Computer randomly shuts down?

So, the problem is, usually when I play an battle, especially when making movies and zooming in, after a while, the computer simply, shuts down. And now, even on the bloody campaign map! It cant be about my graphics card, I can run Bad Company 2 quite smoothly. Im suspecting overheating, but theres no way of measuring the temperature of an quad core.

So, suggestions?

Have you read http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic/69456?

I had not! Thanks.

Well, that didnt help. I cant figure what the temperature is while Im playing. Any suggestions? Really could use help.

Post your dxdiag.
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what type of graphics card are you using? I know both nvidia and radeon have utilities you can download that come with a thermometer. i had a similar issue with my last PC. figured it was the heat. was able to monitor the temp and when it got to 98 degrees my computer would power down.

post a screen of hwmonitor or some other program after you played tw for a while, not up to the point where the pc reboots, since any programs would loose the data that they were gathering.

if you have amd, you can download the amd gpu clock tool

Cant you just run a prime test on the PC with Coretemp running or am I missing the point? That will put the cpu on 100% load then you can monitor the temps!

That would eliminate the CPU and RAM!

^^ that would also do it.

or just do yourself a favor and clean the case and the fans

Check your power supply fan. If the fan has stopped spinning, it could be causing the overheating.

If the fan is stuck, try cleaning with compressed air. If you can't free it, just replace the PSU.

Well, Im sure the case doesnt have much dirt in it, becouse I cleaned it like a week ago. Im also quite certain that the fan does not stop spinning. Ill try to get a reading of the heat while playing NTW for a while.

http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic/69456 is a list of tools for both. If you find these inadequate, Google is your friend.

The case is a concern, but when cleaning the pc, the fans of the cards and processor are the priority

Overheating really seems to be a prime suspect.

I check my GPU temp. quite frequently when playing games and I have to say there is no game currently installed on my PC that heats my GPU the way both Empire and Napoleon does. During hot days (30+ degrees outside) it can go up to 75 deg. while all other games barely go over 60.

If you run the prime test with coretemp running, you can monitor the heat while the CPU is at 100% load, which is more stress than NTW will put it under! If the test keeps going for say 10-15 mins (preferably longer imo) with out failing then its probably not CPU, PSU or a ram issue, then you can move on to too look at other possible problems i.e GPU

One poster has reported his cpu hit 98C and it shut down automatically.

Well, the temperature seems to be about 52 Celcius while playing NTW, so Im not sure if its that. I also cleaned the case/fan, very little dirt in there but I removed what I could without doing any damage. Havent tested if the game runs normally now.

Is that the case temperature or the cpu or the gpu?

Have you checked your psu voltages to see if they are within tolerance?

post dxdiag, and those temps were when you were playing a battle?