Long term problem that needs to be fixed

[AND_YOU_ARE]

Alright, so yesterday i wiped my 80gb wd sata hd and reinstalled everything, including xppro, steam and cat 5.3 drivers. I go to play CSS and after about 40 minutes of game play, the game goes into the audio repeating loop and all video stops, the game just about locks up, I have to alt-tab to the desktop, other wise the pc freezes. This is all due to something ati, either drivers or the vpu recovery software. When in the desktop I have to close CSS and change the screen back to how it should be.

This however does not happen when playing CS. I am guessing due to the higher graphics loads on the video card or software.

I have good airflow in my case and when in a game my cpu doesnt go above 42C. I cant read the temp on my graphics card, but i have a slot fan under it for exaust and a 80mm fan on my side pannel for intake.

This happened many times before. I have tried ati cat drivers going back to 4.09 - 5.03. Its a fresh install and it still doesnt work.

Before I go office-space on my 9800 pro and buy a 6800 are there any ways to fix this? I would prefer to fix the problem instead of buying a new card.

Also I check the event viewer, but how do i figure out if the problem is reported there or not?

And if a new card is needed, what is a better card to get, the 6600 line or the 6800 line, and which one of that line?

Thanks for any help.


EDIT:

One more thing to add, I know its not a lack of power issue. Most of the hardware in my case run off of the 550w antec psu, but i recently added my old 400w antec psu to power the video card, and all my fans. But the problem has existed before and after i did this. I even went back after my fresh install to just the 550w psu powering everything, and still have the problem. I keep the two psu's in there for now, so neither one is used close to its max output (due to all my hardware).

EDIT: #2

I know my voltages are good on both psu's. When I switch the 400w out for the 550w its voltages were fine. The 550w psu's voltages are 12v - 12.16, 5v - 4.964, 3.3v - 3.496, VCore - 1.696

 

[m3trj]

The 6600GT offers better value for money while the 6800GT offers higher performance.

 

[Mr. Switch]

i had a friend with a similar problem. on his computer, sound would stutter and everything would stop. about 10 seconds later, the game would resume but he might be dead or somthing due to him stopping but everyone else running around. it ended up to be a connection problem with his router. does this problem happen with any other games? and do you have broadband? try resetting your router.

 

[SHAWN]

How do you know he is playing onlone?

 

[AND_YOU_ARE]

CSS is an online game, and yes I am playing online, I am using my university's network connection (two T3's).

An update: I tried disabling the secondary display in device mananger, this time CSS crashed after an hour of game play.

I checked my bios, and fastwrite was enabled, so i disabled it, now time to see how long it takes.

 

[AND_YOU_ARE]

So with fastwrite disabled css crashed in less than a minute. So I went back and enabled it.

 

[gaara]

What are your settings when you experience this problem? Does it occur in any other games?

I also recommend running memtest86+, memory has weird ways of messing with your system, a long shot, but you never know.

 

[AND_YOU_ARE]

I ran memtest86 six months ago, with no problems, and again a month ago with no problems. It ran fine for over six hours, I stopped it then.

I havent played HL2 since december, but it happens in bf1942dc (dc final). I dont really have any other games. It doesnt happen in CS.

 

[lonewolf24]

does this problem happen only when your playing online, or does it happen offline also

 

[AND_YOU_ARE]

Well I havent played CSS offline, I dont know if you can. It happens during online and offline play. I havent tried HL2 in a long time. And i dont really have any other graphic intense games. This doesnt happen in CS.

Welcome to TF lonewolf24.