TiE23 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Okay. Jeez. This stuff just won't give me a break. I'm running into a lot of the same issues I have before, but I was careful to hardly put any pressure on the heat sink, I've watched the temp the entire time and it has never surpassed 52°C. Since my PSU is powerful enough, I don't think that's to blame. I've never had any issues with my RAM (they're actually really nice). I suspected my Mobo, but that doesn't make much sense because the 460 runs just fine. Also, about the Mobo, I think Speedfan is just buggy. I found a new program called "HWMonitor" and I don't get crashes. Well, along with Aero being off after a restart being a bad sign, I realized that DxDiag would crash as well when started. But then I found out that trying to run DxDiag a second time would give this error: CLICK. So that made me suspect that DirectX was doing something screwy when I had the GTX570 in... I've done my best to clean install my drivers and all this jazz. I did some stuff about keeping drivers from activating in boot. After a particularly potent combination of uninstalling the nVidia drivers, uninstalling my display adapter from Device Manager, cleaning all traces of nVidia drivers, and using a shady looking program to remove DirectX I ****ed up my computer so bad that for a few minutes my computer wouldn't even start up, and I couldn't turn it off unless I actually removed the power... Man, I forgot I had a repair disc in a box under my bed, but I'm so glad that I looked there, hoping I would find a disc with what I needed... thanks, past self! I restore-point'd back and instead of trying to uninstall DirectX I installed the DirectX 11 SDK in an attempt to "repair" DirectX. And it seems that worked, because restarts no longer bork my computer. But I'm not out of the woods yet. Direct3D seems to be running smoothly finally, as in restarts do not turn off Aero desktop, as in I can actually start up games whenever I want. But now I've got freezing games again, so far I've only tested Witcher 2 twice, and both times after about 5 minutes of play they froze, requiring a hard reset of my PC. It's not the temps, they only got to 52°C (Idle is around 45°C). I believe that this is now a pure stability-related issue with my card since issues with driver errors and DirectX seem to be cured/ruled out. Now, I've got a hunch that maybe adjusting my VCore to higher levels may help. I keep reading articles about how upping the voltage helps you overclock, and I've seen some random forum posts about how it can improve stability... so I want to give that a try, but I don't know the first thing about it. I'll be asking some help from a friend later, but I don't know what to do just yet. I'll try under-clocking the card's GPU by a few MHz (like, 10-30Mhz reduction) and see how that works first, as in there is no danger in that. ... What I have to work with here. TL;DR Voltage increase? Can it help improve stability now that I've fixed/cured/ruled-out many other problem spots? DxDiag stuff if anyone can actually make sense of it. http://bit.ly/iqLNK3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PR-0927 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Okay. Jeez. This stuff just won't give me a break. I'm running into a lot of the same issues I have before, but I was careful to hardly put any pressure on the heat sink, I've watched the temp the entire time and it has never surpassed 52°C. Since my PSU is powerful enough, I don't think that's to blame. I've never had any issues with my RAM (they're actually really nice). I suspected my Mobo, but that doesn't make much sense because the 460 runs just fine. Also, about the Mobo, I think Speedfan is just buggy. I found a new program called "HWMonitor" and I don't get crashes. Well, along with Aero being off after a restart being a bad sign, I realized that DxDiag would crash as well when started. But then I found out that trying to run DxDiag a second time would give this error: CLICK. So that made me suspect that DirectX was doing something screwy when I had the GTX570 in... I've done my best to clean install my drivers and all this jazz. I did some stuff about keeping drivers from activating in boot. After a particularly potent combination of uninstalling the nVidia drivers, uninstalling my display adapter from Device Manager, cleaning all traces of nVidia drivers, and using a shady looking program to remove DirectX I ****ed up my computer so bad that for a few minutes my computer wouldn't even start up, and I couldn't turn it off unless I actually removed the power... Man, I forgot I had a repair disc in a box under my bed, but I'm so glad that I looked there, hoping I would find a disc with what I needed... thanks, past self! I restore-point'd back and instead of trying to uninstall DirectX I installed the DirectX 11 SDK in an attempt to "repair" DirectX. And it seems that worked, because restarts no longer bork my computer. But I'm not out of the woods yet. Direct3D seems to be running smoothly finally, as in restarts do not turn off Aero desktop, as in I can actually start up games whenever I want. But now I've got freezing games again, so far I've only tested Witcher 2 twice, and both times after about 5 minutes of play they froze, requiring a hard reset of my PC. It's not the temps, they only got to 52°C (Idle is around 45°C). I believe that this is now a pure stability-related issue with my card since issues with driver errors and DirectX seem to be cured/ruled out. Now, I've got a hunch that maybe adjusting my VCore to higher levels may help. I keep reading articles about how upping the voltage helps you overclock, and I've seen some random forum posts about how it can improve stability... so I want to give that a try, but I don't know the first thing about it. I'll be asking some help from a friend later, but I don't know what to do just yet. I'll try under-clocking the card's GPU by a few MHz (like, 10-30Mhz reduction) and see how that works first, as in there is no danger in that. ... What I have to work with here. TL;DR Voltage increase? Can it help improve stability now that I've fixed/cured/ruled-out many other problem spots? DxDiag stuff if anyone can actually make sense of it. http://bit.ly/iqLNK3 I don't recommend a voltage increase - it causes increased heat, and if you don't have the right components to deal with that (nice heatsinks), you could seriously damage stuff. Also, typically voltage increases are done to help overclock, not underclock. If underclocking with the stock voltage didn't help, I doubt that's the problem. I'm thinking perhaps a fresh OS install, yet another GPU to test, or a faulty motherboard. I recommend Guru3D for assistance with this - the website was primarily built around GPU enthusiasts and evolved into a hardware enthusiast place, meaning the GPU-affairs knowledge there is brilliant. - PR-0927 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiE23 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 @PR-0927 The heatsink on this card is huge and I suspect it can take a little more heat. Gaming @ 52°C with a pretty low fan speed allows for some wiggle room. I went ahead and under clocked it to 722mhz from 742mhz. The Witcher 2 now stutters at settings that my 460 was able to handle just fine, but I was able to play for about an hour and I had no freezes. But again, the frame rate was pretty bleh, when it was smooth it wasn't much better than the 460, and in addition stuttered a lot. When I had the clock at the default, sure the game ran for about 5 minutes before freezing, but it ran very smoothly. So no, I don't wanna keep the core clock that low if I can help it. One thing I noticed, though, was that according to HWMonitor, the card uses 0.91V when my computer shuts down the monitors (I don't use screen savers, I just have the screens turn off). And on the desktop and in game sits at the max 1.02V. ... I think I may try experimenting and researching on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Avlectus Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 GTA i know what you mean thats how i started out with my rigs brought a ****ty one then slowly modified it to be better then one day i found out it was cheaper to build your own system (slaps self in face") and have been building pc rigs since so far i've gone through 4 in the past 7 years Yeah it's a better deal in the long run cuz you get burned on retail. Since my PSU is powerful enough, I don't think that's to blame. I've never had any issues with my RAM (they're actually really nice). I suspected my Mobo, but that doesn't make much sense because the 460 runs just fine. Also, about the Mobo, I think Speedfan is just buggy. I found a new program called "HWMonitor" and I don't get crashes. Noted for reference. *snip* I've done my best to clean install my drivers and all this jazz. I did some stuff about keeping drivers from activating in boot. After a particularly potent combination of uninstalling the nVidia drivers, uninstalling my display adapter from Device Manager, cleaning all traces of nVidia drivers, and using a shady looking program to remove DirectX I ****ed up my computer so bad that for a few minutes my computer wouldn't even start up, and I couldn't turn it off unless I actually removed the power... :0 A shady program?? Man, I forgot I had a repair disc in a box under my bed, but I'm so glad that I looked there, hoping I would find a disc with what I needed... thanks, past self! I restore-point'd back and instead of trying to uninstall DirectX I installed the DirectX 11 SDK in an attempt to "repair" DirectX. And it seems that worked, because restarts no longer bork my computer. But I'm not out of the woods yet. *brevity* I believe that this is now a pure stability-related issue with my card since issues with driver errors and DirectX seem to be cured/ruled out. Least you didn't do something too serious and you solved the problem there. Also noted for reference. I'm learning from you. Thanks for sharing your experience. *brevity* TL;DR Voltage increase? Can it help improve stability now that I've fixed/cured/ruled-out many other problem spots? DxDiag stuff if anyone can actually make sense of it. http://bit.ly/iqLNK3 Underclocking, I'd say go ahead and try (looks like you already did). I wouldn't know since I've never OC'd any of my machines BUT were I you I'd take great care. It's so easy to fry something. [/capt. obvious] Because of the nature of semiconductors, no two of anything can be exactly the same Hence tolerances. And sometimes even working within safety levels still won't save it from self-destructing. Obviously a lag level below its minimum levels won't even operate the device, though. This is risky and tricky because devices and components are made to operate within a given range. Regulated power outputs may have some leniency but I believe these are compliant with known tolerances. In plain english, the power outputs may vary slightly but they all stay within a certain "safety zone" that is known not to be destructive. I build power supplies (not PSUs, other purposes) all the time. Computers are all an area of what I like to call "specialty logic". I have some general experience. As to going overclock: I think logic devices all have a safety barrier designed in of about 0.5V absolute minimum. Pushing within this tolerance level is definitely *not* advisable. For example a CMOS device has a typical voltage of 5V, but may have an absolute maximum range of 6.6V, another CMOS may only have an absolute maximum of 5.8V. So the maximum over-voltage allowed would be 5.2V, (5.3V is right at the edge). Or in 12V devices, some are 15V, even 18V but I personally have never seen a regulated "12V" device have more than 14.4V output. Notice again, 0.5V or greater barrier. Still I'd agree with PR-0297, and would say NO. Don't do it. At least I strongly advise you don't. If you must, just make sure to adhere to the half volt tolerance rule and do make sure to modify heat sinks accordingly before actually turning the device on. @PR-0927 The heatsink on this card is huge and I suspect it can take a little more heat. Gaming @ 52°C with a pretty low fan speed allows for some wiggle room. I went ahead and under clocked it to 722mhz from 742mhz. The Witcher 2 now stutters at settings that my 460 was able to handle just fine, but I was able to play for about an hour and I had no freezes. But again, the frame rate was pretty bleh, when it was smooth it wasn't much better than the 460, and in addition stuttered a lot. When I had the clock at the default, sure the game ran for about 5 minutes before freezing, but it ran very smoothly. So no, I don't wanna keep the core clock that low if I can help it. One thing I noticed, though, was that according to HWMonitor, the card uses 0.91V when my computer shuts down the monitors (I don't use screen savers, I just have the screens turn off). And on the desktop and in game sits at the max 1.02V. ... I think I may try experimenting and researching on this. Couldn't tell ya what is causing what. Best of luck and here's to hoping it holds together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiE23 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Last night I tried under clocking to 722mhz from default 742mhz. It didn't crash for the 50 minutes or so I played with it, but my frame rate became jittery in Witcher 2, including strange stutters in combat. Also trying out Mirror's Edge there was bad performance over all and some severe drops in frame, probably due to asset loading. Also, I learned that the strange glitches from Crysis 2 are known to occur on the one particular level I was on... So yeah, pretty much convinced that the first card was in working condition from the start. So, this morning I found an old 200GB 7200rpm drive. Unplugged my C:\ drive, a 64gb SATAIII SSD, and put this one instead and installed Win7 onto it. After some updates I ran Witcher 2 and it ran great and didn't crash in the 30 minutes or so I played of it. So, I decided that someone deep down in the inner workings of my OS were gummed up. Problems with DirectX. Problems with drivers. Problems all around. I've installed a few too many strange utilities to call the system inherently reliable. So I made a system image of my C:\ drive and formatted it. Now I'm on a fresh new OS and Witcher 2 ran just fine with stock clock, voltage, and my CPU overclocked to my usual 3.52Ghz. But in Witcher 2 I did notice some slow-down in combat... that may be a game-only issue. I'll play some other games to test the system, but I think I may be in the clear now. Card runs pretty cool, as well. Using some special settings I can keep the card pretty quiet and cool, hovering around 52°C during Witcher 2. Maxing at around 56°C, and idling at 41°C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pho3nix Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 PC master race Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiE23 Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Quite... But hey, a smoking fast PC is good for more than just games. A snappy, nothing-can-slow-it-down PC is a pleasure to use. Oh, but let me say that SSDs are worth every penny even at their current prices. Going back to having the OS installed on a regular 7200RPM HDD was terrible. Oh, and about my card. I turned up the VCore just a little bit and "underclocked" it just down to 728MHz, just 14MHz lower than the default settings. And so far I've realized I haven't had a freeze with a lower clock... But I'm still skeptical, I'll be trying a bunch of games in the coming days to make sure this sucker stays stable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Avlectus Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Awesome. In good news, it looks like yard and maintenance work is flourishing with this wonderful weather which means more $$$ coming in. It's so beautiful out here now in the mid 70's outside I might even go for a nice all-day trek. It just rained and washed away all the pollen. I seriously thought the snow would never quit last month. I may have inherited another XBOX360 carcass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiE23 Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Huh. Play Crysis 2 for three hours, not a single stuttering frame. Play NFS Hot Pursuit; a game that causes my card to run just 2°C above idle, and leave it paused causes it to freeze. Cranked up the VCore another notch to V1.05 and have it at 728MHz. I really believe I'm just suffering from freezes that most people would experience when overclocking their cards. How it's happening with default settings is the only thing that is strange here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pho3nix Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Courtesy of Amazon: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiE23 Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 Got another 'ffing card. And hey, guess what. It works! GIGABYTE GV-N570OC-13I Rev2.0 GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB Witcher 2 and Crysis 2 look good with max settings at 60fps :V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IG-64 Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Witcher 2 and Crysis 2 look good with max settings at 60fps :V I'm jealou- oh wait I have one too. *brofist* My dad got a new dog. We now have had one dachshund for each member of the family. Her name is Ellie (named after her mom, Ellie Mae), and she'll be 8 weeks old when we pick her up next week from another city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acdcfanbill Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 oh my god, that is the saddest looking puppy I've ever seen :'( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IG-64 Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 oh my god, that is the saddest looking puppy I've ever seen :'( pwease take me with you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Today I saw Big D and the Kids Table live twice in one day. Went to Warped Tour (and now I'm pissed I went, you'll see why) and waited around 9 hours to see them play. Originally went for both them and Less Than Jake, but LTJ was supposed to play at noon, and due to traffic and being late, went on at 6. The exact same time that Big D was going on. So I decided to head to Big D because I enjoy them more than LTJ, and I was not disappointed. They were fantastic live. They then said afterwards they were going to play a longer show at midnight at "The Dive Bar." Game f***ing on. Fast forward to about 10:30, I get to the bar, head on in, and a band is playing, so I just sit down and listen. They finish up, next band starts setting up, is about to play. I turn around, and see who else but Dave McWane, the lead singer and mastermind of Big D. He was super nice, and just talked with me for like 10 minutes over a can of Pabst, their beer of choice. Their show at The Dive Bar was far and away the single greatest show I've ever been to. Maybe like 50 people in a small room, no security, and a super nice band that encouraged their audience to participate. I sang face-by-face with Dave McWane. I'm pretty sure that means my life from this point on is now meaningless. Then after they're done they just hung out and took pictures and talked with everyone. Myself and Dave McWane. Note my "hur dur" starstruck face/awkward timing. This time with no "hur dur" face for me but blurry laughing Dave. In addition, I spent like 30-40 minutes just hanging at Big D's merch booth, while waiting for their guy to see if they had a shirt big enough for me in their bus. As he goes, their trumpet player Chris just said to kick back under their tent, and we talked the whole time. Since they didn't have a shirt in my size, I actually bought the 3 CD's of theirs that I listen to all the time, but never actually paid for, as well as their brand new cd that doesn't come out until July 5. Myself and the aforementioned trumpet player Chris. All my CDs. All in all, an absolutely amazing day, even if I did get absolutely ****ed over by Warped Tour compared to The Dive Bar show. Now to go pass out because I work tomorrow from 1-9PM. I foresee much caffeine in my future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IG-64 Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RpTheHotrod Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 I won a contest at image line (fl studio). I get an iPad 2, an HD version of their new mobile software, and $300 credit in their software store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RpTheHotrod Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 He has done that to me too. I think he knows a cartoon picture for any one he knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Groovy Posted July 8, 2011 Author Share Posted July 8, 2011 Arrived 3 days early from Amazon. Your not alone in this forum. Groovy loves teh Gaga. I have all of her stuff. Thinking about buying a book, and would love to have some kind of a DVD of her performance stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Avlectus Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 I now have that big red toolbox I got for christmas to be full of tools. Only took me 7 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue15 Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 picked up Fable III since the price went down. havent played it yet. can't wait! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IG-64 Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Arrived 3 days early from Amazon. I haven't really kept up with Gaga, but that is a hilarious cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IG-64 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Photo attack! She follows everyone around like they're all her bestest friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boba Rhett Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 She's so cute, IG! I thought the Gaga cover was a pretend cover when it came out. I still believe it should have been. The wife and I have been redoing some old entry tables. Check em out. New on the left, old on the right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabretooth Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 @IG: Those eyebrows are amazing, it's like she's CG. *remembers IG's April Fool's thread* Waaaaaaaaait a minute Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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