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I've been having a problem with my computer freezing completely when playing games like LA Noire or SW:TOR (yay early access!). Basically, what happens is I will play for around an hour or so (depending on the game) and when the freeze happens, the entire computer locks up and any audio that was being played glitches out and stutters broken-record style (only much shorter. Very techno).

I think it might be heat related and thought it might be my video card overheating, so I have been setting my video card (Nvidia Geforce 260GTX 216-core) fan to highest setting, but that has little to no effect. Now I'm beginning to think it's either my FSB or CPU overheating.

Can anyone provide some insight or similar experiences? I'm really at a loss and don't wanna damage my rig beyond repair.

UPDATE:

I found a bent pin on my hard drive. Once I fixed that, no more errors. Don't as me why, it just did.

Wes
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    Is it only these games or is it other applications/games as well? It sound more like the game is running out of resources (memory leaks etc.) than anything else to me. – ChrisF Dec 16 '11 at 09:54
  • @ChrisF That would be perfectly fine for one game, but not for two different ones... – Alexander Galkin Dec 16 '11 at 09:55
  • @AlexanderGalkin - why? Unlikely, but perfectly possible. – ChrisF Dec 16 '11 at 09:57
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    So far it's only in games. I have had EVGA Precision open (monitors graphics card memory usage, core clocks, shader clocks, fan speed, and temps) while the last 3 crashes have happened, and it's never gone above 700MB memory usage (the card has 828MB memory). – Wes Dec 16 '11 at 09:57
  • Games do tend to stress machines more than other applications so if could indicate a potential problem somewhere down the line. – ChrisF Dec 16 '11 at 10:36
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    @Wes: Why not just check the temperatures and report them here to be sure? Something like HWMonitor (http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html) should do the trick. I also recommend testing your memory in case it is faulty (http://www.memtest.org/). Let us know how you get on. If neither of those turn up anything then I would suggest updating your drivers as their could be a conflict. More information about your computer would be useful. – James P Dec 16 '11 at 10:59
  • @James: I very recently updated my drivers (less than a week) so I doubt that's the problem, but you never know. I ran HWMonitor while idle and while playing LA Noire (a game that normally causes my system to freeze). This screenshot was taken after 15 minutes of playing LA Noire: [link](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1612394/hwmonitor.jpg) – Wes Dec 16 '11 at 12:09
  • @James: More information on my computer: Win7 Pro x64 Intel Quad Core Q6600 processor, 4GB GSKILL DDR2 RAM, Nvidia 260 GTX 216-core, EVGA 780i SLI-FTW Motherboard, 2 Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB HDD, Coolermaster CM690 Case, 2 22" Acer Monitors, 1 Optiarc Combo DVD/R drive. – Wes Dec 16 '11 at 12:20
  • Please edit that stuff into your question. – Bobby Dec 16 '11 at 12:47
  • @Wes see this link...http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331796/en-us – Moab Dec 16 '11 at 16:27
  • Hey bub!! You gots something like PC Probe? Can you post some actual temp readings? – OG Chuck Low Dec 16 '11 at 18:26
  • *> I very recently updated my drivers (less than a week) so I doubt that's the problem*   Actually, that *is* more likely to be the problem. What you described is not so much a problem with heating as a simple driver crash. I have seen (or rather *heard*) the stuck-loop audio with BSODs on several occasions. You did not describe what the screen shows when it happens, that may help narrow down the problem. – Synetech Aug 29 '12 at 02:47
  • A *bent* pin ? Is it an IDE Hard drive or something ? If it's an IDE hard drive, since they aren't supposed to be hotplugged, the heat could have been causing something to lose contact which in turn could make the computer think the hard drive has been unplugged, and crash the computer. – Lawrence Nov 22 '13 at 00:39
  • @Wes Welcome to [su]! Could you post your answer below and mark it as accepted? – jpaugh Aug 01 '17 at 19:50

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This sounds to me like your CPU's thermal paste may have dried up and is causing your CPU to overheat. Was this problem getting progressively worse as time went on or was is just fine one day and terrible the next? How old is the PC?

jakden
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I had the same problem. Thought it was my video card or what you mentioned, but it appeared to be the built-in audio card (asrock x58 motherboard) Try to disable your audio card through Control Panel. See if you will still have freezes. If not, i bought a dedicated sound card and it is now fine

Kal
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Not sure why your computer is crashing. The cause could be any number of things. It could be an overheated component (CPU, GPU, etc.) as you suggested, buggy software (i.e. the games you are playing), or maybe your settings are not right if your rig is overclocked. Checking your temps is a good place to start. If you are overclocked go back to default settings and play the games again and see if you get the same results. As far as the "techno" sounding audio stutter goes, that is common to all types of crashes.

ubiquibacon
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