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Snow and other graphical anomalies while playing games
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velaxun
Newbie
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7. July 2007 @ 20:53 |
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I recently purchased a new custom built computer and was playing Fable earlier today when all of a sudden there was a large amount of static and snow all over the screen. Then it would start to flicker and parts would turn pink. I decided I should probably stop playing since this was obviously bad and turned the computer off for about 20 minutes. After the reboot everything was fine. I haven't tried playing Fable or anything else for that matter because I'm afraid of what might happen.
As I mention above my computer was custom built, but here's what I've got inside.
It's running Windows Vista Ultimate Edition with an Intel Core 2 Duo e6600 processor @ 2.4Ghz with 4GB RAM and an Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB GPU. My guess is that something was getting too hot either the CPU or the GPU, but I don't know which. Hopefully someone here can help me before my computer explodes...
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Senior Member
1 product review
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8. July 2007 @ 07:13 |
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if snow is comming down the screen then the card is overheating, you need to get a better cooler on it, or the card will die very soon.
tell your system builder about this
it is mostlikely the GPU that is getting to hot, not the CPU if the screen is snowing. There are many good GPU coolers you can get for under 50 if you want i can give you links
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8. July 2007 @ 07:15
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velaxun
Newbie
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8. July 2007 @ 07:31 |
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ok, that's what I thought it would be. By why wouldn't the fan that came with the GPU be enough to keep it cool? I just find that wierd. But I'll take those links too, thanks for the help and I'll probably give them a call today.
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Senior Member
1 product review
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8. July 2007 @ 08:18 |
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velaxun
Newbie
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8. July 2007 @ 12:32 |
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thanks for those links. I downloaded the nVidia nView utility and it says that my GPU temp is at 58C while idle. Now, I don't know anything about what is high, but 58 seems pretty high especially for idle.
Another thing I noticed while clicking around in nView is that i can control the fan speeds on the GPU, do you think that if I tweaked that and raised the speed that it would help, or would it just cause more problems?
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Senior Member
1 product review
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8. July 2007 @ 13:04 |
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58idel is way to hot!!! i would turn up the fan, but that can only help so much, getting a new heatsink would be better
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velaxun
Newbie
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8. July 2007 @ 13:35 |
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ok, I'll get one as soon as possible then, I just returned after having the computer off for about an hour and moved it to a more ventilated area and already, just after I turned the computer on the GPU temp was at 50C. But I also heard the the 8000 series does run at a higher temp than some other ones so could this be normal and that the earlier case was just a result of the system being on for too long? either way, i won't take any chances and I'll get a new cooling system as soon as I can. thanks for all the help
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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8. July 2007 @ 14:14 |
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Quote:
58idel is way to hot!!! i would turn up the fan, but that can only help so much, getting a new heatsink would be better
So how many PCs have you built?
58C idle is fine for a graphics card, just keep an eye out for the load temperature, which shouldn't go much above 90C or so (seems ridiculous, but graphics cards do get that hot these days) Is it a fanless model or one with a standard fan cooler?
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velaxun
Newbie
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8. July 2007 @ 14:55 |
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It has a fan included so I don't understand now. Was what happened with Fable just some sort of isolated incident, because I just finished playing Oblivion for 2 hours on high and the temp is only 59C. So if GPU's can get up to 90C what the hell happened while I was playing Fable? Was it because the system had been on for 2 days? Because now I'm confused
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Senior Member
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8. July 2007 @ 15:15 |
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if it had been on for 48 hous plus your case could be having trouble pulling the heat up from the under side of your g card and that might be making it hotter. leave it on for a few days and see what your gpu hits then. if it gets very hot it could be time to look for a cooler that blows the hotair out of your case. if its still normal it could just be a duff driver.
custom builder could of overclocked it but i think he may of done the cpu aswell if he was??
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Senior Member
1 product review
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8. July 2007 @ 15:17 |
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Quote:
[quote]58idel is way to hot!!! i would turn up the fan, but that can only help so much, getting a new heatsink would be better
So how many PCs have you built?
58C idle is fine for a graphics card, just keep an eye out for the load temperature, which shouldn't go much above 90C or so (seems ridiculous, but graphics cards do get that hot these days) Is it a fanless model or one with a standard fan cooler?[/quote]it really depends on the card, and going that hot is not going to help the life of the card.
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velaxun
Newbie
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8. July 2007 @ 18:46 |
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Originally posted by marsey99:
if it had been on for 48 hous plus your case could be having trouble pulling the heat up from the under side of your g card and that might be making it hotter. leave it on for a few days and see what your gpu hits then. if it gets very hot it could be time to look for a cooler that blows the hotair out of your case. if its still normal it could just be a duff driver.
custom builder could of overclocked it but i think he may of done the cpu aswell if he was??
It was overclocked right out of the box by the manufacturer, so I don't think they would cause any problems. Also I was alt+tabbing out of Fable and Oblivion and the GPU temp never went higher than 69C. Is this normal or should I still look at getting a new cooling system?
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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9. July 2007 @ 09:18 |
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That's absolutely fine, like I said, Graphics cards can sustain 90 Celsius or more these days before you get warnings.
Mikeh, Actually the idle temperature of a chip won't diminish its life unless its higher than the normal load temperature, in which case you know you have issues. It's a common misconception that hot means shorter lifespan. it only does when the temperatures are REALLY high, and in this case they're not. I appreciate the point but I have to disagree with you.
As for resolving the problem, try using an overclock program like Ntune or ATitool (yep, that works for nVidia too) and REDUCE the speed of your memory by a bit. See if that solves the problem.
One of the other things to check is if you're using a DVI cable. If so, how long is it? Long DVI cables sometimes cause sparkling effects. Also, try using the other output port on the card. I can only run games at 2560x1600 from one port on my X1900XT without getting the same effect.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 9. July 2007 @ 09:21
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Senior Member
1 product review
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9. July 2007 @ 13:05 |
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[quote=sammorris]That's absolutely fine, like I said, Graphics cards can sustain 90 Celsius or more these days before you get warnings.
Mikeh, Actually the idle temperature of a chip won't diminish its life unless its higher than the normal load temperature, in which case you know you have issues. It's a common misconception that hot means shorter lifespan. it only does when the temperatures are REALLY high, and in this case they're not. I appreciate the point but I have to disagree with you.
quote]I am sure your right, but when the screen starts snowing, something is getting too hot, do you agree?
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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9. July 2007 @ 13:16 |
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No, it can be caused by that, but that's not the sole cause. It's because there's corruption in the pixel pipelines of the graphics card and usually happens when the memory generates errors. This is what you get when you overclock a Graphics card for example. As stock though, it can happen with graphics cards that are faulty, and is usually rectified by lowering the clock speed. Your core temperature is absolutely fine, so I don't doubt your memory temperature is too, considering most of the time the memory doesn't even have heatsinks. You may just have a bad driver or a less than satisfactory card. have you tried the quickfixes I suggested?
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velaxun
Newbie
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9. July 2007 @ 16:23 |
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I'm using the standard VGA cables that came with my monitor, but I had to attach an adapter, so maybe it came loose and that could be the problem. Now the thing is, I'm in Duluth for a week on vacation so I can't check up on it until Friday. But I'll try lowering the clock speed a little when I get back and seeing if there's a more up to date version of Forceware I can download. Thanks for all the help guys hopefully this works and I don't get anymore problems, otherwise I'll be back here in a week and going to my retailer to see about getting it fixed. Thanks again
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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10. July 2007 @ 07:05 |
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Try that, and try changing the adapter as well, you never know.
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