GeForce 9800GT Crashes

[AngelicKnight]

Hey guys, sorry for the delay in response -- Wifey and I took off to San Diego for a week of vacation, so I'm now just getting back to tackle things.

I went back to NVidia's site, and it just so happens there was a new driver come out this month. I was using the driver I had grabbed last month, so hopefully the newer version will do the trick. I'll test it out and let you know what happens.

Gore, I think I should be ok with cooling. My case is a Cooler Master I got off NewEgg.

So knock on wood -- hopefully my next post will be good news!

[AngelicKnight]

I'm baaaaaaaaack.

Alas, my problem has returned. And, I think gore was right on the money.

So sicne my last post, I tried a clean uninstall of the video driver then downloaded and installed the then-latest version (190.38), and that seemed to have done the trick, but I had stopped playing PC games for a few months, so I hadn't really tested it thoroughly at that point.

Then recently, picked up Sims 3. I've been playing it for a week with no problems -- and I mean as in eight hours straight of gameplay. Not so much as a hiccup.

But tonight, familiar problems came back -- Now, it freezes (if not immediately) within less than five minutes of gameplay. Every time without fail. I started getting System Error Event 1003 and Event 108 in the event logs, which from what I've read, are indicative of the driver getting hung in an infinite loop.

So, I had been running driver version 190.38 for the 9800GT. Checked the Nvidia site, and 190.62 is out now, so I grabbed it. Completely uninstalled, rebooted, then installed the new version fresh. Rebooted again. Started up Sims 3, got past title screen, loaded save game -- immediate freeze. Then I uninstalled and installed the 190.38 version fresh, since that had been at least working for a while. That resolved the insta-freeze problem, but it went back to freezing every time after a couple of minutes.

But I think I finally figured out what the problem is -- I opened the case, used the compressed air, but noted in doing so there really wasn't much dust in the first place. Reset the video card and both RAM sticks, and noted they both felt a bit warm. So, once I plugged everything back in, I booted up and launched Sims 3 again, waited for it to freeze, then touched the video card -- it's HOT. I mean, really hot to the touch. But both case fan and CPU fan are running. However, when I just hold my hand within the box short of actually touching anything, it feels overall rather warm in there despite the fans. The front of the case outside, where the vents are, feels outright near-cold, ironically.

So...methinks I have a heating problem despite my little CoolerMaster case (linky in my above post if you want to see the specs for it).

[t34b4g5]

Greetz.

Angelic try leaving the side of the case of and see if that helps. Also are you using the stock fan that comes with the card? Maybe get yourself a diff fan for the card and see if that helps also.

[gore]

I figured the card was running hot, which is why I said to check that first

It's amazing how much heat one video card can pump out in a few short hours without anything intensive happening inside.

I had this idea a few years ago when smaller fridges started being cheap that I still want to try:

I want to gut the fridge, and build a Motherboard inside it and basically use the fridge as the PC case, and hook up a really good heat sink with decent thermal paste on it and a great fan, and then of course have all the extras like HD cooler things you can buy cheap, and a couple exhaust fans and a decent Power supply with extra cooling, and then, of course, the fact that it's a fridge would probably make it run VERY well, but you'd have to watch out for moisture, so something to dry the air would probably be needed which can be done easy.

When I first thought this up a few years ago, I decided to call it "PC-Chillin" like the Anti Virus no one uses.

I'm a cooling freak when it comes to PCs, I run my server with the side case off and a desk fan on the floor next to it to blow the extra air away from it and create a small but strong draft near that computer and my other machine so that there is air flow between the two cases, and then it blows all the hot air the machines blow out from their exhaust fans away from it to keep them extra cool.

Another idea I'd like is using liquid nitrogen but I don't think that would quite work as well, but at the same time, being that an Uncle is a professional Air Conditioning guy and I know how they use it, I'd probably be able to do it if I made it into an Air Conditioning using, but I'd want a smaller sized one I could whack into the side of a case and mount it. Thatb would probably help too.

If all else fails use water cooling.

Our tech room in our house, has the one window totally shut and blocked off with thick curtains, and the Central Air outlet is right next to where I have the fan that blows air to my Computers down there, and then we have an air filtration unit near the middle to get the air flow not only going, but lower the dust content of the air, and then of course the machines all have Fans and things and the ones that run warm have no side case on them, and on top of that, we have a stand up Fan most people use in a room to keep themselves cool, aiming out the door of the tech room so all the air in here is somewhat cleaner, cooler because of the blower on the Central Air outlet, and of course any warmer air that happens to be in here, is blown out by the stand up fan which is left on full blast 24/7 to make sure it stays cool in here.

My Wife, usually has a hoodie on in here because of how cool it is, but I like it being a little colder in here.

[t34b4g5]

When I have a computer heating up I just open it and take a vacume to it.

I opened the case, used the compressed air, but noted in doing so there really wasn't much dust in the first place.