Graphics Crash - Out of ideas

[DodgyGeeza]

Hi

I'v been having problems with my computer for about 6 months now. For some reason while playing particular games (mostly games that require LESS performance requirements like CIV 4 etc) about 20-40 minutes into the game the screen will suddenly fill up with strange graphical glitches, coming from various objects in the game (such as units on the screen on CIV 4). This is often followed by a complete crash, looping sound and the whole screen being filled with checkered green, purple etc tiny squares, and if left for about 20 seconds will cause the computer to restart itself.

Another game that is doing this is Medieval 2: Total war. The battle parts of the game are fine but when i play on the campaign map thats when the problems occur and makes me think its a similar problem to CIV 4. It often happens in areas where there are higher FPS. I have tried Vertical Sync.

I have tried all the latest drivers including moddified (have used drivercleaner PRO too)

The graphics card itself is overclocked to the point at which it is recommeded as it is one of the ready-made overclockable cards. Both fans on the card seem to be working absolutely fine and i have cleaned the whole card including the rest of the hardware components.

My specs are:

GeForce 6800 GT Ultra Golden Sample 256MB (Latest Nvidia Drivers)
2 GB RAM ( two sticks of same brand)
60GB Harddrive RAM
AMD Athlon 3200 XP
Antec Truepower 2.0 - 480 watts (24-20 pin adapter, because my motherboard is crap and doesn't have 20 pin slots)
nForce 2 A7N8X-E Deluxe (updated)


I have 2 small fans that I have removed from other computers to try and cool the graphics card down a bit - during playing any game the card now gets to about 65C and remains constant.

I have used the software "Speed Fan" to check all my fans and the results are:

Temp 1 - 47C
Temp 2 - 26C
Temp 3 - -1C
Temp 4 - 25C
Temp - 124C
Temp - 24C
Local Temp - 33C
Remote Temp - 38C
HD0 - 30C

There are 2 fans (Speed01, Speed02) that i can alter the % but other than that theres nothing else. Speed01 is on 13%, speed02 is on 0%. Automatic Fan speed is switched off.

Fan1: 5000 RPM
Fan2: 12054 RPM
Fan3: 0 RPM

Also i ran a test with another piece of software called "Pc Probe"

CPU remains at a constant 47C
Mother Board stays at 24C but i did notice that there was a sudden warning as the temperature spiked extremely high randomly.

Also, heres my BIOS: Advanced Chipset Features:

CPU External Freq (MHz): 200 MHz
CPU Frequency Multiple Setting: Auto
(Greyed out) CPU Frequency Multiple 11.0x
System Performance: Optimal
(Greyed out) CPU Interface: Optimal
Memory Frequency: Auto
(Greyed out) Resulting Frequency: Auto
(Greyed out) memory Timings Optimal
(Greyed out) SDRAM Acive Precharge Delay: 8
(Greyed out) SDRAM RAS TO CAS Delay: 3
(Greyed out) SDRAM RAS Precharge Delay: 3
(Greyed out) SDRAM CAS Latency: 3T
FSB Spread Specrum: 0.50%
AGP Spread Spectrum: Disabled
CPU Vcore Setting: Auto
(Greyed out) CPU Vcore: 1.650V
Graphics Aperture Size: 128MB
AGP Frequency: Auto
System BIOS Cachable: Disabled
Video RAM Cacheable: Disabled
DDR Reference Voltage: 2.6V
AGP VDDQ Voltage: 1.5V
AGP 8X Support: Enabled
AGP Fast Write Capability: Enabled

BIOS Hardware Monitor: MB temperature: 24C/ 75F
CPU Temp: 51C/123F
VCORE Voltage: 1.66V
+3.3V Voltage: 3.00
+5V Voltage: 4.86V
CPU Fan Speed: 2500 RPM
Chassis Fan Speed: 6136 RPM
Power Fan Speed: 0 PRM

Q-FAN Control: Enabled
Fan Speed Ratio: Full Speed
Speed Up/Down Response Time: 4 Sec/8 Sec

-------

DXDIAG gives me the following results:

DXDIAG
"Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600)
System Manufacturer: ASUSTec Computer INC.
System Model: A7N8X-E
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3200+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.2GHz
Memory: 2048MB RAM
Page file: 167MB used, 3776MB availible
DirectX Version: 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

Thanks for any help I can get.

 

[wolfram]

Hello and Welcome to Techspot!!

I'd recommend to use Everest Home Edition to monitor your temperatures. Speedfan likes to report stupid temperatures, like that 124°C one.

Probably, your 6800GT is overheating, or your CPU (you appear to have the hot-running Barton core).

Also, what's the make & model of your PSU (power supply)? How many watts does it have? How many amps on the +12V voltage?
That info should be located on the sticker attached to the PSU.

Regards :wave:

 

[DodgyGeeza]

Thanks, I have recently replaced a £20 powersupply with a Antec Truepower 2.0 - 480 watts.

It has 18A Max and 0.4 Min on +12V

 

[sghiznaneck]

Might I suggest as a test, dropping the clock speed on the graphics card down below what you have it overclocked at. Then try running your applications. If you receive the same anomolies, the card is going bad. If it doesn't, then you know that for some reason it can't be overclocked to the suggested max core speed. If that is the case the card is faulty and try contacting the manufacturer since the store will not replace the card after this amount of time. Sometimes a graphics card will leave the factory defective and sometimes a card will go bad after a few hundred hours. Do you have a friend who you can try swapping this card into their computer to test it?? If so and you get the same problem, you can bank on it being a faulty card.

 

[smore9648]

I agree with him. Drop the clock on the card back to default, just because it can be overclocked doesn't mean its neccessarily good for it

 

[wolfram]

That Antec PSU is great. Should have dual 18A rails

What about your 6800GT's temperature?

 

[DodgyGeeza]

Yes, I think you guys are right. Games havent crashed ever since and i havent been getting any artifacts either. Its strange that its no started to do it as my card could handle it for about a year beforehand.

Thanks alot guys, ill keep my fingers crossed.