Maximum requirements

[trixx85]

Hi

I need some help on my current spec and if it meets the maximum requirements for a game. Also, if my spec doesnt meet the requirements, can someone suggest an ideal upgrade solution to my current spec? My CPU overheats and shuts down within an hour of playing a game which makes me believe my spec may need upgrading

Thanks in advance guys

My Spec
Case COOLERMASTER SILENCIO 550 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU) AMD FX-9590 Eight Core CPU (4.7GHz-5.0GHz/16MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard ASUS® SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 (DDR3, USB3.0, 6Gb/s, CrossFireX/Sli)
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 4GB AMD RADEON™ R9 290 - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
CORSAIR 850W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Corsair H80i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler

Max Req
CPU: Intel Core i5 6600 or AMD Ryzen 1600x
CPU SPEED: Info
RAM: 8 GB
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1060, 3 GB (Legacy: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 780, 4GB) or AMD RX 580, 4 GB (Legacy: AMD R9 290X, 4GB)
PIXEL SHADER: 5.0
VERTEX SHADER: 5.0
FREE DISK SPACE: 5 GB
DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 4 GB

 

[Oussebon]

My CPU overheats and shuts down within an hour of playing a game which makes me believe my spec may need upgrading

Your spec doesn't need upgrading if it's overheating, it needs fixing. Components don't overheat because they are being pushed 'too hard' - that seems to be quite a common view, but they are meant to be able to run at very high loads for sustained periods on a regular basis. They'e be a bit useless if they couldn't!

If you CPU is overheating, it's either because the cooling is fundamentally inadequate or because an element of the cooling is faulty / not working properly.

An H80i should be able to cool even the furnace-like FX-9590. It is worth making sure the inside of the PC is dust-free, and that all fans (CPU cooler, case fans, etc) and the CPU cooler pump is working properly. It may also be worth considering a repaste of the CPU and/or checking that the CPU cooler is attached properly to the CPU.

Also how sure are you it's the CPU that's overheating and that it's the overheating causing the shutdowns?

The point is, your PC should not be overheating to the point of thermal shutdowns. It might run quite hot, but switching off isn't okay behaviour.

===

To answer your question about the "requirements" (these are nearly always more like recommendations than requirements) your spec is technically below them, but probably not by all that much. You have an R9 290 and the recommendation is an R9 290x, which was a little better than the 290. Your CPU would generally perform below the i5 6600 or R5 1600x in gaming, but most games don't care a great deal about the CPU's performance.

However, especially for the GPU, you're not far off the recommendations.

Your best bet is probably to sort out the cooling of your current PC, and see how well the game runs. Even if you can't max out all the settings, you'll still be able to play it, and consider if you really want an upgrade at all at leisure.

What game is this, and where are those requirements quoted?

 

[ubuysa]

I agree completely with Oussebon's comments about overheating, it's not caused by working the system too hard. However, if you've been running it whilst overheating to the point that it shuts down because of thermal overload, and you've been doing that often, then you may already have physically damaged the CPU/GPU and/or other components. The one thing electronic components don't like is heat.

 

[trixx85]

thanks guys for the response. The games i play are generally sim building type games i.e cities skyline, planet coaster but the game in question is Two Point Hospital. The recommended reqs were as per Steam.

The overheating happens within an hour of playing TPH. I ran Corsair Link 4 which i've set to kick in the all fans at 100% when the CPU reaches over 60 degrees. Recently, it must of reached higher then this as it had shut down completly and when restarted it went into BIOS mode with an error message regarding overheating. Which has promt me to seek advice. My spec is 5 years old this year which i got from PC Specialist.

As i thought, my GPU is slightly under the rec req and due to how old my system is, i may look to upgrade this for my own pleasure. I will do what you advise Oussebon and have a clean up around the fans etc. I've ordered some new Arctic Thermal paste and will try this also.

I dont actually play games on my PC often to of damaged anything as i feel my PC cant handle the games i like even with specs low so i generally get by just watching YouTube videos but recently i really want to get back into gaming so its time i sorted out the possible issues or upgrade some components.

 

[Oussebon]

It would be worth using something like Realtemp or HWinfo to log temps on the CPU cores and the GPU. Perhaps run Firestrike as it's a fairly consistent benchmark (and it's free), and record the temps during that.

Clean it as you say, and potentially repaste.

But check the temps before you start doing anything, so that you can see what improvements, if any, the cleaning and repasting get you.