ASUS M/B incompatible with Geforce 7900GT ?!

[sokos]

Hi guys,

I ve built a system with the following components:
- AMD x2 3800+
- Asus A8N-E 2.0 with latest BIOS 1011
- 2x512MB DDR OCZ Premium CL 2.5-3-3-7(http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/m.../ocz_ddr_pc_3200_premier_dual_channel)
- XFX GF 7900GT Xtreme (520Mzh core)
- 2x250GB Seagate NCQ running on Raid1 on onboard Nvidia Raid Controller
- PSU HEC (Heroichi)Windmill 385W

I installed fresh windows, new drivers for all devices, windows updates etc..etc..
Now the problem is the following:

When I run 3DMark2006 when it reached the Arctic Polar Exploration thing, it starts deforming, showing weird things on the monitor and then exits the application or the system hangs. This also happens in heavy games such as FEAR, where when I test the high or maximum settings, the system hangs.
Many times I try to start games such as Battlefield2, and i get blank screen but I can hear the music of the game running on the back round. Very weird behaviour don't you say?
Any suggestions what can be the problem?

 

[orion23]

What are your temperatures?

Try and have the case open and provide some extra cooling (use a big fan, or open your windows, AC...) while you run the test and see what happens

 

[sokos]

Temperatures are fine, i even touch VGA, cpu cooler, DIMMs, all running cool..
can it be voltage issue? or the PSU power aint enough ?

 

[Steaksauce]

Most likely the PSU then if all parts are running cool. OCing?

 

[sokos]

no O/Cing..

 

[ezdriver]

Well, interestingly, I see that you have an ASUS motherboard and a GeForce 7900GT video card. I also have this combination and have been experiencing graphics corruption since I built this rig about a week ago. When playing certain games, I will get lock-ups, weird textures, etc. and the system becomes so unstable when I go out to desktop that I have to do a reboot to stabilize it.

Thinking that I had either a bad card or drivers installed, I contacted BFG for help. After going through several self-diagnostic tests (BIOS, voltage, IRQ) that turned out OK, I asked the guy what he thought might be the problem. He stated that there is a known issue with all manufacturers of 7900GT cards that are in combination with ASUS motherboards. It only effects the 7900GT cards. They don't know what the cause of the conflict is at this point, but believe that hopefully either an ASUS chipset and/or an Nvidia video driver update will fix it.

ez

 

[EndGame]

That's odd since my A8N-E (1011 bios and newest nVidia drivers) and EVGA 7900GT (newest drivers) perform fine together since I bought the 7900GT. Run BF2, FEAR, COD2, 3DMark06, 05, 03, 01 all run fine. I do have aftermarket cooling on the card and my chip is an X2 4400+........Even went and checked it out before I wrote this post to verify.........

EDIT: Just thought I'd add the rest of my system specs just as an FYI........

2GB Mushkin Xtreme PC4000
Seasonic S12 600W
Antec P180 case
Jing Ting NB cooler
Tuniq Tower H/S Fan
Sytrin Kuformula VF1 Plus H/S Fan on the 7900GT

 

[sokos]

hmm and imagine I m ready to order 50 of these Asus for netcafe rigs!!!
Horror.. now I ll run to get a MSI Neo4-FI to test also ! The one I got home works really nice and dandy.
Another blow for my beloved Asus, after the bad fans that came on the A8N-E

 

[HPTech]

Hi there!

I would be tempted to blame your PSu - 385W isd pretty low for the rig you have running there.

MikeHP

 

[BadThad]

Originally posted by: sokos
hmm and imagine I m ready to order 50 of these Asus for netcafe rigs!!!
Horror.. now I ll run to get a MSI Neo4-FI to test also ! The one I got home works really nice and dandy.
Another blow for my beloved Asus, after the bad fans that came on the A8N-E

My advice, stay away from MSI. Their RMA process is SUCK. I just RMA'd a board and it took them 4+ weeks to get it back to me. Interestingly, I RMA'd an Abit mobo in the middle of that period and I got that back in a WEEK. Abit and Asus are great for tech support IMO.

 

[BadThad]

Originally posted by: HPTech
Hi there!

I would be tempted to blame your PSu - 385W isd pretty low for the rig you have running there.

MikeHP

PSU HEC (Heroichi)Windmill 385W

IMO, that power supply is no where near adequate for your system....not even close. I couldn't find the current specs for that CPU, but I suspect they are not near enough to supply the 7900.

Get yourself a good power supply like OCZ, PCP&C or Seasonic, with dual 12V rails and enough amps to feed that system.

 

[sourceninja]

I have a 7900GT and a asus board (see specs) I was getting graphics curruption in games and occasionally bf2 or oblivion (the only 2 windows games I play in windows) would crash windows. I have ran memtest86 with no errors, everything is working fine otherwise, the computer has ran for over a week running apps like folding@home with no issue. This is interesting.

 

[sokos]

ninja you got a 500W PSU, so that eliminates the PSU being the problem here.
So we are talking about incompatibility here!

What PSU's do you guys have?
Can it be that it needs 24pin psu or smthing?
I ll go get a 500W watts monster tonight for testing!

 

[HPTech]

What is the Ampage on the 12V rail of the 500W PSU sourceninja? Wattage is not everything.

 

[sourceninja]

I'm not sure, but I've tried 3 power supplys, My OCZ modstorm, my fortran, and my antec. All 3 concidered quality high end 24pin PSU's. All of them 500W. I doubt it is a power problem. I suspect a driver problem. I have elimited ram and power. It could possibly be a dual core issue, or a problem with my motherboard.

I should also note it is not a consistant problem. And not a heat issue. I monitor my heat carefully while testing this box. Sometimes it happens right when I zone in oblivion, or right when I start bf2. othertimes i dont have a problem and I've played 8-10 hours of oblivion.

 

[sokos]

Ok guys, I went and bought a 100euros PSU, a Tagan 480W
http://www.tagan.de/pages/products/easyconS/e_tg480_u15.html

Still in the part of 3DMark2006, where it shows the North Pole exploration demo, there is still corrupted graphics on the screen.
Seems I discovered a bad nasty bug, but who's to blaim?! Asus, XFX/Nvidia or MS ?

 

[HPTech]

Uninstall your drivers, use driver cleaner and install the latest WHQL drivers from NVIDIA and see if you get the same issue?

Have you also flashed BIOS on the motherboard? [no responsiblity!]

Edit: Those Tagan PSU's are very good as well. Deffinately not PSU.

 

[sokos]

I will format the PC again this weekend, but I m 99% sure there is some bug here, the PC I just installed it and all drivers are WHQL, Mobo has the latest bios

If anyone from XFX or Asus reads this, please check it out.

 

[sourceninja]

Well, linux runs stable, no crashes, cedega games, ut2004, etc. No problems. Only windows and only in 3d games are there any issues. I suspect this is a driver issue.

 

[sokos]

Yep, or early 7900GT's teething problems?

Listen what I tried today.
I got another PC in my home, a AMD 3700+, with MSI Neo-FI M/B (NF4-U), 2x512MB OCZ, 2 Seagates 200GB's and use the 480W Tagan PSU with 24pins etc,etc
This machine used to have a 7600GT, so I just swapped the XFX 7900GT inside, Windows saw it fine and I did run the 3DMark2006 v.1.02 Basic.
Again same corrupted graphics at the last test (North Pole Exploration)!
But this time the whole PC rebooted, so when it loaded windows again it gave me a Windows recovered from a serious crash etc, send error to MS and here is what comes out:
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/response.as...4a1-f1d5-46e8-932f-f7d86ea1fa25&SID=11

So for sure it's either the Video driver has an ugly bug, or the XFX card has problems that runs at 520Mhz from XFX (reminder that there is no O/C-ing done by me)

 

[mechBgon]

The memory clock is pretty high on your card, you might try backing it down to stock 1320MHz as a fact-finding step.

 

[sokos]

check this out!
7900GT's pushing problems!
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=235