GTA4 breaking gfx cards??

spoonjaffa · 1 Jan 2009 at 19:58

Anyone else had to RMA their card since playing GTA4?

I'm in the process of RMA'ing my BFG GTX260 OC; a replacement to my 8800GTXOC2 which broke 17th dec... yes it would seem GTA has broken two gfx card! My rigs been fine for a good year, even been through heavy 'crysis' gaming.

I've been solely playing GTA4 on and off since the games release and its this that which is e only change to my systm recently and thus must have caused the gfx cards to break.

My PC is a gaming rig so when not in use i turn it off. Could this turning off leaving the gfx card to cool down be causing the issue? I would assume GTA4 is very taxing on the gfx card and thus generating a high temperature under load - so once turning off its breaking the components?!?!

My spec is:

abit IP35 pro mobo
Q6600 @3.4
4gb 6400 ram
nvidia 178.24 drivers
I have a well ventilated antec P182 case.

Is it worth considering ditching nvidia and choosing a 4870?

willhub · 1 Jan 2009 at 20:00

Sorry.... but GTA 4 is not breaking your GPU....

High temperatures don't damage GPU's too.

Emlyn_Dewar · 1 Jan 2009 at 20:02

What PSU do you have?

RizlaKing · 1 Jan 2009 at 20:06

GTA IV came close to breaking my sanity with the amount of problems it had but i am sure it didn't affect my gpu

.

spoonjaffa · 1 Jan 2009 at 20:18

Yea good point i was thinking the PSU... Its a corsair HX620 - 1 year old.

I dont mind replacing that if that would seem to cause such issues.

GTA4 has been very stable on my system not one crash!

Devil_Spawn · 1 Jan 2009 at 20:27

its a coincidence if anything.

TheRealDeal · 1 Jan 2009 at 21:11

spoonjaffa said:
Yea good point i was thinking the PSU... Its a corsair HX620 - 1 year old.

I dont mind replacing that if that would seem to cause such issues.

GTA4 has been very stable on my system not one crash!

I can't see it being the psu then as thats a quality psu. As said above it looks like a coincidence.

LoadsaMoney · 1 Jan 2009 at 21:15

Agree with the above, Corsairs a cracking PSU, wont have any trouble powering a 260.

Lighters · 1 Jan 2009 at 23:11

GTA4 didnt play too well on my hd4850 stability wise, it liked to mess up my shaders and textures a lot but after re-installing drivers and not touching anything i think its ok

thepeganator · 1 Jan 2009 at 23:18

If anything GTA4 is easy on my 8800 Ultra, temps get nowhere near what they do on other games.

alex24 · 2 Jan 2009 at 00:05

I can hear my 8800 fan spin up quite loud in GTA4, but not as much as when playing fallout 3.

Your card may have broken as it's been stressed so something has gone wrong, though it will of had a fault to begin with.

crunchyfr · 2 Jan 2009 at 10:05

isnt gta4 more cpu dependant than gpu ? due to ai ect

arc@css · 2 Jan 2009 at 10:29

willhub said:
Sorry.... but GTA 4 is not breaking your GPU....

High temperatures don't damage GPU's too.

Too high temps can affect the ram chips. So, yes, too high temps can and will knacker a card. I agree though, the game itself, isn't the problem.

Alexrose1uk · 2 Jan 2009 at 10:46

This reminds me of when Doom3 came out and pushed a lot of overclocked cards over the edge

It's not the game itself causing failures, but it may be the game heavily using the card is pushing a borderline card over the edge.

rikesh · 2 Jan 2009 at 11:19

look at your graphics drivers first
you have the 178.24
they are really outdated
im surprised no one picked up on that, but thinking bout it that wouldnt break a card.........

Silver2495 · 2 Jan 2009 at 12:32

Define 'break'. I've got some potential issues with my new BFG GTX 260 OCX and it was tripping out a lot in GTA4. I found that dropping the graphics settings in game (with trial and error) have made it stable - although I do think I have an underlying issue with the card.

spoonjaffa · 2 Jan 2009 at 12:36

Break as in its broke the card as i cant boot up. It worked all fine the day before no issue, no overclock, just a long gaming session. Next day i turn PC on and gfx card fan stays on max and no display signal.

And i did try the 180 drivers but gta4 crashed a few times as they arnt stable for the game.

Silver2495 · 2 Jan 2009 at 12:59

Pretty dead then!

I tried the newest (recommended but uncertified BETA) drivers and it locked up my PC continually, so I had to roll back to the certified ones (v180.84).

Heretic1322 · 2 Jan 2009 at 13:40

Temperature of components is something I like to keep an eye on. I use 'speedfan' mainly to check this.

soul geezer · 5 Jan 2009 at 14:58

...

Well i'll be ******. i thought i was the only one....

bought gta on its release, and it played perfectly on my rig on med/very high, sliders nearly maxed out.then, i started the game one day and followed its advice to upgrade to the 180 nvidia drivers....

5 minutes after nvidia install, my graphics went spastic and my system locked up. rebooted to find the spastic graphics were blatantly apparent on the windows loading screen... all desktop icons were corrupt/distorted and my system locked up as soon as i touched anything. took the card out and tried it in my other rig and found the same problem! examined the gpu to find a nice burnt/delaminated bit of pcb by one of the power connectors. :rolleyes:

bought a 9800gtx whilst i was awaiting my rma and found i couldnt even run the game on medium, so decided to await the return of my 8800gtx...

... and now that ive got a nice new 8800gtxOC back, the game constantly crashes!

ive tried reinstalling xp pro 32, installing vista ultimate 32, and ultimate 64. still get random crashes/lock ups.

suggestions appreciated.

system spec - asus p5e3 deluxe wifi (bios 1303), Q9450 (@stock), 2gb ocz platinum 1333mhz ddr3, BFG 8800gtxoc (@stock with 180 driver), X-fi fatality extreme gamer pro, coolermaster 'real power' 850w, currently vista ultimate 64....

oh, and its all in a stacker 832 with 4 120mm yate loons on side and top, 2 stock 120mm fans and a thermalrite 120 ultra cpu cooler with another 120mm yate stuck on it...