X1950Pro AGP overheat/crash

[start]

Hey guys,

Recently (past month maybe) I've been having a problem with my computer crashing. My graphics card (which I bought in December) is an ATI X1950Pro AGP 512MB (Sapphire)

It's always when I'm playing a game, and usually with more graphically intensive games.

99% of the time, the crash involves the screen just going black, and then the monitor turning off (I assume because it gets no signal).

At this point, all I can do is hold the power off button (hitting reset does nothing - screen stays black, howeverthe harddrive light flashes a lot). One theory of mine is that the harddrive lights start flashing because the PC has restarted and is going through boot, but the graphics card is still crashed so my screen stays off. But that's just a guess.

Anyway, I just installed ATI Tray Tools to use the GPU monitoring overlay, and fired up Half Life 2 Episode 2.

After a couple of minutes, the reading was:

GPUt:111C
EVNt: 64C

Now, I've done a little googling, and I got the idea that 80C was too hot, so this seems a bit crazy. The GPU fan is spinning fine, as far as I can see.

The environment temperature looks pretty high too, which surprises me a bit since I have a 120mm fan blowing onto the graphics card through the side of my case.

Anyone got any comments or suggestions?

Cheers

[Colton H]

Try opening your case and see if your temps go down or something.

[funnyperson1]

Get an air duster can and clean out the heatsink. One thing I found is that even with good airflow coming in the air around the GPU stays warm because there is nowhere for hot air to go.

[malvindo]

try cool the VRM,
ur VRM is digital 1?

saphire n power color known got heat problem in VRM
that's why saphire update with HUGE heat sink @ Ultimate version

http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/products/products_overview.php?gpid=172&grp=3

check ur hsf n check the dust like funnyperson1 said :)

PS: do u lag playing STALKER @high setting? :confused:
i got problem with high setting, but the game auto detect mine 1950pro with high :(

[start]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Funnyperson1 hit the nail on the head. I took the card out and got my vacuum cleaner out. Vaccumed it to hell.

Put it back in, and after hours of play on HL2 Episode 2 it never exceeded 76C. I can't believe the difference! 116C -> 76C. Crazy, must be a rubbish HSF as you say malvindo.

As for stalker, that game crashed after less than 5 minutes every single time. All in all, it was 100% unplayable (although it seemed to run OK on high, not amazing though, my CPU is old).

[funnyperson1]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Funnyperson1 hit the nail on the head. I took the card out and got my vacuum cleaner out. Vaccumed it to hell.

Put it back in, and after hours of play on HL2 Episode 2 it never exceeded 76C. I can't believe the difference! 116C -> 76C. Crazy, must be a rubbish HSF as you say malvindo.

As for stalker, that game crashed after less than 5 minutes every single time. All in all, it was 100% unplayable (although it seemed to run OK on high, not amazing though, my CPU is old).

Yea these single slot coolers for these cards are barely sufficient, and a little dust buildup suffocates them and absolutely kills the performance. After a couple months in a case without air filters (or even one with if there is negative air pressure in the case), the fan is just blowing air at a wall of dust.

I had similar results with my 7900gs, temps were reaching over 100, I blew it out and they went back down to 75-80.

[grumperfish]

I have the same Sapphire card and I concur that the stock cooler for it is awful. I used it for a few days while I waited for my HR-03 to arrive and it was loading at above 70C with good case cooling and the cooler's fan at 100%.

[malvindo]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Funnyperson1 hit the nail on the head. I took the card out and got my vacuum cleaner out. Vaccumed it to hell.

Put it back in, and after hours of play on HL2 Episode 2 it never exceeded 76C. I can't believe the difference! 116C -> 76C. Crazy, must be a rubbish HSF as you say malvindo.

As for stalker, that game crashed after less than 5 minutes every single time. All in all, it was 100% unplayable (although it seemed to run OK on high, not amazing though, my CPU is old).

1 slot cooler is very limited space n easier for dust to build since the tight of space :)
make time table to cool ur HSF on GPU n CPU becos 2 part that hold dust very2x quickly
btw after u clean ur HSF still cannot play STALKER???? :confused:
try lower the setting, n try again?
u should able to play, but i dunno can play in high setting or not

[malvindo]

I have the same Sapphire card and I concur that the stock cooler for it is awful. I used it for a few days while I waited for my HR-03 to arrive and it was loading at above 70C with good case cooling and the cooler's fan at 100%.

care to share ur temp after u got ur HR-03?
urs should be HR-03 Rev A right???
i am interest with that cooler for my gecube x1950pro too :)

[start]

Again cheers for advice.

Malvindo, I think there's some weird problem with my PC and STALKER. It wasn't the PC that crashed, it was the game - I could get back to windows after each crash (although not easily, it required blind key-presses in the task manager).

Also, I tried to run STALKER when my card was only a few months old, so I don't think it was dust.

[JCLW]

Do you have the latest patch (1.0004 IIRC) for Stalker?

[start]

Yeah, I tried it with the latest patch. Maybe I'll try again sometime.

[minus19]

Maybe i've missed something here but what PSU have you got? Sounds like a PSU failure to me.

[grumperfish]

care to share ur temp after u got ur HR-03?
urs should be HR-03 Rev A right???
i am interest with that cooler for my gecube x1950pro too :)
Yes it's the HR-03 Rev A. I run around 36C-39C idle and up to 47ish load. It's considerably better than with the stock cooler at any rate so I can't complain.