Curse

coolsti · Aug 12, 2006, 10:51 PM // 22:51

I realize there are some longer threads in this forum dealing with the Nvidia card problems, but mine is specific, and I would like to see if others have had the same experiences and could help.

I put together a new PC with an ASUS motherboard and Asus 7900GT video card, and everything works great! With the exception that on two occasions so far, the screen completely froze while playing GW. When this happens, only the screen is frozen. The sound works, and the character can move around (we can see this from another computer in the same room also playing GW in the same party).

According to an internet search, there are issues with the Nvidia cards, in particular this one, and it sounds like the problems could be solved by underclocking the card.

Does anyone have any tips and ideas? What can I use to test the card? What should I choose to underclock it to get it to work without freezing?

Thanks!
Steve, Denmark

kvndoom · Aug 13, 2006, 01:13 AM // 01:13

Rthdribl is a good video torture test:

http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/rthdribl/

Or even run the latest 3DMark or whatever.

Reference speeds for a 7900GT are 450 core /1320 memory (660 doubled). You can over/underclock with Coolbits (http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=815) , which will unlock a Clock Speed tab in your driver control panel.

Doomlord_Slayermann · Aug 13, 2006, 02:39 AM // 02:39

On a semi-related note, how much does it suck to have to buy a really kick-ass graphics card and then have to underclock it? Hope they fix this in the next driver version.

Tachyon · Aug 13, 2006, 05:22 AM // 05:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doomlord_Slayermann

On a semi-related note, how much does it suck to have to buy a really kick-ass graphics card and then have to underclock it? Hope they fix this in the next driver version.

What do you mean? No-one has mentioned a "Kick ass graphics card" at all!

Hell, you want kick ass then try the 7950GX2 1024MB cards!

coolsti · Aug 13, 2006, 09:09 AM // 09:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by kvndoom

Rthdribl is a good video torture test:

http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/rthdribl/

Or even run the latest 3DMark or whatever.

Reference speeds for a 7900GT are 450 core /1320 memory (660 doubled). You can over/underclock with Coolbits (http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=815) , which will unlock a Clock Speed tab in your driver control panel.

Hi and thanks for the responses all.

I do not understand the above, kvndoom, about the clock speeds. I installed and used NVidia Tweak to unlock access to clocking in my Nvidia panel, and with the standard installation without installing SmartDoctor, the clock speeds say 450/660. Yet you say it is 450/1320 (660 doubled). Does this mean that my standard installation has the card working at a kind of "underclocked" state? Or do I actually need to double the second number that this panel is showing me?

I then installed SmartDoctor, and then it seemed that the fan speed on my graphic card was running at maximum! It was very loud, like a small vacuum cleaner! The settings on the SmartDoctor panel did say 450/1320. Because of the fan noise, I quickly uninstalled SmartDoctor again.

Can anyone tell me what is going on here? What is SmartDoctor doing? Why does the Nvidia panel tell me 450/660 while the SmartDoctor panel says 450/1320? And why does the fan speed go crazy when installing SmartDoctor?

Thanks for any help!

Numa Pompilius · Aug 13, 2006, 11:49 AM // 11:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolsti

With the exception that on two occasions so far, the screen completely froze while playing GW.

Your graphics card is overheating; either the GPU or the graphics memory.

Quote:

it sounds like the problems could be solved by underclocking the card.

Yep, overheating.

Underclocking lowers heat production. Another, and better, solution is to improve the cooling of the card, either by replacing the cooler (difficult, somewhat pricy) or improving the ventilation in/around the box as a whole (easier).

kvndoom · Aug 13, 2006, 11:54 AM // 11:54

Sorry i wasn't more specific. The video card uses DDR(double data rate) memory, so 660 will show in some places as 1320, but it's the same thing. So, it seems that you are running at reference speed. I wouldn't reduce fan speed if the card is already possibly overheating.

There was an issue of bad batches of 7900GT's (if you dig far enough in this forum you'll find a couple other threads), but I thought that was resolved, but maybe some bad ones are still out there.

To see if it is a heating problem, underclock the card, say to like 400/1000 (500). If making it run slower causes it to work properly, then you got a lemon and should RMA it.

coolsti · Aug 13, 2006, 02:38 PM // 14:38

Thanks for all replies.

I am curious as to whether it is an overheating problem or another hard/software defect. Like a timing problem causing a hangup of processes.

I installed SmartDoctor this morning, and I can see that the card is running at about 42 C when not doing much, with the fan at 20%. With SmartDoctor, I set the cooling to the optimize setting, with an increase in fan speed at 45 C (as well as other higher temperatures to higher fan speeds) and as soon as I start GW I can hear that the fan has stepped up a notch. So maybe before, when I was not using SmartDoctor, the fan was not being stepped up properly. I have no idea what controls the video card fan speed on this Asus when SmartDoctor is not doing it. Anyone have any clues? I normally do not like to use all this fancy behind-the-scenes extra softwares.

Now to see if what I did so far helps: upgraded driver using Nvidia's latest, installing SmartDoctor to control the fan speed, and cutting down my clock speed a little.

Relambrien · Aug 13, 2006, 05:50 PM // 17:50

Ok I might be able to help with this but there's some info I need.

What manufacturer made your card? For instance, XFX, eVGA, or a company like that? The XFX cards are known to have terribly loud fans when on maximum speed. If that's it, then your card was overheating due to lack of cooling from a fan problem. The fan noise you heard when it was loud was actually the fan working at maximum speed. I would recommend putting the Zalman VF900 cooling system on your card instead of the stock fan; that should help with both the noise and the cooling issue. You can find that on Newegg.com

However, if your card isn't made by XFX, I can't help you.

Doomlord_Slayermann · Aug 14, 2006, 01:51 AM // 01:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relambrien

Ok I might be able to help with this but there's some info I need.

What manufacturer made your card? For instance, XFX, eVGA, or a company like that? The XFX cards are known to have terribly loud fans when on maximum speed. If that's it, then your card was overheating due to lack of cooling from a fan problem. The fan noise you heard when it was loud was actually the fan working at maximum speed. I would recommend putting the Zalman VF900 cooling system on your card instead of the stock fan; that should help with both the noise and the cooling issue. You can find that on Newegg.com

However, if your card isn't made by XFX, I can't help you.

I definitely DO NOT recommend doing this, as it would void your warranty... and graphics cards in general are not the most reliable things in the long run. The quick-and-easy fix here (if it is indeed an overheating problem, and it shouldn't be for GW, but it's possible) is definitely to get a PCI slot fan and stick it right underneath the GPU fan to suck all the heat from the GPU straight out of the case. Worked wonders for me when I first bought that 6800GT beheamoth a few years ago.

Relambrien · Aug 14, 2006, 03:16 AM // 03:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doomlord_Slayermann

I definitely DO NOT recommend doing this, as it would void your warranty... and graphics cards in general are not the most reliable things in the long run. The quick-and-easy fix here (if it is indeed an overheating problem, and it shouldn't be for GW, but it's possible) is definitely to get a PCI slot fan and stick it right underneath the GPU fan to suck all the heat from the GPU straight out of the case. Worked wonders for me when I first bought that 6800GT beheamoth a few years ago.

Whoops let me clarify, it seems I worded that badly.

The fan is actually a VGA fan that takes up the PCI slot nearest your card; you don't put it directly on the card. Therefore warranty should not be an issue. So yeah, this fan is actually the type of fan you described

Doomlord_Slayermann · Aug 14, 2006, 03:20 AM // 03:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relambrien

Whoops let me clarify, it seems I worded that badly.

The fan is actually a VGA fan that takes up the PCI slot nearest your card; you don't put it directly on the card. Therefore warranty should not be an issue.

Yeah, sounds more sane. Again, PCI fans are great for resolving those overheating issues on high-end graphics cards.

Mr D J · Aug 14, 2006, 03:28 AM // 03:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azagoth

What do you mean? No-one has mentioned a "Kick ass graphics card" at all!

Hell, you want kick ass then try the 7950GX2 1024MB cards!

Yeah!!! It will increase your performance by 10-15%!!! NOW THATS UBER!!!

7900 Is a kick ass card. Enough said. I've had problems with various games when 6600GT was new and drivers were still raw. New drivers work like a charm so just give it some times.

Btw my XFX fan was horrible and it was not loud at all. It was some lame thing made of aluminium I guess. I modded it with NVidia Silencer (forgot the version).

Could be the heat too... but I'd wait for newer drivers. Newest cards have raw drivers most of the time.

coolsti · Aug 14, 2006, 06:08 AM // 06:08

Hi and thanks for all the recent replies.

Let me clarify some things about the problem.

Firstly, it is an Asus card. The Asus 7900GT is not factory overclocked, and I was running it initially at factory settings (450/660 or 450/1320 speed, depending on how you calculate it) and without installing the extra "SmartDoctor" software.

When I got the PC running, I was amazed at how quiet it was. Despite cpu fan, two cabinet fans, PSU fan and video card fan, it was silent. Then came the problem with the two freeze-ups during GW. Then I decided to install SmartDoctor. After installing SmartDoctor but without changing any settings at all, the video card fan started to run at 100% I believe, at least it sounded like it. In panic, I uninstalled SmartDoctor again.

Now I have reinstalled SmartDoctor, and have adjusted the fan control settings to change the fan speed automatically in 4 steps according to the temperature on the card (the default "optimal control" setting of SmartDoctor). Now I can hear that the fan shifts up one notch in speed when GW is active, that is when the game is on and the screen is not minimized.

This makes me wonder about one thing: what controls the fan speed with this Asus card if the SmartDoctor was not installed? From the sounds of things, it may be that my video card fan was not working at all, or maybe only at lowest setting, before I installed SmartDoctor and maybe this is why I got the freeze-ups. Pretty poor of Asus if that is how things were done.

Regarding my problem (if it still exists after upgrade of driver and using SmartDoctor for fan control), it would be nice to know if this is a fault in my particular card or if I was just experiencing, as Numa points out, an overheating.

I am not at all happy with the sound level of the fan on this card. Even at 40% it is loud and high pitched. I have never tried a Zalman fan, but I heard good things about them. And I think it a shame that Zalman can produce better fans but a company like Asus will not use something like this.

The PCI fan idea is a neat one, I never thought of that. I also realize that exchanging the card fan will ruin my warranty. However, my plan is to wait for a while, say a half year, and see if the card seems to work without faults. If so, then I will certainly exchange the fan for a Zalman, in order to avoid this high pitched whine that the Asus fan puts out. But maybe I should try the PCI fan idea in the meantime, if it can help me keep the video card fan at its lowest level.

Thanks again for all the help!

cai yi ling · Aug 14, 2006, 11:35 AM // 11:35

Hey coolsti,

I've also had the exact same problem with my NVIDIA Geforce FX 5600. Screen freezes, but gameplay continues along with the sound etc.

Anyways, my cheap way to avoid the crashes is to close GW and restart it every so often, usually after I do a quest or mission. I've done that over the past week or so and it's only crashed once or twice, not as much as it did before. Another thing I've noticed is that GW crashes when I do PvE, and never PvP.
The last time it crashed, if I remember right, the only thing moving on the screen was the cursor (and Ctrl+Alt+Del wouldn't work neither).

I closed GW by the 'x' button in the corner, and it left a 'leftover image of the game' so to speak (so it looked like the game hadn't closed), but that disappeared after I hit Ctrl+Alt+Del - putting me back in Windows Desktop (resolution -.1024x768)

Right clicked and went into properties and into the Settings tab. The only color setting available here was '16bit'. Tried to apply that setting and it replied with a message saying that the graphic card returned an error. Followed by another message that the graphic card driver was 'assigned to another version of windows and doesn't support the current version of windows'. (WHAT!?!) So those messages wouldn't let me close the Properties window.

Poked around with the settings in that tab (there weren't many I could choose from) and eventually certain color settings and resolutions applied (they were 800x600).

I don't know what happened here, but after closing GW and going into the Settings tab, the resolution in Settings didn't match up with what it appeared on screen. i.e. the screen appeared to be 1024x768 but settings showed the resolution to be at 800x600. I think I played around and applied the settings in here so the screen resolution matched up with the resolution shown in the settings tab. Playing around more with the settings then allowed me to revert the resolution at 1024x768. Doing this meant that I didn't have to restart the whole machine.

Sorry if this reads to be too complicated and a bit incoherent. I'm not a techie at stuff like this but bottom line is, play around with the color settings / resolution and hopefully you won't have to restart the whole machine in order to start GW. 'Playing around with the settings' probably sounds like a lame suggestion but until now, I haven't found the root of the problem as my computer is in top shape, and I have no problem running any other programs, only GW.

Again, excuse me if this post is too complicated to understand. It's coming from a NON-TECHIE!!!!

I'll try to rephrase it if you find any parts complicated to understand ><"

Thanks

coolsti · Aug 14, 2006, 12:41 PM // 12:41

Thanks for the input, Cai Yi Ling. I don't know if our problems are related or not, but at any rate I hope we never have to resort to having to restart the game every once in a while.

Actually, I should add on top of all this, that besides the current problem with freeze ups, which actually seems to be solved now (using SmartDoctor to regulate fan speed), the 7900GT is a fantastic video card for playing GW! This is my wife's PC, the new one I built, and I play along side her on a PC which is 3 or more years old now and is using a GeForce Ti4200 card. The Ti4200 is also a fantastic card (but won't support newer games like Oblivion) and GW looks and plays fantastic with it. But, wow, in comparison, all I can say is that the 7900GT has it beat by a long shot. No video lag is noticeable, and the textures, shadows, and overall look is just more realistic and more fluent than the Ti4200.

If it will only be problem free and a little less noisy .....