XFX 7900GT(O) freezing problems

[RhythmAce]

Hello all,

I've just reinstalled Windows on a friend's PC and it keeps freezing during games after a random amount of time (maybe 1/2 hr of FEAR, much shorter in Flatout). The GPU doesn't appear to be overheating, Flatout should be easypeasy for it. I've updated everything driver/chipset/bios wise for the PC & GFX and am running out of ideas so I've come here for any help & advice.

The graphics card is either a 7900GT or GTO (system info says 7900GT/GTO - I could find out from part numbers later, but doing this from work) and it's running on an A8N-SLI Premium with an Amd Athlon 64 X2 4000 processor.

The funny thing is even just exiting FEAR makes it go crazy. The desktop icons and taskbar display work, but the desktop background still shows an image of FEAR in the background (screen hasn't updated properly), and then the monitor flicks on and off every couple of seconds. In this state, you get loads of image corruption and general craziness when trying to shut it down...

Anyone got any ideas or questions that might help me solve this weird problem? I've read older threads where they talk about 84.21 drivers, but I'm using the latest.

Thanks in advance,

Gary

 

[RhythmAce]

Hmmm...

I've read much about 7900's being duff:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17615262

Sounds like my issue...

This was purchased a few months back, and has only just started showing these issues, so it looks like I'll have to deal direct with XFX's support.

 

[melbourne720]

What power supply do you have? As these problems exhibit themselves under load, could it be a PSU issue?

 

[RhythmAce]

What power supply do you have? As these problems exhibit themselves under load, could it be a PSU issue?

Shouldn't be. It's a Sparkle, I think 700W. Only talking one card installed, not SLI yet. It was originally a Seasonic S12 500W but that didn't even kick the Mobo into action so had to replace that when I originally built the PC some months ago. Not had a lot of luck with this build!

 

[melbourne720]

Shouldn't be. It's a Sparkle, I think 700W. Only talking one card installed, not SLI yet. It was originally a Seasonic S12 500W but that didn't even kick the Mobo into action so had to replace that when I originally built the PC some months ago. Not had a lot of luck with this build!

Seasonic are a good brand, that's weird! Have you got like 200 hard drives or something?

 

[RhythmAce]

Seasonic are a good brand, that's weird! Have you got like 200 hard drives or something?

Heh heh - no

The S12s have some funky energy saving features that effectively mean the PSU 'slow-starts' or warms up when switched on. This slow-start doesn't produce enough juice to kick some mobos into action:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17581405

But that's a whole other story...

 

[melbourne720]

Heh heh - no

The S12s have some funky energy saving features that effectively mean the PSU 'slow-starts' or warms up when switched on....

Blimey - I stand corrected. I was thinking of building a new rig with one of those...

 

[RhythmAce]

I have some of those little RAM heatsinks I could try sticking on the memory, but would that invalidate my RMA?

 

[Cyber-Mav]

don;t stick anything on the ram otherwise your warranty is out the window.

do a search on these forums the 79series cards are failure prone. download and run 3dm06 the deep freeze test. and see if it dies in that.
also try the latest drivers. failing that its probably a borked card.

 

[gurusan]

hopefully it's still under warranty?

 

[avatar12m]

My XFX 7900GTX was sent back for rma i got one back after 3 weeks and its worse than the one i sent them, going through the process of rma'ing it again as we speak, tbh thinking of buying a ati card and when i get it rma'ed again selling it.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

well the first year of warranty shoudl be covered by the place you bought it from, so send it back to the shop that sold it to you and you will get an instant exchange.

unless you bought it from a crappy shop what will not honour the warranty and tells you to send it back to the manufacturer.

 

[Naffa]

Heh heh - no

Don't know about that one :/

Seasonic are easily one of the best brands of PSUs on the market.