I haven't posted here in forever - but that's because I think I have found the solution!
If this is the solution I am really pissed, but here goes.
As I've mentioned before, my PC would crash when I play games that require a lot of resources, especially Rome 2 Total War, but also Dota 2. However I recently started playing Football Manager 2014, and it's not GPU intensive whatsoever. What it is though, is CPU and RAM intensive. Rome 2 and Dota 2 are much more GPU intensive, especially Rome 2. I would crash in Dota 2 and Rome 2, but never ever in FM 2014.
As I've done many times before, I've checked the temps for CPU and GPU. They are no where near dangerous levels by any stretch of the imagination. GPU will reach 50-60 Celsius during playing, while CPU is a little cooler.
So why would the PC crash during GPU intensive games but not during CPU/RAM intensive games?
Well, that's what I just figured out. I think.
It turns out it's the automatic fan level of the GPU that is the problem! Yes, that's right. While my GPU would get hotter to 50-60 Celsius, the GPU fan would not increase enough or barely at all. That's why my GPU thought it was overheating and the PC shuts down because it believes it's a danger when it's in fact not. During load of heavy games my GPU fan, which was set to automatic, would only go up to about 40-50 % load, or sometimes even less. If it's idle or I am just running Dota 2 in the background (if I am alt-tabbed) the GPU fan runs at about the lowest setting there is, 35 %. Consider the fact that the GPU is factory overclocked, and GPU fan not doing enough work. That's the root of the friggin problem. Take a look at this. These are the default values for my GPU card, with GPU Mhz at 1111, and Memory Clock at 7010.
http://i.imgur.com/kS3hSaI.pngWhat has fixed the problem so far at least, is to manually ramp up the fan speed when I play Dota 2 or other GPU intensive games. And I have also lowered the clock to the lowest possible value.
This has been 100 % stable, and I've run Dota 2 for about 18 hours one day. That day I was just running it to test, and no crashes or anything.
I have however, crashed twice, that was when I forgot to manually turn the fan speed from automatic to manual. It's annoying, but I have to do it every time the computer powers up - I tried saving a default profile with the GPU at the lowest values, and manually turning up the fan. That has been 100 % stable. I would assume that I can overclock the card as long as I turn up the fan, at least to a certain threshold.
So what the actual [bleep]. I mean, I don't really like to curse but a problem like this causing so much trouble and no information to find anywhere on the internet. The 'automatic' fan setting is a [bleep]ing joke and I am sure a lot of people had this problem too. I feel sorry I wasted not only my time, but your time when it turns out the problem is so simple yet so hidden. I'm sure there's thousands of other people having the same problem. So, I assume the problem is with the GPU Tweak program made by Asus, and nothing with the GPU itself. This system has been running stable now. Take a look at the event viewer.
http://i.imgur.com/5BNsP7U.pngRed = Uncontrolled Crash before I applied fix
Blue = Controlled Crash after fix, or rather, me forgetting to manually toggle Fan higher.
Yellow = Uncontrolled Crash, this event turned up after I started up the PC. It was not in game but rather a problem I never saw, but it turned up in event viewer. Basically, it was a boot that seemingly went normal, but somehow the event turned up in event viewer.
The yellow problem, I am not even sure if that is a problem or what is going on there. It seems a fluke more than an actual problem.
But at the end of the day, my PC is running 100 % stable in games now, for very long sessions. Thank you everyone for your help, I really can't thank you enough, and merry christmas.
Edited by Colorado7, 26 December 2013 - 05:29 AM.
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