HD 4870 Freezes up Mid-Game and goes to BSOD

[Gazman82]

Hey guys, this is my first post here.

I recently got my new computer and instantly noticed. At random times in full-screen games the sound would repeat itself for a few seconds, the image would freeze and then it would crash into a Blue Screen.

Here are my comp specs:

Foxconn P55MX
INTEL® Quad Core processor i5-750 2.66GHz
4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM Memory
1TB (1000GB) 3.0Gb/s SATA 7200RPM Serial ATA Hard Drive
ATi® Graphics Media Accelerator HD4870 Graphics Card
with 1GB Dedicated Memory
20X + / - RW Dual Layer SATA DVD Burner
Integarated 7.1 Channel Audio Capable
GW 550W ATX Power
Windows 7 (64 bit)

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[masterjaw]

ATi® Graphics Media Accelerator HD4870 Graphics Card

Honestly, I thought this was a joke.

Have you checked your temps before that happened?

 

[Gazman82]

what do ya mean?

it happens constantly about an hour into the game. I just wanna know if maybe my power supply is too weak

 

[masterjaw]

I mean, have you checked your temps for overheating?

The weak PSU scenario is also plausible given your current PSU (does GW mean Great Wall?). According to ATI's site, 4870 requires 650W power supply or greater. But honestly, even a Corsair vx550 would be sufficient for that.

 

[Gazman82]

thanks,

how would i go about finding information about temperature and overheating on my computer?

 

[masterjaw]

You may use HWMonitor.
http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

Just want to clarify my previous statement. A Corsair vx550 isn't the same as your GW 550w PSU. Yours might be declared as 550w but in reality, it might be less than that.

 

[Gazman82]

great so what information do I need to give you from the utility?

 

[Gazman82]

basically i saw taht during the game my graphics card temperature was 83C is this good or bad?

 

[masterjaw]

You should monitor your temps regularly and see if there's a unusual increase in temps.

You should also check the timings/ latency setup of the memory since BSOD happens when the system is unstable.

 

[masterjaw]

basically i saw taht during the game my graphics card temperature was 83C is this good or bad?

Actually, 4800 series cards usually runs that hot at load.

 

[enayet_redeemer]

What does BSoD message show? It is possible that the Graphics card is not getting enough juice when running games. Also it might be memory issue. What is the efficiency rate of your PSU? 80+ or ordinary one?

 

[love_my_comp]

Hey I have that graphics card also and it worked seamlessly for a year on windows vista x64. i just made an upgrade to windows 7 x64 and i am getting blue screen of death every 30 minutes or so. i haven't even been able to install an mmo i play because of this issue. I'm running the exact same setup as before. i'm pretty certain its a driver/ bios issue but haven't found a fix yet. I just found this thread on ati's site and i am going to try it tonight. maybe it will work for you- forum:http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=260&threadid=100973
Sorry i couldn't be more help

 

[r_manic]

Best answer selected by r_manic.