Crashes while gaming....

[sulphurtenm]

Motherboard: -

ASUS P5B (Intel P965 Express Chipset, Supports Intel Core 2 Due)



RAM: -

1Gb DDR2



CPU: -

Intel Core 2 Due Processor E6300 1.85GHz 1066MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache



GPU: -

nVidia GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3. PCI Express. SLi Ready (but only one of them)



PSU: -

X-Power ATX-500TD (Max 500W)

Voltage Max Amp

+3.3V 36A

+5V 36A

+12V 20A



HDD: -

SATA 350Gb



OS: -

MS Windows XP Pro



The problem: -

When playing the following games: -

Diablo 2: - Lord of Destruction (with latest patch)

Fable: - The Lost Chapters

Quake 4 (with latest patch)

Rise of Nations (with latest patch)

The Settlers Heritage of Kings (with latest patch)

The build will regularly crash (regularly, as in, only once has the build not crashed while playing this games). This maybe expected with the last 4 listed games, but definitely not the first.



Note that the build only crashes while playing games, all other operations seem to be fine (DVD playing, Office, Using IDEs such as Netbeans and Dev C++).



The type of crash varies from game to game. Rise of Nations and Settlers tended to freeze the build for a second or two, then reset the machine. The other games tend to freeze the game, wait while an error collection occurs, and then end. Also note that this build is not yet connected to the internet.



I have of also installed the latest driver for the GPU.



Is the problem simply that there is not enough power? Or is the PSU not of good quality?



With all this said, when it does work, it works very well. I'd like to get rid of this random crashing...



Thanks for any help in advance

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by sulphurtenm Is the problem simply that there is not enough power? Or is the PSU not of good quality?

I've never heard of that power supply brand so I'm just guessing that it's not a very good quality unit. A quick way to tell if it's good or not is by the weight of the unit. Cheap PSUs tend to be very light while good quality unit tend to be pretty hefty.


Oh wait...it's a PowMax...it's rubbish. Replace it with something better from the "good list" found here.

Cricket

[freakitchen]

Something like this would be a great choice for that system, and give you some headroom:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104954

It has 450 QUALITY watts, and dual 12v rails with plenty of amps. That powmax lacks both of these.

FK

[flanzig1]

As others said, that PSU is a cheapie plus it looks like it is NOT an ATX 2.0 dual rail standard which your system requires.

[sulphurtenm]

Ah, good, I had an idea the power supply was to fault.
Can I get the suggested PSU from a UK site? If so where?
If not, where in the UK can I get a PSU of equal quality?

Thanks

[freakitchen]

My preferred vendor for power supplies is www.overclockers.co.uk - they carry the best range. Unfortunately, FSP isn't carried frequently in the UK, Overclockers do have some, but they're pretty much all out of stock.

My suggestion would be one of the Tagan units here:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal..._Supplies.html

You could manage just fine with the 420w version towards the bottom (£55), but the 480w (£61) would give you headroom if you ever plan to upgrade your video card.

FK