my pc graphics problem

russell · Nov 1, 2012

Hi guys I need your help, I have graphics problem at the moment when I play any graphic games eg need for speed or gtr I can play fir about 30 mins then it crashes back to desktop but yet I can run Diablo 3 for hours no problem, I think its a psu issue.

My specs are-
AMD FX 6100@3.6ghz
2tb Sata hard drive
128Gb scandisk ultra SSD
600 OcZ stealthstream psu
H80 cooling
Sata DVD drive
Msi Gtx 550 ti twin Freezer 1gb

Any help and ideas are great full thanks
from
Russell

Simon Bacon · Nov 1, 2012

600W should be ample for that set up. What drivers are you on for your GPU? Nvidia drivers are generally more sorted than AMD but you never know.
As a start:
Make sure onboard graphics are turned off in the bios, and the 'init display first' is set to PEG.
Make sure all the power connections are secure.
Uninstall your Nvidia drivers, use Driver Fusion to clear all the registry entries, and install the latest WHQL set from Nvidia.
Check the temps on your GPU and make sure the fans are spinning, you can also use MSI Afterburner or OpenHardwareMonitor to check the voltages on your card and other parts of your system (if it is a PSU problem these will highlight it.)

Finally, some thing I found when my AMD7870 was CTD'ing this year was to check the speed and voltages on my Ram. I had DDR3 1333 over clocked to 1600. Winding off the over clock stopped the crashes. Also make sure the bios is the latest for your motherboard as an updated bios enabled me to overclock again.

That's all I can think of for the moment. Good Luck.

russell · Nov 1, 2012

Ok thanks I'll check all that and get back to you, and im using the latest NVIDIA drivers.

Jim Cole · Nov 1, 2012

The fact that you can run Diablo III for hours without crashing tells me that you are not having an issue with heat or your PSU as Diablo III does stress the GPU a bit. This only really leaves graphics drivers as the issue or DirectX

Have you setup separate profiles for Diablo III and your other games? I would uninstall drivers, Run a program like ccleaner to make sure that you don't have any issues in your registry, then install the drivers and DirectX again to see if that helps out. If you are still getting CTD's, try and uninstall one of the games and reinstall to see if that helps out.

russell · Nov 1, 2012

Ok but when the game crashes to desktop the game is still running by it won't let me return to the game, I have to use task manager to close the game. I'm not using any special things for Diablo 3.

Jim Cole · Nov 1, 2012

There are a number of games that don't like to lose focus so if something causes you to drop to desktop such as an update notice, the game won't be able to be returned to. The fact that you still hear noise from the game doesn't mean that it is still running as the game may well be locked up and not responding which would require you to use task manager to end task on them.

This does not eliminate the possibility of what I said previously though. You may wish to close down anything that isn't required to let the game run prior to starting the game to see if that helps. I would also turn off any automatic notifications for things like anti-virus, auto updates etc to eliminate the possibility that these are causing the games to lose focus.

russell · Nov 1, 2012

Ok I'll try these ideas later tnite after work and let U know ok.

russell · Nov 5, 2012

hey people im still having no joy but my games do seem to be running longer for about a hour now then crashing to desktop, so I still need help, the graphics card temps are fine and my CPU temps are ok.

russell · Nov 8, 2012

Ok a quick update I think I have found out what it is, its my graphic card is dying so I have ordered a new card, one final note im still trying to run games but no it doesn't crash to desktop my screen
simply turns black and I can hear the game still running, bt CTRL alt delete doesn't work nothing does I have to restart my pc grrr.

Jim Cole · Nov 8, 2012

That would be a crash regardless if it puts you back to desktop or not. The simple fact that you can't get back to the game suggests that is the case. If it is your graphics card, then I am sure you will see quite an improvement when you get the new one installed. Hope all goes well.