New MSI Radeon HD 6850, causing games to crash/freeze

[Brut_Man]

Been having this problem for about 3 weeks ever since I installed a new Radeon HD 6850 into my PC along with a Corsair CX500 V2 and Windows 7 Home Premium.

Current Specs:
Processor Type: Intel Quad Core Q8200
Processor Speed: 2.33GHz
RAM Size: 4GB
Hard Drive Size: 640GB
Hard Drive Type: SATA
Optical Drive: DVD +/- RW
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium
Graphics Memory: MSI Radeon HD 6850
PSU: Corsair CX500

Previous Specs:
Processor Type: Intel Quad Core Q8200
Processor Speed: 2.33GHz
RAM Size: 4GB
Hard Drive Size: 640GB
Hard Drive Type: SATA
Optical Drive: DVD +/- RW
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Graphics Memory: nVidia GeForce GT120

What the problem is:
At first, before I installed Windows 7, games would send me to a BSOD after about 5 minutes, turned out that was due to MSI Afterburner, uninstalled that and multiple games no longer had the problem (e.g Source games, Minecraft, Orcs Must Die, Skyrim etc) while Battlefield 3 still sent me to a BSOD. After installing Windows 7 I was no longer presented with BSODs at all on my games, instead they either froze or crash.
Games that work include:
Source games
Orcs Must Die
Minecraft
Killing Floor
Dungeon Defenders

Games that have frozen:
Battlefield 3, regularly in singleplayer, not as much in multiplayer (still able to alt and tab in and out)
Skyrim does randomly, yesterday I managed an hour of gameplay with no crashes then I exited it myself, sometimes it crashes after 10 minutes in (full PC crash)
Borderlands, just recently bought this, yesterday it gave me a full PC crash after 30 minutes, today I managed 5 minutes of gameplay before the sound began looping, I went to exit but my PC just crashed.

Fixes I've tried:
Updating/reinstalling drivers
Rolling back drivers to multiple different versions
Updating Realtek drivers
I ran Furmark for about 45 minutes, only error was when I attempted a fourth screenshot, it froze and resumed with an alt and tab out. MAx temps were around 80C, average was around 76C, MIN about 43C. Max FPS 10, MIN 3, Average 7 FPS.
Cleaning system.
Checking/switching wires from PSU to gfx card.
Using driver sweeper to clean old nvidia drivers.
Running Prime95 for an hour, no errors found.
Reinstalling Windows/Games.
Defrag of Hard drive, all the usual stuff like this.

My usual temps are 44C on idle, 70-80C while playing games.

It just seems unstable or something, sometimes it'll freeze or crash after 10 minutes sometimes after 1 hour, earlier I managed a full match of BF3 before the game froze while with Borderlands it froze my whole PC after 5 minutes.

Videos and such work fine and so do some of my games, I just get random freezes and crashes for some games, I don't know much about computers so I've come here for help, I gave the computer to a friend of my dads but he couldn't see any obvious problems with it. It's just really frustrating me after spending £140 to play more games on my PC has resulted in me unable to barely play any games. I appreciate any solutions/fixes.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Brut_Man]

Something else worth mentioning, after playing games sometimes when my GPU temp is at above 50C, text seems slightly blurry.

 

[mocchan]

Which driver version are you using for your card? I know some drivers had issues with crashes/freezes.

However, another gut feeling is telling me you may have a defective card.

 

[Brut_Man]

Which driver version are you using for your card? I know some drivers had issues with crashes/freezes.

However, another gut feeling is telling me you may have a defective card.

Currently I'm using 12.4 since I rolled back from 12.6, neither work.
It's a brand new card D:
Should I send it back then? I still have warranty, the only problem is that was a one time only deal meaning they have none left in stock for that price atleast so I'll have to get a refund, so much for a computer upgrade.

 

[mocchan]

Currently I'm using 12.4 since I rolled back from 12.6, neither work.
It's a brand new card D:
Should I send it back then? I still have warranty, the only problem is that was a one time only deal meaning they have none left in stock for that price atleast so I'll have to get a refund, so much for a computer upgrade.

Ahh I see, that's unfortunate to hear. My brother currently runs a HD6870 with 12.4 and runs into absolutely zero issues. He didn't get any issues with 12.6 either.

However, you can try the RMA process through MSI they can always send you a brand new card. It just takes a little bit longer.

 

[Brut_Man]

Ahh I see, that's unfortunate to hear. My brother currently runs a HD6870 with 12.4 and runs into absolutely zero issues. He didn't get any issues with 12.6 either.

However, you can try the RMA process through MSI they can always send you a brand new card. It just takes a little bit longer.

I bought it from CCL, it says I can send it to them as faulty and they will check to see if it's faulty, then send me a new card.

 

[Brut_Man]

So I've sent the card off to check if it's faulty or not.
I decided I'd put my old GT120 into my PC and I noticed something odd, below the PCI slots on the motherboard there are multiple slots with a number of pins sticking out, I have no idea what any of these are, if someone thinks they know what they might be could they explain please. Anyway my GT120 connects to one of these using a 3 or 4 pin connector but when I went to plug it in I noticed another wire was connected to it, not properly of course since this had 7/8 pins or something and was actually supposed to connect to the slot to the left of this slot, the wire from that ran through my system up towards the power/DVD tray buttons and the DVD rom itself, I couldn't see any further to guess where it actually went.
I was wondering if anyone knows what this is and whether this may have been causing the problems?
I'm guessing it had nothing to do with it but I'm just curious.
This card is on like 64C just browsing the Internet, should I be worried about that?

 

[Graphite946]

12.7 is a terrific driver. Try it out.

 

[Graphite946]

So I've sent the card off to check if it's faulty or not.
I decided I'd put my old GT120 into my PC and I noticed something odd, below the PCI slots on the motherboard there are multiple slots with a number of pins sticking out, I have no idea what any of these are, if someone thinks they know what they might be could they explain please. Anyway my GT120 connects to one of these using a 3 or 4 pin connector but when I went to plug it in I noticed another wire was connected to it, not properly of course since this had 7/8 pins or something and was actually supposed to connect to the slot to the left of this slot, the wire from that ran through my system up towards the power/DVD tray buttons and the DVD rom itself, I couldn't see any further to guess where it actually went.
I was wondering if anyone knows what this is and whether this may have been causing the problems?
I'm guessing it had nothing to do with it but I'm just curious.
This card is on like 64C just browsing the Internet, should I be worried about that?

Post a pic, please.

 

[Brut_Man]

Post a pic, please.

Of the slots?
Also, I mentioned I've sent the card back so I can't try out the new drivers.

 

[Graphite946]

Of the slots?
Also, I mentioned I've sent the card back so I can't try out the new drivers.

Or tell us what motherboard it is.

 

[Brut_Man]

Or tell us what motherboard it is.

Motherboard
Packard Bell FMCP7AM (CPU 1)
I found a pic on the internet and highlighted the slots I was talking about:

EDIT: the wire to the left (Circled) was plugged into the slot to the right (Circled). My graphics card was plugged into the one on the right by default before I got my new card so I must've accidentally plugged it into the wrong socket.

 

[mocchan]

Motherboard
Packard Bell FMCP7AM (CPU 1)
I found a pic on the internet and highlighted the slots I was talking about:
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/6351/motherboardk.jpg
EDIT: the wire to the left (Circled) was plugged into the slot to the right (Circled). My graphics card was plugged into the one on the right by default before I got my new card so I must've accidentally plugged it into the wrong socket.

Those pins look like front panel connectors to be honest, though I can't make sure since I can't find a diagram of your motherboard (as of now). I'll keep looking, though.

 

[Brut_Man]

Those pins look like front panel connectors to be honest, though I can't make sure since I can't find a diagram of your motherboard (as of now). I'll keep looking, though.

Must be that, the wire leads that way and my front panel DVD drive button doesn't work, maybe it's something to do with that.

 

[mocchan]

Must be that, the wire leads that way and my front panel DVD drive button doesn't work, maybe it's something to do with that.

You can try reconnecting those wires and see if that fixes your issue

However, your GPU issue is a totally different thing I would assume. I just don't see how those wires can lead to your GPU crashing and freezing.

I had first thought some pins inside the PCI-E slot had come out, if that were the case, then it may be the cause of your issue. However, since it's not, I would assume those pins don't have anything to do with your GPU.

 

[Brut_Man]

So I decided to try Borderlands with my old card since I used to be able to play it with that card and after about 15 minutes of play my PC just shuts down, no error message or warning, nothing. I'm guessing this is the card overheating or something, I have no idea what is wrong with my PC D:

 

[mocchan]

Can you monitor your temperatures with a program like HWMonitor? I think we forgot to mention you monitoring temps on this thread..(big mistake). If we did, I think I missed your results.

However, run Furmark for a few minutes and tell us how hot your GPU gets. If it gets anywhere in the 85C+ range, close furmark immediately...take off your side panel and try again and see if your temperatures are any better

 

[Deemo13]

I was going to say its a power supply issue, but seeing that you have a CX500 there should be no problem.

I'd like to keep watching this thread while I look around and see what it could be.

 

[Brut_Man]

Can you monitor your temperatures with a program like HWMonitor? I think we forgot to mention you monitoring temps on this thread..(big mistake). If we did, I think I missed your results.

However, run Furmark for a few minutes and tell us how hot your GPU gets. If it gets anywhere in the 85C+ range, close furmark immediately...take off your side panel and try again and see if your temperatures are any better

I mentioned my temps already for my 6850 in the main post.
As for my old GFX card they constantly move from 64C to 70C on idle, I've tried cleaning it but it has made no difference, neither does leaving the side panel of my case off, I'll run furmark soon.

 

[mocchan]

I mentioned my temps already for my 6850 in the main post.
As for my old GFX card they constantly move from 64C to 70C on idle, I've tried cleaning it but it has made no difference, neither does leaving the side panel of my case off, I'll run furmark soon.

Thank you for clarifying that I probably just forgot.

 

[Brut_Man]

So the company I bought the card from got back to me on the weekend, said they'd been testing the card for 3 days and they say it isn't broken. So I'll be going to pick it up through the week, no idea what I'm supposed to do now, they had no suggestions :/

 

[Brut_Man]

I've been playing games with my old GT 120 for the past week perfectly fine, Borderlands which crashed on the new card doesn't with the old so I don't figure there's a hardware issue it has to be software related.