New GTX 780ti, crashing AC4 and Farcry 3, possibly Physx related. - Need help

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ARandomHobo

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Hi guys, my new GTX 780ti arrived a couple of days ago, I have installed the card, and the drivers (using GeFore Experience). The card seems to be working correctly, I am able to play The Witcher 2, Skyrim, Bioshock Infinite all on ultra settings. I am, however, experiencing crashes while playing Assassins Creed: Black Flag and Farcry 3.

With Assassins Creed, I am able to get into the game, but after a while (anywhere between 10 seconds to 5 mins) of playing, the game crashes. The game freezes, then my primary monitor goes black, and my secondary disconnects for a brief moment, then the displays return and I am forced to close the game manually. I am, however, able to play the game without crashes if I turn off the Physx setting (everything else can stay on max settings).

With Farcry 3, the game crashes a few moments after the menu is loaded. I am able to play Farcry 3 on all low settings (going to play around with the settings in the morning). I am wondering if the problem is related to Physx, as I am able to play AC4 with Physx turned off (Farcry doesn't have a Physx option).

I have installed the latest graphics card drivers, tried rolling back the drivers, have changed 'Power management' mode to 'prefer maximum performance' (recommended on another forum), changed Physx between the GPU and CPU. I have re installed the Physx drivers, tried old versions and installed the legacy drivers, tried verifying files (only AC4 gave me the option). Non of these helped to fix the problem. I have both AC4 and Farcry 3 on Uplay, so I am wondering if that has something to do with it.

PC Specs:
i7-2600
16gig RAM
GTX 780ti
750W PSU
PCI 2.0 Motherboard

Thanks for taking the time to look over my post, I really hope someone out there has a fix for me :)
 
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Far Cry 3 has no PhysX anything in it, so PhysX is not the problem. Be sure to switch your PhysX settings back to Auto and never use the CPU option with an Nvidia card.

You seem like maybe you upgraded from an AMD card? Did you completely uninstall all your old drivers, both Nvidia and AMD? The other thing is the individual game settings. Sometimes there are options that get enabled that don't play well with individual games. Play around with the Transparency AA and Ambient Occlusion settings. If you use VSync, be sure to use Adaptive VSync.

Finally, I have heard that PhysX in AC4 is still a little buggy, so make sure you are using the very latest Nvidia drivers and have the latest game patches. Be sure to check out this performance guide:
http://www.geforce.com//whats-new/guides/assassins-creed-iv-black-flag-graphics-and-performance-guide
 
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ARandomHobo

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I haven't tried that, is there a way to install the motherboard driver automatically, or do you do it through the manufacturers website?
I have been able to play Farcry 3 without crashes by turning 'Alpha to Coverage' off and keeping everything else on max. I also tested the heat of the card and CPU. The GPU hangs around 83c and get to 86c sometimes and the CPU can get up to 80c playing AC4, as far as I know this isn't anything to worry about.
 
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renz496

renz496

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with AC4 the problem might very well caused by PhysX since it was first official implementation of applying PhysX related software on top of other physics engine (AC4 game engine Anvil Next were using Havok as their core physics engine).
 
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You can either get the motherboard drivers off your manufacturer's website, or you can get the latest Intel chipset installation utility from Intel. You should probably go with your manufacturer's website first.

I just want to make sure... you wrote 80c for your CPU?
That's pretty high, but I don't know if it's above your safety threshold. You might want to consider that there may be a heating/airflow issue that's contributing to your crashes, maybe when things get too hot. Your GPU will always target 83c, but if it gets to 86c and the fans are running like crazy, then that's a problem. If the fans are not overcompensating and running at normal speeds, then disregard.

The last thing that comes to mind is that your problem was with two games from the same company, Ubisoft. So there's a possibility that some game settings isn't sitting too well with the rest of your setup. I have Far Cry 3 and a GTX 780 Ti that I run with everything on Ultra with no problems at all. Almost all my Nvidia Control Panel settings are on "Application controlled". Be sure to put Multi-display/Mixed GPU acceleration on "Single display performance mode".
 
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ARandomHobo

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Switching Multi-display/Mixed GPU acceleration to "Single display performance mode" fixed my problems with both AC4 FarCry 3 (thank you thank you thank you), I will spend some more time on the games making sure it is 100% fixed.

While playing Farcry my CPU's heat was staying around 88-91c, then in the intensive parts when to 95c and the game was juttering and frames went way down. As soon as the temp went back down to around 90c, there was no more lag. I was running scans at the time, but even so, this seems like it should be a concern. The heatsink is very dusty and I guess I should get around to cleaning it. I have been putting it off because the the idea of cleaning the cpu scares me.
 
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Your temps are high and I've been reading that 95c is the point where the CPU begins to throttle itself down. Airflow and a clean GPU should help. Maybe a better CPU cooler, if you don't already have a good one. Cleaning the CPU really isn't that big of a deal. You're actually just cleaning the metal heat spreader that goes over the actual CPU chip. So as long as you don't spread a bunch of thermal paste all over the place, you should be fine.

I've never figured out why Nvidia defaults that setting to "Multiple display performance mode".
 
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ARandomHobo

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I played Farcry for about 40 mins with no crashes, then moved on to Assassin's Creed and played it for a bit over an hour, then it crashed, same crash as before. I tried Farcry and it crashed a couple of minutes in. I restarted my computer and was able to play AC4 for 15 mins then it crashed again. Changing Multi-display/Mixed GPU acceleration to "Single display performance mode" helped for a bit, but now the problem has come back :'(
 
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domdom

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domdom

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Hi there, I bought my 1st pc recently, it also has a gtx 780 ti and i too had a problem with far cry 3 crashing, leaving my monitor disconnected. I fiddled round with the in game settings a bit including anti aliasing. I eventually set anti aliasing to 0 because this was in the default settings, and i don't really know what i'm doing haha. This fixed it for me :)
 
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mr91

mr91

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I also think your high cpu temps are the culprit! My guess is that you bought a non reference 780 ti and it's recycling hot air in the case.

Regardless you should upgrade your cpu cooler or re apply your thermal paste to solve the problems.

Make sure your cpu isn't overclocked.

I also suggest you manually set up your cpu voltage because auto might increase voltage and heat beyond specifications.
 
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Kekoh

Kekoh

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I agree the CPU heat definitely seems like a problem. It could easily be contributing to this issue, or maybe even be causing the crashes.

95C max is way too hot. I suggest getting a new cpu cooler, thermal paste, and perhaps some new case fans if you have extra slots or if the current ones are old and dusty.
 
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Eggz

Eggz

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I agree that the CPU temps are the first thing to check, but don't spend any money until you see whether cleaning the heatsink helps. Your CPU is old enough to have accumulated a lot of dust. Dust can certainly cause temps to run that high! For this post, I'll assume you have a dusty heatsink (even though you may not . . . just check).

The heatsink works by moving heat to the thin metal slices (a.k.a "heat spreaders"), and the cooling happens when the fans blow the heat off from the metal. Dust messes up this whole processes. Rather than blowing air on the metal, the fans will blow air on the dust. As a result, almost no heat gets blown away. What can you do about it?

The simplest solution is to use high-pressured air from an air compressor or, if you don't have access to an air compressor, from a canned computer duster. Use an air compressor if you can because computer duster cans leave a toxic chemical residue behind that is very difficult to remove. If you must use a computer duster can, just don't touch your heatsink much afterward, and wash your hands after any time you do touch it.

Another option is to remove the heatsink and actually clean it - with soap and water. This will give you the best results, and it's okay to do only if your heatsink has no electrical plugs on it. If it doesn't, just remove the fans and give it a scrub in the sink. Then dry it with a towel and then a blow drier. To put it back on, you'll need to reapply thermal paste. Look that up if you don't know how to do it.

Good luck!
 
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