Curse

darantares · Feb 02, 2008, 05:30 AM // 05:30

Hey everyone,

I've been having some problems with my new AGP Sparkle 7600 GS w/512 DDR2 on dual monitors. . Previously, I had a 5500 in it and GW ran fine. Upon installing the 7600 GW locks up after about 15 seconds of being on (doesn't matter if I log in in the 15 seconds, or I let it idle at the login screen for 15 seconds). When it locks up, the entire system locks: sound stops playing, and I have no response from the keyboard of mouse.

This is what I have tried to do ti fix the problem:

Updated drivers, to two different versions: 169.21 and 91.31 NVidia. I tried installing them several ways (in safe mode, out of save mode, and I turned anti-virus off during the install and uninstall). Between installs I used driver cleaner pro to ensure the drivers were completely removed.

Reading around I read that changing the AGP settings from 8X to 4X will make life easier, but I can not find that setting in the BIOS. I used RivaTurner to try to change the setting, and upon reboot it still states that I am running under AGP 8X.

I tried running with -no shaders in the command prompt, and the lockup continues. I do not know what the command is to run it without anti aliasing (I tried -aa) and that was unsuccessful.

The video card has a passive cooling system, and in idle the temp is 64C (147F). Upon starting GW, it jumps to about 80C before locking up. I've read that 80C is acceptable, but I don't' know if I trust that yet, any input on that would be great as well. I have a water cooling system installed in my machine, but I have not gotten a water block yet to install in the graphics card.

I've tried everything I can think of and I'm clueless at the moment on what to do next. I did a Direct X text and it came out successful, and I do not play any other games so I can't state that it is happening on all of my games (I might have to install one or two, though, to see if it happens). Any input would be appreciated, and any more information I can provide please let me know.

The thought crossed my mind that my power supply might not have enough juice, but I have not yet tested that theory. Anyone know a way to test what the output is of your PS?

System Specs:
OS: XP Pro Service Pack 2
Processor : P4 2.8 GHZ
Memory: 3072MB Ram
Dual Display 1280x1024 (32bit) (60Hz) on both.
400W Allied Model AL-C400ATX Power Supply

Any help would be awesome.

Thank you,

~Dan

N E D M · Feb 02, 2008, 05:42 AM // 05:42

sounds pretty hot to me, my 7600 (nvidias model) doesnt go over 72°

also psu sounds kinda weak

Yichi · Feb 02, 2008, 05:47 AM // 05:47

its goign to be the sparkle card itself. when i had my new comp built, it had dual sparkle 8600gt's in it and they both went to shit within a week. I returned the cards and bought 2 XfX 8600gt oc's and installed them and it runs flawlessly now. Everyone I know that has used them has had a problem with sparkle cards and them freezing.

KZaske · Feb 02, 2008, 10:09 AM // 10:09

You said that you tired uninstalling the drivers. Did you use a cleaner (Like Driver Cleaner .NET) before you reinstalled the driver?
As for the PSU, I looked it up and found that it appears to have problems pushing enough power to power your card. There are a lot of people complaining on various forums about it. There are some people with cards as low as a 6800 that say this PSU will not power the video card and the motherboard.

The specs quoted are below:
Allied 400w PSU Model AL-C400ATX
+3.3V | +5V | +12V | -12V | +5VSB |
28a | 30a | 20a | 0.8a | 2A | (Max)

At that power level, I am not sure it is enough for your video card.

N E D M · Feb 02, 2008, 12:26 PM // 12:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by KZaske

You said that you tired uninstalling the drivers. Did you use a cleaner (Like Driver Cleaner .NET) before you reinstalled the driver?
As for the PSU, I looked it up and found that it appears to have problems pushing enough power to power your card. There are a lot of people complaining on various forums about it. There are some people with cards as low as a 6800 that say this PSU will not power the video card and the motherboard.

The specs quoted are below:
Allied 400w PSU Model AL-C400ATX
+3.3V | +5V | +12V | -12V | +5VSB |
28a | 30a | 20a | 0.8a | 2A | (Max)

At that power level, I am not sure it is enough for your video card.

He said in OP he used driver cleaner pro.
I have 2 pcs, both with AGP, one is a geforce 6800 128mb, the other is a 7600 with 512mb. the 6800 uses more power .

note: if you have SiS chipset in your pc it may not like high performance agp cards - had this problem with a compaq cheapo pc, card ran average 12° hotter than when i moved it to a diff pc, frequently locked up and had artifacts

darantares · Feb 02, 2008, 06:10 PM // 18:10

I'm going to try swapping it out with another power supply, I think I have one laying around work.

On the other hand, wish I knew beforehand Sparkle was not the best choice as far as manufacturers go. I did quite a bit of research on the cards before I purchased one, but did not go in depth on the individual manufacturers.

I'll try out the PS and see what happens then let y'all know.

Thank you for the info.

~Dan

Roderick Bravehart · Feb 02, 2008, 06:18 PM // 18:18

Sounds like a heat issue. You said passive, so I'm assuming that means a kind of heat-sink. You might want to get a bay-cooler that fits in right below the card to give it an added boost. Otherwise consider watercooling. My system uses that new dual-core GPU and the AMD Phenom Quad-core and it has a stock 750w PSU and I still don't push more than 400w at any given time. I don't think your system would be taxing enough to overload the power system.

I'd just try adding some fans for better cooling before you do anything serious. 80C is way too hot. Boards sometimes have an auto-shutoff for temps like that. (at least mine does)

Yichi · Feb 02, 2008, 08:16 PM // 20:16

I'm going to bet its not the heat issue due to the lack of cooling in the computer, but the cooling of the card itself. The sparkle cards have a terribly designed heat sink and not an actual fan on the card.

according to the specs, its recommended that you have a minimum of 350 watts for the card to operate normally, so I wouldn't fully put the blame on the power supply.

If you have the option, run to like best buy or any electronics store and pick up a different video card and see if that one is experiencing the same problems. If it is, you can always return that card

N E D M · Feb 03, 2008, 12:22 PM // 12:22

also if you get a new power supply you may have to chop up the back of the pc case to make it fit inside or have it sit next to pc with side off, as most of the compaq, dell, etc comps pre built dont use standard psu layouts

darantares · Feb 03, 2008, 03:48 PM // 15:48

Well, I popped out the AGP card, removed the passive cooling unit (it was just a heat sink, with no fan), and I'm going to have to buy a water block that fits it. The water block I have for my 5500 is nowhere near the size I need to fit on the card.

Now, looking at the card, I noticed the GPU, but there's also a rather large chip that seemed to need cooling too. By seemed, I mean that it had heat-sink compound on it (memory, maybe)? I'll try to take a pic of it and put it up, but I have a sneaky feeling I'm going to have a problem finding a water cooling block that will fit over both chips.

Right now I have a cheepy ATI 9250 128mb card in it, and GW runs fine.

While I did manage to find a larger power supply, I can't test it right now because the 7600 has no cooling. So, I'll have to wait on that and get back to y'all.

But any idea what that other chip might be on my card?

~Dan

kvndoom · Feb 03, 2008, 04:12 PM // 16:12

Probably the PCI-e to AGP bridge. It's required to make a chipset that was designed for PCI express function in an AGP slot.

cebalrai · Feb 04, 2008, 03:20 AM // 03:20

1) You don't need water cooling to use a 7600. Complete waste of money. Water cooling if for extreme overclocking, not for using an average video card like the 7600. Do you buy Porsche accessories for your Ford Escort too?

2) Respectable graphics card manufacturers like ASUS and Gigabye make 7600's that have no fans. Yes, they'll run hotter than some other cards. They work perfectly fine.

3) When a graphics card overheats, 99% of the time you have smaller symptoms first and only lockups after heat increases over time. It's almost impossible for your graphics card to be overheating 15 seconds after you start playing GW anyway. Therefore we can say it's almost certainly not a heat issue.

4) Sparkle is fine. Don't put too much faith in anecdotal stories in forums about this brand and that.

5) Don't mess with your AGP 4X/8X.

6) Your power supply isn't sufficient on the 12V rail for the 7600. This causes the symptoms you experience. Buy a new one. Without going too much into volts the Antec 500Ws and better are going to meet your needs.

Problem solved.