Verto GeForce 7800GTX Possible Hardware problem

[JohnnyWol]

Hello to all !

I just would like to hear your comments about this situation i have. I updated my rig about two weeks ago. The whole works. Motherboard, Processor, Videocard, New hardrive, New power but new memory. My problem is that i have very strange problems while playing World of Warcraft. The game starts fine but it can freeze in 10mins to 3h. No regular "freezing" time. The procedure how the freeze happens is that i get a black screen and my music is still playin and i can hear it. It might take 5sec and the screen may come back. When it comes back, i know that the next black screen will reboot my comp so exiting WoW "saves" me from a BSOD (or in this case, the automatic restart that you can disable). This is just random and there's no pattern how this happens.

My rig is:
A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD x2 +4400
Verto GeForce 7800GTX 256
Antec Truepower 2.0 550w
Western Digital Raptor 150gb SATA-II
Maxtor Diamondmax 200gb SATA
Maxtor Diamondmax 300gb SATA
2xTakeMS 512 400Mhz 2.5 CAS
2xKingston 512 400Mhz 2.5 CAS
3xCD/DVD
Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty
Windows XP PRO

I have done all the "normal" things a user can do without any good spare parts availabe:
- the temperatures are all in a normal range. All in full load = CPU 48C, Case 41C, Geforce 58C
- have checked and double checked all the connections and connectors to in the power and the drives
- moved the ram into different slots
- tested them with a memory tester, all good
- took the TakeMS memory off the sysytem and tried only with Kingston memory if there could be an issue between these two manudacturers. They worked all fine in my older rig being Asus A8V MB, so the memory isn't broken
- updated, cleaned, downgraded and even tried beta drivers, no result
- seen that there isn't any power issues when the crash happens. No spikes in the meters to show that the power would fail or so.
- installed Windows from a clean install few times, but it's not in the windows i think
- installed all nVidia drivers to my Motherboard
- updated the BIOS in my motherboard

It's so odd that this problem didn't occur at the start when i builded my rig. I had some problems, yes but i didn't relate them to my videocard at the start. I have seen the event viewer report some errors including "BAD_POOL_CALLER_" and "Restarted from bugcheck (0x000000C2). I have enabled the automatic restart, because the crashes are just come and when i'm not around it's nice to have the comp atleast in the logon screen.

Also it is starnge that when i do a stability tests at the same time using "Video Card Stability Tester" and "CPU_BurnIn" i get no errors and i just completed a full eight hours straight "Full power" test taking all the juice and power out of my Videocard and CPU. So the problem isn't stability in general. It has to do something with the 3D and the way WoW handles it or something like that.

Please tell me what do you think ? Could it just be a "bad" Nvidia drivers that aren't up to date to my 7800GTX or could it be a physically broken videocard ? My hunch would be something "broken" physically, because everything worked quite fine at the start, but now it is just crashing randomly. Also what i have learned building computers that usually the Hardware fails like in 1-4 weeks or they just work, so it could be "inside" this "burn up the components, and see if they can handle the load"-time.

Thank you in advance and if i didn't fill in with all the details you need, please ask. I will be following these threads very closely if some of you could have similar problems.

-JohnnyWol

 

[mailpup]

Have you installed all the game patches?

 

[JohnnyWol]

Done

World of Warcraft is a "wise" game in that point. You cannot play if you aren't with the latest patch and it will force you to download every patch that have been done, so yes to this question.

 

[kirock]

You've got 3 HDD, 3 DVD a sound card , a 7800GTX, some case fans I assume, an AMD64 4400 and you think you're not pushing the limit of the 550W Antec. Try disconnecting what you don't need to boot and play WOW, load the game and let us know how it goes.

Also what DirectX are you running 9.0c?

 

[JohnnyWol]

Hmmh, odd moment

Now i have been running (now writing at the same time) WoW at the backround and playing about 5h and no problems. I have made some changes to the bios like some PCI-E Acceleration from Auto --> Normal and i did change the memory CAS Latency 2.5 --> 3.0. The memory supports 2.5 CAS, but i decided to try it out atleast. And one thing i did do was that i inserted one 12v plug to the MoBo that is only needed when using two videocards in SLI. I am not sure if any of these changes did any difference, but i have almost doubled the "last" record of playing WoW. Last record was 3h and now it's rollin on 6th hour.

The power issue is still open. If this hangs i will do that and pull all the DVD Drives and the two HD's out. I heard that the Antec should be a reliable powersource and delivering the promised powers ? Not like some other "stock" powersources ?

EDIT: Oh, and one thig more. I did download the newest Beta Drivers from Nvidia and after that there hasn't been problems *knock the wood*. Actually funnny thing was that when i did try this last time everyhing did go ok at the night, but next day i got many bluescreens and carshes so i did roll back the drivers, so this is the second time i am roling with beta drivers.

EDIT: For the powerissue. This site http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/
recommends me a 430w and a +50w in reserve, totalling of 480w so my doubts aren't on the power. BTW ! 7th hour starting. No crashes here...

 

[JohnnyWol]

Problem solved ?

Problem solved ? Been running the computer two days straight and no crashes with WoW. What i did to achieve this...

1. Dropped the CAS Latency on 2.5 memory --> to 3.0
2. PCI-E Acceleration from [Auto] --> [Standard]
3. Inserted a cable to my MoBo that is supposed only be used when running two Video cards in SLI
4. Downloaded and installed the latest Beta drivers from Nvidia.

Why i doubted tha only the Drivers would work is because earlier it just started to BSOD on me after a reboot....i downgraded, but now, it is just running and running. No problems. I will be in touch if the problem comes back. Thanks for now.

 

[kirock]

Sounds like a very good improvement. Are you game for a little further troubleshooting? Maybe try returning the PCI-E accel in the BIOS to auto again, or the RAM latency back to 2.5. If do try this, I suggest just change 1 thing at a time.

My guess is the mobo power connection did the trick. your problem so reminded me of an underpowered system. It still is a little close even if you calculated 430W, then 480W for headroom. Even a good PSU like yours can't put out 550W continuous. More like 90-95% of that. So 550 X 0.9=495W and maybe the website calculator is a little low, it's close, very close. With the added connector you reduced the circuit resistance to your video card and the PSU had just enough to keep you stable.(Just my guess)

Maybe that's the easiest thing to undo and see if you have BSODs again.

cheers and you did good stuff troubleshooting your system.

 

[JohnnyWol]

To be honest...

Hehe ! I would have to say "No more troubleshooting, please" because my rig is working, but i can see the point what you're referring. I am also intrested what really did the trick here. I will enjoy this "bliss" now and maybe run some tests later on this week and see if the BIOS settings did it, the additional power connector or simply the Beta drivers i downloaded.

One thing that i didn't mention here but also could have made difference was that i have Kingston and TakeMS memory. They are from a different manufacturer and the MoBo recommends four idnetical DIMMS to be inserted if all banks are in use. In my initial setup (not really sure does it matter) i installed the Kingston's and TakeMS on their own banks. Side to side. When i see the manual it says (if you're using only two DIMM's) put one into the other bank and the second DIMM not just besides it, but to the seperate memory bank. So when i use four DIMM's that arent identical, could there be some MoBo issue how it handles the memory modules and when they we're "cross inserted" ie. (Bank 1:Kings, Kings - Bank 2:TakeMS, TakeMS). What i now have is (Bank 1 Kings, TakeMS - Bank 2: Kings, TakeMS) so it's "correctly" installed if you follow the identical DIMM config for 2 memory sticks. This memory installation and correcting the DIMM's didn't work alone, because my rig crashed even when the DIMM's were in theory, correctly installed. It got stable after all these changes i have mentioned earlier, so this isn't the solution, but could it have some effect ?...don't know.

Hope you got my point there. Could be confusing.