Diamond HD 2900XT problem

Dr. Eatsome · Jan 2, 2008, 08:28 PM

I am currently using this card and well, it is good, but the problem is when i play games such as call of duty 4, and i use call of duty 4 as an example because that is the game i've been having this problem on the most. Basically i'll get on, join a server then alt+tab out of there to use the ati tool to speed up my fan to keep the temps low, then i go back and start to play, and everything runs smoothly, no lag, textures are good, etc etc, but eventually the screen will lag then cut out, when it cuts out it will usually say no signal and input d sub and usually my screen recovers from this and i go back to the game, and other times it just freezes and i have to restart my computer manually. At one point today i had the fan on full blast to see if it was the heat and i would check every few minutes to see the temperature, then go back to the game, and it was hovering around 62-65 C, so i went back in, sorta threw a gernade and the screen cut out and froze, so i had to restart manually. So what could the problem be?

Dyre Straits · Jan 3, 2008, 03:16 AM

Greetings and welcome to DriverHeaven!

First of all, we need a lot more information about your system than just that you're using a particular video card. What CPU, RAM, motherboard, PSU, etc?

The temps on the card look quite within range, so, I wouldn't say it's a heat issue with the video card. But, it could still be a heat issue if your system is not being properly cooled. So, what type of PC Case Cooling do you have and where is the PC located in relation to allowing proper/adequate airflow?

Dr. Eatsome · Jan 3, 2008, 04:03 PM

Ok my specs are

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-M57SLI-S4 Socket AM2
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 2.8GHz
Memory: 4gb (1gb x 4) OCZ ATI Crossfire Certified DDR 2 800MHz
PSU: OCZ GameXtreme 600w
Case: Cooler Master CAC-T05 WW (has a side window) but this case has an 80mm fan in the front and a 120mm fan in the back.
Other Stuff: 80mm Apevia case fan, zalman 110mm cpu fan, seagate 250gb sata hdd.
My case if pretty close to the vent on my wall so whatever is being blow out is sucked into the case, but when the heat is on i usually close the vent flap.
Also i ran a memtest over night and there were no errors found.

Dyre Straits · Jan 5, 2008, 03:59 AM

When the video card starts working with games, it will push the temperature of the video card much higher than it will be under normal applications. So, this could be that the card is getting too hot.

It could also be a driver problem, but, we need to try to isolate exactly under what kind of conditions this happens.

Are you using Windows XP? SP2? Updated per Windows Updates?

Which video driver version/s have you tried?

If you're using the ATI drivers with CCC, open up the Overclocking utility, unlock the Overclocking and monitor the GPU temperature during gaming.

Let us know the additional information.

P.S. Do NOT start new threads with threads already open for the same issue. Thanks!

Dr. Eatsome · Jan 5, 2008, 04:20 PM

Right now i am running windows vista 64bit, and i installed catalyst control center 7.12.

Dyre Straits · Jan 6, 2008, 04:04 AM

At the moment, I'm running a HD2600XT 512 MB PCIe under Vista 32-bit with no problems. My card is a VisionTek card, however.

As you're using Vista, we need to move this to the Vista forum for continued support and help.

Dr. Eatsome · Jan 6, 2008, 12:20 PM

Ok, well, last night i found something in the atitool that records my temps, and i also got the core and memory to stay at default, which is like 509 for core and 510 for memory so it is easier to keep it at a certain temperature, i told it to keep the temp at 55 and record it to the log file, and while it did that i went and played cod 4 to see if it would cut out, which it did eventually, so once it did that, it recovered, so i stopped playing, and went back to see that in the log file, the temperature never exceeded 60, the highest i think i saw was 57, the average was probably 53.

Dyre Straits · Jan 6, 2008, 12:46 PM

I'd like to suggest that you download PC Wizard 2008. It's free. It also has a Temperature utility that will show temperatures for several of the PC's components. When you first start this up, you need to go to the Options and set it to show the temperatures in 'real time'. Be sure to check around in there to make sure you have all of the components selected. Once you have this active, minimize this to the Task bar and you should see the data in the top right corner of the screen.

Pay close attention to CPU/Processor temperatures as well as the GPU and others.

Download from here:

CPUID

I would also check the RAM timings in BIOS to make sure the RAM is running at spec. You might even try loosening the timings a bit to see if this helps. If, for example, you're running at 5.5.5.18, up the numbers one notch to see if things work better.

Good luck!