PC shuts down while gaming

[slaughtz]

I suppose I should start with where I began having problems. I'm sorry if I'm not being clear enough, some things are forgotten when you're up all night researching what a computer problem might be.

 

-History-

First, this motherboard was always suspect the moment I installed it. I don't remember specifics, but getting things working were a pain with it.

This PSU is 5 years old now, and it's been suspect along with the motherboard as the source of my issues since the acquisition of the MOBO.

Problems began after I tried to put in my older OCZ SSD while maintaining my Kingston as the main HD to boot from.

I connected the SSD along with the appropriate power cable to the PSU and SATA cable to the SSD. Past experience told me it'd boot up fine as a second drive, while booting off the Kingston. When it was connected, I booted up the computer and, unfortunately, I forgot what went wrong, but something did. I believe the computer would shut down suddenly, either during boot or after logging in and using the PC for some amount of time. I unplugged it and began looking up what the problem might be. I read I should try updating my BIOS so I did so with LiveUpdate, and it appeared to go horribly wrong to me. I would try to boot up the computer and it would BSOD. I later found out the BIOS reset made it so the SSD went into IDE instead of AHCI mode and that was what was causing the problem - but that was only after having cleared CMOS and reinstalling the BIOS many times. (Just thinking about it brings me feelings of relief again).

 

-Recent History-

I put the second SSD in again and it continued to give me problems - shutting down during what appeared to be times I was trying to read/write to the (second) drive. Sometimes, the PC simply didn't start up; when the MOBO had no reason for accessing the drive other than to confirm it's presence. What ended up fixing this, at least for now, is that I pushed in a PSU cable because it appeared not to be secure enough. After making sure all cables were snug, it booted up no problem and I could do basic tasks without problems as well. It's strange to me that problems arose with the SSD being added, as this computer had a history of running quite stable with an SSD and HDD installed simultaneously only 2-3 months ago. (Only difference being the HDD, all other hardware the same [except for monitor])

 

-TL;DR-

Now problems arose again only after I tried to play PlanetSide 2. It wasn't even during the loading screen or in the game's "waiting room" (warp gate) where people walk around - but only when I went into where the action was - shooting, tanks, explosions, etc. I could play around there for about 20 seconds before my computer just shuts itself off. I don't know now whether or not it's:

1) Overheating

2) Faulty MOBO

3) Failing PSU

4) Bad SSD

5) Poor BIOS support for two SSDs (I have the second to latest BIOS)

 

My PC Specs:

COOLMAX CUG-700B 700W ATX12V v2.3 (8/13/2008)

OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (8/27/2012)

EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 (8/27/2012)

MSI 990FXA-GD65V2 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard (8/21/2012)

AMD FX-8120 Zambezi 3.1GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor (8/21/2012)

Kingston SSDNow V300 Series SV300S37A/120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (8/28/2013)

 CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) (8/21/2012)

 AeroCool ExtremEngine 3T - BBA Black SECC 0.6mm ATX Mid Tower Computer Case (8/13/2008)

 ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner (8/27/2012)

 

 

Any ideas or help would would be appreciated. If you want more information just let me know and I'll do my best to give it to you. I know I haven't exhausted my testing options, but I have exhausted myself with this and so I was hoping one of you may have more experience that could save me a lot of time.

 

Thanks

 

(P.S. Aaand wonderful, my PC just froze randomly right as I was posting this. More problems. lol)

[digitalnav]

Could be overheating or a PSU that is failing.

 

Check to see if there is any dust buildup and monitor your temps with GPU-Z.

[yurihellsing]

Have a good look at your MoBo to see if any of the capacitors are bulging if everything is ok then make sure all connections are OK and everything is seated right then a memory test. 

[slaughtz]

Likely the problem was disrupted thermal paste application, causing overheating issues on the CPU. I had jiggled it earlier to try and get it (the CPU fan) off but changed my mind and thought it'd be okay to put back on. I replaced my thermal paste and my PC began running stable again. Temps were hitting above 61C, the thresh hold for my FX8120.- now they're at 25C.

 

There were also 3 huge dust bunnies in my CPU fan, one of which I had to use tweezers to get out.