6600GT Freezing

[Rocket321]

Here's the story:
I just replaced my ti4200 with a Leadtek 6600GT vid card.
Ever since then I've been running into 2 problem.
1. the computer locks up when playing games - usually after 10-30 minutes
2. the computer boots up with no video driver and I have to reinstall it.

#2 only happens once or twice a week. I have to boot into safemode, install the video driver, reboot and it is fine. It is a waste of time and annoying.
#1 happens just about anytime I play a game for any amount of time, but sometimes I am able to play for 2-3 hours with no problems. I have had no luck determining if this is a heat issue or a defect in the card.

Thing's I've tried:
for #2 - I ran that utility that totally uninstalls nvidia drivers, ran a registry cleaner to delete all nvidia references, rebooted and reinstalled the latest WHQL drivers. I still run into the problme once or twice a week.

for #1 - I removed my side case panel and turned on a small desk fan blowing directly on the vid card and looped a doom 3 timedemo 20 times (took about 20 minutes) no lockup. I just put the side panel back on, rebooted, and started the loop again and it went about 10 minutes and locked up. This leads me to believe it may be a heat issue.

So based on these problems, should I order an RMA or should I order a better VGA cooler like the zalman? I have 3 80MM and 1 120MM Case fans that seem to keep everything else running well.

TIA

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Make certain the cooler is making proper contact with the core first. Replacing the T.I.M. and being certain the cooler is properly seated may be enough alone to get things running right. Good idea to talk to tech support first though, don't want to bork your warranty. A better cooler is of course never a bad idea if you don't mind ponying up.

 

[Rocket321]

Ok, a little more info on the temps i'm getting. On the last run of doom 3 benchmarking (with the side panel on) I used riva tuner to monitor the temps. It is hitting a max of 79C every time it runs through the timedemo. It froze on the 19th loop at 79 degrees.
I would think if it was a heat issue it would slowly build up more and more heat and finally freeze after hitting a certain mark. Because it is holding a steady 79 in games it makes me lean even more toward it being a problem with the card. What do you think?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

My XFX 6600GT AGP 500/500 never ran that hot, and it is fairly warm in my comp room this time of year. I'd definitely make certain the cooler isn't detached from the core. Dual monitors can sometimes cause issues too, unhooking the 15" for TS purposes might be a good idea. The fact it runs through all 20 loops with a fan blowing in the case certainly points a finger@Heat though.

Better check that the GPU cooler fan is spinning 100% of the time too.

 

[Rocket321]

The 15" monitor has been unplugged for the testing.
Also, this is a AGP card running stock speeds of 500core 900mem.

Mine goes from 44C idle to 79C (max) in games, what kind of temps do you see?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I'd get 53-55c idle *system is on 24/7* and 67-70c extended gaming. No instability and performance was as it should be using FRAPS in games. Just sold it to go PCIe though.

 

[rise]

hows your psu?

i had issues like that when my psu was pushed too far. my 6600gt would run fine at 90c btw so i doubt its the cards heat anyway.

 

[Rocket321]

I've got an Antec True 430. Its only about 4 months old. I don't really know how to test its quality but the system seems really stable when I'm not in games. I've left the system on overnight several times to find it still functioning properly the next day.

 

[Rocket321]

Any ideas on why it would be able to loop the Doom 3 demo 19 times, but then lock up the 20th time? That is really what is giving me such a headache. I wish it would consistently lock up on the 1st loop, it would be much easier to narrow down/fix the issue.
Since the time it locked up earlier I've run the full loop three times and its successfully completed them all. It just seems so random it is driving me crazy.
BTW it has also locked up on other games (HL2 and BF2)

 

[Rocket321]

In response to it being a heat issue, I removed the HSF, cleaned it, and applied a thin layer of arctic silver because the other stuff was pretty much gone. It reattached snugly on the card.
Now it am starting a 50x loop of doom 3 to see what happens. It should take about 50 minutes and I'll post the results.

 

[Check]

I have a BFGtech 6600gt. My card used to freeze if it was running above at or above 72c for a prolonged period of time. Once it got above 75c the computer would reboot.

I bought myself a Zalman vf700-cu heatsink and installed it. Now I am idleing below 40c most of the time (41 when it's like 90+ in my room) and it doesn't go above 55c full load (unless it's like 90+ in my room again)

This solved both issues for me. If you have $30 kicking around it might be worth thinking about getting some better cooling because the 6600gt pump out some heat.

On a side note, I have noticed that the PCIx versions of the 6600gt and 6800gt run significantly cooler than the agp8x versions with their stock sink/fan combo. Anyone else notice that?

 

[Rocket321]

Good to know check.
Well, I let it loop for the full 50 and it didn't freeze. So then I played some doom 3 for about 30 min and still no freeze. Although I'm not convinced it will be perfect, at least it has been pretty stable for alot of testing today.
I'll probebly look into a better cooler in the near future.

 

[rise]

good to hear, good luck with it.

check is right, i love those zalmans. beware though that it takes a bit of work to put it on the agp version of the 6600gt.

i did find the evga agp ran warmer than the pci-e but i think its just because of the really poor reference sooler evga uses on the agp. with the bridge, the cooler is cocked at an angle and half the rams have no contact at all with it.

even the gpu contact was precarious, as it only was held on by the 2 push pins so you could actually rock it a bit if you pushed on one side.

easily my most disappointing evga experience ever.

alls well that ends well though as i used it in the step up program for the 7800gtx