Help! BSOD after installing new graphics card!

michael267

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Oct 27, 2013
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Recently I installed a new graphics card (PowerColor Radeon HD 7770) onto my DELL Precision Workstation 490 (Foxxconn LS-36 mobo, 4gb DDR1 RAM, 2 Intel Xeon 5160 Dual Core CPUs @ 3.00 ghz, 750 w PSU, HD 7770 GPU). It seemed to go fine until I played Team Fortress 2 and then Minecraft. After I finished playing, my computer bluescreened within a half hour period and then everytime I went to start it it would bluescreen. I ended up thinking it was because I failed to completely uninstall the old GPU drivers from the ATI FireGL v7200 that was in my machine. So, I restarted in safe mode, which worked, wiped all of my display drivers, and reinstalled them from the PowerColor disk. The computer started up fine after that and I was very excited. However, today, after about an hour of Minecraft, the computer completely froze. Upon restart it bluescreened and now I just have it off. Is it possible that the drivers were not the reason for my first bluescreens, and that it was really my computer overheating? The computer could have just cooled down enough by the time I reinstalled the drivers so that it could start normally again. I dont know what to do if it is an overheating problem since I dont know what would be overheating. It is probably overheating because the bluescreens only happened after or while playing games. Thanks for the help, Im sorry that there is a wall of text but I felt it was important to get everything down.
 
Solution
No, I think you should measure your temperatures with a program like coretemp to see if your CPU overheating is the culprit. Once that's established, if it is the cause, you should either clean out your standard heatsink of dust; reapply thermal paste, or get a new aftermarket heatsink such as the Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO if it fits in your case.
Also the GPU fan on my old ATI forced the air outwards while the new GPU fan just blows the air upwards. That could be a cause for overheating if overheating is the issue here.
 
The most likely thing overheating here is your CPU. How long have you had this machine? The thermal paste may have dried up and needs reapplication. Have you cleaned your PC of dust, including the CPU cooler? Do you have an aftermarket cooler?

It's likely that your CPU is working harder to play games at higher settings with that 7770 than it had to previously with the previous GPU, leading to overheating. If you can, load up your PC and check the temperatures using coretemp. Do so when it's idle and when you're gaming.
 
Ok. So should I go back to my old graphics card? Id hate for my purchase to be a waste of money. I figured it must be the graphics card because the computer had never bluescreened before. I have had the computer for about a year and a half but its from 2007, so the paste might have dried up. Even if it has though, it is still all because of the GPU.
 
Also both times this has happened it was after playing minecraft. Are my CPUs not good enough for minecraft? Is it to intensive on them? It is the only game that I have played differently from on my 7200 because that card couldnt run it. Thanks again.
 
No, I think you should measure your temperatures with a program like coretemp to see if your CPU overheating is the culprit. Once that's established, if it is the cause, you should either clean out your standard heatsink of dust; reapply thermal paste, or get a new aftermarket heatsink such as the Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO if it fits in your case.
 
Solution