I need to some help..

[Mike151Thomas]

ok, so I buy this premade Compaq from Futureshop..
-Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140
-1024MB of memory
-320GB hard drive

I asked the guy who was helping me if I needed anything else to install a good video card, and he said I should be good.. well the guy was wrong. I bought a Geforce 8600GT and had to buy a more powerful power supply to back the vid card up.. Alright, that was the small background.

I'm a huge gamer, I play World of Warcraft. I've had this problem now since I've started playing on this new computer of mine.. I play for between 1hr- 6hrs and then my computers freezes up, and the graphics get all messed up while I'm in game, and I am forced to shut my computer down by holding the button.. I have no idea what the problem could be. Could it be that I need more memory to back up the video card? Say if I bought another Gig of ram that maybe it would stop the problem?

I've tried reinstalling my graphics drivers, and still end up with the same problem. If anybody has any suggestions, or if somebody has had the same kind of problem and fixed it, please help.

 

[Atomic Rooster]

It sounds like you're having an overheating problem. Check to make sure the fan on the video is spinning properly and that it's not full of dust. Hows the airflow through the case? Does it have any fans at the front or back of the case? If so, are they spinning properly with no dust buildup?

 

[A True Folder]

.. I play for between 1hr- 6hrs and then my computers freezes up, and the graphics get all messed up while I'm in game, and I am forced to shut my computer down by holding the button...

The messed up graphics are called artifacts, these are usually caused by heat or faulty video memory.

As Atomic Rooster has pointed out, check the video card fan is spinning, as it is a new card/pc I doubt dust is the cause which leaves case airflow.

What temperature is the card reaching at load?
What temperature is the CPU at load?
Which Forceware driver version are you running?

And as asked above by AR, what is your case fan configuration?

 

[Mike151Thomas]

I'm going to need some help finding that info out for you guys.. Is there programs or something that I need to get to see some of that info?

I used SpeedFan, and the 2 fans that I have were at 21C before I was playing my game, then 25C when I was in game, which I guess is the load?

How do I get the other info that I need?



Alright.. just downloaded Forceware 162, v.162.25. I never had it before now, so maybe that will help?

 

[Atomic Rooster]

You will need to open up the case and physically inspect the fan on the video card. The Nvidia control panel has a section that should tell you the temperature of the video card.

 

[Mike151Thomas]

Is this Forceware a graphics driver? or a new control panel or something? Do I need to uninstall my other drivers to try the forceware

and.. I couldn't find where it shows the video card temp in the control panel.

 

[Atomic Rooster]

In the Nvidia control panel, you will need to set it on Advanced settings, and then in the left pane, under 3D Settings, is a link called Monitor temperature levels.

 

[Mike151Thomas]

I changed it to advanced settings and didn't get a tab about monitor temps

 

[Atomic Rooster]

Hmm... You'd think that Speed Fan would pick up the GPU temperature. I don't have that program so I'm not familiar as to how it works.

You probably need to install nTune to access the advanced performance tabs.

 

[Mike151Thomas]

k, so I went into setup.. and what I thought was the problem wasn't.. My video settings were set to PCI, so I changed it to PCI-E16x first.. then I got the same problem, so I went back and changed it to PCI-E 1x, and got the same problem.. so now I have no idea what the problem could be..