GeForce 6800 XT Problem

Gregory_Earl

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I just installed this as an upgrade from my old GeForce Ti200.

The problem I'm having is I can't play games now without the screen freezing. I have to reboot the PC, go back to my desktop and start over again. Windows seems fine. No trouble there. It's just gaming that's giving the card hiccups.

I've got a 350watt Antec PS, Soyo KY-K7V Dragon+ board, AMD 1900.
Processor temp is a steady 44C.

I did do a search but wanted more info if possible.


BTW, I did uninstall the old drivers and then installed the new ones as perscribed. Didn't do the safemode thing though. Could that be it you think?

All thoughts welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Greg

UPDATE: The screensaver just froze. Had to reboot.
 

4745454b

Titan
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Problem seems to me to be either heat or voltage related. I believe newer Nvidia cards have the ability to report the temp of the GPU, but I don't remember how this is done. (perhaps through coolbits?) I'd also use speedfan's graphing ability to record the voltage level of the 12V rail. Have it start to graph the 12V rail, then start playing a game that causes the crash. Every now and then, alt-tab out of the game, and back to speedfan. Look for any lulls in the voltage. If 12V checks out ok, you could try looking at the 5V, but I'd be surprised if it was that...
 

Gregory_Earl

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Yes, I did plug in the power connector. I thought I had read that a 350PS was enough but in this case, you may be right.

But wouldn't my system shut down if it were a power issue? It's just freezing when I go to a game. Hummm.
 

4745454b

Titan
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Seeing as its a 6800XT, I would think a 350 would be fine. The XT in this case shows its a lower 6800, not a better one. If memory serves, the XT has only 8 pixel pipelines, making it slower then a 6800/GT. (these have 12 do they not?) Because its a cut down card, I would think an Antec 350W would be fine, unless its failing. (which is why I told you to check the rails for consistancy) If the card fails to recieve enough juice, the results can vary. If its a small dip, it might just clock down and you lose your higher FPS. If its a larger dip, it could lockup , or reboot. (it could also depend on your windows setting. Windows has the "helpful" feature of rebooting upon an error.)
 

plewis00_uk

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I seem to be getting a similar problem with my current PC, my X800GTO will randomly shut-off output to the monitor and freeze the PC during gaming, or sometimes just crash out into Windows with a fatal error in the game. I thought it might be a temperature issue but I'm just not sure.

I had the same thing with my old Shuttle SB75G2 coupled with a NVidia 6600GT. I don't think I've had two bad graphics cards but just can't be sure. It would seem more likely to be the low power output of the SFF PSUs.

Anyway it would look like a power issue of some kind. I was recommended it could be something other than the power supply. You should apparently increase the AGP voltage from the standard 1.5V (assuming it is AGP 8x) to 1.6V or more. I can't do it with my system but I've heard it can fix a lot of problems like this one.

P.S. The 6800GT and 6800 Ultra have 16 pipes not 12. The 6800 vanilla runs 12 pipes. XT and LEs have 8 pipes. However, they should all have 256-bit memory buses (there are a few with 128-bit buses).
 

gomerpile

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I dont care what the specks say my experience says that any 6800 model needs more power and antac lies about their power toms hardware did a psu test and antec was very unstable with the output.
enermax in my opinion is honest and the psu stress test passed flying and very stable I always use enermax and only had one problem and a bigger psu from the 350 to 561 solved the problem the problem was games shutting down after playing a few mins more power solved the problem
 

GeneticWeapon

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I dont care what the specks say my experience says that any 6800 model needs more power

And the problem is, that you have no experience, and you havent a clue of what you're talking about(again).

To the original poster, your power supply should be fine unless you have a whole array of drives hidden inside of your box.
 

plewis00_uk

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It could just be a busted card. If you unlock pipes on a card (not that you have) you may suffer the same things, i.e. total freezing. In 2D modes, most of the card is inactive which might explain why you don't usually get crashes in Windows. The 6800XT isn't exactly a top-of-the-line card (it uses a known pipeline-binned chip), I wouldn't be surprised if some corners had been cut and testing procedures reduced during manufacture.
 

gomerpile

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show how you feel about yourself calling people names dude a search will tell the psu requirements are more than what he has in most cases its more power and the names is really what you are feeling about yourself
 

GeneticWeapon

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By the way you type(the lack of punctuation marks) you're either retarded, or a very small child. If you're neither, then you should be totally freakin' embarrassed.

I recommend you forget about computers for now, and buy Hooked on Phonics :roll:

....also.....please quit giving people advice here.

kthx
 

Gregory_Earl

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Well gentlmen, I loaded that beta driver and it did help a little. I can play a game (MOH) for 30 seconds or so (before that it was more like 2 seconds), then the game freezes. I reboot, and everything is OK......until I get in a game. I've been running the PC all day, it works fine...until I fire up a game.

I am leaning toward getting a new power supply. Even the packaging for the card recommends a 500 watt minimum. Newegg's website said 350 was good enough.

Anymore ideas :idea: ? I'm all ears.
 

4745454b

Titan
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Might I need this.

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_winxp_2k_32bit_91.31.html
No, I don't think that will help. I have already mentioned twice the need to use speedfan to see if the voltage is falling while trying to play the game. You have failed to mention whether you have tried doing this yet. Have you? If not, I'll hold your hand. Download speedfan from this link. http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php Install it and then run the program. It will load all the temp sensers it finds, then load the gui. Click the "Charts" tab, then the "analyze" drop down box. Select voltages, then click the 12V checkbox. You should now be looking at a line graph of your 12V rail. The beauty of this is it will graph even if you are doing something else, like playing a game. Speaking of which, you can then load whatever game you like. You said with the beta drivers it works for about 30secs. Go play the game for 15 or 20 seconds, then alt-tab back to speedfan. Look at the graph. Does it show a drop of the 12V rail? (depending on where it started, and how large the drop is, it might be ok. If it started at 11.9V, and drops as low as 11.8V, you don't have a voltage problem.)
The rule of thumb is 10% is ok, but better if you rail varies only by 5%. (10.8-13.2 is ok, but 11.4-12.6 is better.) I'd worry if your voltage ever goes below 11V.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, ignore the kids. They obviously have issues with each other...
 

shockwave1831

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i have two 6800 xt's in sli mode. I am using "xion 600 watts. no problems at all. also two 300gig seagate sata II . I am trying to figure out how to create a "raid 1" without a floppy disk.
 

Gregory_Earl

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The rule of thumb is 10% is ok, but better if you rail varies only by 5%. (10.8-13.2 is ok, but 11.4-12.6 is better.) I'd worry if your voltage ever goes below 11V.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, ignore the kids. They obviously have issues with each other...

Thanks for that idea. I'm sorry I didn't mention it earlier but I did follow your advise. My voltage never seems to go below 11.85.

But what is the voltage when the game does crash? I can't look at my chart then because I have to reboot the PC to get out of the FREEZE.

Yeah....those kids. You got to lov'em though. :lol:
 

4745454b

Titan
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Agreed, the voltage does seem fine. (it could also be an amperage problem, but I have no idea how to test that. Other then with a different, more powerful powersupply) Because it happens only in the 3d realm and not 2d, I'm guessing its a bad card. If possible, I'd send it back for a replacement. If you can, barrow a friends powersupply and video card to make sure its not a problem with your psu or motherboard slot, but I'm quite sure its a bad card.
Have you checked into seeing if coolbits has the ability to tell you the temp? It could also still be a temp problem with the card. If the fan isn't spining high enough, the heatsink not making proper contact with the GPU, or any other such thing, then the card would be getting to hot. Point the room fan at the card, see if coolbits or some other program can monitor Nvidia temps, and/or use coolbits to underclock the card to see if that helps. (I wouldn't bother with any of this, as again, I'm fairly certain this is a bad card...)
 

fainis

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you can use a digital multimeter paralel with a 12Volt rail...(stick the meansuring wires into a free molex connector)......this way you`ll monitor the voltage (s) real time.... (don`t use a analog multimeter (galvanometer)..it has a low input impedance and may affect your meansuring)

as for the freezing problem ...first you have to take care of the software problems...new driver ..fresh install....
if all things considered...it could be a temp problem...this can also be solved with a digital termometer.....

my problems with the 6800 series were with the 6800gs which had similar problems as your xt....the problems were solved when i updated the drivers

i hope this helps.....excuse the english...

good luck withthat...keep it coming...
 

fainis

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when the amperage is null (the circuit is open) the voltage drop is maximum...when the amperage increases from zero to maximum allowed by that rail...the voltage drops .......

U=RI (normally when the I increases U will have to increase too but in real app R is a complex element (capacitive reactance, inductive reactance and resistance))

the reason U drops when I increases is because P is limited (P is the continuos power) P=UI (in cc)

i hope this helps also...excuse my english everybady

back to our problem ... untill a fresh install ..i still hope it`s a software problem

usually when the power is not enough the sistem simply restarts.....
 

gomerpile

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when I bought the 7800gs I passed the 6800ge to my son he has a 400 watt cheap psu. He was having problems with games crashing to desktop reboots ect... I unpluged as much as I could from the system and the problem went away, I knew the vcard was good because I used it without any problems. I did hook up a second psu for the fans untill I can get a bigger psu.