[JPetrillo]

I've been crashing a lot lately

I think it may be related to my video card... When I have a lot of Internet Explorer windows open at once, or when I'm editing video with Pinnacle Studio or Windows Movie Maker 2 it will crash the program and come up with that Windows Error Report thing or in some instances my computer will just completely reboot.

I beat Doom 3 a while ago, and just recently fired it back up to play again about a week ago... it just completely froze on me. I'm almost sure the same will happen if I try to play HL2 again.

I cant run 3DMark01 or 3DMark03 without my system either rebooting or the benchmark freezing with some weird error having to do with my video driver I think.. When this happens I press OK and it reboots.

It seems like its a problem with my video card, but how do I make sure its not anything else before I go spending $350.00 on a new card?

Thanks!

[Superjed]

Have you reformated windows? If I dont format like every 6 months at least, I get bad performance/crashes.

[JPetrillo]

Well actually, yes I have... the end of Feb.

[hardzip]

Have you tried to completly uninstall video drivers and reinstalling them or even try a different set of drivers?

[JPetrillo]

Yup, I've had to reformat... this has been going on since before Feb, when it first started... just getting annoying now since it seems to be getting worse.

[tytlyf]

might be your cpu overclock. When I OC my cpu a bit high, i get crashes. Other than that, the only other time it crashes is when my vid card memory is oc'd too high. I think it's your cpu. You are running 2.06vcore, your cpu might be dying on you. That's my opinion.

[JPetrillo]

I've turned it down to 2.0GHz @ 1.7Vcore. At one point I even loaded "Fail Safe" settings...

[nicknomo]

try running a superpi 32M.
It sounds like a memory or vid card issue...
Could also be power supply...

[JPetrillo]

It better not be a power supply problem!!! I paid a lot for that, and its not even old yet! I think its the video card because I had it overclocked right below the point of where it would tear... I just want to be sure before I spend $360.00 on a new GT 6800

[JPetrillo]

I think what I'm going to do is...

1. Run Prime95 on Torture Test Small FTT to test CPU

2. Run Memtest86 to test RAM

3. Run 3DMark03 to test Video card

4. Run 3DMark05 to test Video card

Does that ^ sound like a good idea?

I'm guessing the Prime and Memtest will go for hours without error, and the 3DMark benches will crash right off the bat...

Also, what should I run Memtest on? Loop test #3 only, or all of the tests?

Thanks again!

[Spion]

run all of the tests, you never know where it'll error out.

[tytlyf]

when i run prime95 with my oc at 2400, it always errors out with the "blend" test. But in every other benchmark test, it's fine. That's why I don't like prime. I never have problems gaming, or anything else. Memtest is fine as well. I would only really trust prime95 if I had a server that i knew had to be 100% rock stable. I can get thru the 32m superpi no problem. One of the best programs I have used to test, is pcmark04. Because it tests everything quickly. If my cpu speed is too high, it will not be able to complete. Don't base your stability on prime.

[nicknomo]

Originally Posted by JPetrillo

I think what I'm going to do is...

1. Run Prime95 on Torture Test Small FTT to test CPU

2. Run Memtest86 to test RAM

3. Run 3DMark03 to test Video card

4. Run 3DMark05 to test Video card

Does that ^ sound like a good idea?

I'm guessing the Prime and Memtest will go for hours without error, and the 3DMark benches will crash right off the bat...

Also, what should I run Memtest on? Loop test #3 only, or all of the tests?

Thanks again!

For ram/cpu Superpi 32M would be a rather good test.. I notice it picks up small random issues that would normally come up in a memtest once in 100 passes...

[JPetrillo]

Okay, Ill include the 32M SuperPi test in my list and post back with the results later today... I let Prime go overnight and now I'm on memtest86

Memtest has been going for just over 2 hours now, but I want to stop it soon though... 3 hours should be enough to tell if there is a serious problem, no? Because there obviously has to be a serious problem to cause my PC to crash as much as it has been!

After I stop it though, Ill run SuperPi and the two 3DMarks and report back. Thanks...

[JPetrillo]

1. Run Prime95 on Torture Test Small FTT

2. Run Memtest86

3. Run SuperPi

4. Run 3DMark01 SE

5. Run 3DMark03

6. Run 3DMark05


RESULTS:


1. Ran 10 hours, 18 minutes - 0 errors, 0 warnings.

2. Ran for 3 hours on all tests, 0 errors.

3. Finished 32M Calculation Test in 32 minutes 12 seconds.

4. Completely Finished Benchmark with score of 11,241. (1024x768)

5. Completely Finished Benchmark with score of 3,128. (1024x768)

6. Completely Finished Benchmark with score of 360. (1024x786)



Well, I'm VERY surprised it didn’t crash on 3DMark03 during the 2nd or 3rd Game test, like it used to... it very slowly made it through all three 3DMark Benchmarks... So what do yall think??

Seem’s like my video card was suffering! I still can’t get over the fact it didn’t crash or anything! I'm about to install Doom 3 and see what happens...

[Spion]

i think something is wrong with your video card... i get over 1k in 3dmark05. and my card is a 9600SE yours games may freeze becuase of a GPU lockup. i know that happens to mine if i OC it to far. if you want a new video card i would suggest a 6600gt. you can get one for under $200 easy. but if it is a some other problem i would think that one of the tests would catch it. try running a program called S&M. it's found errors when other programs run fine.

good luck

[JPetrillo]

Spion - either way I think I'll just treat myself to a new video card... my b-day is right around the corner anyhow If it doesnt turn out to be the video card then oh well, another reason to upgrade something else!

I've had my eyes set on a XFX 6600GT for $159.00 for a few days now.

[anwar1337]

u said $350, get 6800GT and OC it to Ultra Speeds!!!!!

[JPetrillo]

Originally Posted by anwar1337

u said $350, get 6800GT and OC it to Ultra Speeds!!!!!

Yes, you're right lol. At first I was planning on getting a 6800GT, but I was reading many reviews which compared the 6600GT to the 6800GT. After seeing the difference between the two in the benchmarks and realizing the 6800GT is more than twice the cost of the 6600GT I cant go wrong in I getting the 6600! Dont get me wrong.. I would love to have a 6800, but after seeing those results the difference in performance isnt worth the difference in price, to me anyways.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Originally Posted by JPetrillo

I've been crashing a lot lately

I think it may be related to my video card... When I have a lot of Internet Explorer windows open at once, or when I'm editing video with Pinnacle Studio or Windows Movie Maker 2 it will crash the program and come up with that Windows Error Report thing or in some instances my computer will just completely reboot.

I beat Doom 3 a while ago, and just recently fired it back up to play again about a week ago... it just completely froze on me. I'm almost sure the same will happen if I try to play HL2 again.

I cant run 3DMark01 or 3DMark03 without my system either rebooting or the benchmark freezing with some weird error having to do with my video driver I think.. When this happens I press OK and it reboots.

It seems like its a problem with my video card, but how do I make sure its not anything else before I go spending $350.00 on a new card?

Thanks!

Did you run Prime95? Looks like signs of a possible processor OC issue. May just be required to increase the Vcore. Those symptoms sound like symptoms I get when I'm required to increase the Vcore.