Curse

TwinRaven · May 10, 2005, 04:01 PM // 16:01

Thoght maybe overheating is the problem but I dunno, what doyou think:

So, I'm playing Guild Wars and after about 3 hours of play (and as little as two) I start seeing a strange bunch of artifacts and blindingly white "holes" in the scenery. Buildings and trees will appear and hover in locations where they don't belong, hair and even heads disappear and eventually I get an orange and yellow screen with my HUD still visable for a while...I tried taking screenies of the more bizarre stuff (on my other machine or I'd post it now)...When I take a screenie, the earlier issues will temporarily clear up (often with no screen shot of the problem...artifacts are not visible)...After a few minutes, it crashes to 4-bit color until I close the game, assuming the machine doesn't lock up all together. When I reboot, the problem is gone...usually for a few hours. I assume I'm overheating the card (which already has a huge heatsink/fan and 4 case fans). Any other ideas or solutions would be greatly appreciated as it really gets annoying when you're approching Lion's Gate and suddenly go blind!

Stats:

MSI 6600GT with updated drivers and BIOS
MSI KT6 Delta Mobo with updated drivers and BIOS
AMD 3200+
2X Seagate 80GB SATA harddrives in RAID 0
1Gb PC3200 RAM
Cable Connection
Running Windows XP w/SP2
some really pretty blue LEDs in the fans and case...they make it look faster

Pharoke · May 10, 2005, 04:14 PM // 16:14

Have you tried updating your drivers? Also, what settings are you using in the game. I have a Chaintech 6600GT and have not suffered any problems.

Twilight Doll · May 10, 2005, 04:20 PM // 16:20

What temperature is your card running @?

Rizzen Khalazar · May 10, 2005, 04:31 PM // 16:31

Yes, what temp is your card at? I would be shocked that its your card as the 6600's run low temp wise. Unless its on its last legs, or defective.

Principa Discordia · May 10, 2005, 04:38 PM // 16:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwinRaven

Thoght maybe overheating is the problem but I dunno, what doyou think

I own a 6600GT and I need to ask you the following questions, they'll help clear up a lot of possibilities...

1.) If your card is the AGP version, do you have a lead from your PSU (power supply unit) running to the molex connector? Not connecting a lead will cause the cooling system not to function and will cause it to generally strain without enough power.

2.) What is the wattage of your PSU? In my experience you need a PSU rated at 300w-350w minimum to run a 6600GT effectively.

3.) Have you overclocked your graphics card? While it's possible to overclock the 6600GT from 500/900mHz to 665/1250mHz, it is definitely not reccommended with the stock cooler.

4.) Which drivers are you currently using? I can tell you without a doubt that the best drivers for the AGP 6600GT are the official 71.24 forceware drivers. There have never been any problems with this card and these drivers that I'm aware of.

Any of these things could be causing artifacts, some will produce extra heat but some might not produce a noticeable increase. So it's best to check them all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwinRaven

some really pretty blue LEDs in the fans and case...they make it look faster

I just noticed that you said this... I hope you're aware that unless you have a 400w or higher PSU this rubbish has a large chance of causing some serious power consumption problems.

I hope that anything here helps find a solution, if I think of anything else I'll edit this post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rizzen Khalazar

I would be shocked that its your card as the 6600's run low temp wise.

Agreed. The 6600GT series generally runs rather cool, even to the touch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pharoke

I have a Chaintech 6600GT and have not suffered any problems.

I'm using the Chaintech 6600GT too and it's all yummy and gorgeous.

Serafita Kayin · May 10, 2005, 06:49 PM // 18:49

Chaintech 6600GT here too.

It si t3h aewsoem.

Loviatar · May 10, 2005, 06:58 PM // 18:58

Leadtek 6600GT here runs very cool
also i dont know if it is only Leadtek cards but one time i forgot the extra power lead and got a warning message that the card was running in low power mode and to fix it

if it runs for 3 hours of guild wars the cooling is not being disabled as 3 hours of no cooling would fry it 2 .9 hours before he got that far

the artifacts sound like the card is stressing out
i would contact customer support (card not GW) and get a complaint officially on record so if anything happens later on you have proof something was going on

also they might have a fix for you

EnDinG · May 10, 2005, 07:05 PM // 19:05

Leadtek here. =P 17 da r0ck in ma r011.

Krystal Tears · May 10, 2005, 07:07 PM // 19:07

eVGA Geforce 6800 Ultra.. like ice cream, yum

decog · May 10, 2005, 07:09 PM // 19:09

If you are familiar enough with your cards anatomy, check the HSF, make sure it's seated properly, and I ALWAYS change my coolant paste. Sometimes they ship out with crappy foam tape stuff. (my 5700u did) Granted I have a much less expensive card, but i had very similar issues until i fixed this. (also switched to copper cooler) which you should NOT have to do at all.

.d

Principa Discordia · May 10, 2005, 07:34 PM // 19:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loviatar

also i dont know if it is only Leadtek cards but one time i forgot the extra power lead and got a warning message that the card was running in low power mode and to fix it

Yeah this is a standard feature on any model with a second power connection now. Very handy if I do say so myself, though I did know one person who ignored the message.

Costed him £150.

StarFreeze · May 10, 2005, 08:06 PM // 20:06

I have been having the same problem, well more like everything becomes white and everything is slow. I now get it every few hours ever since the last guildwars patch came out.

Drivers updated
Case cool
Video card cool
6600 GT here too.

you also dont have to quit completely to fix it, just hit the windows key to minimize it and then maximize it and everything works fine for several more hours

EnDinG · May 10, 2005, 08:24 PM // 20:24

I have a feeling it is the card somehow. I notice a lag in performance after playing for a while, and like what StarFreeze said, a quick minimize and it runs smoothly again.

Not sure why this is happening, I'll have to check the card one day and see how its acting up.

Wondering if there is some kind of graphic memory leak since the last patch and the refresh of the game might clean the cashe out...?

Beqxter · May 10, 2005, 08:37 PM // 20:37

you're not the only one having this problem, and I don't think it's overheating. At least my card (Leadtek 6600gt) never tops 70, which doesn't seem like crash territory to me. Check this thread for others in the same boat: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...5&page=2&pp=25

Apparently GW support is trying to track it down, but I haven't spoken to them personally about it, other than to submit a support ticket and my DirectX diag specs. I have no idea whether the problem is ArenaNet's or nVidia's, I just wish someone would fix it.

StarFreeze · May 10, 2005, 09:58 PM // 21:58

doubt it is overheating, card doesn't even top 50, its a nice cool place to where the computer is

so i'm guessing something did happen in one of the patches, more than likely will stop happening after another few patches and we will forget this entire thing UNTIL another patch comes out in a year causing the same issue

Serafita Kayin · May 10, 2005, 10:00 PM // 22:00

Decog, you're not playin on the cad machine?

Pharoke · May 10, 2005, 10:14 PM // 22:14

Hey Serafita, did you overclock you Chaintech? I ask because I achieved a fairly high overclock on mine, but a friend of mine couldn't get his to overclock at all.

Serafita Kayin · May 11, 2005, 01:28 AM // 01:28

610/1350 I think was tops, but chipset went ape**** on me and I couldn't screen it.

Gonna be adding a chipset block soon...

Pharoke · May 11, 2005, 04:12 PM // 16:12

I think mine is at 575/1200 right now. I changed out the crappy paste on the heatsink and added thermal tape to the mem so it would contact the heatsink also. Gonna be changing everything out soon for water cooling though....then I should be able to get to 300+ frontside bus.

PhineasToke · May 11, 2005, 05:51 PM // 17:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pharoke

I think mine is at 575/1200 right now. I changed out the crappy paste on the heatsink and added thermal tape to the mem so it would contact the heatsink also. Gonna be changing everything out soon for water cooling though....then I should be able to get to 300+ frontside bus.

More never means better, especially at the sacrifice of reliability. If I read you correctly, you removed the "crappy paste" for tape or connected the memory to the fan heatsink?

Memory specific heatsinks for video cards are sold on line and even at Comp USA. And unless you changed out the paste for real silver oxide, I don't think you accomplished anything. Increasing air circulation in the case, even buying a nibbler and adding a fan to the case itself is much safer than handling your components without a static strap (I hope you use one).

Regarding water cooling, I don't know what cpu you have, but it is always safer in the long run to upgrade your cpu rather than overclock it and stick an overpriced radiator in your system.

The sum is ALWAYS equal to the whole. If GW is playing without incident, why fix it if it ain't broke?