7950 issue (maybe has to do with p5b d)

[bidav]

hey guys. my system is fully 10 hours prime stable, but after 10 minutes of far cry the computer freezes (gpu at about 88c)..
(it's not even overclocked now and still the same).

what can cause this? my pcie is locked to 105 tried also with 100 and 101..gpu idles at 68c.
cpu is no higher than 60c on full load..

i tried to reset the bios to factory defaults and still the same..far cry crashes after few minutes..i dont have any other games to test for now..maybe is there some sort of program that i can use to stress test the whole system including the gfx card for long time ? 3dmark06 won't do it right because it has breakes between the test so the system cools down...

 

[myocardia]

Doing what you're suggesting isn't anywhere near as good as gaming. Try removing your side panel and seeing how long Far Cry will run. I'm thinking that ~90C is too hot.

edit: Have you loaded the Windows XP SP2 patch for dual-core processors? It isn't needed for SP1, if you happen to not have SP2.

 

[bidav]

uhm i have sp2 with the latest updates from MS site.. i don't remember anything special for dual core though..
i am trying to determine if its only a far cry problem or general hardware problem..

 

[myocardia]

Wait, you have it Prime95 stable? That means zilch with a dual-core processor. You have to use either two instances of Prime95, or just use this, which is better: SP2004 Orthos. I still wouldn't be at all surprised that your video card being a bit too hot was causing the problem, though in all honesty, I have no idea what temps a 7950 should be at while gaming.


Here is a link to the Microsoft "article" on their SP2 dual-core patch: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=896256

edit: You do have FarCry updated, don't you?

 

[bidav]

hey. i ran both dual prime and orthos for both cpus..it's perfectly stable...my far cry is updated allright to the latest version, and as far as i can see on google, the temps are fine....so something is wrong here...

 

[Madellga]

There are issues on the P5B while running a 7950GX2. I've experienced that myself first hand and there are other threads about this, just look at the Video forum.

In my case the performance was very low (FPS under 20 in games that used to be 120).

The issue does not happen on other mobos.

Try one thing though:

If the P5B bios has this option, change Robust Graphic Booster from Auto to Fast.

I don't have the P5B anymore, so I cannot test myself. If it works, let us know.

 

[bidav]

hey. i don't seem to have this option in my bios..and many people are fine with this bundle...
i am starting to think that there's a problem with far cry..

 

[FireChicken]

What bios version are you using? Make sure it is the most current 0507. I also notice that you have OCZ memeory. My OCZ memory requires 2.1 volts minimum which is the max volts for the memory on this board. Double check the specs but I am sure that you need to set voltage for memory to 2.1 volts. I was getting massive instability in games but it would run 3dmark06 just fine. When I changed memory voltage everyting was solved

 

[Thor86]

Originally posted by: bidav
hey. i don't seem to have this option in my bios..and many people are fine with this bundle...
i am starting to think that there's a problem with far cry..

Do other games work fine? If so, then it well could be FarCry.

 

[myocardia]

I would have sworn that I've seen FarCry tested on a C2D. I'm almost positive, but I can't remember which site. Maybe it was just a someone posting on this site. Anyway, like I asked the first time, have you updated FarCry?

 

[bidav]

hey..the voltage for the memory is 2.1 in the bios, i dont know about other games.. don't have yet to test..i bought half life 2 , downloading it right now.
yes my far cry is the most updated version along with the latest bios.....

 

[bidav]

update..
it seems it was only far cry problem! Half life 2 and Counter strike source work perfect!

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: Madellga
There are issues on the P5B while running a 7950GX2. I've experienced that myself first hand and there are other threads about this, just look at the Video forum.

In my case the performance was very low (FPS under 20 in games that used to be 120).

The issue does not happen on other mobos.

Try one thing though:

If the P5B bios has this option, change Robust Graphic Booster from Auto to Fast.

I don't have the P5B anymore, so I cannot test myself. If it works, let us know.

We figured out the issue and why one board works perfectly and the next one will not. It is due to a weird combination of previous NV driver sets and two different bios versions from NV on the 7950GX2 cards. We have found that unless you completely uninstall the driver set (using DriverCleaner) the board will sometimes miss installing the pci-e bridge required for XP to recognize the second GPU. I will explain this further in our 965 roundup but even switching 7950GX2 cards with a different bios will cause the same issue. We have been able to recreate this on boards from Abit, Asus, and Gigabyte in the P965 series and the 975X boards from Abit, Asus, and DFI. We are working with NV at this time along with the board suppliers as even a simple bios update on the board can create the same issue. The solution at this point is to uninstall the drivers completely, reboot into safe mode, use DriverCleaner, reboot, enter XP, reboot again, and then install the 91.47 drivers. Should work consistently but I am now testing each official bios release to see what happens on bios updates.

 

[bidav]

thank you, actually it started working just out of the blue without this procedure...

 

[Madellga]

Originally posted by: Gary Key

Originally posted by: Madellga
There are issues on the P5B while running a 7950GX2. I've experienced that myself first hand and there are other threads about this, just look at the Video forum.

In my case the performance was very low (FPS under 20 in games that used to be 120).

The issue does not happen on other mobos.

Try one thing though:

If the P5B bios has this option, change Robust Graphic Booster from Auto to Fast.

I don't have the P5B anymore, so I cannot test myself. If it works, let us know.

We figured out the issue and why one board works perfectly and the next one will not. It is due to a weird combination of previous NV driver sets and two different bios versions from NV on the 7950GX2 cards. We have found that unless you completely uninstall the driver set (using DriverCleaner) the board will sometimes miss installing the pci-e bridge required for XP to recognized the second GPU. I will explain this further in our 965 roundup but even switching 7950GX2 cards with a different bios will cause the same issue. We have been able to recreate this on boards from Abit, Asus, and Gigabyte in the P965 series and the 975X boards from Abit, Asus, and DFI. We are working with NV at this time along with the board suppliers as even a simple bios update on the board can create the same issue. The solution at this point is to uninstall the drivers completely, reboot into safe mode, use DriverCleaner, reboot, enter XP, reboot again, and then install the 91.47 drivers. Should work consistently but I am now testing each official bios release to see what happens on bios updates.

Great news Gary

Thanks for the update / explanation !

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: bidav
thank you, actually it started working just out of the blue without this procedure...

We have found that a simple change in the bios or even a resolution change that can cause XP to recognize a configuration difference will cause XP to properly recognize the card. The safest procedure currently is to uninstall the drivers and then reinstall. So far it has worked about 30 times for me in the regression testing.

 

[bidav]

thank you..i've done this anyway just to make sure there are not other problems.

 

[imported_BigTwin]

Bidav,

We have similar systems...the Ninja, Processor and mobo....are you OCing using the BIOS or the AI Suite? My temps run pretty high 60's plus when above 3ghz...Guess I'll try reseating the Ninja and AS5....