This has me quite frustrated, as no matter what I try, the same thing always happens.
Here's the deal: About a year ago I built my first computer:
ASUS P5N32-E 680i
XFX 8800GT (factory OC'd to 625MHz)
WD Raptor
2 GB Crucial Ballistix 800
Ultra X3 1kW PSU
Windows XP
I had everything except the CPU and I didn't have a lot of extra cash at the time, so I just went for a cheap CPU, intending to get a better one later. I ended up with an E4500 (2.2GHz). Of course I never got around to upgrading so I'm still using it.
A couple months after I finished it, the system quit working. A local shop said the motherboard and raptor were bad, so I RMA'd both. ASUS upgraded me to a P5N-t Deluxe (780i) because they were out of the other one. I thought 'Sure, why not, free upgrade, better chipset, lets do it.'
I get everything back and it all works fine. Then I start trying a few games here and there. I notice that on several it would freeze at cetain points, like an autosave in Sins of a Solar Empire, or randomly during Company of Heroes and Oblivion. I tried different settings, to no avail. I really didn't play that often, so I pretty much forgot about it, stuck with UT Classic mostly.
Until last week.
I found a great deal on the XFX GTX260 Black Edition, so I jumped on it. Seeing as how I'm not a huge gamer, I'm sure I could've spent the money elsewhere, but I didn't.
It came with Far Cry 2, so after I install the new card and the latest drivers, I fire it up and halfway through the intro (driving) it freezes. I see a lot of this on several forums, but not exactly the same problem (frozen image, last half-second of audio looping indefinitely). I'm thinking maybe the factory OC'd cards need the ones from the vendor (XFX), so I downgrade to whichever ones XFX recommended. Lo and behold, it works great. I play for a couple hours, save and quit. Next day I go to play again, not even 2 minutes in and it freezes on me.
My first thought is the PSU. Its supposed to have 70 A on the +12v rail, but maybe its defective. I slap in a spare one that came bundled with my case. Its not a very good one (rosewill), but it should have plenty of power (950W). Fire it up, works like a charm. So I'm thinkin great, I just need a different PSU. No biggie.
Next day I go to play again and it freezes maybe 5 minutes in. What are the odds of two bad PSUs? I even tried turning some of the setting down, but to no avail. So that didn't work out.
I slap in my old graphics card ( I hadn't played anything demanding on it in a few months.), same problem.
My monitor maxes out at 1280x1024, so both of these cards should be able to handle Far Cry 2. I've run every test I can think of. Memtest86, Prime95, 3dMark06 and Vantage work without issue. Temps are fine all around. I've duplicated the problem on both cards on 3 different operating systems (XP, XP 64bit, and Windows 7 beta 64bit).
I'm currently considering the CPU and motherboard as suspects. Is the processor too slow for these cards? I wouldn't think so, but you never know. I don't have any way of testing the motherboard, except that everything else seems to be working.
Anyone have any thoughts? Sorry for the essay. Too many issues to deal with here.
At present, these are my system specs:
ASUS P5N-T Deluxe (780i)
intel E4500 (2.2GHz)
4 GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer @ 800MHz
150 GB Raptor
2x WD 1 TB
Ultra X3 1kW
Windows 7 64bit
XFX GTX260 Black Edition (666MHz)
and/or
XFX 8800GT (625MHz)
Here's the deal: About a year ago I built my first computer:
ASUS P5N32-E 680i
XFX 8800GT (factory OC'd to 625MHz)
WD Raptor
2 GB Crucial Ballistix 800
Ultra X3 1kW PSU
Windows XP
I had everything except the CPU and I didn't have a lot of extra cash at the time, so I just went for a cheap CPU, intending to get a better one later. I ended up with an E4500 (2.2GHz). Of course I never got around to upgrading so I'm still using it.
A couple months after I finished it, the system quit working. A local shop said the motherboard and raptor were bad, so I RMA'd both. ASUS upgraded me to a P5N-t Deluxe (780i) because they were out of the other one. I thought 'Sure, why not, free upgrade, better chipset, lets do it.'
I get everything back and it all works fine. Then I start trying a few games here and there. I notice that on several it would freeze at cetain points, like an autosave in Sins of a Solar Empire, or randomly during Company of Heroes and Oblivion. I tried different settings, to no avail. I really didn't play that often, so I pretty much forgot about it, stuck with UT Classic mostly.
Until last week.
I found a great deal on the XFX GTX260 Black Edition, so I jumped on it. Seeing as how I'm not a huge gamer, I'm sure I could've spent the money elsewhere, but I didn't.
It came with Far Cry 2, so after I install the new card and the latest drivers, I fire it up and halfway through the intro (driving) it freezes. I see a lot of this on several forums, but not exactly the same problem (frozen image, last half-second of audio looping indefinitely). I'm thinking maybe the factory OC'd cards need the ones from the vendor (XFX), so I downgrade to whichever ones XFX recommended. Lo and behold, it works great. I play for a couple hours, save and quit. Next day I go to play again, not even 2 minutes in and it freezes on me.
My first thought is the PSU. Its supposed to have 70 A on the +12v rail, but maybe its defective. I slap in a spare one that came bundled with my case. Its not a very good one (rosewill), but it should have plenty of power (950W). Fire it up, works like a charm. So I'm thinkin great, I just need a different PSU. No biggie.
Next day I go to play again and it freezes maybe 5 minutes in. What are the odds of two bad PSUs? I even tried turning some of the setting down, but to no avail. So that didn't work out.
I slap in my old graphics card ( I hadn't played anything demanding on it in a few months.), same problem.
My monitor maxes out at 1280x1024, so both of these cards should be able to handle Far Cry 2. I've run every test I can think of. Memtest86, Prime95, 3dMark06 and Vantage work without issue. Temps are fine all around. I've duplicated the problem on both cards on 3 different operating systems (XP, XP 64bit, and Windows 7 beta 64bit).
I'm currently considering the CPU and motherboard as suspects. Is the processor too slow for these cards? I wouldn't think so, but you never know. I don't have any way of testing the motherboard, except that everything else seems to be working.
Anyone have any thoughts? Sorry for the essay. Too many issues to deal with here.
At present, these are my system specs:
ASUS P5N-T Deluxe (780i)
intel E4500 (2.2GHz)
4 GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer @ 800MHz
150 GB Raptor
2x WD 1 TB
Ultra X3 1kW
Windows 7 64bit
XFX GTX260 Black Edition (666MHz)
and/or
XFX 8800GT (625MHz)
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram