Graphics Card (I think) Problem

[mitch1423]

Ok so I recently installed Windows 8 on our machine on a separate partition. We also got a new graphics card a few months ago. I'm not sure when this problem started, but I really started noticing it after I installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Anyway our computer will usually act as normal, but every once in a while it will just crash. It doesn't show the BSOD, but it does make the screen either go black, or light up random pixels purple and make the screen go back a few seconds later. I have no idea how to fix this problem, or even to figure out what is causing it. While it usually happens when playing a game (any game), sometimes the computer will just start up and immediately show the signs that it will crash soon. (Screwed up graphics) Please help me.

[quizme2000]

Windows 8 Huh? My first guess would be a driver problem since its all pre-release.

Motherboard and Graphics Card released before an OS tend to have issues due to the complete lack of QA.

Look for updates on the MB and Graphics card websites for windows 8 notes/updates.

Also Since you have had this card for a few months can we assume it worked fine in Win7?

How is the temperature inside the case? are the fans running full blast?

[mitch1423]

I have the latest drivers which are specifically for Windows 8, I checked on the NVidia site.
It works worse in Windows 7 oddly enough, Windows 8 still crashes, but less often.
Temperature seems to be fine, fans run normally as far as I know, but I'll check the temperature out.

[eligitine]

I to am running windows 8 beta. What this sounds like it something I encounter occasionally, even on windows 7. Your driver fails, and windows recovers it, as for the cause temperature is a major cause of it. It happens on 7 a lot when I run to many graphic intensive programs at once. (just cause 2, alien verses predator on other window.)

[mitch1423]

Is there any certain way I can go about solving this? (I can't even run BF3 at lowest settings currently.)

[Panonadin]

At this point I think the best option is to run a non "Beta" OS.

[mitch1423]

It does the exact same thing on Windows 7.

[ElWanderer]

Given that this seems to have started happening after a hardware change and occurs in two different (though related) operating systems, I'd be tempted to go back to the previous hardware configuration (put the old card back in place of the new one if you still have it) and see if the problems remain or go away. Alternatively, borrow another card from someone else, or try your new card in a different machine. Is the new card still in a period where you could return it and get a replacement?

How good is your power supply unit, and does it provide enough power to run the system with the new card? That's just popped into my head, that perhaps the new system draws more power at times than the PSU can supply, but I don't know what the visible effects of that would be. I guess the voltages would be off when that happens - on my system I can display that on a monitor within Windows.

If you think the drivers are to blame (which could be possible if you're using the same drivers on Win7 and Win8), could you try uninstalling them then reinstalling an older version?

While it usually happens when playing a game (any game), sometimes the computer will just start up and immediately show the signs that it will crash soon

Does that include cold starts where the computer has been off for a while beforehand (so that everything has had the chance to cool down)? If so, for me that would rule out a temperature issue, as the card shouldn't have time to overheat...

[mitch1423]

I don't think it happens from a cold boot, but I'll test it soon. I bought a PSU with the card, so that's ruled out. If it is temperature, then what would you recommend to fix it?

[ElWanderer]

If the fans are going round and the card isn't reporting a particularly high temperature (though can you check that when it's under high load?), that doesn't sound like the problem is overheating. But if it is, that would imply either the card's cooling mechanisms don't work properly or that the set-up inside the case is such that waste heat from the card can't escape quickly enough (an extreme example would be if the hot air from the CPU is being blown directly into the graphics card's fan inlet and then the even hotter air doesn't want to move anywhere else). The first of those comes back to replacing the card, whereas diagnosing and fixing the latter can be very tricky. If it's a localised heat issue, it's unlikely you can just whack in a case fan and the problem will disappear. If a case doesn't have enough air getting in and out in general, the CPU, GPU and motherboard temperatures will all rise more than you'd expect (which doesn't match what you've reported so far), and in that situation more fans would help.

If the PSU is new, powerful enough and not a dodgy no-name brand*, then yeah there shouldn't be a problem powering the card. That said, as it's a new component and the problem started after you installed it, the possibility remains that it's not working properly. Reading online, the suggestion seems to be that PSUs tend to fail completely rather than partially, so it seems less likely to be the cause.

* - Poor quality PSUs may not actually provide the power they're rated at in the first place, which can result in the system failing at high load even though it should work according to the numbers.

One other thought - do you have all the shiny, transparent, 3D Aero stuff turned on (does that exist in Win8)? If the system isn't coping with a high graphics load for whatever reason, that could manifest itself outside of games if the card is working to make Windows prettier.

[mitch1423]

I do have Aero turned on but I didn't have a problem with Aero on my old card which was worse than this one so I doubt that is the problem. How can I check if my card is reporting a high temperature when under high load?

[PhoenixEnigma]

Grab GPU-Z and open it before starting a demanding game or something. Flip to the "sensors" tab - there should be a checkbox about refreshing in the background. Make sure that's checked off. One of the graphs should be for GPU temperature, and if you click the display of the current temperature beside that, you should be able to have that show the current, min, max or average temperature. In this case, click it until it's reporting the maximum temperature.

Someone might want to verify those exact steps, as I'm working from memory. Assuming they are correct, go fire up a game or something for a bit - something that will put a good load on the GPU. After 10 or 15 minutes, quit and check how hot the video card was getting. Report back.

[mitch1423]

Ok when I checked max temp it was around 81 degrees Celsius. I'm assuming my problem is too much heat? That seems pretty hot to me.

[ElWanderer]

Though 81 degrees C sounds high, for graphics cards it seems to be fairly usual to end up there or higher under load. They're often rated up to around the 100 degrees mark, though you probably wouldn't want to spend long there. It should be possible to find out what temperature your specific GPU is rated to.

There's a rather shouty first post on the matter here: http://www.overclock.net/t/651707/faq-a ... hics-cards