Nvidia9600 all games crash

[freeguy]

Just replaced my GS8800 which was crashing on games after 20minutes or so, with a GT9600..and the same thing happens! I feel cursed.Downloaded the latest 9600 driver of course, that did'nt help.
Doesn't seem to be a temperature problem . I've got a 500watt psu so that shouldn't be a problem.
I'm running XP (SP2) on an intel dual core with P5VD2-MX motherboard,
2g ram and an audigy Z2 soundcard
I'm trying to play things like Medieval2,
stalker & hopefully spore if I can get so lucky. Anyone got a helpful suggestion?

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

What kinds of temps are you running? Also, please give us more info on your power supply. Because some 500 watt power supplies are so weak that they would not run this card.

If you look at the sticker you can find the amps on the 12v+ rail, that's the main spec we are concerned with. I've seen some with 17 amps for a 500 watt supply. But then some better 400 watt units might push 30 amps. So even though the wattage rating is different, the 400 watt in a case like that is actually a lot better unit.

I would check the power supply, but also check the temps. There's a program called speedfan that should be able to give you all those specs. It's free as well.

If it's not a PSU problem, I'd say temperatures, it almost sounds like you start playing and as you are playing, the card heats up and then your game crashes, but then temps go back down when the load is off. Just an idea. If your PSU is a quality one, one quick fix would be to try grabbing a pci slot cooling fan and place it a slot or so below your card to vent hot air building up under the card out the back of the case. My Galaxy 9600gt usually stays in the 30's at idle, and maybe in the 40's and 50's during games? But that's how I've got mine set with a fan blowing in the side as well.

 

[tman1]

I doubt the power supply is the problem, sine I was running a 9600GT with a 500 watt PS for a while with no such issues, and my specs were: Q6600 @ 2.8Ghz, 4GB ram, 2 250GB SATA drives, SATA DVDRW, Vista Ultimate 64bit.

I would suggest wiping your system and reload.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

But that's what I'm saying. If you have a cheap 500 watt power supply for example, it may not be as good as say a quality 350 watt power supply. So if the 500 watt PSU is cheap, then it may be the problem.

 

[freeguy]

What kinds of temps are you running? Also, please give us more info on your power supply. Because some 500 watt power supplies are so weak that they would not run this card.

If you look at the sticker you can find the amps on the 12v+ rail, that's the main spec we are concerned with. I've seen some with 17 amps for a 500 watt supply. But then some better 400 watt units might push 30 amps. So even though the wattage rating is different, the 400 watt in a case like that is actually a lot better unit.

I would check the power supply, but also check the temps. There's a program called speedfan that should be able to give you all those specs. It's free as well.

If it's not a PSU problem, I'd say temperatures, it almost sounds like you start playing and as you are playing, the card heats up and then your game crashes, but then temps go back down when the load is off. Just an idea. If your PSU is a quality one, one quick fix would be to try grabbing a pci slot cooling fan and place it a slot or so below your card to vent hot air building up under the card out the back of the case. My Galaxy 9600gt usually stays in the 30's at idle, and maybe in the 40's and 50's during games? But that's how I've got mine set with a fan blowing in the side as well.

Hi! Thanx for your response. My PSU is an X-SONIC model ATXP4 500watt. The 12v+ rail s output is given as 18amps. PC probe tells me its giving about18.3 in practise. Is this enough?
The games generally cut out after about ten to thirty minutes..the screen breaks up into triangles then locks up. I have to shut everything down and start again.
At first I thought it might be temps too high and I've tried leaving the case open, but to no effect. Now I'm not so sure, PC Probe tells me the motherboard temp was only about45C, and CPU tem about 38.. surely not too hot?
Other thoughts I had to try maybe update motherboard drivers?
Also a breaking thought, maybe I just don't have enough Ram? Total virtual memory is listed at2Gigs but total physical memory is listed as only 1024MBs. pardon my ignorance.

 

[freeguy]

I doubt the power supply is the problem, sine I was running a 9600GT with a 500 watt PS for a while with no such issues, and my specs were: Q6600 @ 2.8Ghz, 4GB ram, 2 250GB SATA drives, SATA DVDRW, Vista Ultimate 64bit.

I would suggest wiping your system and reload.

what you mean reinstall Xp and everything?

 

[tman1]

Yes, that is what I mean.

As for a cheap power supply, I was using the cheap one that came with the Logisys case.


I had problems running certain older games on this same system back when I was using XP, games I knew worked fine on XP, I just had no explanation for the crashes. Formatted my drive, threw Vista on (although a fresh install of XP probably would have worked as well), and those same games run without a hitch.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

I think your power supply could definitely be a culprit. I know I've got a 9600gt and in the specs it said you needed a power supply with 26 amps on the 12v+ rail. So it could be that as things heat up in there, the power supply cannot give enough juice to your card. Reinstalling XP may not be a bad idea either. That may indeed fix it, but even if it does, you might be pushing the limit on the power supply, so might be a good idea to upgrade it so you don't burn up the one you have. Just a thought for later, as if you lose a power supply, it can take out other components, like motherboards and processors. Which I have actually lost a motherboard due to a cheap power supply I think. Can't really confirm that was the actual cause, but I know I got a better power supply and replacement motherboard, and no more issues. Except that the power supply died later on, lol, but the rest of the system is still fine. Just remember when you load a cheap power supply too much, it's kinda like playing russian roulette with your pc.

But judging by the fact you are saying the screen breaks into triangles when it locks up sounds like the video card could be overheating.

So first things first. I think a little better power supply might be in order to ensure your card is getting enough clean juice, and also if you are getting the triangles, or artifacts after a few minutes, you may need to get a little more ventilation to your card.

This is cheap and easy.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150006

This is a pci slot cooler fan, grab one, put it about one slot under your card to help pull heat off the card and out the back of your case and see if that helps.

Here's a decent budget power supply.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008

It's 40 bucks after a 10 dollar mail in rebate, and though it's only 400 watts, it shows the amperage output to be 30 amps, versus you said yours pushes 18 or so?

Other guys can give you better opinions than I can, and I've never used this power supply before, but here is even a 300 watt.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151055

But the difference here is it's got 2 12v+ rails each pushing 17 amps each, vs one pushing 18. Let us know your budget, someone who is more versed in power supplies can give you a better opinion than I can. But I do know corsair usually makes a solid unit.

On reinstalling the OS, before doing that, download a program called drive sweeper I think that's the name of it, boot into safe mode, run drive sweeper and tell it take out all the video drivers on your pc. Restart, and reinstall the latest nvidia drivers for your card and see if that helps.

 

[swifty_morgan]

A cheap power supply could indeed be the problem. Another thing to consider is heat. What card did you get ? Some of the over clocked version had problems. Did you try under clocking the card ?

 

[freeguy]

hmm food for thought.Well if as you say the GT9600 needs 26amps delivered on the 12+v rail but my current PSU is only sending 18amps then that might be it. Where are these specs listed anyway, I did'nt get a user manual with the card for some reason and I couldn't find any relevant info on the Nvidia site.
Till the shops open I'll try running it with side open and a desk fan and see if that helps. What about my idea a shortage of memory might be at fault?

 

[RazberyBandit]

9600GT's only draw ~80W of power. That converts to ~7A. Overclocked models will of course draw more power. Based on what I can see here about your PSU, though it's not very good, it's got enough 12V power to run a half-decent system. That is, provided you don't have lots of hard drives, optical drives, fans, etc. In a simple system, it'd be just fine paired with a 9600GT. And considering the fact that an 8800GS draws less power than a 9600GT, well... that's got me thinking something else has to be the problem...

One question I have is, how long was the 8800GS in this system with the same configuration before it gave you any problems?

 

[freeguy]

I have two hard drives (2nd one for video files mainly), 2 fans one dvd burner.
The 8800GS was in for about a month and it started having these problems intermittantly, increasing in frequency over 6 months. I tried updating the driver, some improvement for awhile then crashing after 30 minutes or so again. I just thought it wasn't good enough and I'd just get a better card and not stuff around. haha(ironic laugh) nothing is ever simple.

 

[jitpublisher]

Your PSU should be fine for your needs, if it is not failing.
I would first do a fresh install of Windows, now what I am really looking at is that board with the VIA chipset. I personally have had boards with VIA chipsets in the past, and never had much luck with them, pretty unstable. What temps are the chipset and CPU running?
Do you have a friend or another PC you can try the cards in?
But if this is the second GPU, and it is showing the same problems as before, that would pretty much rule it out as a problem.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Like I said you guys can play russian roulette with your own pc. Just don't do it with mine. But on the power supplies, keep in mind that a power supply's performance will degrade over time. Also, even though his PSU says 18 amps, most cheaper manufacturers will list the peak outputs which the PSU cannot continuously deliver. Especially if you have 2 optical drives, and 2 hard drives, upgrade that PSU. That thing in my opinion could be a time bomb.


Here's where I found the specs for my card.

http://www.galaxytechus.com/usa/96GT_OC.html

Note my card is factory overclocked, however, it's only overclocked at 675 mhz on the core speed. Normal core speed is 650 mhz on the 9600gt. But you have a loaded system, 2 hard drives, 2 burners, and the soundcard plus a decent video card on a PSU with 18 amps? I would not run that. Other guys around here may be willing to chance their system to that, but I wouldn't.

And the fact that it started happening more often to me says your PSU may be a time bomb. Granted it may very well be a driver issue or temp issue going on as well, but better safe than sorry.

 

[coozie7]

Check the CPU heatsink, 38C is n`t a bad temperature at idle but if the heatsink is full of dust that temperature might be with the fan running at near full speed and will skyrocket when under load.

But I`ve checked the X-sonic website and the PSU looks to be of the older type with heavy Amps on the +3.3V and +5V rails and less on the +12V.
Given that the 8800GS and 9600GT require much the same power
http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/index.php?showtopic=264
and the problems has been happening for some time, I`d say the PSU looks more likely to be the problem

 

[swifty_morgan]

And what video card do you have ???? ............ LINK

 

[freeguy]

the graphic card's an inno3D GeForce 9600 GT 512mb. Checking out their specs I see they do indeed want a 12+v supplying 30 amps & as the spec written on the side of the PSU boasts a mere 18amps, I am thinking Ohio-u might be onto the problem. (the earlier card was a gigabyte 8800GS {NX88G series}no idea what that needed)
It doesn't seem to be heat related. At last crash the Motherboard temp was 46C and the CPU was 38C. Surely not too hot?Tried running it with the side open and a room fan pointed at it but didn't seem to make a difference.
Thanks for everyones suggestions. I've checked out the other forums and it seems there have been others with my problems, but no one ever says if there was a happy ending was their problem solved or did they just go insane.? Hence I promise that once I find a cure I WILL tell people about it.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

What PSU do I have you mean?

This PSU may not be considered by some to be the greatest, but here's what I've got for the PSU.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3276573&CatId=1483

38 amps on a single 12v+ rail, so I figure that's enough power for anything I could want for a long long time, and a good warranty. I think it's got a lifetime warranty, so if it ever burns up, send it back for a new one.

 

[RazberyBandit]

Just because the manufacturer's website says "500W with 30A" doesn't mean you actually need a PSU with those stats. I can say without a doubt that there are some 300W PSU's out there that can run that configuration. It all depends on the quality of PSU and how much of it's power is actually put on the 12V rail.

I'm starting to think maybe this is software, meaning drivers and/or DirectX related. The system should have enough power available... Maybe it's time to wipe all the system (mobo, cpu, chipset) and video drivers in Safe Mode, reboot, reinstall mobo/chipset driver, reboot, move onto next component, reboot... Once that's complete, install the latest release of DirectX. You could try DirectX first... It couldn't hurt.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

It very well could be software related, but even if that does solve the problem, I still say might be a good idea to upgrade the PSU. There's no sense in risking a good computer because of a cheapo power supply. If you are running a low end card then yeah that PSU is probably ok, but don't chance frying your shiny card or a motherboard over a cheap power supply. Also, temps seem ok, but on mine, I run a pci slot cooling fan, I listed a cheap one in an earlier post, my card idles at about 38 degrees celsius.

 

[freeguy]

steps Ive taken so far. Got some better monitoring software that incuded GPU temp, which was sitting at 60C stationary and everything seemed to run a bit hotter than the Asus pcprobe so I put in a fan just above the graphic card to suck some air out (no room for a pci fan) and everything runs a lot cooler; GPU temp whilst running a game was 49-51C last night. Also put in another 2gigs ram cause the memory being used was in the nineties percent range.
Now crashes fewer, takes longer. and i think the power supply still needs to be addressed. Got someone to put a read the current and it doesnt seem to be getting nough juice really. runs at about 11.7-11.58, dipping under 11.5 at times when the screen froze reading around 11.4.
So Next I'm getting a power supply. Was looking at getting either a corsairVX550 Watt with one 12v rail at 33amps or a
corsairHX550 watt with three 12V rails at 18amp each,
but gosh they are expensive. Chap at the shop I got the card showed me a
Coolermaster extreme power550W with two 12V rails at 16 amps each, adding up to 32Amps, which meets the GT9600's specs.
At $110 the cooler master is about $80(aus) cheaper than the corsairs.
or would I be beter off spending the extra $??

 

[RazberyBandit]

I would avoid CoolerMaster's eXtreme Power series in favor of their Real Power Pro series if you could, but I don't think their 550W version is available any longer.

The Corsair VX550 sells for about $100 here in the States, the HX around $120 or so. Not sure what the exchange rate is presently, though... Maybe you could give us a link to the Aussie version of Newegg.com or where it is you intend to purchase it from? I'd be happy to browse through their selection and help.

 

[wh3resmycar]

hmm food for thought.Well if as you say the GT9600 needs 26amps delivered on the 12+v rail but my current PSU is only sending 18amps then that might be it. Where are these specs listed anyway, I did'nt get a user manual with the card for some reason and I couldn't find any relevant info on the Nvidia site.

cheapos are like that. has a sticker that says 500w but reality is: 12v x 18a = 216w

i suggest you get a corsair vx450(33a on the 12v rail) or a vx550.

 

[RazberyBandit]

Again, the 9600GT doesn't actually need to be paired with a power supply having a 12V rating of 26amps or more. Those guidelines are inflated in order to accommodate the poorly designed power supplies out there on the market that severely falter under load. He has one of those, as the current readings he obtained while it was under load show. If in fact it were a higher quality PSU with the same 18A rating, which didn't falter under load, we wouldn't be here discussing this at all.

Anyway... That card doesn't need a ton of power. Something in the 400-550 watt range should be sufficient. It just needs to be of decent quality. Antec Earthwatts series is one to consider. Usually affordable and quite solid.

 

[freeguy]

The story continued in case anyones still wondering. Tracked down a cheaper Corsair VX 550W, figuring it may be overkill for my needs but it'll give me some futureproofing and anyway i've lost two PC's in the past from dodgy PSU's. and no doubt about it, its a nice piece of equipment.
So, so far I have put in an extra fan, 2gigs more ram and the corsair.
The 12Vrail is humming nicely around12.9 on average, never dropped below12.2. The GPU temp is in the fifties centigrade when gaming, the motherboards and CPU's in the forties. So, can I play games yet?
The good news; I can play medieval 2 for hours with no problems at all.
The bad news; No other game will load up properly. Most, like Rome total war try but just fail to open. Stalker gets to the main screen but crashes when you try to load a saved game. At least Windows doesn't freeze up too, which ir used to do when the games were crashing.
So different symptoms? Different problem? Or the same thing? Prior to this the games were dying after about twenty minutes, screen breaking into triangles and the whole set up freezing. Now, one games works and the rest refuse to load, but the system goes on merrily.
Tried patching Rome to see if that helped. Of course not. Might try uninstalling and reinstalling agian to see if that helps. I fear a general re-install is coming though, sigh.
Ah, all I wanted to do was play some games for a couple of hours in the evening, instead I'm enlessly chasing gremlins. Such is Life.