PCTech Forums

My pc has been suffering from REALLY annoying freeze ups for the past year or so.I can't pin point exactly when they started or if I had just recently installed a piece of hardware but it does seem to happen more while I'm playing games,especially polgon heavy 3D games.I've updated all my drivers,sound,graphic,mother board and even the motherboard bios but it still happens.I also installed another internal fan incase that was the problem,but its still happening.
Can anyone give me any other advice,its ruining my game completely?

I running XP,2 Gig AMD processor with over 500 meg ram.I also have a Geforce 4 Mx card.

Could be your Power Supply. How many watts is it?
There could also be something running in the background. Next time it freezes see if you can Ctrl/Alt/Del and see if a Process is hogging.
brad

Its a 230v supply.How can you tell if you need a higher voltage and is then any harm in getting a more power supply then you need?

You need to see how many watts it is. Most Power Supplies are 110/230 volts. I'm not saying that is your problem, yet.
Did you check the other suggestions?
brad

I have'nt had any other suggestions as yet. How can I tell the wattage?

I'd say it's the Power Supply. You can get it tested at a reputable computer shop. You probably need 300 watt min. for gaming. You might want to wait to see if Gecko or others have a comment.
brad

Ok,cheers mate.

The only thing I would add is to check your temperatures first.
If your system or video card are overheating it will lock up.
You could also try running your system with the side cover off
and see if it still happens.
Otherwise I would agree with brad, that it’s your power supply.