PC rebooting...

[joe3k]

My PC reboots whenever I do anything intensive on it, such as gaming, converting dvd's, etc... I reckon it's a heat issue as I'm currently running it with the case side off. With the case side on it reboots randomly. When off it runs fine all the time... except when doing really intensive stuff.

Now my question is how do I find out what specifically is causing it? I suspect it's the cpu but am not 100%... how can I test my system for this sort of issue?

P.S. it ain't the psu as I've replaced my old 350 watt with a new 520 watt suspecting it might be psu and to silence system a bit also. Don't think it's RAM, I can kick off a pccheck ramtest to check the memory if needs be but don't suspect it to be memory.

Any suggestions?

[blacksheep]

well its always wise to check every part, so a memcheck wouldn't be out of order but as you say is probably the cpu. Just take off the hsf, clean it all, apply some good thermal paste ie arctic silver (not too much, not too little) and see if that helps.

[joe3k]

Well tried a memory check and got 2 out of the 3 sticks failing. Reseated them in different slots and magically they now pass. Tried many times with the mem tests and they pass everytime now... strange.

Anyhow my issue was indeed heat, popped in 2 more case fans and although much louder my pc has stopped rebooting now. Don't you just love these little issues, lol.