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    graphic problem when gaming

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by brankulo, Jul 21, 2009.

  1. brankulo

    brankulo Notebook Geek

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    i have older sager with geforce 7900 gtx graphic card. i started to have this problem lately when playing games. game runs fine for a while and then this artifacts start to appear, like stretched polygons coming across s to infinity. eventually game would crash. i have this proplem with all the games, also ones that i played before with no problems. i chcecked my vents, fans and everything to make sure it is cooling right. it seems to me like the gpu is overheating to me, but i am not sure what else to do?
     
    brankulo, Jul 21, 2009
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  2. Gophn

    Gophn NBR Resident Assistant

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    have you been monitoring the temps?
    - with a program like RivaTuner (that can monitor temps while in-game)

    you do not know if its not overheating unless if you know the temps.

    because if you vents/fans are clean... then you might need to re-apply the thermal compound for the GPU (which needs re-application occasionally)
     
    Gophn, Jul 21, 2009
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  3. brankulo

    brankulo Notebook Geek

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    i actually reapplied thermal compound. didnt help. i will try to check temperatures with riva tuner as you suggest. what is the normal temperature that i shouldnt go over? also when i monitor temperature, should my fans run full power or standard? i can switch between these two modes. when i play games i alway have it on full.
     
    brankulo, Jul 22, 2009
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  4. TevashSzat

    TevashSzat Notebook Deity

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    Generally, 90C+ is running hot, anything 95C+ is probably bad and if you hit 100+ its a very bad sign.
     
    TevashSzat, Jul 22, 2009
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  5. insanechinaman

    insanechinaman Notebook Evangelist

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    Unless you use an Asus G51 :p
    But yea I've gotten that problem in some games, but then again I don't have a 7900 GTX. They went away after a while, maybe it's temporary?
     
    insanechinaman, Jul 22, 2009
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  6. brankulo

    brankulo Notebook Geek

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    ok, so according to riva tuner, my card card runs at 61C while playing call of juarez 2 and idles at 40C with fan on max. so i guess it is not overheating issue. any other idea what causes this polygon mess and freezes?
     
    brankulo, Jul 22, 2009
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  7. Gophn

    Gophn NBR Resident Assistant

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    the card might need to be reseated.

    and have you tried other drivers?

    also....

    were the fans dusty and dirty before you check and cleaned out... around the time it started acting up?

    ... if so, then the damage might have become permanent to the video memory causing artifacting

    the videomemory has no thermal sensor... so if it overheats you wont know.
     
    Gophn, Jul 23, 2009
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  8. johncolazabal

    johncolazabal Notebook Geek

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    Same thing is happening with my brother's 6800 Ultra. i think that after they start to age, those kind of problems start to happen.
     
    johncolazabal, Jul 23, 2009
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  9. imhungry29

    imhungry29 Notebook Evangelist

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    did u try any software troubleshooting? mabye reinstall ur video drivers, or possibly update them?
     
    imhungry29, Jul 23, 2009
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  10. brankulo

    brankulo Notebook Geek

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    i actually had dust in fans a while ago, but i was experiencing different problem with that. i had slowdowns in 5 minutes or so intervals. cleaned all the dust and problem went away. everything was ok for more than a year, i keep cleaning my fans on regular bases since.
    i have tried 3 different drivers, original ones that came with laptop plus other two, didnt help.

    sooo, i will try to re-seat the card.

    gophn, is there a way to find out if its video memory? is there a solution to fix it if it is video memory or is the card toast?
     
    brankulo, Jul 23, 2009
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  11. Gophn

    Gophn NBR Resident Assistant

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    There are a number of utilities that can test this:

    And there really is no real way to replace the videomemory... so you will have to either live with it or replace the videocard module.
     
    Gophn, Jul 23, 2009
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  12. classic77

    classic77 Notebook Evangelist

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    Try adjusting the memory speeds. I remember in an older card I had to downclock the memory just a little to stop symptoms like you are describing.
     
    classic77, Jul 23, 2009
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  13. stevetamis

    stevetamis Newbie

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    Hi i have a problem with my graphic card when playing games on my laptop. I am having acer Laptop(x1200), so can u give me suggestion on how to troubleshoot the problem.
     
    stevetamis, Jul 24, 2009
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  14. Gophn

    Gophn NBR Resident Assistant

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    you can be more specific.... what kind of problems?
    - artifacting
    - really slow
    - get slow after playing for a couple of minutes
    ...etc...
     
    Gophn, Jul 24, 2009
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  15. brankulo

    brankulo Notebook Geek

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    i used ati tool, and manipulated sliders. i was able to play alll evening yesterday. if there were slight arifacts still appearing, i alt tabed to ati tool and changed slider positions and it went away again. i am not sure what all the sliders are for, there are core and memory sliders for 2d, and than two sets of core and memory for 3d. i just move all of them a little at a time. it works but it is not solution. i am going to re seat the card and apply new arctic silver to all memory modules, as i only applied new arctic to gpu previously.
     
    brankulo, Jul 24, 2009
    #15