radeon 9700 crashing

[eklass]

alrighty people... i'm having a problem in doom3 only. i've has this card for a year anda half now, and never had any real problems. the only things "new" are my axp-m 2500 @ 2277 and doom 3.

i did a fresh format, but it seems that after some amount of time playing, the graphics go all corrupt (i still see movement) and ati's vpu recover pops up. i presume it's an overheat problem?

any ideas what could be the problem or how to further investigate? of course the vid card has HSF in addition to volcano 7 on my cpu. also, i have a fan blowing right onto the vid card from the side of the case. relavent specs appear below. any ideas?

specs:
axp-m 2500 @ 17x133
fic a97 (radeon 9700 NP)
cat 3.7

 

[TStep]

I've read that Doom stresses the card like no other games, so I vote for overheating. It is supposed to also make overclocked cards unstable that are otherwise stable. Is your card overclocked? I'd try removing the side of the case and letting more air in there to see if it is an overheating problem.

 

[eklass]

no, the card isn't overclocked (in fact, i wouldhave to flash new bios to enable it). i will try with the case side off, however, i can say that the fan on my volcano 7 sounds like a vacuum and pushes a lot of air over the card (yes i know it's warm, but at least there's air moving over the back of the card)

edit: side of case off and it still crashes. it last a bit longer, but still a problem. could changing the effects have a vast setting? currently i'm running 8x6 high with all advanced settings on except AA. should i consider turning of high quality special effects and the like?

 

[robcy]

When I upgraded from a 1600+ to 2600+ my 9700PRO which until then had run perfectly began locking up randomly. Traced it down to faster processor pushing card harder, not enought cooling card got hotter. Changed the case fans for better models (read louder), and problem solved. When I again upgraded to a 3200+ I changed the case to one that had better flow capacity just in case.

9700's are known to run extremly hot stock, the air comming off your cpu is not really doing it much good since its already warm.

 

[eklass]

i can try putting my case fans back in, as i took them out becasue of the noise

hopefully 2 in + 2 out in addition to my PSU will cool things down