Crysis Trouble

[happy medium]

I'm running 0.3.6 which I think is the latest. It doesn't have the VRM temps. If I contact XFX while the card is still working and not fried, how can they help me out? Send me another that might not get as hot?

If you bought it from Newegg you have a 30 day refund warrenty.

 

[TBSN]

Honestly, I love the card. I think it's been more than 30 days. Too bad the cooler isn't better! The max temp I got the last hour or so playing, with the fan on constant at 80% is 97 degrees!!!!! That can't be good.... And this is underclocked. No wonder the game was crashing.

 

[Qbah]

The card is not working fine. You had to downclock it run a game. And 97C is too much. Also, I have never heard of a single-slot cooler on an XFX HD4870... Do you mean this one? It's still dual-slot. Looks shit tbh... And pumps all the air inside too - no wonder the temps rise so much. Also, I don't think XFX would help in the end, as you would just get another card that is identical so it would overheat anyway... Your best bet would be to get an aftermarket cooler, like an Accelero S1 or something similar (and remember about extra VRM cooling too!) Or try to look for one that dumps the air outside? I had a Accelero Twin Turbo on mine and after gluing some good heatsinks on my VRMs it was fine. Came from stock cooler though - and stock was perfectly fine (except for the varying noise). That is stock ATi.

 

[poohbear]

so, why exactly does the steam version not have bin64? Just noticed this now on my steam version of crysis, i got the weekend sale too, and yes there is NO bin64 folder).

What are the ramifications of running it in 32bit as opposed to 64bit on Vista64? it's still DX10.

 

[TBSN]

The card is not working fine. You had to downclock it run a game. And 97C is too much. Also, I have never heard of a single-slot cooler on an XFX HD4870... Do you mean this one? It's still dual-slot. Looks shit tbh... And pumps all the air inside too - no wonder the temps rise so much. Also, I don't think XFX would help in the end, as you would just get another card that is identical so it would overheat anyway... Your best bet would be to get an aftermarket cooler, like an Accelero S1 or something similar (and remember about extra VRM cooling too!) Or try to look for one that dumps the air outside? I had a Accelero Twin Turbo on mine and after gluing some good heatsinks on my VRMs it was fine. Came from stock cooler though - and stock was perfectly fine (except for the varying noise). That is stock ATi.

Yeah the one you linked to is what I have. Thanks for this advice, I'm grateful I'm finding this out before it dies on me. I have a couple more questions on how I should proceed.

1) If I were to get XFX to swap my card for another, even if it were the same model, is it possible that the new one would run cooler? Maybe my card runs hot?

2)I think getting the Accelero is a good idea. I think I could manage to put it on, but I don't know where the VRMs are. Are they raised cube-like things like on motherboards? Do you know of any links with pics or something to help me out with installing my own cooling? I'll search around.

Thanks a lot for the help!

 

[Qbah]

Yeah the one you linked to is what I have. Thanks for this advice, I'm grateful I'm finding this out before it dies on me. I have a couple more questions on how I should proceed.

1) If I were to get XFX to swap my card for another, even if it were the same model, is it possible that the new one would run cooler? Maybe my card runs hot?

2)I think getting the Accelero is a good idea. I think I could manage to put it on, but I don't know where the VRMs are. Are they raised cube-like things like on motherboards? Do you know of any links with pics or something to help me out with installing my own cooling? I'll search around.

Thanks a lot for the help!

1) It's not very likely, but there's a chance your card is overheating due to a faulty cooler. I would call XFX anyway and tell them your card overheats. If they send out a replacement that's identical and still overheats, you'll be left with getting an aftermarket cooler.

2) As far as VRM cooling goes, the below picture shows VRMs on the HD4870.

You need some decent heatsinks on those 5-6 elements (depending on your brand).

As far as installing 3rd party cooling, it's very easy imo. Just remove your old one (basically unscrew it), clean the chip and RAM and VRMs with acethone (or something similar that removes fat/grease), buy Arctic Silver AS5 thermal paste and use it on your GPU (just a small dip and distribute it evenly with a piece of paper or something). RAM heatsinks have their own glue-thingy so should stick fine (or use my VRM method below ). I had to perma-glue the VRM heatsinks though in my case, they just wouldn't stick. Used standard super glue. Worked like a charm.

You get instructions what steps to do with the cooling. Plenty of vids on youtube too.

EDIT:
There's a very nice article over at Xbitlabs - basically all you need. It has both 3rd party coolers shown and an impressive VRM cooler. You can even see what I was using in this article, without the huge VRM heatsink though so my temps were worse. And this is for HD4890, so expect lower temps. I had the AC TwinTurbo. If you get the VRM cooling from this article, be sure to check if it will fit in your case

 

[TBSN]

Well I contacted XFX and told them the problem. They gave me an RMA number, but if I return it I'll get the same card I think with the same crappy heatsink cooler. Do you think I should go ahead and get an aftermarket cooler or RMA the card?

 

[evolucion8]

I saw in the Newegg's feedback that the card indeed runs a bit hot, but as far as you have good enough ventilation in the case, it shouldn't be a problem, a good example of good airflow like the Antec 900 case. My card dumps air inside of my case and never gets beyond 76C in Crysis in a country where the typical room temperature is between 78F and 93F all year long!!!

 

[TBSN]

I have an antec P182 and the ventilation is pretty good. Also, the temps aren't just high. I have to underclock it and put the fan at a constant 70% to play crysis. That doesn't seem normal to me.

I was thinking, I could run a GPU stress test and compare my load temps to others with the same card. That should tell me if my card is defective.

So I'm wondering if I should send the card back (maybe my card runs unusually hot) or just get an aftermarket cooler for this one?

Any advice on that?

 

[Qbah]

I'd send the card to XFX - I mean it's for free, right? And only after the new one behaves the same, think about getting a nice aftermarket cooler. Something from the two shown in that Xbitlabs article perhaps? The one they recommend

The P182 has excellent ventilation (I have one myself ) - depends of course on your cable management inside.

 

[TBSN]

Cool, thanks for the advice. The only problem is I don't have a card for the meantime (and no integrated graphics) so it's a bit of a PITA. I have an Nvidia 8800GTS that I've been meaning to send back (that's why I bought the ATI card).

So seeing as I have a working card now I'll RMA the 8800, then use it as a backup while the ATI card is getting fixed. Good plan?

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Qbah]

Sounds like a good plan. Be sure to update us once you get your Radeon replacement back!

 

[TBSN]

Will do. Might take a while tho

 

[TBSN]

So I've been trying to convince them to send me a different model of the same card. That's not going to happen.

So, because this problem only happens with one game, I'm thinking that if I RMA the card I'll just have the same one, probably won't run any cooler. So maybe I should just skip the trouble of the RMA and get an aftermarket cooler, like the ones in that article?

Does putting a thirdparty heatsink on void the warranty?

 

[Northern Lawn]

I have the same problem with crysis from STEAM. Warhead works fine but in Crysis, I cannot not change anything in the options without it crashing to desktop.

But I can still play the game on default... Lots of people are having this issue and its not your computer, it's the game. Buggy crap.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

I have the same problem with crysis from STEAM. Warhead works fine but in Crysis, I cannot not change anything in the options without it crashing to desktop.

But I can still play the game on default... Lots of people are having this issue and its not your computer, it's the game. Buggy crap.

No, it's your hardware or drivers.

 

[TBSN]

No, it's your hardware or drivers.

It actually is a bit buggy. Not a mess, but still it's got some problems. A lot of people have had trouble with crashing on otherwise stable video cards (like mine). also the game has some other bugs in the last level where the main boss disappears or goes above or underneath the ship.

I have decided not to RMA my card and rather just get an aftermarket cooler. I really hope that my card doesn't burn out because I'm assuming that my warranty would be voided. I guess i could put the stock heatsink back on if I need to RMA.

 

[taltamir]

WOW!!!!

I underclocked it about 50Mhz and its been running fine for hours!

I was running GPU-Z and the COre temp got up to 90degrees at some point! Is that okay?

Thanks for the tip, that solved everything. Great game by the way.

edit: what is the vrm temp? the ones listed in GPU-Z are GPU Temperature, GPU Temp.(DISPIO), GPU Temp.(MEMIO) and GPU Temp.(SHADERCORE)

XFX has a DOUBLE lifetime warranty (lifetime of consumer, lifetime of the first person he sells it to as used).
So if it does that, you are definitely seeing a case of a defective card. RMA it for a replacement.
if it is old enough, they might throw in a free upgrade for you.

 

[TBSN]

alright then, thanks for the info. I guess I'll RMA it and if it STILL overheats, I'll drop the $60+ on aftermarket cooling...