My games keep freezing and crashing. How can I fix it?

[Thenumber16]

I recently (for christmas) got a Gigabyte GTX 560 ti. When I first installed it I played mainly on old games (CoD 1, GTA 3 etc.), and all was well. However as soon as I started playing on anything more advanced, it began to freeze and crash. After about five minutes the screen will go black for a few seconds before then coming back on again. It would then do it again 20 seconds later. This doesn't sound too bad, but it is extremely annoying, and sometimes instead of coming back on the game will crash. I am fairly new to, and therefore not very good at, computer hardware in general, so I could do with some help and advice.

At the moment I think it could be my card overheating, as I have a micro case, however whilst taking the side of the case off and turning the fans up to 100% seems to make CoD 2 freeze less often, it does still freeze, and a game like Far Cry 3 is unplayable. So my questions are twofold:

1) What is causing this to happen? Is it being caused by my GPU overheating or something else?

2)How can I (permanently) fix it?

PC specs:
Intel i3-2120 @ 3.30 GHz
Gigabyte GTX 560 ti
8GB RAM
1TB Hard Drive
550w OCZ PSU

Whilst playing Far Cry 3, the gpu usage is listed as 99% consistantly, and the temperature is generally in the low 80s or high 70s. I don't know whether or not this is normal.

 

[Thenumber16]

Just found this. Does this have anything to do with my problem? It's definitely that message (scroll down to error messaging) that I see.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg487368

 

[Sunius]

If it did, Windows reinstallation would have fixed it.

 

[Thenumber16]

Oh yeah, i suppose it would.

 

[Thenumber16]

I know I keep asking, but is there anything else it could possibly be? If I got a new card and it still kept happening, what would you say then?

 

[Sunius]

Faulty power supply or motherboard. That's why I suggested trying the card in another PC.

 

[Thenumber16]

Hi 16,
I suspect your settings are much too ambitious for your rig.
You should run medium settings / noVSync / no AA = high framerate.
Try that out, we're looking for minimums in the 60 FPS range here, and see if your rig functions okay.
If it does - there you go.
If it does not, then it doesn't like your PSU, or something else!
FarCry 3 is the gnarliest game out there right now.
In testing, full settings would barely run on a GTX 670...
Your 560Ti is a great vidcard, but it's still only upper middle-class, y'know?
Two things:
Firstly (important) go into nVidia Control Panel and set your Global Settings properly.
They should all, without exception, be set to Highest Performance (or Application Controlled).
Secondly (tip) get yerself the free S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat benchmark.
Run it, and see what you need to do to get 60 FPS minimums (not average) on your rig.
It's quite eye-opening...
nVidia, on their webpage (recommended settings) are happy with 30 FPS average.
I am not happy with even 30 FPS minimums!
I require 60 FPS and you do too. Then you can run VSync.
Hope your 560Ti is okay and nothing wrong with it.
They all run hot, 80-90 C is 'normal' but cooler is better, if you don't mind the noise from the vidcard fan spinning faster...
The vidcards could be manufactured to run cooler but it seems more important to them that they are quiet (so they run hot).
Anyway good luck to you, and do check out the CoP benchmark.
(Remember, 60 FPS minimum!)
Regards

I have tried CoP... and it crashed. So much for that plan!

 

[Thenumber16]

I have returned it for a replacement which is working perfectly. Thank you to everybody for your help!

 

[Thenumber16]

Best answer selected by Thenumber16.