4850 HD constantly crashes my comp...

[zedkhov]

Alright, so. I bought a new pc a little over a year ago. Since the day I bought it, it has hard crashed randomly when playing certain games. For example, it hard crashes the computer when I play crysis, or sacred 2, or stalker...but it does not crash when I play any HL2 mods or games, tf2, bioshock 2.

...The card and machine are perfectly clean and are not overheating (running temp is approximately 60
I have no registry issues, viruses, adware/spyware etc. I've RMA'd this card, it was verified broken and they sent me a brand new one...same issues occur.

Here are my specs,

Windows: Microsoft Windows 7 6.1.7600
Internet Explorer: 8.0.7600.16385
Memory (RAM): 8192 MB
CPU Info: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8300 @ 2.50GHz
CPU Speed: 2497.9 MHz
Sound card: Speakers (Realtek High Definiti
Display Adapters: ATI Radeon HD 4850 | ATI Radeon HD 4850 | RDPDD Chained DD | RDP Encoder Mirror Driver | RDP Reflector Display Driver
Monitors: 1
Screen Resolution: 1280 X 1024 - 32 bit
Network: Network Present
Network Adapters: Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 PCI-E Ethernet Controller(NDIS6.20)
CD / DVD Drives: F: TSSTcorpCDDVDW SH-S223F
COM Ports: COM1
LPT Ports: NOT Present
Mouse: 8 Button Wheel Mouse Present
Hard Disks: C: 465.8GB | D: 74.5GB | E: 74.6GB
Hard Disks - Free: C: 351.7GB | D: 66.4GB | E: 32.5GB
USB Controllers: 8 host controllers.
Firewire (1394): 1 host controllers.
PCMCIA (Laptops): Not Installed
Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
Product Make: System Product Name
AC Power Status: OnLine
BIOS Info:
Time Zone: Pacific Standard Time
Battery: No Battery
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5Q-PRO
Modem: Not detected
:

I am at my wits end. The power supply is more than adequate which is the only other issue I can think of...some graphic intensive games run fine while others don't. I've rma'd it already...what could be going wrong?

The company I bought it from (NCIX) has been less than helpful and accommodating in regards to fixing my problem so, I am thinking of simply switching cards to Nvidia...likely a palit 260GTXsonic. Instead of dealing with them further...would this definitely fix my problem? pls help!

Thoughts? is there anything else I can do to narrow this problem down further?

Thanks very much for taking a look folks, any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Muffin Man]

what psu do you have?

 

[dirkpitt45]

I play all those games at almost double your resolution fine with my XFX 4850....

I'm thinking your PSU might be the issue, since the more demanding games need more power. Though sacred 2 isn't exactly all that demanding. Or you could have a dying hard drive, virus, anything really.

 

[zedkhov]

Thanks for the replies.

Sorry, i thought my PSU was covered in there, it is a seasonic- 650ht 650 w

Is there anyway to test if it is the power supply short of buying a new one? I've never installed a new power supply before but imagine it can't be difficult.

The issue is not HD or virus related as i scan my computer bi weekly, I keep it clean and organized to the point I am anal about it.

So, where do I go from here?

Z

 

[zedkhov]

Bump...

 

[InsaneJester17]

I've RMA'd this card, it was verified broken and they sent me a brand new one...same issues occur.

I'm guessing it's another bad card? Do you have the most recent drivers for the card? If so, have you tried using drivers directly from the cards manufacturer's site?

 

[zedkhov]

Hi,

That was my immediate response too since it was doing almost exactly what the last card was doing, it seemed slightly better, but still had the same problems overall and still rendered playing certain games unplayable. Considering they acknowledged my last card was broken i assume this one is too, but then someone pointed out it could be a power supply which shares a lot of the same symptoms of the issue I had which was random crashing or crashing under exertion etc. To answer your question, aye drivers are up to date, I've tried uninstalled and reinstalling the card and drivers. same issue

It's looking like my only choice is to take it in once again and get this sorted out. I was really unhappy with the level of service I got last time, but this time I am ****ed off as this issue has been plaguing me for over a year now. I use the machine for work from home and for school so I am not able to leave it at their shop for long and since they don't want to give me preferential treatment even though I am a preferred customer and a very unhappy one at that I am kinda screwed.

I think I am just gonna have to bite the bullet and have my wife take it in on a weekday and have them root out the issue once and for all.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[InsaneJester17]

Yea brining it in, while annoying, is probably your best bet. Sorry to hear you're having so much trouble. I know I'd be going nuts.

 

[ZorrosRage]

is your idol temp at 60?

I have a Asus 4850 512 version

my idol temp was 60 and it launched to 109 when i put a load on it. That may be your issue. What i had to do to fix this was remove the heat sink clean off the crusty thermal paste and re apply. You might want to try that.

My idol temp is 49-53 now and 75 on a load

 

[dirkpitt45]

Before you RMA, trying running your pc off the IGP. To take the graphics card out of the equation.