Whenever I boot up a game that is directx dependent, my PC loses power and reboots automatically. No intermediate warning of a reboot/restart, either. I have played non directx based games fine, such as Minecraft, or web based unity games. However, games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty 6, or Diablo III all cause my computer to shut off. These are all directx based games.
I've been researching this issue for a while, consulting several specialists and IT gurus in the process.
My Specs:
Processor: i3-2120 @ 3.3 ghz (4 cpu) x64
Old GFX Card: Nvidia GT 620 (2gb vram)
New GFX Card: AMD R7 260x (1gb vram)
Old OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit
New OS: Windows 7 64-bit
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77-D3H (Please note that i recently flashed my BIOS from F14 to F22)
Power Supply: Antec EA 650W Green-Series
My Steps Taken:
Because i was already having -many- issues with an old GT 620, I replaced it with a brand new AMD R7 260x.
After this I had issues installing the card due to an outdated BIOS. I flashed the BIOS to an updated version. The card works now.
During my issues with the AMD card installation, I made absolutely sure that the 12V rail the GFX card is pulling current from was not the rail used by my drives, my motherboard, or my CPU. My power supply doesn't seem to be having issues with the amount of power my PC requires. 650 Watts seems to be more than enough. The same issues occur.
After all of this I bought a brand new Corsair 60GB SSD, and installed a brand new copy of Windows 7 on it. The same issue with game crashes still occur on this copy of windows.
My final tests were on the RAM. I recently replaced old ram with a pair of Corsair sticks. One of which had a chance of being corrupted, but worked anyways. The old sticks of RAM weren't broken, they were just only 2x2GB and i wanted 2x4GB for 8GB of total ram instead of 4GB. I've made -several- combinations of my RAM sticks to see if RAM was the culprit (the old RAM sticks has been Memtested, I am 100% certain they are not corrupt at all). My BIOS is also properly configured with the correct timings for the RAM. My problem still persists.
My Conclusion/Diagnosis:
And after some more minor research, I noted that other people who are having similar issues seem to also have the same motherboard as i do! How intriguing...
Noting this fact, I've come to my own diagnosis that my motherboard, after two and a half years of service, has gone bad. However, I am uncertain and am not excited for the idea of buying a new mobo - and possibly a new CPU because of how long my current i3 has been inside my current mobo.
Are there any possible things that could be bad in my PC besides the motherboard?
Thank you for actually reading all of this.
Edit 1:
As of now, with the PSU being the most practical culprit, my computer shuts off and reboots after just a few moments of being online. I will replace the PSU with the proper minimum wattage (around 450W, i'll probably grab another 500-650W supply)