I recently re-installed windows, and now whenever I try any source based game (HL2, HL2 DM, Counter Strike, Gary's Mod) it'll play for a minute or two and then freeze, at which point the only thing I can do is turn it off (reset button wont even respond) I had this problem before, but I can't remember how I fixed it, my specs are in my sig. I read that it's to do with onboard audio, but I've tried all the suggested fixes with no luck Does anyone have any ideas?
Check you page file is set correct. When i installed hl2 i had the same. It turned out that the page file was incorrect, i dont know what the value should be but mine is 4 times the ram.
4x is a lot It's usually not necessary to have more than twice the physical RAM? 1.5x is perfectly sufficient See here +/or here for advice and 'how to' Shuriken
I always have my page file set to twice the ram, thing is, it was working, it's only since re-formatting that it's started doing this. I have just discovered my GPU reaches 115 degrees before crashing, ATI say 125 is max for an x800, but 115 still seems seriously high to me. I'm gonna get a new cooler and see if that helps at all. The only way I've managed to get it working is in 800 x 600 windowed and forcing direct x 8, but I havn't played like that enough to be sure it works, plus 800 x 600 is just far too low Cheers for the suggestions. Matt Edit: the GPU temp is 75 idle, is that too high?
115c is indeed far too hot, even if the core can take 125 before dying (just like the 60c my MBP's CPU is at idling ). Try running with the side panel open and a fan (room-sized) pointed at it, and see what that does to your temps, and if it helps the problem. If it fixes it, get a new cooler. If not, you've eliminated one thing it could be. The x800 should be able to handle 1600x1200 in HL2, or very near that anyways.
the AC should sort it, i've got on strapped to my X800 Pro and even at XT PE and above speeds under full load it won't go much above 45 C and at idle its about 32C
Just installed the VGA silencer....38 degrees idle The fan on the original cooler was running, but the thermal paste on it was really patchy, so air pockets galore, not sure I'll be buying another sapphire card in a hurry. Now to see if this fixes my half life problems. Cheers for the help everyone. Edit: What the hell!? As soon as I hit post my display went totally messed up (I'm now on a different computer) It's hard to describe, but it's like patchy, with blocks of pink and green all over, I seem to remember this is a sign of over heating, but ATI tool was saying 38 I'm gonna leave it off for a while and see if it's ok, but I'm positive I seated the cooler right, and if it's now over heating the supposed 40 degree temperature drop doesn't make sense. I'm just plain pissed off now.
I've installed two ac's now and both times i've crushed the gpu's and both times the symptoms were similar. I just avoid them now they are great but i can't afford to keep trying them.
I just tried to check to see if it was sitting ok, and although I couldn't remove the heatsink due to sticky thermal pads on the ram, it was definatly on properly. I would have thought a crushed core would have outright killed it I'll check that next then. To be honest I'm so sick of PCs that I can't wait 'til I can afford an xBox 360, as soon as I get one I'm giving up PC games for good. If it's crushed I think I'm just gonna get the cheapest PCIe card around, and just use my PC for music production.
I don't think it's a crushed core, more like maybe the heat before the VGA silencer was put on screwed everything up. That's how my old 9600XT died. I put on an arctic cooler after the fan died and before and after the cooler was on I got the nice pink and green crap all over the place and then a few days later, POOF! It up and died. I really wouldn't give up PC games because of a hardware problem. Just think of al the sweet games you'll miss. And besides, the xBox 360 isn't really all it's cracked up to be. Of the 10 I have played on 7 would freeze after 20 minutes of use. Not that great if you ask me...
Put the original hsf on and rma the sucker. It was having problems before you fitted the 3rd party cooling anyway.
Thats my current plan of action, there's no visible damage to the core, so I imagine it is just dying from previous temps. I'm currently running on an old 8mb ATI Rage pro turbo I had kicking around I'm now gonna see if I can force HL2 on it for funsies (I think i'll need to go Direct X 7) Again, thanks everyone for the help, I probly wont give up PC gaming, this set up has just been trouble since I got it, my last build was solid, so it's fustrating when things keep going wrong. Matt
DX 8? HL2 needs nine. 4 time current ram will equal 2Xcurrent ram in about 2 weeks time, Get my second i gig stick soon making the total 2 GB. That should just be enough. Personally the 360 just downright sucks.
using the command switch '-dxlevel X' (where X 81, 80, 70) you can force it to run in different levels, of course you loose some visual effects, but its great for running on lower spec machines. A lot of people have found they get much better fps with Direct x 8.1 with hardly any graphics loss. Back to my broken card, I've just noticed burn marks on the PCB where the around where the fan plugs in, is it possible that the larger fan on the AC cooler was drawing too much current and that caused the display problems? the stock cooler is a 50mm fan where as the AC one is 70mm, so it will deffinatly be drawing more current. The cooler i bought (ATI silencer 4) said it's for x800's but on the supported card list, the x800 gto isn't there, it also states it's for the R420 core, where as my x800 gto is an R480 core there where definalty no phyiscal problems with the fit of the cooler.
