Horrible issues with friends system

[nkarasch]

my friend built a PC back in february. E8400, GTX260, 4gb ram, nforce board, 550w antec basiq, Vista 64 SP1

Everything works great until he plays games. In Fallout 3 he was getting bad tearing, WoW would freeze every 30 seconds and then crash, and City of Heroes would crash after a while randomly.

I went over there today and put my 8800GTS 512 in to make sure it wasn't a power issue or GPU issue (lower powered card/different card) and it responded exactly the same exept WoW crashed INSTANTLY.

We then installed Windows XP SP3 on one of my hard drives and he said everything seemed fine except a little tearing for about an hour, and then he said all of the textures started messing up in WoW. He said the ground turned into a door texture and everything just went crazy until it crashed.

Any ideas? I'm baffled.

 

[AKM880]

Download a program called CPU-Z and check that his CPU specs are correct. You may want to try CoreTemp, or SpeedFan to check for any overheating issues.

 

[nkarasch]

Would it be less likely to overheat in XP than Vista x64? It is acting different but still wierd.

I checked his settings in the nvidia bios and they were all set to auto. 9x333 I believe. Ram at 800mhz, fsb at 1333mhz. What info should I have him send me from CPU-Z?

I seriously considered relaxing his ram timings and raising his cpu voltage a hair to see if it changed anything, but I had to leave before he finished the XP install

thanks a lot by the way

 

[dmv915]

Check gpu temps, it maybe running too hot. If everything is fine when it is idle, and it only screws up in game it maybe an indication of overheating. I suggest monitoring temps and raising the fan speed through rivatuner.

 

[AKM880]

The CPU speed seems right, try TechPowerUp GPU-Z to check the GPU temperatures.

 

[nkarasch]

Check gpu temps, it maybe running too hot.

I'm just goin nuts because my card did it in that computer too. The case is huge with amazing airflow and my card never freezes/crashes in my computer. Could this really be a possibility? Its worth checking out I guess I'll find out what his results are

 

[dmv915]

I'd also suggest getting the latest whql nvidia driver.

 

[jsc]

If the 2D apps (desktop, etc.) work, but the system crashes during a 3D (gaming) load, it's pretty much drivers or power supply can't carry the load.

 

[daship]

Its either temps or weak power supply. Chack the temps on north bridge also. nforce boards are known to be ***.

 

[nkarasch]

Its either temps or weak power supply. Chack the temps on north bridge also. nforce boards are known to be ***.

I noticed when I pulled my gpu out the heatsink lookin thing right above it on that board was scorching hot, but I think that is pretty typical. How do you check the northbridge temp?

Also, he tested the gpu temps in 3dmark 06 and said he couldn't get it over 67C and there was a lot of tearing.

Is there a chance a Antec 550 Basiq can't even put out enough current for even an 8800GTS 512? It was insta-crash in WoW and my card never has issues.

His card takes two 6-pins, does the PSU only have one 12v rail that puts out enough current for GPUs?