Hardware being affected by temp/power? Or just plain bad?

[monkmaster]

I believe my hardware is quite good to run games the likes of Crysis, the Witcher, Guitar Hero etc.

However, it seems that the newer games I play cause my PC to completely freeze after some time. Processes running in the background significantly decrease time before freeze.

I have deduced three potential reasons, one is simply faulty hardware, two is high temperatures and third is lack of power. I'd like to debunk the latter of the three right now by saying I have a big 1000W block.

Anyways, on to my specs:
Intel Core2Quad Q9450 2.66ghz
2GB ddr3 ram
Asus Striker II mobo
bfg geforce 9800 GTX2
audigy x-fi xtreme audio

In a big antec 1200 case. Two fans in the front, two in the back, one big one on top and a big Zalman fan/heatsink on the processor. Not to mention the auxiliary fan I have going right beside the PC itself.

I'm not really sure what to think now if my hardware is faulty, the question being, which components?

Here are my asus PCProbe stats (voltage and temperature); I'm not really sure how to interpret them:
http://www.lookpic.com/files/stats.JPG

All drivers are the latest.

Any input is extremely appreciated.

[Steve R Jones]

However, it seems that the newer games I play cause my PC to completely freeze after some time. Processes running in the background significantly decrease time before freeze.

If you reboot and go straight back to the game does it run ok and for the normal length of time till it freezes again?

[monkmaster]

If you reboot and go straight back to the game does it run ok and for the normal length of time till it freezes again?

Yes, just about.

[bistro]

First place I would look is the card itself. The temps may be getting too high. Try Rivatuner to check the GPU temps. You shouldn't get any higher on load playing those games than around 60 to 65° C. It's possible it may be overheating and throttling down on you. Check your idle temps also.

[monkmaster]

Okay, I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing with RivaTuner but I managed to get hardware monitoring enabled and at that point it measured 65 degrees.
I ran the new Crysis game and played for 10 minutes and exited, to which Rivatuner displayed a top temperature of 77 degrees.

So far as using RivaTuner to tweak anything, I haven't the slightest clue on how.

Edit: It is a multi GPU video card actually and I found three separate temp. readings. 'Core 0 and Core 1' both had readings of 65 at startup of PC and maximums of 80/81 while running Crysis.
The third reading, simply 'Core' was a few integers lower than the other two.

[Rocketmech]

Your temps look good. Its like your room is a freezer, CPU: 16c , MB: 19c . And the VGA @ 77 during gaming . Unless the temp readings are wrong, the problem is not temps. Congrats on a Cooool case.
Run diagnostics on the ram and hard drive. UBCD has both. (no errors allowed btw) Meantime, turn off everything running in the background during gaming, like AV, firewall, messaging, etc. , especially auto updates.

[SpywareDr]

FWIW: At its highest quality setting, Crysis will punish most systems.

[monkmaster]

FWIW: At its highest quality setting, Crysis will punish most systems.

No doubt, however when I'm crashing at the "Runs Great with nVidia" intro clip; somethings definitely wrong.