Random boots. Lived with it for a year, now it's time for change.

Pauly said:

Don't think a first gen i7 (X58 ?) will have onboard gfx
If the gfx card does fail you can simply replace it, it does not mean the end of the machine

Well it is above me Pauly I thought most boards came with an on board graphics chip - well at least the ones that come with the VGA, DVI, and HDMI sockets on them - I stand to e corrected of course.

PS My apologies just checked out another site and see it has not graphical outputs.

Caapi, please do me a favor. Please add your PSU, Manufacturer and Model to 'My System Specs' at the bottom left of your last post. Also please go into BIOS and give me the values of your +12V, +5V and +3.3V. Please download and install a good CPU and GPU monitoring program and keep close watch on Temps at all times. I would like to know how hot they Get.

When you do that, please run Furmark Video card stress test Video Card - Stress Test with Furmark, just in this case, do not enable Post FX. Please watch the temps very closely. The temps will rise very high and very quick. If temps get too high, stop the test. Otherwise, please post a screenshot of the test just before stopping the test. Video Card - Stress Test with Furmark. Watch for artifacts during the test also. Run the test, if it does not get too hot, until the temps level out and stop increasing. It should be just a few minutes.

In addition to essenbes post mate do this as I am now interested in that PSU given it's possible age

UsingHW Info

PART A:

You can test the volts on the PSU with HW Info HWiNFO, HWiNFO32/64 -Download < download the right bit version andclose the right hand window select Sensors and scroll down to the power sectionwhere you will see what the volts are doing see my pic. In my pic the section (Nuvoton) with VBATT is a dead give awayyou are in the section for the rail voltages. There are other section titlesand one that pops up often is ITE

Now the voltage on the different rails have to be within 5% =+/-of what is required or the machine will not work properly if at all.

See this for the rail voltage info

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-specifications-atx-reference,3061.html (Section 2.)

The original right hand window shows the machine running and ishandy for that but for looking at the components in some detail close it anduse the main left hand side panel

FOR OTHERCOMPONENTS

PART B:

Open each small square with + in it on the section thecomponents are in and then click on the individual component/s (it will highlight in blue) - in the righthand side will appear all sorts of details including brands speeds and otheressential info that particular device. See pic for example.

The temps shown in HWinfo, look OH, to me. I believe your Max temp is 100°C, but that is the point where thermal throttling begins, so you don't want to go near there. I would think your Max Safe Temp is around 80 - maybe 85. The temps shown in BIOS show something different. They show a CPU temp of 63°C, and that is at Idle. BIOS is the most accurate tem reading. At that temp, you don't have far to go to the max safe temp anytime your CPU is put under stress. I can't say that is what is causing your instability, but it doesn't help much in any case.

I would consider your airflow situation as well as consider re applying Thermal paste and reseating your CPU Cooler.

Unfortunately, we can't answer that right now. I think your first objective would be to bring those temps down:
Re paste your CPU and CPU cooler. Clean the old thermal paste and apply new paste. Make sure your cooler is situated properly.

Make sure all of the dust is completely cleaned out of the case components and especially the CPU Cooler and it's radiator and fans.

Your case (Cooler Master: CM 690 II Advanced (USB 3)) supports quite a few fans. Use them. If you have to buy more, do so. You can get decent fans relatively cheap. Make all fans intake fans except the rear fan. Make that one exhaust.

Clean up cable wiring inside the case. Do not have cables that obstruct airflow. Air should flow from front to the rear. Your CPU cooler fans should blow air through the radiator from front to rear and exhaust out the back of the case.

Your case supports a fan behind the motherboard. Use it. It will help pull hot air from behind the motherboard or push cooler air from outside behind the motherboard thus pushing hot air out.

There is no reason in the world your CPU should get anywhere near that hot. It appears you are suffering from thermal shutdown. That is at least the first problem you can easily solve.

If you have the room, all of your cables should go out the back of the case and back in where they have to go. The rest can stay behind the motherboard. This will show you, even though it is a water cooled rig. You will not have the tubing here, but the wiring is exactly the same. Look at the cables. I know this was done by a professional and you can't do exactly this. But it gives you an idea of what I am talking about. It will not only look cleaner, but more importantly, it will run cooler as there is no obstruction to the airflow.

Attachment 367912

If you need to know how to apply thermal paste, this will show you. You are using a different cooler, but the process and amount of paste is exactly the same. There are a lot of brands of good quality thermal paste. Any top quality thermal paste will work. Artic silver is good. I use Noctua NT-H1. I can give you several to choose from if you need it. But a small amount is good. Just a thin coat. When you think I need a little bit more, don't do it. You have the right amount.

If you have any problems or questions, feel free to ask. If I don't answer within 24 hours, feel free to send me a message. I get busy sometimes and miss the notifications.