New Graphics Card Crashes Every Game.. Even 90s games :'(

[riahc3]

Hello,

His games are the only ones crashing; if a PSU can't power a whole system (because it's asking more then it can deliver) then it won't be just those same games that were crashing but the whole system. A PSU or even Windows won't kill a process because of lack of power.

His games arent the only thing crashing. Watch him load a 4GB BMP in Photoshop (or something else RAM instensive) and it will crash too. I am supposing that indeed it is a memory issue...

[BrainDedd]

OK, so it surely is the RAM. Try each stick individually and memtest. If one gives errors then RMA it.

If you only get errors with both sticks installed then look to back off the timings a bit. I had to go from 9-9-9-24 to 9-10-9-24 to get mine stable.

[DoctorD]

The other question I have along with a possible ram issue is which Nvidia driver is currently installed, there has been a slew of bad drivers recently that have caused similar issues I have had across my desk. The last stable driver for a lot of cards was 314.22, after that a bunch of drivers bricked many systems due to timing issues and heat issues that happened out of nowhere (caused by crappy drivers). 

[snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member]

Interesting thing is, all these errors occurred on 4162MB or higher; But I've only got a 4040MB of RAM.

Any ideas, or should I just get some new RAM?

It's outside of range because it is showing the virtual memory address and not the physical memory address of the failures.

[riahc3]

Hello,

The other question I have along with a possible ram issue is which Nvidia driver is currently installed, there has been a slew of bad drivers recently that have caused similar issues I have had across my desk. The last stable driver for a lot of cards was 314.22, after that a bunch of drivers bricked many systems due to timing issues and heat issues that happened out of nowhere (caused by crappy drivers).

I dont understand how this could be a video card's driver issue; memtest fails and AFAIK it loads NO drivers (much less a third party like from nVidia)

[xendrome]

So why are we still debating this when he's getting tons of errors in Memtest?

[snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member]

So why are we still debating this when he's getting tons of errors in Memtest?

The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence -- it's "theoretically" possible that he also driver issues causing his game to crash on top of his memory errors causing his games to crash ;-) 

[Andre S. Veteran]

There's no point trying to investigate potential driver issues when you have memory errors. Figure out which stick is causing errors, fix the problem, and then if you still run into issues you can start investigating other kinds of errors. Don't go in every direction at once.

 

Hello,
These kind of replies dont add anything to the thread and IMO shouldnt be allowed :( Its obvious its a typo.

And the post pointed out the typo, which allowed the OP to clarify.

[riahc3]

Hello,

And the post pointed out the typo, which allowed the OP to clarify.

I just felt that post (only saying that) adds nothing.

snaphat, it is possible but its far fetched. Its obvious his main problem is the RAM.........maybe later he has driver issues but we may never know.

[snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member]

snaphat, it is possible but its far fetched. Its obvious his main problem is the RAM.........maybe later he has driver issues but we may never know.

I was kidding :-) Obviously, he should be systematic and just replace the ram before assuming other things are also issues

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

(if) He bought it together, its problable they are all from the same bad batch.

 

I had a pair of G.Skill RAM, only one was bad. So it's not uncommon.

[Praetor]

So OP, did you test the individual sticks? Find out which one of them is bad? We are anxious waiting :laugh:

[Tjcrazy]

Wow, thank you each an everyone of you for your well thought-out, knowledgeable replies.

I will test one of the sticks tonight and see what the output is.

As to PSU issues, I do not think it is that. It cost me a fair bit when I got it and think it had a good rating.

 

To driver issues, I've tried most nVidia drivers (including beta) under the sun.

 

My reckoning is that it's RAM issues.

[riahc3]

Hello,

I was kidding :-) Obviously, he should be systematic and just replace the ram before assuming other things are also issues

:laugh: Sorry, I missed the sarcasim :laugh: Either way, you are right ;)

I had a pair of G.Skill RAM, only one was bad. So it's not uncommon.

Well bad RAM batches problably have a 1 and 5 (again, pulling a number out of my ass) so maybe you got lucky. But I would return the entire kit so they give me new sticks fomr a new batch...

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

Well bad RAM batches problably have a 1 and 5 (again, pulling a number out of my ass) so maybe you got lucky. But I would return the entire kit so they give me new sticks fomr a new batch...

 

RAM is RAM, The "batches" are the same if you bought two separate sticks. They are the exact same thing. They have no difference. 

[Tjcrazy]

So after testing both pairs of sticks, they were both dodgy. I've now purchased a new RAM stick.. After suffering from a few BSODs yesterday. I'll let you guys know it goes.

For the mean time, I need to fix an issue with my wireless card interfering with my speakers..

[Zlain]

Regarding the claims about whether the PSU is enough, although the RAM sticks were found to be faulty, may I point out that its the railings of the PSU which are much more important that the actually wattage number quoted. I don't know the exact technical details, I'm sure a google search would suffice, but when I was looking for a PSU a while back, that was the common consensus, check the railings, not just the quoted wattage.

[snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member]

Regarding the claims about whether the PSU is enough, although the RAM sticks were found to be faulty, may I point out that its the railings of the PSU which are much more important that the actually wattage number quoted. I don't know the exact technical details, I'm sure a google search would suffice, but when I was looking for a PSU a while back, that was the common consensus, check the railings, not just the quoted wattage.

Multiple rails really just means one thing: individual current limiters for individual lines instead of a collective current limiter for all lines together. In both cases you most likely just have a single current source so it isn't as if a multiple rail PSU can sustain more power draw per line or overall more power draw than a single rail PSU.

 

For example, say you have 12 Volt current source that fans out into 3 lines that ultimately fan out into N power connectors. If you have all 3 lines controlled by a single limiter circuit then you have a single rail. If each line has its own limiter circuit than you have three rails. In practice, the only difference is how the limiter works. You still have to provide the required amperage per line without burning out as per the spec. You could over-shoot or under-shoot the amount of amperage you are suppose to provide per line in either case (thicken up or thin the traces).

 

It'd be a different story if you were really getting a power supply with individual current sources per rail (I'm not sure if they make those but I would imagine so at very high wattage rated PSUs, though they may just thicken the traces). One reason you might want multiple rails is in the case of a defective power supply - it could damage less equipment if there are individual safety shutoffs per line. Basically, it might only fry the equipment on only a single line if shorted instead of all lines.

 

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_supply_unit_(computer)#Multiple_.2B12_V_rails