SPECS:
Nvidia GeForce 6800 GT - AGP
Intel 2.6 Ghz P4
Intel D865PERL motherboard
1x200 MB Maxtor HD
1x120 MB Seagate HD
6x Creative DVD Drive (OLD)
52x Plextor CD-Writer
3 Extra fans in case
350 Watt Power Supply (as I'm at work... I don't know the brand)

I got a new video card (6800 GT) and it replaced my old 9800 Pro. Before I put in the new video card in, I booted into safemode and removed my drivers for the old card and any ATI software. Shutdown the machine and then put in the new card. Booted up the machine and installed the latest drivers from Nvidia's site and everything seemed to be dandy. Loaded up GTA San Andreas, played it for an hour and a half and it seemed to work great. Also loaded up Quake 4, played it for 30 minutes with full settings and that seemed to work great.

Then I tried FEAR, crashed after 5 - 10 minutes (System FULLY crashed... couldn't get into Windows... and it just hung there for a few minutes). Hard reset the machine... and loaded up Half Life 2 Lost Coast... and once again crashed hard after 5 - 10 minutes. Finally, tried Need for Speed Most Wanted... and again... crashed hard after 5 - 10 minutes. If I try GTA or Quake 4 though... they don't seem to crash.

I have a dual monitor setup so I enabled the second monitor and displayed my temperature settings for my card on the 2nd screen... and nothing seemed to be overheating before it crashed. Everything was well below 55c when it would crash.

So there are only two things I can figure:

1. Graphics Card memory is bad. And the games that cause the crash... specifically are trying to access that memory. I don't know how to test this theory though.

2. Power Supply issue. With the two CD-Drives... and two hard drives... and the newer card... I believe that when it gets into these really intensive games it doesn't have enough power to do what it wants to do.

So my questions (FINALLY):

1. Is there something to test whether Graphic Card memory might be bad (something along the lines of Memtest x86)?

2. Could this behavior be a result of a weak power supply? Or would the card refuse to work altogether if the power supply wasn't strong enough?

3. Or could I be wrong about my conclusions altogether and I'm not looking at something I should be?

Thanks for any help!

Hello Opehdian and welcome to PCHF,
In my opinion it may be your power supply is not up to par for everything you have. Unless you have somthing like an Antec true power psu.

Another question is. Does it reboot or just crash?

To find out if it is your gpu run the below app if it shows artifacts it may be your gpu.

http://www.futuremark.com/download/?pcmark05.shtml

At this point, it just crashes. It seems like it is going to reboot... but it just sticks at the black screen for a long time. Perhaps if I waited longer it would finally reboot (perhaps it is writing an error log or something).

And I'll try the futuremark thing. I didn't see any artifacting in any of the games I was playing... but I'll try it with the supplied app. Thanks.

:smiley: Hey Ophidiann,

Also, if at all possible, test it with another PSU. The fact that it runs for a while and then crashes sounds an awful lot like a power issue.

Look forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW