[teg916]

My computer seems to crash when I play games for an extended period of time. It varies, but generally 30 mins to 1 hour into a game is when it crashes, sometimes longer.

My computer has
AMD athlon 64X2 core processor 5600+
4 gigs of ram
GTS8800 Video card
650W power supply

I originally thought it was overheating issues with the video card. It gets very hot to the touch. I have installed Riva tuner though, and bumped up the fan speed. I still get crashes. The temp generally stays between 60 - 70 degrees C with the fan speed increased. Otherwise they can get up to 80 or a little above. I also looked into the CPU temps. After it crashes I checked the CPU temp and it is usually below 50C.

This happens during multiple games. Flight simulator X, Battlefield 2, Modern warfare 2.

Any suggestions on what I could do to narrow down the problem?

I have checked to make sure I have current direct X and updated drivers. Here is my DXdiag report.

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 2/5/2010, 23:31:55
Machine name: TZONU
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.090804-1412)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: NVIDIA
System Model: AWRDACPI
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5600+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory: 3584MB RAM
Page File: 1054MB used, 4410MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Display Tab 2: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Music Tab: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found.

[lawson_jl]

Over heating still sound likes the best answear with the info you have given. Checking the CPU temp after the crash isn't gonna tell you anything. The temp is gonna drop rapidly when CPU utilization drops off.

There are several questions when your computer crashes what does it do? Does it just freeze up, freeze up but you can still use the mouse, blue screen, or just restart?

Also if it is restarting or your getting a BSOD and then restarting you can disable the automatic restart under Start Up and Recovery in Advance System Properties so you have time to read any BSOD that appear.

[Craive]

How does one check their cpu temps?

[teg916]

It usually will just freeze. Most of the time the image on the monitor freezes, occasionally it will go blank. Sometimes the sound will stutter. I have to do a hard reboot. No blue screen, and the inputs don't work.

If it is the CPU overheating, do you have any tips to alleviate this? Would I just buy better fans? I have an older case, but it has 1 80mm fan blowing in at the front, 2 blowing out the back, plus the power supply and video card fans exhausting air out the back.

I just installed SpeedFan. I have dual monitors, so I should be able to glance over at the CPU temps while I am playing just to keep an eye on it. When I get a chance I will report back with some temps. What is too high?

[teg916]

Well to update, I played for a while, no crashes this time. Highest temp is definately the graphics card at about 70 degrees C.

[lawson_jl]

Your graphics card is getting too hot and that's what's causing your computer to freeze up. 70C is 158F. Try using the computer with the side panel off for a bit. If you have a drop in temps you have bad air flow in your case. In general anything around or over 50C (120F) is too hot. In my experence newer cases handle heat issues better then older ones so you may want to spend a few dollars and upgrade.

[Tanis]

60-70 degrees under load is not overheating for a 8800, they are quite power hungry and do run fairly warm.

I queried my temperatures on my 8800GT with NVidia when I first got it and the reply I got back from them was that 70C-85C degrees are safe operating temperatures but the GPU is tested up to a core temperature of 145C.

I still replaced the stock cooler on mine so I am now running at around 50C-55C when stress tested using Furmark.

Having said all that, I still get random crashes with my 8800GT and as yet (several years after getting it) I still haven't managed to find out what is causing it. I do believe though that the graphics card is not the problem for me.

[lawson_jl]

Tanis I have to respectfully disagree with you and tech support which tends to just say whatever is needed to get the customer to stop calling/emailing. I've never seen my 8600GT OC or any other other video card over 55C even under load. 70C for any kind of CPU is too hot period. That's hot enough to start melting solder and breaking down thermogreese.

[Tanis]

We will have to agree to disagree then .

I have had experience of quite a few cards running quite happily around the 70-80 degree mark and have seen many threads on overclockers forums saying they think that 70-80 isn't a particularly high temperature for an 8800.

An 8800 has higher power consumption, as far as I know, than the 8600 and will therefore run hotter. Here is a quote from Toms Hardware website.

In regards to temperatures, we picked up a drop of approximately 5°C when compared to a GeForce 8800 GT in the same conditions. This is thanks to the prominent cooling system. We obtained 55°C in idle and 85°C in peak. Those values are lower than those found on the Radeon HD3870. Given all of this, the GeForce 8800 GTX and its much less evolved processes are only slightly hotter in idle (58°C) and remains 1°C below the 8800 GTS 512 MB in peak.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...b,1743-13.html

Here they are noting temps of around 55C idle to 85C under load with slight variations depending on wether it is GT, GTS, GTX and also got similar temps using a Radeon HD3870 in the same system.

Plenty of 8800's running around that temp reported here
http://forums.nvidia.com/lofiversion...hp?t54946.html

I agree that the hotter it runs it will reduce the lifespan of the card, however, in a lot of cases it will still last far longer than the average user will require before they are likely to upgrade, in my opinion. A little Googling will bring up countless people running 8800's at higher temps than the OP, obviously cooler is better though as stated.

The stock coolers on the 8800's weren't really up to the job either (not sure if they changed it in any revisions) which excacerbated the problem. I did a lot of research online for this when I got my OC 8800GT years ago (still running it now) and that was running around 5-8C higher than the OP on stock cooling.

[teg916]

Well I tried it with the case cover off. It did make a difference but only about 2-3 degrees C.

[Masta Squidge]

Originally Posted by lawson_jl

Tanis I have to respectfully disagree with you and tech support which tends to just say whatever is needed to get the customer to stop calling/emailing. I've never seen my 8600GT OC or any other other video card over 55C even under load. 70C for any kind of CPU is too hot period. That's hot enough to start melting solder and breaking down thermogreese.

You can disagree as much as you would like, but my 9800 GTX chugged along happily with zero issues at 83C for hours on end before I realized it was my northbridge fan that was causing it to run so high. (removing the fan and installing another case fan dropped both temps - gpu was about 75C under load)


And any solder that melts at 70C is some sorry solder. 160F is very very low to melt solder.