AS ROCK N68C-S UCC + MSI R7 250 2gb Crash

[si2787]

Hi All

I've been having a recurring issue on my computer the last few months in that I replaced my graphics card with a newer model on 3 occasions now and I am consistently having games crash on me anywhere between 5-20mins into play.

I bought a Radeon HD6670 which was when I first encountered the issue (replaced by supplier) and I continued to see the issue with the replacement. I returned this for a refund assuming it was a bad batch and ordered the R7

Whilst waiting for the refund and the R7 to arrive I put my old card back into the machine; Nvidia 8400GS 256mb and saw 0 crashing issues (this includes hearthstone which I had experienced crashes on with the new card)

R7 250 arrived today and I've installed and sure enough within about 20mins Hearthstone crashes and I've tried a few others (DayZ etc) and it crashes the graphics on the computer forcing me to restart. (can't even use internet explorer due to graphic problems)

My question is, could there be a compatibility issue with the motherboard I'm using hence the crashes? are the cards to new for it to run properly? sitting idle the card is 20c and underload it got to 33c (the case is well vented)

additional I'm running 4gb memory and a 750w PSU with Phenom X4 850

I'm really at a loss and really need some help.

thanks

 

[cin19]

Only thing I think the problem is related to the GPU or PSU, because you said you use the Nvidia 8400GS that is fine. But most likely the problem is from driver.
So I recommend to using the Driver Sweeper to cleanup the GPU driver before you install the new GPU driver. http://www.guru3d.com/content_page/guru3d_driver_sweeper.html because AMD and Nvidia use different driver, if one of them left some file over then you will get problem.
And other is the PSU, it is ture about both hd6670 and r7 250 are the lower power hungry card. Because even the PSU label with 700w but some of them are not ture 700W PSU. What PSU do you have?

 

[si2787]

Only thing I think the problem is related to the GPU or PSU, because you said you use the Nvidia 8400GS that is fine. But most likely the problem is from driver.
So I recommend to using the Driver Sweeper to cleanup the GPU driver before you install the new GPU driver. http://www.guru3d.com/content_page/guru3d_driver_sweeper.html because AMD and Nvidia use different driver, if one of them left some file over then you will get problem.
And other is the PSU, it is ture about both hd6670 and r7 250 are the lower power hungry card. Because even the PSU label with 700w but some of them are not ture 700W PSU. What PSU do you have?

Hi, thanks for replying.

Well I ran DDU/Drive Sweeper before I even plugged in the new card and I hoped that it had caught everything beforehand/ as mentioned in the OP I had this same issue with the HD6670 and this involved reformatting windows and reinstalling the drivers on a fresh copy. I can and will run the drive sweeper again to try and pickup any left over NVidia stuff, question though the ASROCK motherboard has NVidia drivers as part of its setup are these potentially causing conflicts?

When I get paid on Wednesday I'm going to look into investing in an AMD motherboard that supports my card and Processor in the hope this is the solution but I was trying to avoid buying a new board and having the same issue.

My PSU is ACE A-750BR Black Edition -

I also just managed to run Civilisation on Max/high settings for the last hour and had no crashes...which is strange because Hearthstone was on lower settings and crashed out :S.

Could I be getting some conflict with IE? I know when Hearth first crashed I had YouTube running in the background? again I know that if there was the 6400gs should have crashed too?

 

[si2787]

I'd also update that my spec is as per below;

CPU: Phenom II X4 850
Mobo: ASRock N68C-S UCC
Ram: 4GB Kingston (2x2gb)
GPU: MSI R7 250 2gb
PSU: ACE A-750BR
Case: CIT Dominator 5 x 12CM Fans
Storage: 75gb IDE Drive (Primary/OS) + 1TB Sata (Games installed here)

 

[cin19]

Maybe the NVIDIA® GeForce nForce 630a chipset does not compatible with the new AMD GPU, If you want try to update the BIOS.

 

[junkeymonkey]

I have a asrock n68c- gs fx board and the pci-e slot is a pci-e 1.0 and I wonder if the card you got is not backward compatible with that I know that pci-e 3 and 2 will but unsure if it will run in a pci-e 1.0. I still use the onboard gpu and have yet to try a card in it to know for sure but I also ? this with my board and I just use it as a back up/office rig. but it something you could look at

 

[si2787]

well it has been a few days since I installed the new card and removed all NVidia and AMD drivers then started from scratch. I did the new Bios update for the board and also the 14.4 AMD drivers for the card so I know everything is up to date.

I've not had any issues since then...until today, was playing Neverwinter for about 1 1/2 hours and then boom, did two skirmishes and both times the games crashed out to desktop, both times the desktop was still navigable but if I opened anything including IE I would get graphics glitches and crashes until I restarted.

this has been bugging me cause I've been able to get on Civ5, Empire Total War, Loadout and Hearthstone all for extended periods of time and 0 crashes.

Junkey your option does seem like the next logical step and I've been looking at the below card as an alternative option

http://www.dabs.com/products/asrock-socket-am3--amd-960gc-gs-fx-ddr3-matx-90PS.html?refs=48750000&src=3

 

[junkeymonkey]

aren't them 14.4 beta drivers why don't you try an older driver like 13.4 or 13.12 just because a driver is new don't mean there the best .. ive loaded new drivers and tried then some and went back to an older one that I thought seemed to do better ..