Help needed - Do you think this is a faulty Graphics Card?

UKPrime

UKPrime

UKPrime

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Joined
23 Jun 2009
Posts
10
Hi all,

I recently purchased the below system:

  • Gainward GeForce GTX 295 1792MB GDDR3 TV-OutDual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
  • Samsung PB22-J 128GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (MMCRE28G5MXP-0VB) x 2
  • Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail + World In Conflict PC Game
  • Asus P6T Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
  • Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 1000W ATX2.2 Modular SLi Compliant Power Supply
  • Corsair XMS3 12GB (6x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Triple Channel (HX3X12G1600C9)
  • Antec 902 Nine Hundred Two Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU)
  • Asus Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card (90-YAA060-1UAN00Z)
  • Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366)
  • Scythe Card Reader & Floppy Drive - Black (YD-8V08)
  • LG GH22NS30 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM

I'm running Vista 64bit and the solid states are running striped (raid 0).

But I am having issues when playing any 3D games....rather than repeat myself, I have sent this message below to Overclockers Support yesterday (waiting to hear back). I was wondering if anyone has any ideas I have not tried? I think it's a faulty Graphics card, but I guess it could be the PSU.

Cheers!

Message to OCUK support:

Dear Overclockers support,

I'm an experienced system builder (10+ systems built with no issues, ranging from Win 95 through to Windows 7), but I am having some serious issues with my lastest build.

Basically, I am getting crashes whenever I run a 3D game, or if I try to run the Windows Vista performance test.

I either get a spontaneous reboot after a few secs of running a 3D application, or I get the message "Windows Vista has revovered from a serious error in nvdia....." and get booted back to desk top.

Here is what I did:

Installed Vista 64bit SP1, installed chipset drivers, installed network drivers, installed graphics drivers and installed sound drivers, then patched all updates and patched to Vista 64bit SP2 (all latested drivers).

Everything looked great - booted fine, general navigation in Vista no problems. But when I run any 3D application it crashed.

So I de-installed graphics drivers, re-installed graphics, no joy, tried 3 older versions of graphics drivers

Still no joy.

So I wiped the install and did things in a different order.....

Installed Vista 64bit SP1, Installed network drivers, patched all updated and to Vista 64bit SP2, then installed all the chipset / graphics / sound drivers.

Game ran for about 10 seconds this time before crashing..... Not a complete crash, just a display driver error.

So, just in case of Bios issues, I downloaded the latest Bios file from Asus (P6T 0603 BIOS) and flashed the Bios, and then reinstalled Vista 64 bit and all the drivers.

I de-installed the graphics drivers, and moved it to a different PCI-Express slot and re-installed the drivers.

Still same issue.

I then swapped the two PCI-express power rails from the modular PSU to different slots on the PSU incase of a faulty rail. Still same issue.

I then de-installed the graphics card, and put in an older graphics card from my last PC (7950GX2), and everything ran fine.

I then put back in the old card and thought I would give Windows 7 RC (64bit) a whirl (just in case), and again same crashing during 3D games, everthing else is fine.

I have run out of ideas - I really think the Graphics card is faulty.

Please could you advise if there is anything else to check, or perhaps could you send me a replacement card?

Thanks,

Ed
 
The system is perfectly stable after each install until you launch any 3D game (tried several, World in Conflict, Empire Total War, L4Dead and others). The games run fine when getting to the menu and configuring options etc, only when it launches the 3D part does it crash.

I've not done a complete memory test yet.
 
have you set to run in dx9 or dx10 mode ?

temps on the graphics card look okay ?

maybe try running with less memory installed.
 
Tried both DX9 and DX10...same issue in both.

When I get home I'll run some memory tests and then maybe remove some ram.

What's the best memory test tool?
 
Oh, forogt to say,the temps on the graphics card are very low, it's doing basically doing nothing (just displaying the desktop) until I fire up a 3D game and then it crashes in seconds, so I don't think it's a graphic card overheating problem.
 
Looks like you'll be sending the graphics card back - the fact you swapped it with an older card with no problems would suggest that the rest of your system is fine. You could try the new card in your old system, which'll mean you'll no doubt have to use the new PSU too. Ideally if you know someone with a new system and a hefty PSU, then even better.

If you still have the same problem on a different system with the 295 then that'll add weight to the faulty GPU theory.
 
sk3lph said:
Looks like you'll be sending the graphics card back - the fact you swapped it with an older card with no problems would suggest that the rest of your system is fine. You could try the new card in your old system, which'll mean you'll no doubt have to use the new PSU too. Ideally if you know someone with a new system and a hefty PSU, then even better.

If you still have the same problem on a different system with the 295 then that'll add weight to the faulty GPU theory.
Click to expand...

Yeah - I really don't want to do try out the card in my old system, it is custom water cooled and taking out the PSU of that system would be a complete nightmare. Lol, here is a photo of my old water cooled PC for a laugh, I really can't be bothered to take it appart....it's also very handy to have a working PC in the house to look at forums / internet when I'm trying to resolve this issue!!

img0742upload.jpg
 
UKPrime said:
Yeah - I really don't want to do try out the card in my old system,
Click to expand...

Crikey - I'm surprised you managed to get the old graphics card out, unless its separate to this system.

Depending on the response you get, I think you can be fairly confident that there is an issue with the 295 and the rest of your system is fine, although if you can find another system to try it in to make sure that'd be best.
 
Given how much time it would take to remove the graphics card, are you able to install an os on an old HDD & unplug all the other drives? to make sure it's not a software issue?
 
sk3lph said:
Crikey - I'm surprised you managed to get the old graphics card out, unless its separate to this system.

Depending on the response you get, I think you can be fairly confident that there is an issue with the 295 and the rest of your system is fine, although if you can find another system to try it in to make sure that'd be best.
Click to expand...

I had another graphics card, I'm not taking that one out (it's a 7950GX2) :)
 
Just ran a complete memory test on the 12GB of ram using Memtest86+ v2.11 and it completed without any errors. FYI, the ram is running at 1600 MHz, 9-9-9-24, 1.6v.

I even loaded Windows XP to try that and same issues.

I am now pretty convinced it's the graphics card, if only I had another PC to put the graphics card into.....that would not need complete dismantling!

Although I guess there is still an outside chance it could be the PSU as I tested with a 8800GT that worked fine, but it won't draw even half the power of the GTX 295 under load.

Thanks for your help - I'll guess I'll now wait for OCUK support to get back to me.
 
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