Sudden computer shutdown

[yeroman]

In the middle of everything (browsing, playing games, etc.) my computer shuts down without any warning.

I've been encountering these problems:

- My NBA 2k11 lags so much even on the lowest setting, so does Call of Duty Black Ops. I have a GTS250 and I never had a problem running in max settings before..
.....But Dead Space 2 and Dragon Age 2 works smoothly!

- Zooming in and out in Photoshop looks like you're flipping through a thousand pages (like in old-school animation). Sometimes it works well..

- Sometimes even at light computer usage, like just browsing it would shut down.

- DVD drive doesn't read unless I restart the computer.

My GPU is a 1GB GTS250 and I have 4GB of RAM on an Intel i5 processor.. I formatted my hard drive and re-installed windows but the problems persisted. I remember getting a notice from windows that there's a problem with my video card and that I should update the driver. I did and it didn't help at all...

I can't identify the culprit. Is it my board? My GPU? RAM perhaps?
PLEASE HELP!

 

[Maguscreed]

Ram is easily tested outside of windows at least.
See here
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html

 

[yeroman]

So it's the RAM then?

 

[Maguscreed]

I'm saying you should run memtest to check it.
It's not that complicated and the link I gave offers instructions with screenshots and all that stuff.
I can't magically say from the behavior you are describing. It could even be the power supply. which would have in turn resulted in a underpower message from the graphics card which you explained. Or it could be....

 

[yeroman]

Thanks man! I'm gonna try it out..