Computer randomly shuts itself off

Posted by Decency on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Decency
Published on 2011-06-06T22:53:59Z Indexed on 2012/09/19 3:41 UTC
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I have not been able to determine a pattern for why this happens, despite my best efforts. I've attempted to run it on full power with Prime95 and this doesn't trigger a restart. Generally the restarts occur while I'm playing games, watching videos, or even just having multiple tabs open in a browser. However, I often play processor intense games for hours without any restarts occurring, and sometimes they'll happen 3-4 times in an hour during less intense activity, so I don't think that is the problem.

I imagine it has something to do with overheating or power consumption so I've been monitoring CPU temperature and cleaning with compressed air, but the problem keeps happening. I don't know how to track power consumption, and assume that this is the problem. Whenever this occurs, the sound gets stuck in a short loop of whatever was playing at the time, though restarts also occur when nothing is playing.

Here is a screenshot of temperatures:

idle temperatures

and under load:

temperatures under load

Here's the parts list: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=10546754

As shown in the list, the case includes a 585W Power Supply, which I've been told should be plenty.

I built the computer myself with a friend's guidance but it's very possible I did something wrong. Right now I'm looking into ensuring that I have the latest drivers for all components. Any help would be appreciated- thanks.

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