matthew_3000

My wife just bought the sims 3. after runnning the game for about 10 mins the game minimizes and i get a message that says:

"VPU Recover has reset your graphics accelerator as it was no longer responding to graphics driver commands"

I notice the graphics processor temperature rises whenever this happens. I installed an updated driver from the website, but it continues to give me this message.

I would appreciatethe help.


Thanks in advance.

emosun

What are the systems temps under load? whats the make and model of the power supply , and also the rest of the specs.

matthew_3000

I believe normaly the system runs around 70 degrees celcius. but when i run the game it slowly rises and oce it gets to around 115 degrees celcius + it gives me that message. I downloaded the latest software and driver for my graphics card and motherboard, but that did not solve the problem. I also went to the sims site and ran the system compatibility test and it said my system should run the game.

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP3
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Video Adapter Radeon X1950 Pro Secondary (256 MB)
Video Adapter Radeon X1950 Pro (256 MB)
Monitor LG Flatron L1730S [17" LCD] (150195519)

Motherboard Properties:
Manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Product M2V
Version Rev 1.xx


Processor Properties:
Manufacturer AMD
Version AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+
Serial Number To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Asset Tag To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Part Number To Be Filled By O.E.M.
External Clock 200 MHz
Maximum Clock 3000 MHz
Current Clock 2000 MHz
Type Central Processor
Voltage 1.5 V
Status Enabled
Socket Designation SOCKET AM2

Power supply is turbolink Switching Power supply Model LC-A420 ATX 12V

Dont know if that is too much info or not enough. Please let me know what else you need to know.

Thank you

Riskyone101

Your running underpowered.

You need to be here 550 watt psu.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139004

115 C is way too hot, will damage the video card

emosun

Yea definitely underpowered. And 115c is wayyy to hot. It should be exceeding 70c under full load.

matthew_3000

Great, thank you so much. i will be trying this this weekend.

matthew_3000

I put a new power supply in this weekend. It definetly helped, but the temp on the card still rises and shuts the game down. It just takes longer for it to happen now.

maybe my system just won't handle the game?

Riskyone101

Go here and find out:
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

matthew_3000

I went to that link and it says that i should be able to play the game. Does anyone have any ideas?

ThomasKrueger

I (= my daughter) have the same problems with the X1950. Lowering all parameters doesn't help. I think we will (here in Europe) update the old graphic card with a not so old model like the Zotac GTX260 Synergy with GeForce GTX 260 (old model with 192 cores) or the next better card Zotac GTX260² with NVIDIA Chip GeForce GTX 260 with 216 Cores.

BTW, Tom's Hardware has some good articles about mid-market graphic cards
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...0,2286-21.html

Riskyone101

Post your temps and voltages from the bios.

ThomasKrueger

These are the parameters from the abit utility, The processor is a Intel Core2 6600, 2.4 GHz.

CPU Volt 1.28 V
ExtClock 266 MHZ
VCore 1.325 V
DDR2V 1.80 V
MCH 1.25 V
ICHIO 1.50 V
Clock 2400 MHz

My display is a Nec LCD2690 (60 Hz refresh). After playing a couple of minutes the display goes black and indicates "DVI-I Digital frequency too high"
I have updated the driver for the X1950. The 3D refresh rate override is set to 60Hz for full screen applications.
I noticed also that the temperature of the graphic processor jumps up to over 100°C playing Sims3. Maybe I have to clean the ventilator of the video card and to change the heatsink paste - if it's possible to disassemble the ventilator and the cooler of the graphic card.

Ahh, these kids, their computer games and the poor dad...

PS: Found the software PowerStrip at http://entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm to edit the parameters of video cards.

matthew_3000

I got it working last night. Originally when i had this problem i tried cleaning out the computer to get some of the dust out. Well i guess i missed some. I took the graphics card right out put my mouth up to it and blew as hard as i could. There was a chunk of dust clogging the inside and the fan blades. The card used to run at 70 degrees under normal conditions but it now runs at only 50 degrees. The game also works fine. I did lower a bunch of the game quality settings to low, but i bet i can turn them up a little now. I think the 550W power supply also helped out.

any how, thanks for all the help!

ThomasKrueger

I will open the computer at the weekend to check and clean the fans, so let's hope!

Riskyone101

Go here and take a look:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm

Get yourself a can of compressed air to use on the fans and inside the tower.

ThomasKrueger

All ok! I disassembled and cleaned the whole cooling unit of the graphic card. Mounted the heatsink of the graphic card with new thermal paste - and Sims 3 is running on the Ati Radeon x1950. The temperature of the graphic processor reaches now at maxs 85°C.

Riskyone101

Excellent!, way to go and glad to hear it!...

you can mark thread solved under thread tools near top of this page, ty.