Can't game at 1280 X 1024

[imported_Couchpotato]

I recently bought a Sapphire Radeon 4870 512 mb card from the Egg and also Crysis Warhead and Stalker Clear Sky to play on. I"m using a Dell 19 inch monitor with 1280 x 1024 res and I haven't gamed in a while before I bought the 4870.

I'm good with doing normal stuff, web surfing, encoding etc but when it comes to gaming there's a problem. The problem is when I'm playing Crysis or Stalker after about 1/2 hour or so then the game stops and starts then my screen goes black or I get a blue screen. I tried reinstalling the drivers and I had the card overclocked but i lowered it to normal but still keeps happening.

Is there anything else I could do to resolve the problem?

 

[Sam25]

This might be a heat issue, check your system temps with Everest Home Edition or SpeedFan and post it here.

 

[imported_Couchpotato]

Well at idle my temps are around 42 in Amd Overdrive and the fan usually is at 50 percent. So that reading is not accurate or should I get the temp programs to monitor my temps?

 

[nestlewater]

Originally posted by: Couchpotato
Well at idle my temps are around 42 in Amd Overdrive and the fan usually is at 50 percent. So that reading is not accurate or should I get the temp programs to monitor my temps?

Buahahahahahaha,, Don't kid around 4870 needs 70%+ on fan for most newer games with 4xtraa/16af. I gave up trying to find a fan sweet spot for each game, so I just crank to 100% and put on earbuds, and THEN ontop of that my headset with only the mic part plugged in for chat.

If you want an alternative, as in use your 5.1 speakers, you'll have to buy the HR03 GT and swap the stock heatsink. Only downside is you'll have to cool the power management with some sinks as well. like an extra 70 bux basically for quiet operation.

 

[vj8usa]

Originally posted by: Couchpotato
Well at idle my temps are around 42 in Amd Overdrive and the fan usually is at 50 percent. So that reading is not accurate or should I get the temp programs to monitor my temps?

What're your load temps? Load temps are a lot more important than idle temps. That's also where a program that can log your temps like Rivatuner/Everest can be useful, so you can see just how high your temps get.

 

[Schmide]

How does one get

5 GB G-Skill DDR2 800

?

If you have an extra 1gb stick in there, dump it. You're forcing your controller to run in single channel.

 

[InfoTiger]

Originally posted by: Schmide
How does one get

5 GB G-Skill DDR2 800

?

If you have an extra 1gb stick in there, dump it. You're forcing your controller to run in single channel.

Maybe 2x512M + 2x2G?

 

[imported_Couchpotato]

I took the extra 1 gig stick out a week ago so not I'm using 4 gb of ddr 800, gotta update my sig.

I'll download Everest or Riva turner to monitor my temps. What about 3dMark would that help too?

 

[thegimp03]

What video card did you come from? Did you come from an ATI or Nvidia card? It may also be a driver issue, make sure the old drivers are wiped clean from your system. You may need to wipe the system clean and reinstall, or I think there's a program called driver cleaner...not sure.

This sounds like a heat issue though, I'd install Riva to ensure that fan rpms are going up when you're gaming.

 

[imported_Couchpotato]

I don't have Rivatuner installed, I'll look for that. I came from a Geforce 7900gt. I don't buy many cards but I find myself getting stuck on new games so I had to make a change.

 

[Sam25]

Download RivaTuner from here and check your temps (load temps).

 

[imported_Couchpotato]

I checked my temps while running ATI Tool and right now at 96% activity the test has been running around 10 minutes and my temps are 85 for the gpu.

Is that too hot?

 

[imported_Couchpotato]

I have the GPU clocked at 805 mhz and the memory clock at 1005 mhz both overclocked.

And I am using this card.

 

[postmortemIA]

lol, it doesn't work when overclocked, thanks for letting us know!

 

[imported_Couchpotato]

Didn't realize it was overclocked that much. When I used my Nvidia cards I overclocked manually. This one I used Overdrive and did the auto tune feature and it put my clocks like that. I was playing games and crashing and didn't know it was that much overclocked.

I'll play Crysis Warhead tonite with the card downclocked and let u guys know how it works out.