Cannot Figure Out Why Computer Keeps Crashing. Please Help!

[PopeSquad]

I recently built a custom gaming computer in anticipation for Guild Wars 2. This is my first time building a gaming computer (I have used prebuilt computers before and replaced components), so I am no expert on this.
Here are specs:

Motherboard: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3
Processor: AMD FX-6200 (6 core 3.8GHz)
RAM: 4GB (2x2GB) Kingston Hyper X 240pin 1600
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 7770
Power Supply: CoolerMaster GX 650watt
OS: Windows 7 (64bit)

After building the PC and installing programs ect I tried to play some games. The games would load up just fine, but after playing the game for a short time, the game would hit a very hard lag spike, usually lasting 5-20 seconds where the game would stop and sometimes cut to the desktop before either resuming the game or crashing.

I have already run some tests to try and find out what the problem is and I've found that my RAM is functioning (memtest86) and that my CPU and GPU temps are okay (~50C under load).

Thanks!

 

[rolli59]

It can be your HD7770 that is faulty, can you try it in another computer?

 

[PopeSquad]

I have not tried this as of yet. I will try it in my old computer

 

[PopeSquad]

Just tried to test the card in my old computer, but it wasn't compatible with my old system.
Is there any test I can get similar to memtest for my video card?

 

[rolli59]

Not really but when it crashes does it give you a message that something was not responding!

 

[jay_nar2012]

There is GPU benchmarks like furmark....

 

[PopeSquad]

The message I get when crashing is something along the lines of "the display driver stopped responding but has been recovered"

and I will run a GPU benchmark test

 

[jay_nar2012]

Have you tried installing the latest drivers or reinstalling drivers or installing older drivers?

 

[PopeSquad]

Ran a benchmark test with Video Card Stability Test by Freestone Group and got 534. What does this number tell me?

 

[jay_nar2012]

http://freestone-group.com/video-card-stability-test/benchmark-results.html

Honestly i don't know what it means, i'll run it and see what i get.

 

[PopeSquad]

And yes, i do have the most up to date drivers

 

[rolli59]

Vsync settings on or off has sometimes fixed the display driver issue but if it does not I would RMA the card.

 

[PopeSquad]

Changed the Vsync settings and still no different. The crash/lag seems to happen (not always this way) at the same time some in-game event happens such as large groups of Npcs spawning ect.

 

[jay_nar2012]

In the benchmark i got 159 (Nvidia GT 430, AMD sempron 3500+, 1 GB RAM, win7 x86).

Still lost about that, i think the higher the score the more stable....

 

[jay_nar2012]

Have you tried using older drivers?

 

[PopeSquad]

I have not tried using older drivers. How would I go about installing outdated drivers?

 

[jay_nar2012]

Uninstall the current drivers in device manager (search it in start menu, go to display adapters, double click on your GPU, go to drivers and click uninstall drivers).

First find the old drivers (which version GPU have you got).

 

[PopeSquad]

I currently have driver version 8.982.0.0

 

[jay_nar2012]

I meant the GPU have you got, there are several versions of the ATI Radeon HD 7770, which one have you got?

 

[PopeSquad]

It's the Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition by Diamond Multimedia

 

[jay_nar2012]

Well there seems to only be one driver as your GPU is new, try reinstalling the drivers, here is the site for your drivers- http://www.diamondmm.com/7770PE51GDD.php

Also uninstall the Catalyst control centre and anything else ATI related....

 

[swifty_morgan]

how old is this game ?.......... did you try running it on one core ? what's your virtual ram look like ?

 

[PopeSquad]

Guild Wars 2 comes out next week, so it is brand new. I have been testing my computer on games such as Killing Floor, ARMA 2, League of Legends, Minecraft, and Skyrim.

Also, I just uninstalled and reinstalled the Catalyst Control Centre. I still crash in game

 

[jay_nar2012]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303032

 

[jay_nar2012]

Was it all games?