System Losing Power....

[Fastmandan]

Hi, I have a very annoying problem with my system, when I play games, about 2 minutes into the game the computer will suddenly turn off completely, as if someone had unplugged it, it completely looses power. After it turned itself off the only way it will turn back on is if i unplug the power lead from the PSU and plug it back in again and turn it on.

I play a lot of Driving/Racing games and some strategy games such as Command and Conquer Generals and Simcity 4, Real War etc...and the strategy games work fine, the system has never turned off while playing these, it only seems to happen in driving games just as i set off. I dont know what causing this, i dont know if its a hardware problem, overheating or software problem, can anybody help?

Also, I was thinking of upgrading either Ram and CPU or getting a new video card so i need to know if its the Ram or CPU or Video card thats causing the problem, if i upgrade, id like to replace a bad part (if there is one).

System Specs:
Windows XP Pro SP2
DirextX 9.0c
AMD Athlon XP 1800+
ASRock K7S8X Motherboard
512mb DDR 266MHz Ram
Nvidia Geforce Ti4200 Video Card (Detonator 6177 Drivers)
1 DVD Rom Drive
1 DVD-RW Drive
1 CD-RW Drive
1 LS-120/Floppy Disk Drive
200gb 7200rpm Hard Drive
40gb 7200rpm Hard Drive
Extra IDE Controller PCI Card
Extra 4 Port USB PCI Card
450w Dual Fan PSU

 

[beedubaya]

Its most likely a PSU problem. Take it in and get it checked, and maybe get a new one. Also, do you have a static IP??? If you do, I would take my IP address out of my sig if I were you....

 

[Fastmandan]

Ok, thanks for the help, ill see if i can get it checked, but i might try unplugging a few things to see if that helps, ive got 2 spare 300w PSU's so if i unplug enough things i could also try one of those.

 

[Fastmandan]

Ok, I now know its my PSU thats causing the problem, I currently have a twin fan Q-Tec 450w PSU, but i want another, I dont want it to be over £80 really, ive been looking at getting either an Antec Neo Power 480 Watt, or a Thermaltake W0023 560W Silent Pure Power, if anybody else can recommend any other good power supplies for this price, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[harrytewkesbury]

System Specs:
1 DVD Rom Drive
1 DVD-RW Drive
1 CD-RW Drive
1 LS-120/Floppy Disk Drive
200gb 7200rpm Hard Drive
40gb 7200rpm Hard Drive
450w Dual Fan PSU

This number of peripherals is bound to sap your power... you can only suck so much electricity in the back... try taking out a few things for a while and see if that does the trick. if so... open a new topic cos i dont know about increasing power.