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Gfx killing computer?

Markuk86

Markuk86

Markuk86

Associate
Joined
24 Aug 2011
Posts
128
Hello all!

Had a friend come and look at
my computer today. He removed one of my gfx cards and told me that having 2 was pointless without 2 monitors. As I don't have a clue, I just went along with what he said.

He installed some sensor thing, it would show different temps in my system.
After he left, I started to play games and after 10mins or so my monitor would turn off. Sound would loop and my pc would stay on, fans spinning,lights on but would not respond. I would have to do a hard reset.
I took out the sensor thing, plugged my CPU back into the motherboard. Put my second gfx card back in. Thinking everything will return to normal. Before my friend messed about with it. He played around with a overclocking program, although I don't think he changed anything!

My pc is still dying after 10-20mins of gaming. I noticed my card is hitting 100c+

Before my friend played around, my pc worked fine. It seems to help if I lower every setting on my games, which I did not have to do before!!

My specs are
Specification:


Antec Nine Hundred - Advanced Gaming Case
Corsair 1000W Power Supply Unit
ASUS P5N-D
Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9550 Quad Core 4x2.83GHz 12MB cache
Coolermaster Hyper TX2 Fan
Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz

1TB 7200RPM SATA II
Samsung SH-S203 20x DVD RW LightScribe Black SATA
2 x NVidia GeForce GTX 280 1GB
Microsoft Windows Vista SP Home Premium (64-bit)

Could someone give me some help / advice on what I could do?

Sorry. I'm writing this from my iphone atm.

Thanks in advance !!!
 
hey, thanks for the reply. Just got in from work and have uninstalled the drivers and done a fresh install. Loaded up a game and after 5mins it died again :S

Pc sounds a lot more noiseier. Gonna do a format, doubt it will help. My last option is to send the pc back to where i got it and have them check it over.

thanks again!
 
is it dusty in there? check the grfx card block, they tend to be dust traps, give a gentle blow into the exhaust holes on the cooler and see if a little dust cloud appears from the fan hole. is the cpu cooler dusty? DO NOT use a hoover but clean with a small brush, when you removed the cpu and reinstalled it did you reapply thermal paste?

are you a smoker?

out of interest what res is you monitor too?
 
I agree with Kanifee, i would hazard a guess at the system is more than likely choked with dust if you are seeing 100c on your gfx card.
 
Hi there!

Kanifee, i did remove a lot of dust from the cards. my pc has always been dusty :-) im not too confident when it comes to the insides of a computer.
We never actually removed the CPU, when i said i plugged it into the mothereboard..I ment after i removed the sensor reading gadget my friend put in, i had to just put the cpu wire back into the mobo (was connected to the senser gadget and then connected from there to the mobo) I am a smoker also.

Mr. May2, i dont have msi afterburner. When i friend started playing around with my fans, he used EVGA Precision.

My system was fine before he played around with it! Even tho it was dusty and still is. We removed a fair bit yesterday. Seems i can no longer play any game in high settings anymore, i have to turn them all the way down. Im guessing the temps hitting 100+ is causing this? At the moment while im typing this my cpu temps are around 50-60 and both my gfx cards are at 59 and 55. I hardly ever turn on SLI nowdays either!

my res is 1680 x 1050.

Im a real computer newb :x

thanks for the replys! Willing to try anything, dont wanna folk out £100 just for a repair place to look at it :s

thanks again!
 
RobertN, very very true!! :<
I have put the second card back in, connected it with the sli bridge too. But i still have sli disabled as the temps are silly. I heard the 280s had temp issues?

gonna have a poke around, buts its looking more and more likely that i will send it off. Atleast the repair guys will give it a good clean. had this system 3years.. =)

Would it be better to remove both the 280s and just get a powerful single card? Does my specs look pretty poo, and you guys recommend an upgrade?

If im gonna send it off for repairs, i can get them to also do upgrades and whatnot too, make sure i totally take advantage of them "fixed" labour costs!

thanks again guys!
 
Who did you buy the system from? I know you can't state competitors names but if its a store or an online retailer then it makes differance, stores are going to bleed you dry for upgrades, you'll be close to end of warrenty I'd imagine as on a system 3 years is about the norm is it not? I may be wrong on that though.

Your system specs are ok, the CPU could do and is capable of a decent overclock, 1GHz would be a nice improvement and greatly benefit. The graphics cards could do with an upgrade, you should be able to cash in both and make a good portion of the funds for a 6950 or stretch to a gtx570 Wichita would ahowmassive gains, you could also think about a 6870 and a 1920x1080 monitor to take advantage but you'd definatley benefit from a gpu upgrade and are little cost after selling your 2
 
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I got my computer from an online place. I did look at overclocking the cpu, but everything seemed to be locked. I think i will def look at a new card. Pretty sure something is wrong with 1 or even both of my cards ;s

thanks again people!!
 
id bet good money they are clogged, id be very surprised if they are still warrantied if they are 3+ years old, are you sure there is warranty remaining on the system?

you would generally notice image corruption, artifacting and other such tell tale signs in the short period the system functions normally in game, as i say is your cpu heatsink clear of all dust, have a good check inside the grfx card shrouds, smokers dust is horrible tacky stuff that sticks hard, i know i used to be a smoker many moons ago, its horrid for pc's. the fact there is a period of normal function means its taking time for something to occur and no doubt that is heat build up. you shouldnt have any issue running cards in sli if you have good intake of air around the cards.
 
if you can get to some compresed air use that to clean with if not the hover is allways an option but not as good
in the past certain people have thought who is that funny man blowing into a strange fan like lump
 
NO Hoover, absoloutly no Hoover, the tip generates static where the air rushes over it, static kills computers fast!
 
Hi again!

gonna take both the cards out tomorrow, anything i should know when taking them out?:p would swapping them around do anything?

If he did overclock it, wouldnt it of reset back to normal when i installed the drivers again? i've been in the nvidia settings and clicked the restore button also.

thanks again!
 
may not be the gpu he clocked, it may be the cpu download cpuz and run it then tell us the bus speed, just because the game crashes ten minutes in do not take it on face value it is the graphics cards.

Nothing really to take notice of when removing the cards, take your time, if it doesnt want to come with gentle decisive force do not force it, make sure too dis engage the little white leavers at the end of the slot where the card is inserted on the board as you pull it out.

you say you removed a lot of dust from your graphics cards, how much dust is under the fan on the heatsink fins on the cpu cooler?
 
Morning!

theres a hell of a lot of dust in my case. everywhere!

BUS speed: 333.3 MHz

I dont think he overclocked the cpu, i know he tryed but it was locked in the bios i think. I think the only program he used on my system was something called EVGA Precision
 
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