video card/ power supply

[goatastixx]

i have an 8800gt, and i cant tell if my blue screens are happening from a design flaw, such as it being a faulty card, or from what ive read, im thinking it might be that my 500w power supply is not supplying sufficient power. any techs who can help?

more card/ PSU info can be given if necessary

[Gooser]

My 8800gt was fucked as soon as it went into the computer :/. Games freezing all the time (colour goes all distorted when it freezes). Including Team fortress, CS, Warcraft 3, and just about any game (apart from Diablo).

It pisses me off, and i can't afford to get it all fixed.

I take it you have the most uptodate drivers OP?

[The_Canadian]

Funny guys, I also have an 8800GT and it works just fine.

Don't hurt yourself, just stick to a console.

[Artificial Red]

500W is enough if it's quality, what brand/model it is? My 450W Corsair could handle that card quite well so you should be ok.

PCs can give major headache when they start to fuck with you. Mine is freezing like 1-2 times per week and i have no fucking clue what's causing it.

[handsock]

lemme guess, IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL?

[I SNAKED YOU]

Your power supply is more than sufficient. It's most likely the card or something else with your computer. Did you do any major upgrades? Try taking out the card and then test your computer.

[marhsmellow14]

download driver sweeper and run it, then reinstall the drivers off nvidias site

[Osiris5217]

Funny guys, I also have an 8800GT and it works just fine.

Don't hurt yourself, just stick to a console.

I wish you would die so much.

[puppetmasterjjk]

Funny guys, I also have an 8800GT and it works just fine.

Don't hurt yourself, just stick to a console.

Fuck dude, you're such a fucking badass. You must be like the "fonz" in person, right? I wish I could meet you some day, then I could watch you show off how you use a PC and not a console to your cool popular friends.

Edit: Do you also say "fail" a lot in person? That would be soooo cool of you!

[The_Canadian]

Fuck dude, you're such a fucking badass. You must be like the "fonz" in person, right? I wish I could meet you some day, then I could watch you show off how you use a PC and not a console to your cool popular friends.

Edit: Do you also say "fail" a lot in person? That would be soooo cool of you!
Why yes, yes I do :)

[navid]

Fuck dude, you're such a fucking badass. You must be like the "fonz" in person, right? I wish I could meet you some day, then I could watch you show off how you use a PC and not a console to your cool popular friends.

Edit: Do you also say "fail" a lot in person? That would be soooo cool of you!

i'm so angggggggrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!

[Moesha]

i have an 8800gt, and i cant tell if my blue screens are happening from a design flaw, such as it being a faulty card, or from what ive read, im thinking it might be that my 500w power supply is not supplying sufficient power. any techs who can help?

more card/ PSU info can be given if necessary
download driver sweeper and run it, then reinstall the drivers off nvidias site

I agree with using driver sweeper and making sure you don't have a driver issue. Was this happening soon as you got it? Also did you uninstall the previous drivers before installing the 8800gt's? More info the better when troubleshooting. As far as the PSU, yes there is a small chance the PSU could be a issue, but generally if the PSU is being overdriven then the computer will shut down rather than bluescreen. I would start with the drivers and work your way back toward a faulty or underpowering PSU.

[goatastixx]

ok, well i 1st got my comp in january, custom built from cyber center, nothing new has been added to it since then (apart from things like new keyboard/ mouse). i mainly used it to play wow, and it was fine until about june/ july. but then it started randomly blue screening, and when it does, it only flashes for a split second before my pc restarts.

i get one of several messages though, from what i see before the blue screen clears, either IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, nv4_displ.dll, or something along the lines of win32k...(something something)...

for the longest time it was ONLY happening on WoW, now its happening on Prince of Persia, and Company of Heroes as well. And its completely random so i have no idea when it will happen, whether its not at all for several days, or 10x in an hour. but now its starting to happen on any graphically intensive game. ive formatted my PC 2x now, and its still happening, so im assuming its not software related, unless it was built shittily from the get-go, and it was just luck that it took a couple months to start.

ive uninstalled my video card, reinstalled, dled the latest driver from nvidia.com, rolled back, everything, and im starting to get pissed. all i have are the evga display driver install cd, and an asus nvidia install cd for the card itself.

from what i can see of my PSU, its an ATX ultra V series? 500W. i cant really see it unless i take the whole thing out

[Moesha]

I would uninstall all current display drivers, clean and reinstall. I would also make sure bio and windows is up to date, even though nv4_displ.dll sounds like a nvidia driver issue (haven't looked it up just assuming.) Worse case you could always reinstall windows if you have the cd and just go from there.

[goatastixx]

I would uninstall all current display drivers, clean and reinstall. I would also make sure bio and windows is up to date, even though nv4_displ.dll sounds like a nvidia driver issue (haven't looked it up just assuming.) Worse case you could always reinstall windows if you have the cd and just go from there.

I've reinstalled windows clean 2 times already, and whenever i send the error report that pops up after my computer reboots, it always says the problem was caused by a driver error.

im going to uninstall my display drivers and run driver sweeper. after that, whats my best course of action? should i run the 2 previously mentioned installation cd's first, or go straight to the most up to date driver from nvidia.com?

[Moesha]

The information on your driver cd's is completely pointless. If there is a newer version for your 8800gt on the website (which I am 99% sure its a huge version difference) then you should install that from the begining after a complete windows clean.

[goatastixx]

^^ thats what i did. i uninstalled all the graphics drivers, ran driver sweeper and only installed the newest driver from nvidia (which funnily enough was just updated like a month ago). so far no blue screens :)

[Moesha]

Good stuff, glad you got it fixed. I had a odd problem with my 8800 series staying in 1x link width, twas really lame having a brand new beastly card getting a 4k 3dmark 06 score haha.

[goatastixx]

fuck me.... happened again :(

im 2 seconds from smashing my vid card with a hammer

any other suggestions??

hopefully something other than "buy a new video card" >.>

[goatastixx]

ok, interesting.

i was playing a fun little game called Eversion (vgcats), and even though its not graphically intensive in the LEAST, i still got another blue screen.

now im just confused :confused:

[puppetmasterjjk]

I haven't read through the thread, but it sounds like it's overheating, or it's probably because of a faulty/weak power supply.

[Fungus Amungus]

It sounds like its your power supply. The biggest thing people tend to miss when looking at power supplies is the amps. It's more important then watts. A couple years ago power supply manufactures found a way of being able to make more PSUs that wouldn't fail in production at the same time provide more "stability" while in use, they split the 12V+ line. So basically most PSUs have 50-60A (amps) on the 12V+ line, but it get's split about 4-6 times. Making the PSU have (just for example) four 18A 12V+ lines. A graphics card, like yours, uses about 20-22A. This means your card demands 22A when it's in full use, but your power supply can only give it 18A at max. The OS sees the lack of power and thinks the card is going to fry and will blue screen/restart. You need to look for a PSU that has only 2-3 12V+ lines or maybe a single.

[goatastixx]

alright, ill look for a new psu. thanks

so, (and im new with psu's/12v lines/ amps etc), im assuming something like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182010 ?

and how do single/double/triple etc lines affect your computer differently?

[Osiris5217]

It sounds like its your power supply. The biggest thing people tend to miss when looking at power supplies is the amps. It's more important then watts. A couple years ago power supply manufactures found a way of being able to make more PSUs that wouldn't fail in production at the same time provide more "stability" while in use, they split the 12V+ line. So basically most PSUs have 50-60A (amps) on the 12V+ line, but it get's split about 4-6 times. Making the PSU have (just for example) four 18A 12V+ lines. A graphics card, like yours, uses about 20-22A. This means your card demands 22A when it's in full use, but your power supply can only give it 18A at max. The OS sees the lack of power and thinks the card is going to fry and will blue screen/restart. You need to look for a PSU that has only 2-3 12V+ lines or maybe a single.

It doesn't really use that many amps. A 9800 GTX overclocked at 875/2188/1100 uses 15 amps. So, if it is your power supply; your psu has an unbelievably low amperage on the 12v to the video card, or it's the video card.

[Fungus Amungus]

alright, ill look for a new psu. thanks

so, (and im new with psu's/12v lines/ amps etc), im assuming something like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182010 ?

and how do single/double/triple etc lines affect your computer differently?

The more lines means the less likely the PSU can fail from a power surge. That's it. I have a 80amp single rail PSU and it has never failed. This extra feature is there, but is almost useless.

The PSU you linked is a piece of shit, but yes it has a 35A single 12V+ rail. When you see it listed as 12V+1 18A, 12V+2 18A, etc. Thats when you know it's split.

It doesn't really use that many amps. A 9800 GTX overclocked at 875/2188/1100 uses 15 amps. So, if it is your power supply; your psu has an unbelievably low amperage on the 12v to the video card, or it's the video card.

Well more than just the video card uses the 12V+ line, the issue is the card uses those AMPs when it's in full force. On top of the rest of computer using resources to support the video card, just alot comes into play. In general you need to assume that 24A is need atleast on the lines.

[goatastixx]

didnt know it was a POS lol. but im just looking for a good PSU for my card on a tight budget

[Osiris5217]

The more lines means the less likely the PSU can fail from a power surge. That's it. I have a 80amp single rail PSU and it has never failed. This extra feature is there, but is almost useless.

The PSU you linked is a piece of shit, but yes it has a 35A single 12V+ rail. When you see it listed as 12V+1 18A, 12V+2 18A, etc. Thats when you know it's split.



Well more than just the video card uses the 12V+ line, the issue is the card uses those AMPs when it's in full force. On top of the rest of computer using resources to support the video card, just alot comes into play. In general you need to assume that 24A is need atleast on the lines.

He hasn't told us what psu he has, so, if he has just any decent psu he should have a good amount of overhead as the 9800GTX at load takes 15-16A. An 8800 gt will take a lot less. We don't know if he has any other accessories using the overhead, but if he does it will take a decent amount to occupy it all and drain his card.

More info on his psu, maybe a model no, would be helpful. Any accessories would be nice too, fans etc. Normally when you overwork your psu you should be able to feel a lot of heat venting from the psu. If it is his psu, he could probably just check the exhaust for a lot of heat venting.

[goatastixx]

what all can drain power from the overhead? i didnt get any extra specific fans or anything, so its most likely the bare min. but ill attempt to gather more info off my psu

[Osiris5217]

what all can drain power from the overhead? i didnt get any extra specific fans or anything, so its most likely the bare min. but ill attempt to gather more info off my psu

Well, since you don't have any accessories, just your psu model number would be fine. The problem is more than likely going to be your gpu though.

[goatastixx]

well my camera didnt want to focus, so i mapped this bitch up

http://i415.photobucket.com/albums/pp239/goattastixx/PSU.jpg

besides a warranty sticker, thats everything on the box

[Osiris5217]

well my camera didnt want to focus, so i mapped this bitch up

http://i415.photobucket.com/albums/pp239/goattastixx/PSU.jpg

besides a warranty sticker, thats everything on the box

Your psu is fine.

[goatastixx]

well thats good... but if its not my psu... then its got to be .... :confuzed:

[Osiris5217]

well thats good... but if its not my psu... then its got to be .... :confuzed:

More than likely it's your graphics card, do you have a spare computer or a friend that would let you try your graphics card in his pc?

[goatastixx]

yeah, my sis has a spare pc she doesnt use anymore. should i just plug it into that comp and how should i test it?

[Osiris5217]

yeah, my sis has a spare pc she doesnt use anymore. should i just plug it into that comp and how should i test it?

Play a game that would put load on your card. Play Crysis or something that would crash your system normally.

[goatastixx]

hm it seems my sis gave away her comp to her friend.

but i looked at http://freestone-group.com/video-card-stability-test.htm and im wondering if its simply an overheating issue. after thinking about it, most, if not all times my comp blue screens the fan sounds like its running pretty high. imma try to clean all the dust out of my comp... theres a LOT lol

[Osiris5217]

You can use Rivatuner to measure the temperature of your card. You can also use it to set your own custom fan speeds for when it gets to a certain heat; the regular script is supposed to be shit.

[goatastixx]

ok, i got an air can and completely aired out all the dust from my entire tower, fan, vid card, all the vents... EVERYTHING... and i was right, there was a LOT.

ill try out rivatuner as well

[goatastixx]

alright, im now about 99% sure this whole thing is caused by my pc overheating.

apparently my cpu can only stand up to about 65C, but its hitting about 58-60 with a mid range load

any good tips/tricks to keep my cpu temp down?

[marhsmellow14]

alright, im now about 99% sure this whole thing is caused by my pc overheating.

apparently my cpu can only stand up to about 65C, but its hitting about 58-60 with a mid range load

any good tips/tricks to keep my cpu temp down?

dump the stock cooler and get an aftermarket one

[goatastixx]

alright, guess thats at least better than buying a whole new video card :P

[tonythetiger]

Funny guys, I also have an 8800GT and it works just fine.

Don't hurt yourself, just stick to a console.

Don't listen to him. You get more out of PC games.