nvidia card problems

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xev
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nvidia card problems

Post by xev » Sun Oct 26, 2008 2:06 pm

I have been having a problem with my graphics for quite some time now. For a long time i have not been able to play any serious games. Things like starcraft run fine, but when i try loading up COD4 or Area 51 (last years games), it gets frozen at menu screens. I may be mistaken but I beleive this all started when I copied my hdd over to another and started running everything off of the new one.

About 2 months ago I encountered the nv4-disp error. I was recommended to try new WHQL drivers, but first safely remove all traces of old drivers. I did this and it didnt work. A few days ago I tried updating to the latest WHQL drivers from nvidia and it seems to have solved that particular error.

Now, my first problem is much more annoying, as I cant play any serious game.

Could I be having a problem with the video card and try contacting evga for an rma, or should i set the card to stock clocks and see what happens with that?

Btw its a evga 8600gt 256mb. currently at 759/930/1670 forceware 178.24

--edited to make more sense

aristide1
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Post by aristide1 » Wed Oct 29, 2008 3:18 pm

You should download and use RivaTuner, it's a freebie readily available.

People who really use NVidia video cards hard are finding that the default speed on the fan is set too low, a very common problem with folders. If it's around 20% of full speed set it up around 50%.

Look at the 2 customize settings on the main tab. I forced mine to a 70% duty cycle full time. I overclock just a bit.


Good Luck.

xev
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Post by xev » Wed Oct 29, 2008 6:24 pm

I have been using evga's precision tool. Its based on rivatuner, but much easier to use.
The fan is set to 40% when idle and it goes up to around 70% for load.

So you think that my inability to play games is because of the temps?
I have been testing that with stressers like furmark and ati-tool's stress option. They have both passed fine.

aristide1
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Post by aristide1 » Wed Oct 29, 2008 6:49 pm

I thought it might be fan speed until you mentioned what you've done. Now I would check the GPU temps, especially under load. Try CPUID Hardware Monitor.

Mine are in the low 50's.

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Post by CA_Steve » Wed Oct 29, 2008 6:53 pm

It could be because you are overclocking, it could be do to high temps and overclocking, it could be due to high temps. It could just be a bad card.

Set a baseline. Try running the games and benchmarks at default clock rates. Monitor your temps at idle and also after running benchmarks/games for a while. Report back and let us know what happens.

xev
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Post by xev » Wed Oct 29, 2008 7:15 pm

OC'd to 759/930/1670 temps:
fan at 60% : 53 C idle . 85 C load

Stock 540/700/1188 temps:
Fan at 30% idle: 53 load: 75 C
Fan at 70% idle: 50 load: 70 C

**load achieved using Furmark

will update with game attempts soon

COD4
idle: 48 C
Load: 58 C of course now it looked terrible.

But looks like the culprit was the oc. Ill have to find medium oc settings that I can play with. Thanks for all the help

Edit: i tried upping the resolution to 1280x1024 (my displays regular res) and my system encountered the nv4_disp infinite loop again. So now what?

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Post by FartingBob » Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:06 am

xev wrote:Edit: i tried upping the resolution to 1280x1024 (my displays regular res) and my system encountered the nv4_disp infinite loop again. So now what?
Id say its the 256mb GDDR3 to blame. COD likes 512mb once you start cranking up the res. Does it happen at the same point in the game, on startup, or randomly?

aristide1
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Post by aristide1 » Thu Oct 30, 2008 4:03 am

Yes, they won't run in the 70's, way too hot.

xev
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Post by xev » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:23 am

FartingBob wrote: Id say its the 256mb GDDR3 to blame. COD likes 512mb once you start cranking up the res. Does it happen at the same point in the game, on startup, or randomly?
It happened right as i clicked apply new values.

Looks like I will have to put my accelero S1 on it. I've been too busy to do it previously, but since there is a reason I will make time.
aristide1 wrote: Yes, they won't run in the 70's, way too hot.
I suppose so, although it has been running at 85max for a long time. And i checked online and many people have it up to those temps and they are fine.

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Post by CA_Steve » Thu Oct 30, 2008 7:01 am

First, GPUs CAN run at fairly high temps (90-100C), and some are built to run that way. Your temps aren't crazy high.

Second, nv4disp error implies you have corrupted drivers. Try using driver cleaner to get rid of them.

My gut feel is that your card doesn't have the horsepower to run the games at the resolution/quality levels you want to run them at. I did a short search for 8600gt reviews and COD4, and it looks like you can get 22fps ave at 1280x1024....depending on quality settings as well as the speed of your CPU as the body count rises onscreen (more sprites to track = more cpu and gpu power to process them).

Finally, it's possible something on your card is more sensitive to higher temps than others causing the card to flake as you overclock and temps rise. Try aristide's suggestion and just crank up the fan rpm - see if the problem goes away.

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Post by frenchie » Thu Oct 30, 2008 7:35 am

Hi,
I had a Twintech 8600GT for a while with a Zalman VNF100 cooler on it with a fan. I never got any problems with it and it ran at decent temps (50°C at idle and 60°C under load). And it DID run COD4 just fine, just not in very high settings. However, mine had 512Mo of ram .... maybe that's the problem.

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