind of day is very rare.

[cpd2009]

Aaaaand nope.

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
21 Mar: While playing a visual novel

If I want to bring it to a computer shop, I have to do it on a day where he goes to school while I don't, since he uses his PC all the time. Unfortunately that kind of day is very rare.

When you mean a moderately heavy site, does that indicate one that uses the Flash Player a whole lot, such as in ad banners or for page content?

AdBlock Plus can come in handy for sites like this that push Flash ads in your face (and in turn, use a lot of CPU), but as evidenced with the freezes occurring with games, it won't get rid of the problem.

I guess the next thing you can try is the upgraded PSU.

[huckleberrypie]

Aaaaand nope.

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
21 Mar: While playing a visual novel

If I want to bring it to a computer shop, I have to do it on a day where he goes to school while I don't, since he uses his PC all the time. Unfortunately that kind of day is very rare.

When you mean a moderately heavy site, does that indicate one that uses the Flash Player a whole lot, such as in ad banners or for page content?

AdBlock Plus can come in handy for sites like this that push Flash ads in your face (and in turn, use a lot of CPU), but as evidenced with the freezes occurring with games, it won't get rid of the problem.

I guess the next thing you can try is the upgraded PSU.

Or a replacement GPU for that matter.

[RAMChYLD]

I guess the next thing you can try is the upgraded PSU.

Or a replacement GPU for that matter.

Well, I'm quite confident it's the PSU since the explaination is that he's using a severely underpowered PSU for the PC, especially considering that a RadeonHD 7800 video card is medium-high end and itself requires at least 500w. I'm assuming that there's a i5 or i3 in there as well to worsen things. A 450w no-brand PSU usually won't cut it, especially after it's been used for a year or so. Which brings me to my other point: PSUs degrade as they grow older. A PSU will often start pumping out less power than rated after a few years due to component, especially the capacitors, degrading. I had a CoolerMaster 650w PSU and after three years the component degraded to the point where the power is not enough to kickstart the motherboard anymore. I know it's the PSU because the PC started working again when I fitted a new PSU in the system.

Also, I've seen freezes back when I'm running SLI on a severely underspecced PSU back when Sally was still her first reincarnation (480w, but powering a dual-core Athlon64, two 7800GT video cards, a SoundBlaster sound card, and a PhysX card). You're also pretty lucky that the PSU is at least enough to keep the juice flowing to the hard disks, since frequent hard disk corruption was the other common problem I encountered with an underpowered PSU.

--EDIT--

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/7000/7850/Pages/radeon-7850.aspx#2">http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/ ... 850.aspx#2</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/7000/7870/pages/radeon-7870.aspx#2">http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/ ... 870.aspx#2</a><!-- m -->

Recommended minimum PSU for a Radeon 7850/7870 (the entire 7800 series of cards) is at least 500w. Assume you need at least 550w also for the CPU and hard disks as well. If you want to be safe, and use a lot of USB devices at the same time, especially USB novelty toys like fans and lights, then consider 600w.

[Blackberry Bun]

The pattern is pretty clear. So far always happens in the middle of a graphically demanding task.

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
21 Mar: While playing a visual novel
27 Mar: While watching youtube

When you mean a moderately heavy site, does that indicate one that uses the Flash Player a whole lot, such as in ad banners or for page content?

Not really, it was mainly a page with a large list, and each item of the list has an image. Indeed there's an animated ad banner at the top, though.

[RAMChYLD]

Well, from AMD's website and your pattern, I'll go ahead and bump my confidence that it's the PSU up to 99%.