HELP! Weird gfx card issue!

[SorkZmok]

Right.
This is going on for quite some time already, but it is happening a lot more often over the last few days.
Every once in a while when i'm playing games (and only then), my pc suddenly freezes. First the Monitor turns itself off as if i shut down my pc, i.e. losing the gfx card signal, about a second later the sound stops, then there's nothing i can do anymore. PC is still running but not responding to anything. I have to shut it off, then on again.
The only thing i'm sure about, is that it has to be my gfx card, it's the only thing from my old pc that i'm still using and i had that issue on it aswell.

So, anything i can do about it? Might it just be the temparature? Or is it gonna break every second? I really hope not, i don't have money for a new one until christmas and i haven't even got an old one lying around. :(

HELP MEH!

[Terayon]

Dont know if this will help but try sawping power supplys or atleast checking the volts on those lines. I had that problem and it was becouse one of my power supply rails was way off.

[RogerRamjet]

This used to happen to me. Log your APU on Mercury and ill tell you all about it.

[Spoon]

I'd say it's either a heat issue or something(gfx card, memory, cpu) isnt fully seated...

Clean it out(and dont forget the fan inside the PS), make sure everything is properly seated, if that dont work, leave the panel off and stick a fan on it(blow into it), see if that helps...

[Skusty]

If you got a ATI card buy a new Nvidia card :p

[Terayon]

Ya, when nvidia dont have power, they get cleavage.

[FlashFF]

You could make sure you have a large enough power supply. If your using a bog standard comes with case, and a decent GFX card, its probably not enough. ESPECIALLY if you have a lot of usb devices.

Also make sure the power cable to ur GFX card (if it requires one) is plugged in.

Make sure your AGP slot (assuming its AGP) supports the speed of your card

Update your drivers.

As for ATI vs NVIDIA, its not really an issue. Both cards perform well in some systems, crap in others. Both are designed to beat the benchmarks they are designed for to win rating points anywho.

[darknessfairy]

Just for the record .... what card have you got?

you're being a bit to vague for a diagnosis to be given ...

also need to know what power supply you have got, (what wattage and make)
what drivers your using for your gfx card.
etc etc

tada

[FlashFF]

OMG darknessfairy...
Thats a shock. Thought you would have quit for sure by now.

Sorry for off topic - Back to th thread.

[SorkZmok]

Well, the gfx card is a GF 5700 with the latest omega drivers, i got it plugged in properly, using a 450 watt power supply. Maybe thats not enough cause im runnin an athlon 3000+ cpu?

But still, i also had that problem on my old machine with the same gfx card. And i opened up my pc yesterday, it didn't happen very often since then so i think it's getting to hot. :(

Haha, im the worlds worst applied computer science student. Getting a grades all the time yet i can't fix my own pc. :lol:

[darknessfairy]

yeah heat would have more than likely been the issue.
ever heard of a strange contraption called a fan? (joke)

got a blinding thermaltake heat pipe the other day.
no fan so quiet ;p and it works wonders.
fix our issue no end.

altho i week later we bought 2 6600's :lol: so we didnt actually need it for long. mind you it was a ATI card which went (hhisssssss)

and i have quit, but i still troll.

[Terayon]

I doubt its the gfx card overheating.
Im pretty sure the 5700 reads its own temperature. Nvidia arnt completely retarded, im sure they would have made some feature to stop rendering in 3d or warn if its getting to high first or atleast notify that it reset the computer. Ive never had a modern nvidia card but i know my ati card will actualy stop rendering games if its to hot.

If its not enough power which i doubt becouse i have a friend running a 6800gt, 2 gigs of ram, and a 3200+ on his 350 watt power supply.

I think its you're power supply. Generic power supplies have very bad voltage spikes sometimes. I actualy had this 450 watt generic power supply that way off for every voltage exept the 12 volt, and also didnt give as much power as my other 350 watt.

So i think its somthing to do with you're power supply, or mobo.

[paolo escobar]

I doubt its the gfx card overheating.
Im pretty sure the 5700 reads its own temperature. Nvidia arnt completely retarded, im sure they would have made some feature to stop rendering in 3d or warn if its getting to high first or atleast notify that it reset the computer. Ive never had a modern nvidia card but i know my ati card will actualy stop rendering games if its to hot.


'Checks ATI control panel' ....... there is, its called the VPU Recover. It wont stop it, but it may stop u needing to reset ur computer.
Tho i think its default setting is on, unless u changed it.

Had the same probs with my 9700pro, but i rigged up x2 2inch fans over the card, one blowing the other sucking. Now the card stays pretty arctic and i dont have any probs.

[darknessfairy]

had an ati card that would do that vpu recover also (due to heat, changed to a heatpipe and this stopped the problem) nvidia cards i'm not overly sure on. if you had the same issue on your old setup (assuming you have changed psu) i would still say its heat...

[Tratos]

My system did the exact same thing some time ago as it was running underpowered and something just wouldnt work either CD drive spinning fast enough, the GFX if strained or if the HDD was working its arse off - Snap something would cut out.

New PSU at a higher voltage fixed all my problems.