New vid card constantly crashes
jase439:
If x1600 series are notorious for heat output (> 70-80C!). Sapphire's ATI x1950 Pro and x1950 GT are based on a redesign with lower thermal output. Mine idles with the stock cooler around 41C and ramps to about 55-60C under load.
The problem with the hotter cards is that they jack the internal case temperature through the roof, diminishing the cooling effectiveness of the entire system. I don't recall the exact math, but the effectiveness of air moving over a heat sink is inversely proportional to the square of the temperature or some such thing. That is, if you double the ambient temperature, your cooling ability is cut to a fourth. This is why its critical you have a good source of cool air where your computer sits and good air flow (air should usually be drawn in through the front of the case and vented out the side or in the back) so you can vent the heat as soon as its dissipated. I've seen some goofy setups before where people have all of their fans blowing inward or outward.
Anyway, I just upgraded my ATI to a x1950 Pro, and marveled at just how cool it runs. If you can return the x1650, you might think about the x1950 instead.
caffeinated.joy:
Yes, the x1950 is awesome. I have the dual card set-up and it's loooovely.
aerisangel:
It's one of two things, computer is overheating, motherboard overheats or graphics card gets too hot or the power supply is getting interrupted. I had this problem so frequently, and it was clear mine was a power supply issue due to living in post Katrina New Orleans with a temporary power line hooked up for us right now. But, I had a rough three months of my game crashing, the whole computer crashing only when I played my game. The computer went to a black screen and had to be manually powered off and restarted only to have it happen again, soon, once the game was up. I was restarting my game, sometimes 6 times a day due to crashes. I purchased a power supply regulator and it solved the problem. My game is huge, I have an Alienware computer two years old with a seriously sweet motherboard, excellent $650 ATI graphics card, extra fans inside, don't even have to run the cooling system that came with my computer, so it was a power problem. Try a regulator, get it from somewhere you can take it back if it doesn't solve the problem, but your problem sounds exactly like what I was experiencing. I play with a power grid that sucks, and the power regulator keeps it from crashing and going to the black screen where all you can do is power off. The power regulator I got was around $200, but they have them cheaper, mine was worth every penny, couldn't even create a sim without it crashing the computer.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[*] Previous page