Help computer crashing when playing games

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discochan

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 4, 2005
Messages
1,373
Hello everyone. Thanks for the help.

About a month ago whenever I played games my computer would freeze and the VPU recovery would show up.

This happened all the time in Fallout 3.

It seems to be getting worse. In COD5 now I cant even play for 10 minutes and my computer freezes up and I have to restart.

This only happens when I play games, and it only started recently. Ive upgraded to the latest ATI and Creative drivers and it hasnt helped. Also the games all have the lastest patches.

Any ideas guys?
 
Overheating components perhaps?

COD5 is a POS btw. It's been crashing my PC for some stupid reason, while exiting the game. I've read online that many people are experiencing black screens, blue screens etc with that game.
 
What are the temperature on the video card?

Run ATI tool and check for artifacts.
 
Maybe my card is overheating. I'm running ATI tool 0.26 and it gives me 5 numbers. Ill list them from top to bottom.

63C
8.2A
27%
55C
43C

I dont know if these are good or bad
 
i'm guessing it's your gpu overheating when playing games? but if that 63c is your temp while playing that's pretty good temp.
 
brysig228 said:
i'm guessing it's your gpu overheating when playing games? but if that 63c is your temp while playing that's pretty good temp.
Click to expand...

Thats actually my temp while idle.

lohoutlaw said:
It seems Burn from BPC had the same issue playing games as well!

BPC forums source

Turned out to be his V/C driver.

Good luck :)
Click to expand...

*sigh* if only it was that easy for me. Ive updated all my drivers to the latest Catalyst
 
discochan said:
Thats actually my temp while idle.



*sigh* if only it was that easy for me. Ive updated all my drivers to the latest Catalyst
Click to expand...

Latest is not always the best. Is there a driver release you are sure you've had success with before? Definitely want to rule out software first before hardware.
 
Mav451 said:
Latest is not always the best. Is there a driver release you are sure you've had success with before? Definitely want to rule out software first before hardware.
Click to expand...

Hmm I do have some older Catalyst drivers that never gave me problems in the past. Maybe Ill just go back and see what happens.
 
Are you running stocvk? Check voltages on memory, CPU, etc, etc. Check temps - bad airflow maybe?

Try Orthos or occcp, whatever it's called, stressers, adn then see if that happens.

Could also be drivers but I doubt unless a lot of other ppl are experiencing the same issues.
 
discochan said:
Maybe my card is overheating. I'm running ATI tool 0.26 and it gives me 5 numbers. Ill list them from top to bottom.

63C
8.2A
27%
55C
43C

I dont know if these are good or bad
Click to expand...

Those temperature are high if that is idling. :eek:

Try to increase your fan speed on the gpu and see if the temperature go down.
 
MC FLMJIG said:
Are you running stocvk? Check voltages on memory, CPU, etc, etc. Check temps - bad airflow maybe?

Try Orthos or occcp, whatever it's called, stressers, adn then see if that happens.

Could also be drivers but I doubt unless a lot of other ppl are experiencing the same issues.
Click to expand...

Yes I'm running on stock settings. No OCing here. I just downgraded to a lower Catalyst that I know was stable before and I just crashed on COD5 and had to restart the computer.

According to the gauges on Everest my voltages are all good. it might be that my card is overheating. How to I check for that. Do I run my game with ATI Tool running?
 
Just run something like rthdribl - use anything to monitor temps, RivaTuner, GPU-Z, HWMonitor.

Actually if you're not instant restarting (and only freezing), I'd put something like this on your NB. Bad RAM would cause instant restart/BSODs, but if you're just freezing to VPU Recovery (basically driver crash) NB is something I'd be concerned about.
 
Mav451 said:
Just run something like rthdribl - use anything to monitor temps, RivaTuner, GPU-Z, HWMonitor.

Actually if you're not instant restarting (and only freezing), I'd put something like this on your NB. Bad RAM would cause instant restart/BSODs, but if you're just freezing to VPU Recovery (basically driver crash) NB is something I'd be concerned about.
Click to expand...

I used to freeze to VPU recovery, but now my computer just freezes up and I have to hit the reset button.

Whats NB?
 
I think it may be my temps. After running the rthdribl the card just kept getting hotter and hotter. I got past 90C and I stopped the test.

Anyone know how hot the 1900xtx can safely go. I'm not sure why I'm having this problem now, that Zalman cooler sucks.
 
sounds like heat issue. 90 is starting to push but should not be a reason to freeze.

Depending on which Zalman they are usually pretty decent. Check too see the mem on the VC is cool and check to see that the cooler was well placed on the GPU.
 
I think it might be time for me to get a new graphics card.

If I get one of the new 4870s or 260s will my PSU be able to handle it? Are those cards overkill for a 19" monitor running at max res (1280X1024)?
 
MC FLMJIG said:
sounds like heat issue. 90 is starting to push but should not be a reason to freeze.

Depending on which Zalman they are usually pretty decent. Check too see the mem on the VC is cool and check to see that the cooler was well placed on the GPU.
Click to expand...

I think someone mentioned this rule before:
Core too hot/OCed unstable= artifacting
VRAM too hot/OCed unstable= freeze/hard lock.

Is this correct?
I don't OC my GPUs, so I'm not as familiar.

*To the OP - if you are absolutely certain you won't get a newer monitor down the road, the 4870 512 will be fine. But if you may, consider the 1GB 4870 over the 512's.
 
Mav451 said:
I think someone mentioned this rule before:
Core too hot/OCed unstable= artifacting
VRAM too hot/OCed unstable= freeze/hard lock.

Is this correct?
I don't OC my GPUs, so I'm not as familiar.

*To the OP - if you are absolutely certain you won't get a newer monitor down the road, the 4870 512 will be fine. But if you may, consider the 1GB 4870 over the 512's.
Click to expand...

If what you say is true then my VRAM is getting too hot. Zalman gave me these little heatsinks to put on the ram, I guess they dont worry to great anymore with these new games.

I'm certain I wont be getting a new monitor for a while. I was looking at this card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150330

Tell me what you guys think. Will this fit in my case? Will my PSU be enough? 510W seems a little low.

EDIT: By the way guys, thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate the quick responses on this forum.
 
A few questions:
- Have you cleaned out the fan and heatsink on that video card? Might be a huge accumulation of dust and shit.
- Have you removed the HSF from the card and reapply the thermal paste?

But if you just want to get a new video card anyway, the GTX260 or HD4870 will be more than enough for 1280x1024. I recommend getting this card instead since it's $50 cheaper than the one you chose and it's performance is pretty close:
eVGA 896-P3-1264-AR GeForce GTX 260 SSC 896MB PCI-E Video Card - $230

Your current PSU should be enough for this GPU upgrade. However, your CPU might be a possible limitation.
 
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