6870 keeps crashing games

[wildest_jjk]

Hi guys,

Lately I have been experiencing problems with a lot of my games, where they are crashing/pausing and then continuing. I have tried lots of software related fixes but still cannot seem to put my finger on the problem.

Some examples of what happens:

• Just Cause 2 - About a minute into the game and it will freeze, I then go back to windows and kill the process as it's not responding.
• Payday: The Heist - Freezes and kicks everybody, then continues and people are able to rejoin.
• Arma 3 - Freezing but have now sorted this by running in administrator mode. This is strange but may be an isolated problem as this does not help for Just Cause 2.

I have tried removing everything ATI related and reinstalling latest drivers. Tried the old driver and still no luck. Tried a few other things that people have advised, such as turning off desktop composition in windows 7.

I have now logged all sensor stats for the last freeze in Just Cause 2. The only anomalies I can see is that the GPU usage is getting up to 97% just before it freezes. These are the stats recorded in an excel spreadsheet:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64062909/SensorLog.xlsx

The rows highlighted in yellow are around when the freezing occured. Hopefully this provides some helpful information.

I am losing the will to live as this is an absolute nightmare! Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[wildest_jjk]

Anyone? I know it's a lot to read! Apologies.

Thanks

 

[wildest_jjk]

Thanks for the response.

What is your system spec (cpu / overclock, psu)?

I have not overclocked anything. But the specs are as follows:

CPU: Intel i5 2500K 3.3GHz
GPU: Radeon HD 6870
RAM: G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB DDR3 1600MHz
MOBO: MSI P67A-GD65
PSU: XFX Pro 650W Core

How is the performance of the card at idle / watching youtube videos etc?

No performance issues when normal usage. At idle it is about 48 degrees and is between about 0% - 6% utilization.

Have you looked at how many background processes are running in task manager?

About 95 processes in background.

How long have you had your psu?

Since I built the computer so I want to say about two years.

What temps is the gpu showing (idle and load)?

Mentioned above and in excel spreadsheet.



Thanks for the help

 

[wildest_jjk]

Thanks for the response.

It's definitely related to my PC, I just don't know what!

 

[wildest_jjk]

Thanks for the response.

Do you have on-board video? If so, you could try seeing if that freezes in (obviously) lower spec games.

How do you enable onboard video? The i5 2500k has intel HD I'm just not sure how to enable it!

using x.m.p memory profile for your ram?

try with 1.07-1.08 cpi imc voltage(not sure what its labelled as in msi)

Not sure how I go about doing this? What do you mean exactly?

Thanks guys

 

[wildest_jjk]

Thanks again for the responses.

X.m.p will setup your memory correctly,speed/timings/dram voltage

Then see if its any better or try CPU imc voltage at 1.08v

It will all be in the BIOS,might be called vtt/io on msi

I selected enable in the BIOS for XMP. Not sure how I can confirm it though when I am logged on.

Have you tried dropping the core clock on the gpu? (below stock if you've not overclocked it)

How do I do this? Overdrive is enabled can I do it on that?

Thanks

 

[wildest_jjk]

Should I also try turning off overdrive?

 

[wildest_jjk]

Hi guys,

So I have now tested RAM with memtest, CPU with Prime95 and GPU with furmark. These all came back as fine.

Administrator mode has not worked as Arma 3 has crashed again. I enabled the XMP setting for RAM in the bios but am still getting crashes in games. Underclocking the GPU to 850MHz from 920MHz also made no difference, although I'm not sure if that was enough?

I'm really not convinced it's hardware unless it's somehow the PSU.

The one thing I am getting close to doing is reinstalling windows. I'm not sure if this is a great idea or not?

Thanks for all the help

 

[wildest_jjk]

Thanks again for the responses.

I've just found some interesting findings. Basically a lower clock (850MHz) has stopped it from crashing, so far anyway. This is testing with Just Cause 2 as this is the main game which experiences problems.

You are right about the fan speed and it's something I keep noticing. I enabled manual fan control, set to 100% and put the clock to the normal 920MHz. Playing longer than usual with no crashes.

Now I'm really confused as I'm not sure why there would suddenly be cooling issues. If this is what is means?

I have linked a couple more excel spreadsheets if it helps.

Lower Clock, normal fans and no crash so far
High Clock and High fans, no crash so far

Thanks

 

[wildest_jjk]

How come even though overdrive is enabled the fans never go over a certain speed though?

Does this also mean that my graphics card isn't actually broken? I have been able to run furmark etc...

Just asking as I might sell it and buy a new one.

Thanks

 

[wildest_jjk]

Hmm it sounds like this graphics card sucks lol.

Can anyone recommend a good program to control my GPU fan for me? So that it actually goes up when it needs too.

Thanks

 

[wildest_jjk]

For peoples reference I am currently using MSI afterburner for fan control. It seems to work quite well and is easy to adjust.