8800GT crash/lockup issue

[spitz10]

Alright, about a week ago, I finally caved and bought the ECS 8800GT with accelroS1 out of the box overclocked to 650/950. Keeping the card at stock speeds, CS:S ran fine for the most part at stock speeds, but occasionally it would lockup and bring me back to my desktop, where my printer software would keep popping up saying something is unplugged. After I disabled that program it didnt crash anymore.

But in COD4, after about 3-5 minutes of playing, the game starts to artifact, with little squares, then eventually diagonal lines across the whole screen, then within about 5 seconds, it completely locks up, sound loops, and I have to restart.

I then underclocked my card to the "typical" clock speeds, and I have had absolutely no issues at all for 5-10 hours of play time.

My question is, what should be my next step? Do I RMA it to ECS? Try other things? I have tried different drivers, but thats about it. It seems like enough people have had this problem, but I just cant get a clear answer on what I should do next.

Thanks ahead of time.

 

[Jax Omen]

does this card have the turbo module attached or just the accelero?

If no turbo module, you just need some airflow to keep the card cool.

 

[spitz10]

yea, the little fans are on there, they dont seem to help any (other than the obvious temp drop)

 

[Jax Omen]

hmm... what's your case?

Can you run a hardware monitoring program that'll show you your GPU temps?

If you've got good airflow and it's still fubar, yeah, RMA.

 

[spitz10]

ok yea, a little extra info

Currently running ATI tool at stock settings (650/950) - no errors for 14 min. now. GPU temp is averaging about 90, core chip is about 50. CPU load is 35-40.

Also, just to see what happened, I set the core to 675, and memory to 975, and within about 20 seconds I started to get extreme artifacting. Based on the reviews I read, this should easily get to 700/980 range.

Other main parts of my setup:

E6750 w/AF7Pro @3.4
2GB A-Data ddr2-800
Earthwatts 500w

Also, I replaced a X1900GT and NEVER had any problems of any sort in any games, so I doubt any of my other hardware is a potential culprit.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Buck Armstrong]

Here's the problem: you bought a GT.

They're great cards, but many people including myself have had stability issues. While my GT is the SSC, which is factory-OCed to 700/2000, every other factory OCed card I ever had worked fine. Apparently the original fan used was too small to keep the GPU cool (mine is annoyingly f@cking loud when under load), but later models switched fans, in which case you'll probably be OK. Also, in my experience, the memory is right on the edge of stable, which is probably why you get artifacts even at stock speeds, like I did on certain games.

If you can, take it back and get a GTS 512 (G92). If not, RMA the GT and hope for a better one.

 

[Lithan]

90*C is too hot for SOME 8800gt's most seem to run fine. Mine didn't. My guess is you're overheating.
Also, I'm really surprised that cooler is giving you 90*C temps. The stock gts cooler gives me <80*C temps @ load and it should produce more heat.

 

[spitz10]

My guess is that it is not a heat issue, mainly because there have been tons of people with this general problem, and many had temps in the low 80s. Also, my temps are not any higher when running at 675/950 than 625/925. Plus, who knows what the temps actually are, but I do know that this card, with this cooler (especially with fans), is the coolest running 8800GT.

I guess I will try to RMA it, even though I weirdly feel like the problem is not the card itself.

Anything else to try? I have heard of people increasing PCI-E freq to 105, different drivers, plugging in the additional PCI-E connector on mobo (which I am probably about to try), disabling speedstep.....

 

[Buck Armstrong]

Trust me, its the card. I checked my PSU, RAM, etc., etc., and tried the additonal PCI-E connector, and it made no difference. As far as heat goes, mine would sometimes do it even when when relatively cool (60-70), and it generally never got up to 90 even when gaming.

I popped in the GTS and all problems disappeared.

 

[Buck Armstrong]

Originally posted by: Lithan
90*C is too hot for SOME 8800gt's most seem to run fine. Mine didn't. My guess is you're overheating.
Also, I'm really surprised that cooler is giving you 90*C temps. The stock gts cooler gives me <80*C temps @ load and it should produce more heat.

But the GTS is a dual-slot cooler with a better fan and a vented back, which helps send hot air where it should go: out of the case. The GT is a single-slot with a smaller fan that just sounds like its struggling when stressed.

My GTS generally runs cooler than my GT, and is MUCH quieter. Also, it only draws a tiny bit more power than the GT and is faster as well.

 

[Lithan]

Yes but HIS GT is running with a Enormous cooler with two fans strapped on it. (accelero s1)

 

[DarkRogue]

GPU temps of 90C under load WITH the Accelero? I find this very hard to believe, but if that's truly what is happening, there's something wrong with the mounting or something.

I have a stock eVGA 8800GT 512 that I overclocked after I bought an Accelero S1 Rev2 with the Turbo Module. The stock heatsink ran load temps of around 80C (at stock speeds) and idled at 56C or so. After swapping in the Accelero S1 with the Turbo Module modded to run at 5v instead of the full 12v, I was hitting load temps of 56C after overclocking, and idling in the 30's. I would definitely suggest RMAing it, as that card is running way too hot. 90C will cause artifacting on most, if not all, cards.

 

[error8]

No way you should have 90 C with the S1 and with the turbo modules. Mine has only 52 C on load and that is with a volt mod, so 90 C is incredible. The cooler is clearly installed wrong.

The other problem could also be the factory overclock. Maybe ECS didn't test the card enough at those overclock settings and it looks that by reducing them your problem went away. So, if the card doesn't work how it should on stock settings it means that is defective, so you should RMA it.

 

[spitz10]

Just issued my support ticket with ECS (I woulda just RMAd it to newegg but I already sent in for my rebate).

Monitored my temps a little bit. Here is what I have WITH turbo modules, no load:

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/7916/temps1tr0.jpg


This is during the CS:S video stress test:

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/981/temps2lw1.jpg


So does this just seem way too hot?

 

[DarkRogue]

Unless it's extremely hot in your room, those numbers look like the numbers I got with the STOCK cooler. The Accelero should drop the temps by a huge margin, so if those are the temps with the Accelero, there's a big problem.

 

[Killrose]

it may not be a problem with the core but a problem with the memmory chips or only one of them. Underclock the core like crazy first and see what happens. Drop the core to 600MHz or so. If the problem persists drop the mem speed. Whatever, its RMA time IMHO.

 

[v8envy]

I have that exact same card, and typical load temps are under 50C with the turbo modules installed. Stress testing hits 55C and 36C environment now that room temperature is warmer. There's no way you should see 90C unless there's absolutely 0 airflow in your case.

 

[spitz10]

I really dont think airflow is a problem, and my room is plenty cold. Here is a pic of my case:

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/4960/case1bc8.jpg

Here is a pic of the accelero:

http://img147.imageshack.us/im.../1300/accelero1vx3.jpg

Does anything seem out of the ordinary here? I just dont understand why my temps would be so high. I am no cooler/heatsink mounting expert, but there doesnt appear to be anything wrong at all with how the accelero is mounted, so I just dont know what would be "wrong" with the card. F*ck me for actually staying on top of my rebates for a change and getting them out early, preventing me from just RMAing this back to newegg which I have a feeling would be much easier.

Also, not sure what this means, but after messing around with all the stuff for awhile, I magically was able to play COD4 for 20 minutes or so with no errors at all, whereas before everything would lockup at about the 5 minute mark. Again, dont know if that means anything, but just figured id mention it.

Thanks again.

 

[Buck Armstrong]

Originally posted by: Lithan
Yes but HIS GT is running with a Enormous cooler with two fans strapped on it. (accelero s1)

Well, sure...when you put it that way...

 

[SergeC]

My GTS 512 with an accelero never gets over 62c at load. If you're over 90, somethng isn't working right.

Either re-seat the cooler, or RMA.

 

[DarkRogue]

Quick questions from the pics:

1) Do the fans spin? I can't really tell, but the power connectors coming off the Turbo Module looks a little low, the cable is suppsoed to be tucked in between the fins of the Accelero so that it won't interfere with the fan blades.

2) In that second pic, above the right hand fan, there's a piece of black plastic. That is supposed to hook onto a clip on the other side that clips onto the video card. Where is this piece on the left fan? I can't see it.

I doubt it's the fans because the Accelero was designed to cool passively, but wouldn't hurt to make sure. One more thing you can try is look at the back of the card for the 4 screws that mount the Accelero onto the GPU and see if they can be tightened any more. While you're at it, check to make sure the ramsinks (Miniature heatsinks on the video card's memory modules) are attached.

 

[spitz10]

1) Yep, fans spinning. I would hope I am not that big of a noob, but yea - worth checking.

2) Yea that piece of plastic is only on the right side. That seems standard though - look at these pics from this review:

http://www.tweaktown.com/revie..._3_the_card/index.html

All the heatsinks seem to be properly in place and secured. Ill try tightening the screws a little bit.

I found a number to ECS, trying to speed the process up a little bit. Talked to some guy who seemed pissed at life - wasnt much help - just told me to call back monday to the RMA department, and they will probably send me a new one. They just better not make me send this one out first.

Just out of curiosity, is there a chance the temps are just being "reported" incorrectly? On my ATI X1900GT that would get up to pretty high temps, you couldnt even touch the thing barely. But touching this card, it honestly barely even feels hot at all. Just seems strange that my temps would be so far off from what everyone else seems to be getting, without a glaring defect on the card.

Thanks guys.

 

[DarkRogue]

Well, technically that part is optional as all it does is prevent damage to the card or heatsink from mishandling. There are two of them normally though, as seen here:
http://www.dragonsteelmods.com...cooling-accelero26.JPG

Having only one might be an ECS thing. I doubt temps are being misreported. It's one thing to report temps incorrectly, it's another when your card is artifacting and preventing you from playing any games. Even if it is misreporting temps, that doesn't help you with the problem at hand. Someone else suggested this before but you could return the card to stock speeds of 600/900 and see if that works.

Edit: Typos.

 

[spitz10]

"Even if it is misreporting temps, that doesn't help you with the problem at hand."

Agreed.

Also Dark, I know you came in a little later, but yea, I mentioned in my first post that I underclocked my card back to "stock" settings of 600/900 and have absolutely no problems. Temps still arent much lower at all, maybe 2-3 degrees lower, max.

So yea, if I underclock it, the card works perfectly, and lately, even at 650/950, I havent had near as much trouble, but none the less, the temps seem to AT LEAST prevent me from overclocking at all because as soon as I try to go over 670/950, I get artifacts within 15 seconds on ATI Tool.

Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it.

 

[spitz10]

Little update:

Playing CS:S for about 30 minutes never got core temp above 77 degrees.
On COD4 for about 15 minutes max was 87, and avg was about 84-85.

Is this still too high? It seems like it is, considering this cooler, but it doesnt seem waaaaay out of the ordinary.