Game Causing Computer to Restart

[lakabocha]

I've been running into a problem where whenever I play Sims 4 my computer will restart itself.  No BSOD, just restarts.  Temperature-wise, things are pretty normal.  GPU runs between 40-50C, CPU at 30-40C

I've tested out other games for extended periods of time (1-2 hours), but this is the only game it happens 30 minutes into starting.  Any ideas what might be happening?  This all started on the 19th of July, a day before the recent update.

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Technical Info

Motherboard: ASUS Prime B560 Plus
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-10400F CPU @ 2.90GHz 2.90 GHz
GPU: GTX 1660 Super
RAM: 16GB

Operating System: WIndows 10 (64-bit)

Other games I've run are Genshin Impact (High settings), Valheim (Medium settings) and Witcher 3 (High settings)

[puzzlezaddict]

@lakabocha  What power supply do you have?  Please list the manufacturer, wattage, and rating, e.g. Corsair 750W Gold.

Additionally, if you're comfortable opening up your computer, please check the motherboard for bulging capacitors.  If you're not sure what they look like, there are lots of close-up images online, maybe even some for your motherboard or a similar model.

Sometimes a game or program that's not normally overly demanding will still produce the occasional spike in resource use and therefore have a higher peak draw than other more demanding but also more stable programs.  I'm not saying that's definitely happening here, just that it's one plausible explanation for why only Sims 4 would cause restarts.

[lakabocha]

My PSU is Thermaltake TR2 600W.  It's the only part that hasn't been replaced since it was first put together in 2013 so I admit that it is on the older side.

As for the capacitors on the mobo, I did open the case up and have a look, but everything was fine.

[puzzlezaddict]

@lakabocha  If you have another PSU you can borrow to test with, that's where I'd start.  If that's not currently possible, or you'd rather do some hardware monitoring first, I can take a look at a log.  Download hwinfo from here:

https://www.hwinfo.com/download/

You don't need to install anything if you don't want to; just choose the Portable version, unzip it, and launch it from Downloads or wherever you want.  (If you would like to install, be sure to click the button for hwinfo itself, not lansweeper.)  Restart your computer, and don't open any other apps.  Launch hwinfo, choose "sensors only," and click the icon that's a sheet of paper with a + sign to start logging.  Save the file to your desktop for easy access later.

Wait five minutes, then launch Sims 3 and play until you see a restart; the log should be instact up to that point, but please let me know how long hwinfo ran before the restart.  You can upload the log to a third-party free filehosting site and link it here.  Please leave it in .csv format, or if you use OneDrive to share, please compress it in .zip format instead.

[lakabocha]

Okay so!

I'm not sure what happened but the issue seems to have resolved itself somehow?  I did as mentioned above, running Sims 4 with HWInfo in the background but after 3+ hours of play across numerous attempts, not once did the computer reset itself. 

I theorizing that A) Spotify might have been the cause--I often had the app playing in the background whenever I build and it was running during the times of the random resets.  I've switched to using the web version, and it hasn't happened so far; or B) it was an outdated mod.  I usual try and keep up with each update EA makes to the game, but I apparently messed updating one around the time the issues started.

I don't know for sure if these were the causes, but the game has been running without a hitch since these changes were made.

[puzzlezaddict]

@lakabocha  Neither Spotify nor an outdated mod should be able to make your computer restart, directly or otherwise.  But perhaps whatever was causing the restarts is no longer as problematic: for example, plugging your computer into a different surge protector, or plugging the surge protector into a different outlet, could certainly help.

If you get another restart, let me know; otherwise, enjoy your game.