Crashing 3D games, much sadness!

[Nephtys]

So I built myself a new compy a few months ago, with an 8800 GT in the thing. For some reason, at random times during pretty much every reasonably modern (within the last 3-4 years) 3D Game, I run the risk of the whole thing seizing up, the sound going 'BRRRRZZZZTTTTT' and then having to restart.

I haven't the slightest idea what's causing this really. It went away for a brief period (Either that, or I never noticed since I didn't have anything worth playing) but now I actually want to fix the damn thing. I suppose it could be the power supply, but I'm pretty sure a 550W Corsair should be sufficient for the card and the rest of my machine.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

I'm not sure, but there were many cards built around the same time as the 8800GT by NVidia had some flaws, particularly the notebook chips. I'm not sure how widespread the problem was.

[ZGundam]

I've heard all sorts of issues with 8800GTs.

I'd look for Geforce series 9 or even a GTX if you can afford it. I just got a GTX 260 896MB and I love it.

[Bounty]

Do you get a bluescreen and if so, what's the error code? Is there anything peculiar in the logs? Have you tried updating your video drivers?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

I've heard all sorts of issues with 8800GTs.

I'd look for Geforce series 9 or even a GTX if you can afford it. I just got a GTX 260 896MB and I love it.

Series 9 are rebranded 8800GTs and the variants. Simply put, NVidia used the G92 core for the 9 series. There are only certain models that are not derived from the G92, and some of them are core shrinks for the G92.

[Nephtys]

Do you get a bluescreen and if so, what's the error code? Is there anything peculiar in the logs? Have you tried updating your video drivers?

Drivers are new as hell, and I don't get a bluescreen. The image just locks up, along with sound and everything else.

This is the second 8800 I've had, since I had the first replaced for this problem. I'm starting to think it may be something else, since it seems a bit unlikely for the same problem to happen on two seperate cards.

[Alan Bolte]

Maybe this is a stupid question, but how hot is the gpu getting?

[Nephtys]

Maybe this is a stupid question, but how hot is the gpu getting?

I'll check when I get home, but not very hot at all last I saw from nVidia's tools. Barely above 50c.

[Uraniun235]

Try testing the memory with something like Windows Memory Diagnostic or Memtest86+, let the test run for several hours and see if it picks up any faults in the memory.

Could also try hammering the CPU with Prime95 (it has a special 'torture test' designed to beat the shit out of your CPU) for a few hours and see if it hangs. If it doesn't, that would tend to rule out a fault in the processor.

I'm pretty sure there's a GPU stresser program out there but I can't remember what it was called. I'll see if I can dig it up when I get home. It could still be a bad video card - twice in a row sucks but is certainly possible. Do you have any gamer friends? If you could swap out the 8800 for a different video card that would really help to pin down whether or not it's the card.

You could also inspect your system for any bulging capacitors on the motherboard or video card.

[Laughing Mechanicus]

I would say that the RAM should definitely be considered a suspect - I have had a similar problem a few times in the past and it has usually been down to dodgy RAM.

If you have two (or more) chips of RAM - and especially if they are in "dual channel" mode - try removing all but one chip and see if the problem still occurs (or if they can pass a memtest like Uranium suggests). I have had matched pairs of RAM chips which can completely pass a memtest each on their own, but which when combined will just fall over when they are placed under load.

[Narkis]

I bought a computer with an 8800GT last year. I had the same problem since day one, and I had the card exchanged for a same one after a week. Two months later the second card started crashing too, but this time I paid a little extra and got a 9800GT (I didn't know it was the same core at the time). Last week my 9800GT started crashing too. My next PC will definitely have an ATI card.