Palit GeForce 9800 GT - HELP

[brian_cbl]

Hi all!

I bought a Palit GeForce 9800 GT video card last 3 months ago and has since been using it to play games. I've recently been having 'weird' problems with the video card - usual sickness it displays is that it makes the screen on my monitor show thick irregular horizontal areas of a few games I am playing. The problem shows when I play CoD Tales of Valor and Far Cry 2, the games would work fine for a couple of hours then the display just starts to get screwed up, then shows blue screen and reboots.

Here is the rig I've been using:
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.66 GHz
Asus P5KPL-AM G31 chipset
Palit GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB
Geil 2GB DDR2 800MHz
Kingston 1GB DDR2 800MHz
WD Caviar SATA2 160BG
Silverstone Strider ST50F 500W PSU

I haven't had this problems with my old 7200 GS (then again, what games can I play with that card???)

Looking forward to all your answers and suggestions.

THANKS!!!

 

[Hammeh]

Sounds like the card is overheating since it only happens when you have been playing for some time. Make sure that your case has a good airflow around it (not against the side of a desk or anything), make sure all the vents are not obstructed by anything. Also, it is probably worth opening your case, removing any dust/dirt from inside the case and using a can of compressed air to clean all of the fans.

Once you have done all of that, use the card, monitor the temperatures with GPU-Z or RivaTuner, if it is running very hot 85 degrees or above, then you may want to adjust the fanspeed manually with RivaTuner.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Do you set the GPU fan manually prior to gaming? What kind of peak temps does it record while gaming? Sounds like a heat issue at best and damaged VRAM at worst.

 

[coozie7]

Hate to sound like a parrot, but yes, it sounds like a mild case of overheating.
Give the coolers a good clean and install some monitoring software to check the temperatures: Speedfan for the CPU and GPUZ or Rivatuner for the graphics card.

 

[brian_cbl]

@ Hammeh and HundredIslandsBoy

Thanks for the replies!

I've got good airflow on my case 1 up front, 2 at the sides and 1 at the back for exhaust. All are 120mm fans. The cards idle temps are 50 C - 52 C and 60 C - 62 C at gaming. Other games like COD4, Mass Effect, Rainbow Six Vegas, Neverwinter Nights 2 and Quake 4 don't have those problems. I don't set my GPU fan to manual, its on dynamic - 35% at idle and 40% and above when gaming. Also, I have this verson of the Nvidia driver - 185.85.

 

[CefVil]

I'd suggest using EVGA's Precision tool to set GPU fan to 80 or 100% prior any gaming activity. That apparently ended the problems with my GTS 250 and since the 9800 has a similar chipset it could work for you.

My GPU's fan never raised beyond 40% when crashes and lock up's happened daily, had to force it... could it be that these chipsets are "dumb" enough to ignore when to raise fan speed and so overheat to death?

Laters

.C.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

62 C for a 9800 GT on full load is very good. Could be your CPU that's heating up and could also be your Northbridge. The G31 Northbridge is known to run on the hot side. I've used two G31 mainboards (made by Intel adn ECS) and on both I've had to use case fans to keep the Northbridge "warm" and not glowing red hot.

 

[brian_cbl]

I'd suggest using EVGA's Precision tool to set GPU fan to 80 or 100% prior any gaming activity. That apparently ended the problems with my GTS 250 and since the 9800 has a similar chipset it could work for you.

My GPU's fan never raised beyond 40% when crashes and lock up's happened daily, had to force it... could it be that these chipsets are "dumb" enough to ignore when to raise fan speed and so overheat to death?

Laters

.C.

Were can I download the EVGA Precison Tool?

 

[brian_cbl]

62 C for a 9800 GT on full load is very good. Could be your CPU that's heating up and could also be your Northbridge. The G31 Northbridge is known to run on the hot side. I've used two G31 mainboards (made by Intel adn ECS) and on both I've had to use case fans to keep the Northbridge "warm" and not glowing red hot.

MoBo temps are quite fine - 38 C idle, 39 C - 41 C when gaming. I've just tried playing Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six : Vegas on all max settings for 5 hours, and the PC didn't lock up.

Do you have suggestions as to what kind of MoBo chipset would be best used on a 9800GT?

Also, any recommendations on 120mm fans that give really good airflow?

 

[CefVil]

@brian_cbl here's the link, you must create an account to download it tough, but it's not big deal.

http://www.evga.com/PRecision/

This at least reduced crash and artifacts in a 80%.

About 185.85 drivers, I was using them while the crashes happened daily, you could try older drivers and see if it helps.

Regards

.C.

 

[brian_cbl]

@CefVil

Thanks for the advice!

I'll download the precision tool when I get home from work.

I'll also try using older drivers. I saw the recommended drivers in the Palit site - 182.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Your mobo temps are fine and probably not causing the lock ups.

 

[brian_cbl]

Ok, I just tried using the EVGA precision tool to manually adjust the fan speed and record the temps. Results are below:


Fan speed - 80%:

1. idle : 35% fan speed - 50C > 53C

2. gaming :
2.1. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six : Vegas - 40% fan speed - 60C > 68C (manually adjusted the fan to 80%, but the card kept on reverting to 40%.)
2.2. Neverwinter Nights 2 - 40% fan speed - 61C > 69C (still the same results as in Vegas, but temp keeps on rising slowly within 2 hours of gameplay.)

The temp readings in precision tool are a bit weird since in VTune it always reads the max temp at 62C when in gaming. Maybe VTune is just inaccurate at reading temps, dunno?

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Sometimes when using EVGA Precision yo have to adjust the fan in increments of 10 or 15 percent, hitting the apply button after each increment.

Not sure why but I think some GPU fans don't like to go from 35% to 80% in one jump.

 

[brian_cbl]

@ HundredIslandsBoy

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try adjusting the fan speed in small increments.

 

[brian_cbl]

The EVGA precision tool's fan control worked without setting 10% or 15% increments. All I did was create 2 profiles that have the fan speed set to 60% and 80%. Rebooted the PC before playing then tested 60% and 80% fan speeds while playing Rainbow Six Vegas on max settings. The speed setting stayed! The card did not revert to its automatic state.

Temps:
60% fan speed - 59C > 64C
80% fan speed - 57C > 60C

Played the game for 5hrs. and still the fan kept the temps from rising, even when in intense firefights.

One question remains: Is the fan of a Palit card sturdy enough to withstand these speed settings?

 

[CefVil]

M... a most interesting question that has been haunting me too for a while, in any case the card blows to hell and/or fans fry due to the manipulation with Precision Tool, would the warranty become void and null?

And how much of this stress, the real work the cards and fans should be doing without user intervention, can they take?

I hope fans have at least 2 years of life working at maximum, before I can gather enough money and jump into a 4890.

.C.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

That's why I stick with XFX cards - lifetime warranty, fan and GPU included.

 

[brian_cbl]

I'm thinking of getting a 3rd party GPU cooler.

Have you people any suggestions on the best bang-for-the-buck GPU cooler?

 

[brian_cbl]

Ok. The cards been running stable for the past week now. Just bought a Silverstone F123 PWM case fan (running at 2200 rpm) for the rear exhaust and replaced the generic fan facing the card with a Zalman 120mm led case fan. Card temps have dropped significantly.

Idle: 48C - 50C
Load (gaming): 54C - 68C

Thanks for all your replies!