New build stability issues while running Starcraft 2

[CuriousMike]

I recently made a new build... memory, cpu and motherboard.
I used my existing power supply and video card.

Intel i2500k
MSI P67A-C43
Corsair Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3-1600, "CAS 10 1.5 Volts"
Antec Basiq 350w
Diamond AMD 6850 1GB

The machine surfs the web, manages my photos and music wonderfully.
I've even played an hour of Dirt 3 and Left4Dead2 without issue.

This was with me overclocking the CPU to 4.2 ghz.

However, when playing Starcraft 2, the computer will "randomly" reset.
I see no BSOD.
The machine just flat out resets.

I've since lowered the CPU to it's stock 33x multiplier, and set about anything I could in the BIOS to AUTO.

SC2 will still reboot the machine. ( Dirt 3 seems pretty happy. )

I'm hoping this is a setup issue with the BIOS.
Is there any chance the power supply is suspect being that it's "only" 350w?

I've also tried the CPU at 1.3v ( while at 4ghz) with the same reset issue.

 

[Fardringle]

Your video card uses about 125 watts under full load. The CPU uses about 95 watts. That's around 220 watts just for those two components. Depending on the power draw of your motherboard, RAM, drives, and other components in the system, you could very easily be exceeding the capacity of your 350 watt PSU.

 

[Puppies04]

You are pushing that PSU, if it was me i would get a 500w model. Of course there is a chance the issue could be something other than your PSU but until you rule that out fault finding is going to be very hard.

 

[CuriousMike]

I tried calculating power, and everything I saw under load put me at that ~250w value.
That gives me a a spare 350-250 = 100w.

I see all the Anandtech articles about CPU + load and complete system CPU+GPU load, and they all are well below 300w unless people are running two uber video cards.
(An example was a loaded crysis bench I saw where anand had 256w, but with i7-920 and different mobo)

I seem to be missing something in my power calculations as it seems most enthusiasts are purchasing 500w+ power supplies for their systems, even though most card combos are far below that.

 

[Fardringle]

As I mentioned, just the CPU and Video card together need about 220 watts. Add in your two sticks of RAM (I assume it's two), one DVD drive, one hard drive, and the motherboard, and you are already up to 300 watts needed as an absolute minimum at peak load (i.e. while gaming). That's still not counting any cooling fans, secondary (or more) hard drives, and any other components.

 

[Puppies04]

As I mentioned, just the CPU and Video card together need about 220 watts. Add in your two sticks of RAM (I assume it's two), one DVD drive, one hard drive, and the motherboard, and you are already up to 300 watts needed as an absolute minimum at peak load (i.e. while gaming). That's still not counting any cooling fans, secondary (or more) hard drives, and any other components.

This

Also how can you be certain your psu is actually producing 350w of power, is it certified and is the 350w at 100% efficiency because it won't be

 

[CuriousMike]

Using the chart above, I assume that's a *complete* computer that pulls 256w.
It should be similar to my machine, but presuming large variances in motherboard and harddisk power, I could see how mine could be asking for 300w at load.

I've briefly read about "efficiency of the power supply" and somewhat ignored it... but what I'm gathering is that a 350w power supply doesn't mean it can (continuously?) provide 350w of power.

 

[Fardringle]

There are a couple of ways to measure efficiency in a power supply. The efficiency percentage that you see in documentation/advertising is a measure of how much power from the wall outlet actually makes it to the system. If you have an 80% efficient PSU, then the PSU has to pull 360 watts from the wall in order to supply 300 watts to the system.

Another measure of efficiency is one that is not normally documented since it can vary greatly depending on the age and condition of the PSU components. Over time, the components can degrade so that your 350W PSU might only be pushing 300 watts (or 250, or even less) to the system. This is why many people get power supplies that have a higher capacity than the system requires. The higher capacity allows for spikes in peak usage, and allows for some loss of capacity over time. Also, PSU ratings are usually a measure of the maximum peak capacity of the PSU. Actual sustained capacity is often significantly lower.

Regardless, even if your PSU is actually able to provide a constant 350 watts to the system all of the time, 350 watts simply isn't enough enough to meet the demands of your current system at full load and you need to upgrade it in order to be able to play games reliably on the computer.

 

[CuriousMike]

OK, I purchased an Antec 520w "Gamer" power supply ( actually reviewed and somewhat recommended on anandtech.)

My first few tests have worked... i'll report back if that changes.

 

[Fardringle]

That Antec should be a good fit for your system. Let us know if it starts acting up again.

 

[superunknown98]

Don't know if you fixed it yet but I had troubles with starcraft 2 and bsod. System ran fine with every other game I played. I even set my overclock back to stock with no luck. Finally I tried down clocking my ddr2 ram from 800mhz to 667, even though it's rated at 800. No more crashes after that, although I've since raised the clocks back to 800 with a t2 timing and had no problems either.

 

[CuriousMike]

su98 - thanks for the details.

The "reboots" are gone, but my son had the machine freeze yesterday while playing Dirt3 and SC2.

Grr.

And this is stock clocks.

I'll try futzing with memory timings.

 

[CuriousMike]

As a (hopefully final) update, it really seems as if the new power supply has fixed the reboots.

I've played the hell out of Dirt3 and SC2 without issue.