Is my card stuffed?

[danger55]

I just put together my new rig (specs below) and am already faced with a tough problem.
I found in BF2 that the screen would randomly freeze for about 12-16 secs then continue on. I also tried to check if the same happened in 3dMark05 and it did. Everything will be going fine then it freezes for a bit then resumes. The freezing seems to happen more regularly in the second scene and in fact, after the loading bar for that scene is complete, sometimes the screen remains black (ie. the it stays frozen and won't display).

I have tried heaps of stuff to pinpoint the problem but can't! This is what I've tried and keep getting the same prob......

- everything in bios is set to default including cpu and ram, but i've also tried over clocking and underclocking both
- overclocked, underclocked and stock speed on graphics card
- ran Memtest for 10 hrs with no errors so it can't be the ram.
- disconnected my second hdd and DVD to see if it was a conflict
- ran superpi32 with no problems

Also temps are fine 'cause I've left the side of the case off and also tried with a 120mm fan on the side of the case. Also gpu gets to about 70deg max. when under load.

Can someone pleaseeeeese help me? I can only assume the graphics card is faulty but I won't to make sure I've tried everything first before I send it back. Appreciate any help!!!!!!
__________________
DFI Infinity UltraII-M2 (BIOS08/09/06)
AMD Athlon64 x2 3800+ Dual Core
2x 1024M OCZ Gold Gamer Edition XTC 800Mhz
1x Maxtor 250G HDD
1x Quantum Fireball 40G HDD
Albatron 7600GT 256M
1x LG Super- Multi DVD/CD-R
450W Antec SmartPower PSU
WinXP Pro. SP2

 

[Rik]

Have you made sure all of your mobo drivers are up to date???

Also, go here - http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp - and see how many watts your system requires!!!!

 

[danger55]

Have you made sure all of your mobo drivers are up to date???

Also, go here - http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp - and see how many watts your system requires!!!!

They are close to up to date.... here's a dumb question, which drivers under device manager do I uninstall before installing the new ones??

As for power, the calculator shows about 420W (...and that's with some minor exaggerations I put in)

 

[N3051M]

for mobo drivers it will just install over them, so don't uninstall them.. usually its the graphics card/video card that you need to uninstall before putting a different one etc on.

 

[danger55]

I've still got his bloody problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've now upgraded my psu to a OCZ 600W, reinstalled windows and all the latest drivers, tested RAM, everything.
I guess there is nothing more to try, unless someone has some other ideas.......................

 

[N3051M]

you could try the card in question on another PC with similar specs to yours..

 

[danger55]

Well it's been a while but I ended up sending my card back and it was replaced. I stuck it in yesterday and at first it seemed ok in bf2, but then the freezing problem returned.

I ran memtest again overnight for 8.5 hours with no errors and also dropped everything back to stock speed/voltage/settings and ran 2 instances of Prime95 (one on each core). What I found was that about a minute after starting the second instance, core 0 would fail. This happened repeatedly.

I dare say it is likely to not be my card (you can't possibly get 2 dodgy cards in a row can you???). Do you think it may be cpu?

I am at a complete loss as to what to do next. Appreciate any help!

 

[Surkitz]

have you updated the game patches?

 

[danger55]

Yes, with the recently released patch. The problem was also there before.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

I believe it may be the CPU/mobo then, since everything else seems to be OK.

 

[danger55]

I believe it may be the CPU/mobo then, since everything else seems to be OK.

That's what I'm thinking....
Most likely the dual core. I have recently seen hundreds of threads with people having very similar issues. Seems to be in the way xp is 'talking' to the d/c.

I figured if it was the mobo, I'd probably be having issues all over the place ie. browsing, internet, video.....The only time I seem to be getting problems is in game. And yes, I've reinstlled the games a few times and patched 'em.
Does this sound right to you??

I'm only hoping I can send the dual core back and exchange for a single. I'm well and truly over this!!!!!