crashing during high intensity graphics

[omghaxcode]

my computer is crashing during graphically intense games. It happens in all games Crysis 2, BF 3 beta, and any other high end graphics games. are the GPUs overheating? bad memory? cpu overheating? any tips/advice

ultra graphics on all games:
ASUS Rampage Formula
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
Corsair 1000 watt PSU
4x2gb Corsair DDR2 1066 Ram
2xRadeon 4870x2 Crossfire
Western Digital Raptor 150 GB HD
Western Digital VelociRaptor 300 GB HD

 

[Costas Athan]

I will refer you to an older post of mine ==> http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=32305958&postcount=4

FurMark also shows the GPU's temp while stressing it.

 

[omghaxcode]

I ran Furmark and it crashed after about 3-5 minutes. temps were in the high 90s. What can I do to bring that temp down? does case cooling really help or do I need an aftermarket fan for my gpu? is that even possible?

 

[omghaxcode]

wow... just crashed during prime95 also... took about 20 minutes @ 4 threads @ 100% cpu.

I think the main issue here is the gpus though. I just ran gpuz while playing the bf3 beta until it crashed and had it log all temps. GPU temp was at 94. GPU MEMIO was at 100.5

this is clearly too high. what can I do?

 

[Fardringle]

If your CPU (Prime95) and GPUs are both overheating, I'd say you have a problem with airflow in your case. Check to make sure all of your case fans are spinning properly and clean the dust out of all of the vents and heat sinks.

 

[omghaxcode]

air flow is trash but I don't really know what to do about it. I don't think it is possible to fix the table mess inside. I might just buy a few more fans since I have a Cosmos S and it has plenty of space.

 

[Costas Athan]

wow... just crashed during prime95 also... took about 20 minutes @ 4 threads @ 100% cpu.

I think the main issue here is the gpus though. I just ran gpuz while playing the bf3 beta until it crashed and had it log all temps. GPU temp was at 94. GPU MEMIO was at 100.5

this is clearly too high. what can I do?

Prime95 does not stress the GPU. So run a program like CoreTemp to monitor the temperature of your processor during the CPU stress test with Prime95.

You mentioned that you have Cosmo S tower. How many exhaust fans does it have?

 

[omghaxcode]

I know how prime95 works I'm saying that I think the bigger issue (the reason I'm seeing crashes) is because of the GPUs.

I have 1 in the back 1 up top. I'm going to pick up 2 more today.

the big one on the side is intake as is the one in front of my drives in front.

 

[Costas Athan]

I know how prime95 works I'm saying that I think the bigger issue (the reason I'm seeing crashes) is because of the GPUs.

I have 1 in the back 1 up top. I'm going to pick up 2 more today.

the big one on the side is intake as is the one in front of my drives in front.

Well I can't be 100% sure but I suppose it shouldn't overheat if you haven't overclocked the system.

I have a Chieftec tower with just one exhaust fan and I had overcloked a Pentium 4 in the past and an ATI x700 and now an i7 720 plus a Sapphire 4870 and I never had problems with overheating.

I'm not sure that you have bad airflow with so many fans...

 

[denis280]

My son did get that same problem with a gforce 9800 gt.got it to work fine with a new fan. Zalman with heatsink.

 

[omghaxcode]

I just bought 2 new 2000 rpm and put them on top as exhaust. I now have:
Exhaust: 3 top(120mm), 1 rear (120mm)
Intake: 1 front(120mm), 1 side (230mm)

I'm still getting crashes. No BSOD, no errors, just power off/on restart

 

[omghaxcode]

is it really that bad?

 

[omghaxcode]

I reran gpuz until it crashed and now I'm seeing it crash at 54% load and 91 degrees C... I guess it isn't graphics card over heating?

 

[omghaxcode]

my cpu reaches 82 C... is that bad? what is the shutdown temp for the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550

 

[Costas Athan]

is it really that bad?

No it isn't that bad and with so many fans it shoud be OK. Have you overclocked the machine (CPU or GPU)?

I reran gpuz until it crashed and now I'm seeing it crash at 54% load and 91 degrees C... I guess it isn't graphics card over heating?

Well 91 degrees Celsius is a high temperature for the GPU, but if I remember correctly during stressing my 4870 with FurMark in Summer it passed 100 degrees Celsius without a restart.

my cpu reaches 82 C... is that bad? what is the shutdown temp for the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550

82 is a high temperature for the CPU. Not sure if it is enough to cause a restart though.

But certainly even if the temps aren't the cause of the restart they are high. Especially if you haven't overclocked anything.

 

[VirtualLarry]

82 is a high temperature for the CPU. Not sure if it is enough to cause a restart though.

But certainly even if the temps aren't the cause of the restart they are high. Especially if you haven't overclocked anything.

My Q9300 was getting as high as 86C on the cores. It didn't restart or crash because of those temps, it kept on trucking.

I upgraded the case yesterday to a Rosewill Blackhawk, now temps are about 10-12C lower. (Five fans!)

 

[Majic 7]

My 4870X2 started giving me trouble when vreg temps got above 90. Monitored them on a second screen while gaming and 90 was soon followed by a video driver stopped responding black screen. There is a long thread at Guru3D about 4870X2s giving up the ghost after about two years, usually if not always related to temps. Never buying a dual chip card again.

 

[Costas Athan]

I run a Prime95 stress test for my i7 920 overclocked at 3.6 GHz with slightly raised compared to default Vcore, Uncore and CPU PLL voltages and after several minutes of stressing it reached 83 degrees Celsius with a room temperature around 28 degrees C.

In the past with higher voltages it had reached 92-93 C without a restart.

My 4870 reached a max of 88 degrees C when I stressed it with FurMark, also at the same room temp and also without a restart.

I'm not sure why your CPU reaches 82 if it is not overclocked. Your GPU has almost the same temp with mine so it is a mystery why it is causing a restart.

 

[omghaxcode]

ok ran an experiment. took one 4870x2 out (the lower one) so the top one could "breath" better. I played BF3 beta with no crash for hours. Another thing I thought of, it might be the PSU. The ran occasionally makes a rattling sound. Might be an issue there also.

spend 3k on a gaming machine and you kinda assume your shit will work 3 years later...

 

[omghaxcode]

my idle temps on my gpus are so hot...
1: 86C @ 27% fan
2: 65C @ 0% fan
3: 55C @ 0% fan
4: 71C @ 27% fan

If they are this hot, why doesn't the fan spin faster? (no OC btw)

 

[thescreensavers]

is it really that bad?

You see the 3 Pin Fan Cable laying on the PCI card?

Protip: Wind that cable on your screw driver, then slide it off. Enjoy

 

[omghaxcode]

it's actually not touching, it is bent up

 

[Costas Athan]

my idle temps on my gpus are so hot...
1: 86C @ 27% fan
2: 65C @ 0% fan
3: 55C @ 0% fan
4: 71C @ 27% fan

If they are this hot, why doesn't the fan spin faster? (no OC btw)

Actually they aren't so hot. Only one of the two cards has a hot core. Mine has a temperature of 64 C while idling. It's a little bit overclocked (780 MHz vs 750 MHz default for the GPU and 1050 MHz vs 900 Mhz default for the memory). Check it again to make sure that this is the actual temperature when the GPU is idle. Maybe it was just a coincidence. (You aren't running any programs like the GPU client of Folding@home, right?)

The fan rarely works at high revs. When I was running FurMark with 86 C it was at 73%. Some time ago I had set it manually to 100% just to see if there would be any significant temp change during the stress test, but if I can remember correctly there wasn't. The only change was the louder noise actually...

 

[omghaxcode]

Second reading:

1: 84C @ 28% fan
2: 66C @ 0% fan
3: 58C @ 0% fan
4: 76C @ 27% fan

All gpus at 0% activity.
Programs: firefox, CCC, pidgin

 

[THRiLL KiLL]

looking at the reviews of the case, i see it has a side fan.

1. is it enabled.
2. intake or exhaust?