Graphics card works with some games, crashes whole system with others

Kathium

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Jul 30, 2013
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I've had my PC for just over a month now but the whole time I've had it, on certain games after 5 minutes or less than opening it, the screen goes blank and i get 1 long beep followed by 3 short ones from the mobo... I have an ASUS Sabretooth 990fx mobo, Sparkle GTX 660 graphics card and an AMD FX 8350 cpu. I looked up the beep code and it means that there is a memory failure with my graphics card, I have reseated it on my mobo and RAM and even reinstalled my graphics drivers, it's just really confusing me because it works on games such as Arma 2, Arma 3, Killing floor but not with games such as Defiance, Loadout and TF2... So what could be wrong??
 

MC_K7

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Maybe the games that crash use more memory or use it differently I don't know. Anyways, I would contact Sparkle support, you might have a defective card. Or if it still under warranty (usually 30 days) from the store where you bought it you might get a direct exchange.
 

Kathium

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Jul 30, 2013
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I ran furmark and it ran through fine... the crad did reach 51 degrees though
 

Kathium

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Jul 30, 2013
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I have a 600W supply and my computer only needs 400W (according to the manufacturer) is there any way i can check and adjust the power being sent to the GPU??
 

Hard Line

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Apr 15, 2008
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depending on overclocks and other hardware in your system, without knowing brand of power supply as well, you are already close to 400W and some games cause the gpu to draw more power. the cheap power supplies don't ever put out the rated W. 600W only putting out half that in many cases. ( not saying that is the case with yours, we don't know which unit you have )
 

Kathium

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Jul 30, 2013
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Oh right I didn't know that, the power supply is a corsair cx 600 psu, Is there any way to test if it is the power supply?
 

Kathium

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Jul 30, 2013
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After searching around... I'm gonna try a few possible solutions:

  • Checking the ram voltage and adjusting to recommended settings.
    Check the psu in case it needs more juice.
    Underclock the card and restrict the power + experiment with it to see if it's pulling too much power.
    Try memtest, then test my gpu and ram in a friends computer
are there any other things I can do to see if anything needs replacing or power adjustment?
 

Hard Line

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I would do these suggestions. the CX600 should in theory be enough it is a decent unit ( though not as good as the TX 650 (remember they cut corners to make them cheaper)) Please report back to us when you have done them