Display Freeze

[ata01]

Hi,

I'm having this problem which started after updating Crysis 2 version to latest and installing its DX11 update. Before that everything worked fine. Now when I'm using graphics applications like video games, playing videos or even using youtube the screen goes black or colored stripes right upon starting the video or the video game and the computer becomes unresponsive and requires a hard reset.
I tried updating the graphics card driver, using system restore and also lowering the graphics card memory clock frequency. The first two didn't help. After lowering memory clock to about half its frequency I was able to start a 2D game, but when I tried starting a 3D game I got this crash/freeze again.
Is it a graphics card issue? Is there anything I can do to fix it?

My graphics card model: CONNECT3D HD4850 OC 512MB DDR3 AC TWINTURBO

TIA

 

[badtaylorx]

do you have access to another card to test yours???

or another system that you could put your card in to see if same problem occurs???

also.....can you run a hardware monitoring program to follow your temps.......search hwmonitor....download it and give it a shot

 

[jdwii]

what power supply do you have 450watt+ is what you need with decent amps, also download gpu-z and try to moniter your temps should be 80C or lower also run crysis 2 for as long as you can and see what the max temp is.

not a temp issue then take the card out physicallyand reset it, Also bad ram could cause this issue as well so try to see if it does it with just 1 stick and keep checking to see if or what ram card could be bad,

lower of possibility is try prime 95 and see if its your motherboard or processor. it also taxes your power supply to.

do you see artifacts? on screen or is it always just a screen freeze

 

[ata01]

I don't have another system or another card to try.
My power supply is CoolerMaster Real Power Pro 550W.
I can see system and CPU temperatures on top of my case, don't know how accurate it is, but it's all around 30C.
I can't run Crysis or any other game since the screen goes black right after I start the game.
As for what I see it's either black screen or vertical colored stripes.


Update: I tried running it with the case opened and I saw the CPU fan is not spinning. The GPU fans and case fans are working fine. One of the case fans is directly in front of the CPU fan ribs (model: CoolerMaster Hyper 212), so perhaps it's cooling the CPU somewhat. In any case I don't see the CPU temperature rising.

 

[jdwii]

make sure to get that fan to work and download core temp just in case thats the case temp and not the cpu

if your seeing things on screen try to run Furmark or prime 95 to see if its the video card or processor temp really said enough i thank your video card went out. can you try booting without a video card or does your board not have onbaord video? just to see


any more questions i'll be watching this thread to help

 

[ata01]

On the LCD case display I can see now a 34C CPU temp. I ran core temp and I get 40C for core0 and 27C for core1, so I guess it shows average. The load is very low (0-10%) so I don't know if that's any indication.
I tried spinning the CPU fan with my finger and it doesn't. I can move it with my finger, but the resistance is pretty high. Any other fan (case or graphics card) I can spin for a few seconds by giving it a little nudge with my finger. Is it normal to have such strong resistance to a CPU cooling fan? Perhaps that fan never worked? I never tried running the computer with the case opened so I don't know. As I mentioned there is a case fan (picture bellow) right in front of the cooling ribs so maybe this one is enough or maybe the cooling ribs manage without the fan?

http://i52.tinypic.com/ru07yu.jpg

Onboard card would be great to isolate the problem, but unfortunately my motherboard doesn't have one. Anyway seems like it won't be necessary. I took it out and it looks like one of the capacitors went bad.

http://i53.tinypic.com/27ybzoy.jpg

http://i53.tinypic.com/10gdzdg.jpg

 

[jdwii]

On the LCD case display I can see now a 34C CPU temp. I ran core temp and I get 40C for core0 and 27C for core1, so I guess it shows average. The load is very low (0-10%) so I don't know if that's any indication.
I tried spinning the CPU fan with my finger and it doesn't. I can move it with my finger, but the resistance is pretty high. Any other fan (case or graphics card) I can spin for a few seconds by giving it a little nudge with my finger. Is it normal to have such strong resistance to a CPU cooling fan? Perhaps that fan never worked? I never tried running the computer with the case opened so I don't know. As I mentioned there is a case fan (picture bellow) right in front of the cooling ribs so maybe this one is enough or maybe the cooling ribs manage without the fan?

http://i52.tinypic.com/ru07yu.jpg

Onboard card would be great to isolate the problem, but unfortunately my motherboard doesn't have one. Anyway seems like it won't be necessary. I took it out and it looks like one of the capacitors went bad.

http://i53.tinypic.com/27ybzoy.jpg

http://i53.tinypic.com/10gdzdg.jpg

Yeah thats a bad capacitor sorry i know the ati 4800 series ran hot, but things happen, are you looking to get a new card, after you fix the cpu fan issue
A Ati 5750 or a 6750 has the same or more power then the 4850
Or if your still under warranty you can always send the card back

 

[ata01]

I was thinking of using the opportunity to improve my system. Perhaps get a 6870. I just need to know that it will be okay power wise. They say 6870 needs a 500W PSU on an average system. I have a 550W but I don't know if mine is considered an average system.
Also I need to see if it will actually improve performance or is there a bottleneck in my system. Is it good value for the money or I won't see too much improvement and I should stick to a card in the range of the 4850?

CoolerMaster Real Power Pro 550W PSU
Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8400 3.0GHz 1333MHz 6MB LGA775 Tray
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 CPU Cooler
G.SKILL DDR2 4096MB 800MHZ CL4 HK
CONNECT3D HD4850 OC 512MB DDR3 AC TWINTURBO

 

[jdwii]

from the looks of it your power supply is 80+ efficient, And you have 3 12 volt rails with the combined power of 432watts which equal's to about 40 amps this means you could get basically any single card you want Don't worry about the power supply its a good one.

Also your processor is a Dual-Core which will bottleneck you in most new games(even Sims 3). But you could still get a good graphics card such as the 6870 or the 6850 and someday get a new processor to unlock the true power of the 6800 series. really getting a slower video card is not going to improve performance because of a bottleneck.

Could even try to get a new shinny sandy but i really don't know what your budget is. i say if you don't have a lot of money just get the best video card you can, then someday buy a new board+processor+ram.

If i could convince you to go to the Amd side a(GOOD) AM3+ board that supports bulldozer only cost 105$ and you can get a lot of shinny stuff with it, then you can get the Amd phenom x4 955 for around 120$ and 4 GB of ddr3 ram for around 30-40$

 

[jdwii]

104.99$ (ASRock 970 EXTREME4 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157262

119.99$ (AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

34.99$ (Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX1600C9D3B1K2/4GX)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104203

Total: less then 300$ plus support for the AMD bulldozer and CF

 

[ata01]

from the looks of it your power supply is 80+ efficient, And you have 3 12 volt rails with the combined power of 432watts which equal's to about 40 amps this means you could get basically any single card you want Don't worry about the power supply its a good one.

Also your processor is a Dual-Core which will bottleneck you in most new games(even Sims 3). But you could still get a good graphics card such as the 6870 or the 6850 and someday get a new processor to unlock the true power of the 6800 series. really getting a slower video card is not going to improve performance because of a bottleneck.

Could even try to get a new shinny sandy but i really don't know what your budget is. i say if you don't have a lot of money just get the best video card you can, then someday buy a new board+processor+ram.

If i could convince you to go to the Amd side a(GOOD) AM3+ board that supports bulldozer only cost 105$ and you can get a lot of shinny stuff with it, then you can get the Amd phenom x4 955 for around 120$ and 4 GB of ddr3 ram for around 30-40$

Looks good, but I don't think I'll replace the mobo and cpu just to get better performance. At least not now. I was able to play basically anything with the current setup, perhaps not on the highest graphics, but as long as I don't have to set it too low it's fine by me.

What I'm aiming for is getting a card that will prolong the life expectancy of my current system for a couple more years till it gets too old and I'll replace the whole system including the graphics card (since in 2-3 years the 6870 probably won't be that hot). Given that the question is should I get a 6870 or should I aim lower?

 

[jdwii]

Looks good, but I don't think I'll replace the mobo and cpu just to get better performance. At least not now. I was able to play basically anything with the current setup, perhaps not on the highest graphics, but as long as I don't have to set it too low it's fine by me.

What I'm aiming for is getting a card that will prolong the life expectancy of my current system for a couple more years till it gets too old and I'll replace the whole system including the graphics card (since in 2-3 years the 6870 probably won't be that hot). Given that the question is should I get a 6870 or should I aim lower?

Sense you want to wait then plan on replacing everything i'll have to say don't get anything less then the 6750 but don't get anything more then the 6870(has 5850-5870 like performance) i can't recommend the 6850 as the 6870 can be up to 20% faster for 10$ more. And i dont like the 6790 as once again for 10$ more you can get the 6850 and the 6790 requires 2 pci-e connectors.

Here is a good 6870 for cheap requires 2 Pci-E connections.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948

Also the 6750 is a re-branded 5750 and the 5750 has 4850 like power, i thank the 6770 is a better bet sense its only 10$ more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102940

The 5770 was 10-15% faster then the 4870 on average and the 5770 was re-branded as the 6770


Do you play new games or do you stick to the old ones, also what resolution do you play as i'm going off the 4850's performance and i'm assuming is was good enough for you in terms of performance? or did games skip

Also if the 4850 did not bottlenck your Processor then why would a 6750 and like i said you will not get more performance by buying something lower-end. i'd say sense you only have a dual-core play at the highest settings and resolution you can to get rid of the Processor bottleneck and buy the 6870.

Also i here your processor can overclock well even up to 4.3GHZ

"This is one amazing processor. With the 45nm process that greatly reduces heat, the E8400 is an overclocking monster which doesn't break the bank. Every one of these E8400 processors can be overclocked to 4GHz with a minor bump in core voltage provided your motherboard can support bus speeds that high. I've taken my processor as high as 4365 MHz stable @ 1.55V, but am now running it at 4185 MHz @ 1.45V to keep the temperatures down"

 

[ata01]

Sense you want to wait then plan on replacing everything i'll have to say don't get anything less then the 6750 but don't get anything more then the 6870(has 5850-5870 like performance) i can't recommend the 6850 as the 6870 can be up to 20% faster for 10$ more. And i dont like the 6790 as once again for 10$ more you can get the 6850 and the 6790 requires 2 pci-e connectors.

Here is a good 6870 for cheap requires 2 Pci-E connections.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948

Also the 6750 is a re-branded 5750 and the 5750 has 4850 like power, i thank the 6770 is a better bet sense its only 10$ more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102940

The 5770 was 10-15% faster then the 4870 on average and the 5770 was re-branded as the 6770


Do you play new games or do you stick to the old ones, also what resolution do you play as i'm going off the 4850's performance and i'm assuming is was good enough for you in terms of performance? or did games skip

Also if the 4850 did not bottlenck your Processor then why would a 6750 and like i said you will not get more performance by buying something lower-end. i'd say sense you only have a dual-core play at the highest settings and resolution you can to get rid of the Processor bottleneck and buy the 6870.

Also i here your processor can overclock well even up to 4.3GHZ

"This is one amazing processor. With the 45nm process that greatly reduces heat, the E8400 is an overclocking monster which doesn't break the bank. Every one of these E8400 processors can be overclocked to 4GHz with a minor bump in core voltage provided your motherboard can support bus speeds that high. I've taken my processor as high as 4365 MHz stable @ 1.55V, but am now running it at 4185 MHz @ 1.45V to keep the temperatures down"

I play new games. Actually what killed my card was Crysis 2. I play on 1680x1050 res. The 4850 was good enough. I did have a problem with it where on some driver versions the card would shut down and restart while playing games but I guess it's because the card itslef was problematic. Changing the driver version made this issue go away.

I read the E8400 is a OC monster, but I don't know if I want to do that just now.

Something that is important to me is that the whole system is quiet. I read the 6870 is fairly quiet but do you know if one manufacturer has a quiter card than others? Also are there any differences in performance or anything else between different manufacturers that justify the difference in prices? I'm looking at Sapphire, Gigabyte and Asus cards. Is one of them more recommended than others?

 

[jdwii]

No they are all the same in performance unless they overclock the card. Let me try to find a nice quit card for you i like the same thing quiet! i do other stuff on my PC besides gaming so that's why i care to have a quiet PC.

 

[jdwii]

This is the quitest one!
XFX Black Edition HD-687A-ZDBC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150520

Read this
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4137/amds-gtx-560-ti-counteroffensive-radeon-hd-6950-1gb-xfxs-radeon-hd-6870-black-edition/6

"The XFX 6870 reverses this fortune and then some due to XFX’s well-designed open-air cooler. At idle it edges out our other cards by a mere 0.1dB, but the real story is at load. And no, that’s not a typo in the load noise chart, the XFX Radeon HD 6870 Black Edition really is that quiet."

By the looks of the price its the most expensive one also

If your want something quiet but cheaper get the Asus one but it will be louder then the xfx one.
ASUS EAH6870 DC/2DI2S/1GD5 Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121418

I owned the 6850 with the cooler on the 6870(the asus one) and i can say it was rather quiet but i have no idea how it will perform on the 6870.

 

[ata01]

The XFX looks good but I can't get it where I want to buy. How about the HIS 6870 IceQ X 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E HDMI/2xDVI/2xMini DP?

http://www.guru3d.com/article/his-radeon-6870-iceq-x-turbo-x-review/10

This review is for the Turbo X version but the cooling system is the same, so I guess it should be about as quiet.

 

[jdwii]

Sounds good
"Quieter
HIS 6870 IceQ X is over 15dB quieter than the Reference Cooler, significantly reducing noise level."

You will be happy with that one and it will most likely be cooler then the card you have(had) now

 

[ata01]

Sounds good
"Quieter
HIS 6870 IceQ X is over 15dB quieter than the Reference Cooler, significantly reducing noise level."

You will be happy with that one and it will most likely be cooler then the card you have(had) now

Got this card. So far I'm able to run everything on the highest settings, so that looks good. The card can't be heard during idle or load state. The only bad thing is that at night when everything is silent you can hear soft humming from the fan in desktop mode, but aside from that it's great.

Thanks for all the help