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BSOD issue and how to begin troubleshooting

stopgapstopgap Registered User regular
This is the machine that is causing me trouble, info on whats going on is towards the bottom.
So, I just recently took the spoils from a couple years of hard work and decided I was going to buy myself a decent computer instead of build it for once. Now I did not go crazy, but I did spend about 900 dollars on a new computer.

The Mobo is a cm6870
Cpu is an intel i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40Ghz
16 Gigs of solid Ram, no idea the type atm
and about 1.7tb of hard drive (the weak link i suspect)
some crappy onboard Vid Card
some 300-350 watt PSU
Small Case

Anyway, I didn't intend to leave any of the lesser parts, minus the hard drive, slowing down my (in my eyes), beastly machine, So I switched out the PSU for a more powerful one capable of running the GTX 560 I put into the machine. Honestly there was barely room to shoehorn everything into the case and I am somewhat concerned with how tightly everything had to be routed to avoid issues. (still not sure the power for the gfx card is firmly seated for example). However my beast was up and running.

Tragedy strikes. The machine runs blistering fast, appears to laugh at anything that gets thrown at it, but I have run into issues multiple times, the last one has been repeatable. When running shogun 2 total war on high with all the bells and whistles, the game does not slow down or seem to have serious issues with the detail or number of units on screen, however, after about 5 to 10 minutes into my now glorious hi-rez battle my computer screen goes black for a moment (while music continues to play and sounds pour forth from the speakers, and then, it BSOD's on me. I suspect that there is either a physical interuption of power to the video card, or some other issue.
I have figured out how to find the mini-dump and some other temp file describing the problem but am stumped as to how to proceed from here. If anyone has ideas wade right in as this is more than just disappointing, it's a tad depressing.

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stopgap on

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    tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    I find this guide to be useful:
    http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/windows-bsod.html

    Once you find the error you can google it for more info.

    But the following:
    running shogun 2 total war on high with all the bells and whistles
    some crappy onboard Vid Card
    Small Case

    makes me think you have a heat problem. How can you run Shogun 2 on high with onboard video?

    You can use speedfan to monitor and log temps and replicate the problem to see if it's heat.

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    EshEsh Tending bar. FFXIV. Motorcycles. Portland, ORRegistered User regular
    tsmvengy wrote: »
    makes me think you have a heat problem. How can you run Shogun 2 on high with onboard video?

    Because he crammed a GTX560 into the case.

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    FoomyFoomy Registered User regular
    edited August 2012
    this line: "after about 5 to 10 minutes into my now glorious hi-rez battle my computer screen goes black "
    is exactly describing what happens when your overheating, it's either the video card or the cpu, but whichever it is is hitting it's temperature max and downclocking severely to save itself from destruction, which leads to system instability and a bsod.

    go get speedfan or a similar temp monitoring program and run it with logging enabled, than play shogun until it crashes again. I bet you'll find something hitting 90-100C.

    Foomy on
    Steam Profile: FoomyFooms
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    stopgapstopgap Registered User regular
    I will start working on that when I have the free time... potentially some time next year. I am ironically in the middle of moving, and will have to make sure we make it to the new place alive, then figure out the heat issue. I will try above suggested methods as soon as we have a moment of breathing time. I appreciate the suggestions and feedback... and honestly I feel that just fitting everything I did into that case broke a couple laws of physics, so it could be a power supply issue or a heat issue, i'll hopefully have time to debug next week.

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    tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    Esh wrote: »
    tsmvengy wrote: »
    makes me think you have a heat problem. How can you run Shogun 2 on high with onboard video?

    Because he crammed a GTX560 into the case.

    Wow, reading comprehension. Not sure why he didn't list his actual specs in that list...

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    stopgapstopgap Registered User regular
    edited August 2012
    I guess I was letting people know what was there before i upgraded it. Mainly I was tired. To Update: Taking the side off of the computer lead to no more BSOD, and hours of play before the computer froze. I suspect my case is just to small, and I may need to get a fan as well.

    the issue I am running into however is card size. The card is long enough that when the case is on, there is little to no exchange of airflow between the top and bottom of the case, and I dont know that a simple fan will help that. if anyone has brilliant ideas let me know, I will be working on options.

    stopgap on
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    SmasherSmasher Starting to get dizzy Registered User regular
    Is getting a bigger case not an option?

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    stopgapstopgap Registered User regular
    honestly, I have been thinking that getting a bigger case may be the only option to permanently fix this. probably worth it too. so I will likely leave the side of the case off on the little one till I have a little extra cash.

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    FoomyFoomy Registered User regular
    could you take a picture of the internals of your case and post it?
    maybe we could give some suggestions on how to route cables, or where to stick an extra fan to see if the running temp can be lowered a bit.

    Steam Profile: FoomyFooms
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    stopgapstopgap Registered User regular
    I added fans which have resolved several issues, however it will occasionally restart after powering off entirely. The other issue is an occasional freeze where the screen freezes without blue screening. I am going to get the power supply tested but it could be the motherboard. Any advice?

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    nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    check the directions of your fans. You want a straight channel pulling the hot air out the back. I've and multiple systems where problems like this were caused by a single case fan blowing air back inwards instead of out.

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    stopgapstopgap Registered User regular
    Fans are running the right direction, I suspect I am not lucky enough to have just a heat issue. I have two possible issues, co-processer is fried, or power supply is slightly shot.

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    nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    Since you're running a small case i assume you have a smaller PSU. Maybe look at a wattage calculator for your system specs. It's possible you're pushing your PSU past it's wattage limit. On systems I always try to exceed my estimated usage by about 50 watts or so just to be safe. Running a PSU at max all the time will usually kill it.

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