250GTS E-Green producing errors.

[pokku]

Hello!
Last night when playing Company of Heroes on mid-high settings game suddenly freezed and the screen went green and rippled. I immediately shut down my computer, as I realized this kind of errors are caused by overheating gpu. After turning on computer again I checked my GPU temperature log and max temperature was 57c. Right now the card is idling at 36c. I tried playing again a little later, but again - green screen and freeze.

I have tried overclocking my GPU once, but I havn't used oc in games as I have feared frying the card. I recently installed new GPU cooler, wich dropped temps a lot. After installing it I have played lot and everything have worked great even after playing long periods of time. That's why it was a little surprising to see such errors after maby 40 minutes of gaming. Just last weekend I played Company of Heroes many hours straight - no errors and temps stayed bearable.

So what to do now? Is it time to buy a new card if problems persist?

Specs:
Intel 2,5GHz Quad Core
ASUS P5QL-VM EPU mobo
nVidia GF 250GTS
4Gt DDR2

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Sounds like a heat issue with something else then. What are the CPU temps?

 

[pokku]

That's a good question! I'll try the game tomorrow. Now I tested with a CPU stability tester utility. Temps did not seem to go far over 60c.

 

[pokku]

Trying now with Prime95 torture test. Few minutes gone, getting near 70c. Wow, what a difference!

Edit: One more note about the errors in game. Shooting with flamethrower produced strange squares around flames. Like there were glass tiles rotating over flames.
It seems like a GPU error.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Could be a combination of CPU temps and your GPU being overloaded, asked to do something it can't do such as too high graphical settings.

Did you use Artic Silver 5 thermal paste when you installed the new GPU cooler?

 

[pokku]

Yes, I used thermal paste, though I dont't recon it being Arctic Silver 5 brand.
Today I played Blur on nice settings and did not get any errors.
It could be the combination of those two. New CPU cooler?

 

[hundredislandsboy]

If your motherboard BIOS has a CPU fan profile, set that to maximum (the opposite of quiet mode) amd that might help to keep the CPU cooler.

Is your cooler the stock Intel heatsink fan or aftermarket?

 

[hundredislandsboy]

You could also try EVGA Precision to manually set your GPU to 90% before you start gaming. If you don't get crashes, then you know your videocard was overheating and need the higher fan RPMs. After gaming, you can set the GPU fan back to 40%.

 

[pokku]

Thank you, I'll do that. I recon there is CPU fan speed setting wich is now on Auto. I'll change that. The CPU cooler is Intel's stock fan and heatsink.
I don't think I can change the fan speed manually, or at least I don't hear any effect. The fan is not connected to GPU's fan slot where the stock cooler was. It is in motherboard's fan slot, because the GPU's slot was a little different.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Doesn't matter if your CPU fan is the Intel stock fan. You can still make it run as fast as it can by using the motherboard BIOS.

See Page 2-16 of your motherboard manual, the last paragraph. If you don't have the manual here's the link:

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=wlBGtZNOPfeanWHH&content=download