SkyRaider

Hi,

I'm kinda hoping I'm wrong, but the word >hoping< is why I am posting here.

Lately my computer has begun acting wierd. I was playing World Of Warcraft the other day, and for some unknown reason the game runs fine for about 10 minutes now before my computer simply freezes and I can't even get back to windows. Only option..... restart.

I restart my computer and enter WoW once more, the game freezes up and I have one option.... restart.

I figured this might be a bug or something with my computer and WoW, but as far as I know my entire OS shouldn't freeze. Still, today I started up The Sims 2, and somehow it also happened here. The computer froze and I had to restart.

Today I thought I'd check a little more, and reinstalled windows. After haveing updating my computer and trying to start WoW my computer froze on a technicallity of myself holding the shift button too long. Anyways... I had to restart my computer and when the screen had finished loading windows my screen decided to turn itself off ( went black ). I tryed restarting a few times and same thing happened. I turned my computer off for a couple of seconds and turned it back on and I got back in Windows. Windows then reported an error with my graphic drivers. Sure enough, these were new from March, but the ones I used earlier in this post I had used for months with no problems.

Now... what worries me, I have a GeForce 5700 FX Ultra and it's about 1 year and 3 months old. I have opened my computer and tryed touching my graphics card and I find it to be very hot. I mean... I'm kinda sensitiv against heat, but I got hurt from touching it. Not burn marks or anything permanent, but it was hot to my fingers.

I'm wondering if my graphics card has seen it's last resolution soon... but as long as I don't use any "heavy" graphics program.... my computer can stay on all night with no problems.

It might be because my graphics card is close to some limit of heat for all know, I mean... since it is working. But for all I know it might also be a different problem than my graphics card, so I was kinda wondering what you guys think about this.

Or if there is something I can do, test or whatever.... I might try another graphics card ( an old one ) just to test if it really is the problem, but I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.

Thx, and sorry for all the text.
SkyRaider

Sarkast

Yes it could defenitely be overheating. The fact that it seems fine in windows but in games freezes confirms this (to a certain extend) as the 3D mode is much more demanding than 2D mode.

There is a simple test you can do. Take a big house fan and set it right in front of the open case and let it blow on the card - see if it makes a diffrence (crashes dont happen, take longer to happen).

Todays cards run hot and so do their heatsinks - so its hard to tell if they are just "hot" or "too hot".

Test with a big fan - if it seems to improve the situation you might have to look into how to seriously improve your case airflow - or install a better aftermarket cooler for the card. If not we'll have to look at other possible problems...

EDIT: What brand is the card ? Could you list the detailed description ? (i.e. XFX Nvidia Gforce FX 5700 Ultra 128Mb)

SkyRaider

Thx, I'll try that. I think I'm also going to install the last fan slot in the box just to be on the safe side. I just find it worrying that I never had these problems before. It's like.... Why now?!? Why not the last year ?!? ... But oh well, we all know how unpredictable computers can be I suppose.

For the record :

Gainward FX Powerpack.
nVidia GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
500MHz GPU Corespeed
128MB 2,2ns DDR-2@950MHz
DVI+DVI
8X AGP ( 2,1GB/s )

Sarkast

Electronic parts age just like to many other things - so that could be one of the reasons why you have problems now. I also think the companies figure that people who buy high performance graphic cards wont use them for a long time anyway - cause they usually want to be up to date and change their hardware often - so such a card isnt made to last for 10 years.

I was looking up your card and it seems there are several variations of it - but if yours has the molex plug on the back - do you have it plugged in ?

SkyRaider

Honestly.... I don't know what a Molex plug is. I can tell you there is a power cable connected to the card at the end tough. If that is the Molex, then yes. Even though I seem to read on the net that a Molex cable is like the one going from my CD-Rom to my Soundcard, in that case no. I didn't even know there were variations of the card. FX 5700 Ultra According to the link.... yes there is a Molex and it is plugged. Oh and the card says 5700 FX Ultra\960 ( I didn't think the 960 was important )

Anyways, I also found that the table fan as you suggested works, tough I wish there was some other way, cause with the cold air now touching my legs, I believe it will be easier for me to get sick. So maybe I should also look into another place to place my computer.

elf

The molex is one of the cables coming from the power supply. So what sarkast is talking about is a power connector that is usually on the back of the video card. This supplies extra power to the card.

If the fan helps, then you obviously have some sort of overheating problem. You could always just get some 120mm fans and install them into your case. That would cool it off pretty well.

Volt-Schwibe

well, the cold air on your legs won't last long.

the idea was simply to see if cooling it ALOT helped.

since it helps, you should see about adding a fan that will blow fresh air more or less directly at the video card.

this may mean you will have to take the shell to a machine shop and have a hole cut in it, unless you can do it yourself.

for what it's worth, the machine shops in my town charge very little to do fast custom work like this, usually around 10$ for the time involved in clamping it down and boring a nice clean round hole in it.

then, you can drill the 4 mount holes yourself and save a bit more money.

make sure and call around, and measure your fan closely, to not end up with a sloppy fit.

SkyRaider

lol I've heard about custom made cases before.... I just never thought that was the way it was done. I think maybe I can use the "small holes" already there to place a fan, tough I seem to need the drill you were talking about. Maybe a roll of sticky double sided tape would do the same thing.

120mm it is then. I'm supprised enough that I have to run the table fan at full speed to cool it down in 3D applications. Still... I have a friend with the same card who also seems to have a fan stop. Tough he has 2 fans on the side of the case witch blows directly at the graphics card, so I guess it will do.

I'll have to look into that.

Thanx for all the help!

SkyRaider

Hey again, just a quick update.

Today 160405 my computer really went down with a "thud". I got up this morning and after about 5 minutes the screen looked like a TV channel that hadn't been decoded. Lots of nice colors and stuff. My mouse was a small square at the middle of the screen moving, but apparently not doing anything.

I don't really know what happened since what you adviced worked. But hey, I went to the computer store to buy myself a new and even better card, only to hear that the garantie from the manufactorer here in Norway said a minimum of 2 years. My card was only 1 year and 2 months old, so imagine that.

Now I'm sitting on an old graphics card awaiting some return labels from the seller so that I can get it repaired or get a new one, or my money back. I'm kinda hoping for the last one, cause I get alot better card for that money now than I got 1 year ago, but anything will do.

Again, thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it