Hey guys, I've really been getting frustrated these past few days with a new PC I built myself using TekSyndicate's 600-800 dollar pc video guide. I only changed the Ram and the GPU in my pc but t would restart randomly while I'm playing video games or searching forums related to this problem or browsing. I would really like help on the subject. This is my first ever trying to build a pc so I would love some advice on how to fix this.
My Pc Specs:
Motherboard: ASRock 980DE3/U3S3 CPU: Amd Fx 6300 Graphics Card: Sapphire Tri-x R9 290 4gb Ram: G.Skill Ripjaw X series 2x4gb PSU: EVGA 600b 80 pluz bronze Hardrive: 1TB seagate barracuda 7200rpm CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Sounds like a psu issue maybe motherboard but those are hard to diagnose most of the time. Do you have another system you could try the power supply in?
ASRock 980DE3/U3S3 is a junk mobo it lacks VRM heatsinks this isent to much or a problem with a stock cpu cooling unit as it blows air down at the cpu and power phase but by adding a tower cooler air is no longer geting to those hot vrm's. You can try adding some heatsinks to them your self like these --> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835708011 But geting a better motherboard with a better powerphase and heatshelding is a much better idea tbh
If it is shutting off while playing games, consistently, I would think that it may be due to overheating. But, since it is shutting down while you are browsing the web, that is something different and weird.
I would open some temperature monitoring programs, and watch them while you are running some stresstest programs, just to eliminate the possibility of overheating.
Beyond that, I would say that it is either a driver issue, or a power issue. (Hopefully, not a motherboard issue.) Down whatever driver-sweeper program people use these days (it's been a while since I have had any issues) and use it while in safe mode, and reinstall you drivers.
Never had gpu drivers result in crashes... most browsers will use your gpu to help render web pages so that may cause a power spike... I do think that it is your power supply.
I posted the same question on reddit and they seemed to think that a 600w power supply is not enough for my R9 290. But I also trust TekSyndicate on his build guide.
I am know hardware expert but sounds like a PSU to me. EVGA power supplies are notorious for sucking recently. Not to mention 600watt may not be enough.. :/
What kind of crashes do you get? What's in the log? You sure it's not a software/driver problem? It does kinda sound like the PSU though, it should not have any problems powering your components. It's faulty if it can't. Hard to check without switching it out, check that it breathes properly, the fan spins and that it doesn't get hot etc.
When I analyze hardware and want to make sure it is not a software problem, I boot a live Linux and download Prime95 and run first a small FFT test to test the CPU, then a blend test over 90% of RAM to check RAM + CPU cache (Memtes86+ can also be useful to run if I suspect RAM). If it can do hours of that it is only the GPU left. Folding@home can be a test to see if the GPU has any problems, as other benchmarks/games.
Other easy stuff to check; re-seat RAM, check that all power connectors are seated properly. Check BIOS, is it the latest, are the settings in BIOS sane (RAM etc).
And yeah, that motherboard needs airflow over the VRM:s, ASRock specify that on top of the CPU support list: "For cooling the CPU and its surrounding components, please install a CPU cooler with a top-down blowing design."
As you don't have a top-down blower, a fan and maybe some heatsinks on the VRM:s might be a good idea, just like cooperman suggest in his post above. The Enzotech MOS-C1 heastinks are good quality and not that hard to install. A fan would be a quick and easy thing to test. You want a smaller fan with good pressure, like the fan on the standard heatsink.