Micro_Mart_-_January_7_2016_

THE

EXPERTS

GamingShutdown
I just installeda newAMDRadeon
R9 2GBGPUinto my machine,which
replacedmy old card, as it was get-
ting a littleoverworked.The installation
wentwell,but nowwhenI cometo play
gamessuchas the newJustCause 3 and
Fallout 4 , I cannot.The gameloadsup as
normal,but afteraround30 secondsto
a minute,my PC restarts.I get no error
messageor anything;it just reboots.
I've triedmultiplegames,and it seems
to do the sameon each,at leastnewer
games.I seemto be ableto run some
oldergames,and if I stay in Windowsit's
okay, but as soonas I fire up anything
remotelymodern, it reboots.
I've got the latestdrivers,as I
downloadedthembefore I installedthe
card, and the computerseesthe card
properly(it showsup in its ownsoftware
and DeviceManager),so I'd welcome
any help,as I can'tfigure it out. I'm
runningWindows8.1.

Mitch

I'dsayyoucouldbesufferingfromone
oftwomajorcauseshere,Mitch,and
that'seitheroverheatingora lackof
power. Ifyou'veupgradedtoa more
powerfulGPUbutyouhaven'tmade
allowancesfortheincreasedheatsuch
a cardcangenerateorthegreater
needforpower, youcouldrunintothis
kindofproblem.Astheproblemlies
withnewgames,whichwilltaxthe
systemmore,requiringmorepower
andgeneratingmoreheat,itmakesthis
evenmoreplausible.
TheAMDRadeonR92GBminimum
specificationstatesthatitneedsat
leasta 500Wpowersupply(600Wif
you'reusingCrossFire),soyouneed
todouble-checkthatyourPCmeets
thisrequirement.Ifyoudon't,the
simpleproblemisa lackofpowerwhen
thecardneedsit,andyou'llneedto
upgradeyourPSU.Runninggamesisan
intensivetaskfortheGPU,andit'shere
wheremorepowerisneeded.Older
gamesmaynottaxthesystemasmuch,
whichexplainsyoubeingabletostill
runthem.
Checkyoursystemhasgoodairflow
andthatallfansareworking,including
ontheGPUitself,ifithasthem.Tr y
runningthePCwiththecaseopen,just
tocheckifheatbuild-upisthecause.I
suspectthelackofpowermoreasyour
culprit,butoverheatingcanalsocause
thisproblem.

Finally, toshedsomemorelightonthe

problemanditspossiblecause,gointo

Windows'EventViewer(Right-click'This

Computer'andselect'Manage',then

click'EventViewer').Checkthroughthe

variouslogsfortimestampsthatlineup

withthereboot.Youmayfindentries

thathelpyounarrowdownthecause.





Checkyour system has good

airflowand that all fans areworking,

includingonthe GPUitself

iEventViewercanhelpyouinvestigateproblems

iMorepowerfulGPUsneedmorepowerandbettercooling