Help picking a new graphics card

rachaell

Hi,
I came here a few years ago for help picking out a new pc for my son.
I got great help and got one built from that site in germany. The last few months its been crashing/freezing mostly when he plays games. I sent it in to a repair shop and he cleaned it out took out the ssd and old hard drive then put a new hard drive in with a new copy of windows on it but its still freezing. So I think it needs a new graphics card. I've picked one out in my price range but not sure its any good. He plays garys mod counter strike, far cry etc..

At the moment he has 450w power supply, As rock motherboard, 4gb ram, Amd processor and sapphire radeon 6759 (I think) graphics card.

Will this fit the motherboard and is the power supply enough to handle it.
Asus 2-gb-geforce-gtx-750-ti-pcie-graphics-card its €174
Can't post the url because I'm a new user (forget my old account details)

Thanks in advance for your help.

Digital Solitude

It may not be his graphics card, could be driver errors, CPU error or a PSU problem either. Did the professional give anymore advice?

Xenoronin

That sounds strange... a GPU usually causes visual artifacts (blue dots, image distortion) when it starts dying. The crashing and freezing are more RAM/CPU/Motherboard area. Is there any error when it crashes?
There is a program called Memtest86 that might be of use here. Give it a quick google on how to use (haven't ever used it myself) and let it run.

rachaell

They said they checked everythinng else and it might be the card. I don't think they really knew tbh. No he gets a black or blue screen when it crashes usually after playing a game for 20-30 minutes. Since we got it back from the repair shop its not happening as often.
But he can't play certain games. One of the fans wasn't working for a while and it was getting really hot,they said the termal paste was completely dry.
I don't know what to do now, maybe bring it somewhere else before paying out for a card, Ive had to save for this and don't want to buy if not needed.

rachaell

One of the blue screens said
a problem has been detected and windows has shut down to protect your computer
Drivers -not less or not equal.
There's more, this is the first couple of lines.

Xenoronin

I get the feeling bringing it to someone else might be a good idea. Sounds like cowboys :L
Digital seems to have hit the nail on the head if it is complaining about drivers before shutdown. You'll need to find out your specific card and download the drivers from scratch for the GPU. Make sure to completely uninstall them before reinstalling the newer ones. There is still the possibility of it overheating. Something like speedfan can show you the temperatures in your computer. On average the CPU should be around 30-40degreesC

TerrorFirmer

Original crowd you brought it to sound like absolute jackasses. They randomly replaced the hard drive and sent it back with the same problem it had when you sent it in.

Where are you based, someone here could probably help. It's likely something simple.

Digital Solitude

Did they replace the thermal paste after they said there was an issue with it?

rachaell

Yes they replaced the paste, he said it was completely dry and that's unheard of. I'm in dublin 8 if anyone is near me. Dont feel comfortable messing with it myself. I would pay of course.

Digital Solitude

Its not unheard of, just uncommon until a machine gets a little older.

Don't know where any of the lads here are located but I'd say there's someone nearby you

Kilboor

Hi I have had issues like this before. 90% of the time I have found that it was because my ram had failed. I would suggest doing a memtest or else buying new ram

Digital Solitude

You should remove one stick of RAM from the PC and test it, and then the other and test it again to see if one or both are bad.

You could run memtest86 from a USB for a few hours either, it tests RAM.
You download it from here, you just need a blank USB flash drive, even a 1gb one is enough. Switch the PC off and boot into the USB, and let it run for a few hours, it'll show up any RAM errors.

You boot into the USB by pressing F12 or F9 when the PC is beginning to start up, the first real screen shown, before Windows

rachaell

I have some nearly new ram in another pc, I'll switch them and see what happens. Fingers crossed..

Digital Solitude

That's a much easier option :pac:

rachaell

Digital Solitude wrote: »

That's a much easier option :pac:

I know, you'd think I would of doing that already, but I was told it was the graphics card so didn't even come to mind, plus they said they tested the ram.. The second pc is my uncles that has emigrated so better be careful 😕☺

SterlingArcher

Are you using an anti virus?

rachaell

SterlingArcher wrote: »

Are you using an anti virus?

Yeah, he had Microsoft security essentials, malwarebytes and ccleaner on it.
The shop took ccleaner off, he said you don't need so many.
I'm about to get the ram now and switch them, I'll let you all know how it goes..

Xenoronin

Now i'm convinced they had no idea what they were at. CCleaner is for removing unnecessary files from your computer. Temporary files and caches that rarely will be used again. It doesn't help keep your computer secure at all.

BloodBath

They rarely know what they are doing in these shops it seems yet would still have no qualms with charging €50-€100 for an hours work.

They actually replaced a perfectly good hard drive in yours and didn't fix the issue? How much did they charge you for this honor?

Best of luck with fixing it anyway. Temp testing, driver fixes and ram testing is the right idea. Narrow it down.

rachaell

Well I switched the ram and sadly it is still crashing. I put 8 gb in and it says 8 gb installed but only 4 gb is usable. Why would that be? It's a 64 bit windows. The windows that was in it before we sent it to be fixed was 32 bit.
So it's not the ram would it be the power supply?
He only had counter strike on for 4 or 5 minutes and it was crashing. He said he used to get about an hour.

BloodBath

Possibly an overheating issue with the cpu if the cooler is not attached properly.

Possibly a driver issue.

Possibly the graphics card.

Only testing will narrow it down.

rachaell

Ok I think I need to bring it to someone with the knowledge to fix it, I haven't a clue what to do..
can anyone point me in the right direction of a good shop or freelance
Thanks

Kimbot

rachaell wrote: »

Ok I think I need to bring it to someone with the knowledge to fix it, I haven't a clue what to do..
can anyone point me in the right direction of a good shop or freelance
Thanks

Dont go near a shop, Im sure someone close to you on here wouldnt mind giving you a hand. If I was in dublin I would take a look but I wont be there until next weekend at the earliest.

rachaell

Hey, was just wondering after reading another thread here, would using a 32 in tv as a monitor have anything to do with it crashing?
He's been using it for a good while, was using a 24in monitor before. Maybe it's on the wrong settings and can't handle it??

Digital Solitude

Its possible but highly unlikely, a 6000 series like he's got should be able to handle 1080p no bother

Has he tested using the onboard graphics? Plug the HDMI cord directly into the motherboard and run a game and see what happens

rachaell

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Its possible but highly unlikely, a 6000 series like he's got should be able to handle 1080p no bother

Has he tested using the onboard graphics? Plug the HDMI cord directly into the motherboard and run a game and see what happens

There is no hdmi port on the motherboard as far as I can see, it's an AS rock 870 extreme3 r2.0.
I'm going to get a lend of a monitor tomorrow and see how it goes.
Thanks for all your help by the way ☺

Bongalongherb

rachaell wrote: »

One of the blue screens said
a problem has been detected and windows has shut down to protect your computer
Drivers -not less or not equal.
There's more, this is the first couple of lines.

Do you mean Driver IRQL Not Less Or Equal

If so it is a RAM issue. It could be the ram modules or the memory chips on the graphics card, but it is a ram issue. Make sure the ram modules are seated tightly with latches closed on each end of each module. Only do this with the computer disconnected from the mains power outlet, make sure power is completely disconnected.

rachaell

Bongalongherb wrote: »

Do you mean Driver IRQL Not Less Or Equal

If so it is a RAM issue. It could be the ram modules or the memory chips on the graphics card, but it is a ram issue. Make sure the ram modules are seated tightly with latches closed on each end of each module.

Yeah that's exactly what it said. My son took pictures of the blue screens and that is on the first couple of lines.
When it comes back on it says - windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown
Local I'd .6153
problem event name.. blue screen
o's version. . 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3

Bongalongherb

Opps, my fault, I should have read your first post more clearly....

he cleaned it out took out the ssd and old hard drive then put a new hard drive in with a new copy of windows on it but its still freezing.

The only thing in this case is that the memory chips on the graphics card and/or the thermal paste on the graphics card's GPU is dried up and not connecting to its heat-sink to dissipate the heat.


Are you positive you don't see any red or green lines on the monitor when the pc is on? Look closely.

In regards to your computer only being able to see 4GB ram after you put 8GB in could be that your computer motherboard is only capable of using 4GB max.

rachaell

Bongalongherb wrote: »

Opps, my fault, I should have read your first post more clearly....



The only thing in this case is that the memory chips on the graphics card and/or the thermal paste on the graphics card's GPU is dried up and not connecting to its heat-sink to dissipate the heat.


Are you positive you don't see any red or green lines on the monitor when the pc is on? Look closely.

In regards to your computer only being able to see 4GB ram after you put 8GB in could be that your computer motherboard is only capable of using 4GB max.

No, there's no lines at all. The pc was getting really hot, the room would be like a sauna when it was on for a while. my son said he had a program for reading temps on his old windows and it would read 60 degrees on everything..

Bongalongherb

Well with the pc getting really hot as you said, it's overheating as well. I just wonder did those folks actually use good thermal paste on the CPU and making sure the CPU heat-sink is tight with the CPU. Check that the four screws on the metal heat-sink above CPU are nice and tight, they were probably not tight enough to contact with the CPU underneath.

Digital Solitude

60° resting or 60° when he's been gaming?

Bongalongherb

Your CPU Heatsink should be similar to this pic below and will have 4 screws holding it down, make sure these 4 screws are tight. Use a philips screw-driver of the right size to make sure and tighten them tightly if any are lose.

Make sure the power is disconnected when doing anything inside the pc.

Bongalongherb

If it's 60°c when the computer is idle then it's too hot, GPU or CPU is overheating.

Also, does the fans sound like a loud hair-dryer when the computer is idle after a few minutes ?

Digital Solitude

Fan could look like either of these, or the one bongalong posted

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQAhkFyzomwgy1sW2tvgdzO9clcks2SUKk8EQderexQERl85E2J

http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages/201311/LGA1156_DSCF5046.jpg

You haven't mentioned the other crowd charging an arm and a leg for a new fan so it's likely just a stock one

rachaell

The fans do seem louder now than when it was newer, but it is about 4years old so probably does need new parts just have to figure out what new parts it needs.. I'm not sure about the temp, he's in bed now and the pc is in his room so I'll check tomorrow and get back.
Thanks

rachaell

Yeah its like the first one. He didn't replace the fan, he took it apart cleaned out the dust and replaced the paste..

Bongalongherb

The fans should be just purring away nice and quietly. I would be worried if that place that fixed it didn't apply the thermal paste properly as that is the most important thing to do regarding the CPU.

Well all you can do is troubleshoot whether the 4 screws are indeed properly tight to the motherboard. I cannot imagine the pc repairer forgetting to add thermal compound as that would be crazy.

Just make sure the heat-sink is connected good and tight to the CPU as the new thermal paste they put on it recently will still have a good liquid connection so will be ok. But if it ends up being the graphics card then a new one is in order to fix the problem, unless you have no problem taking the graphics card apart and adding new thermal pads on the memory chips and new thermal paste to the GPU.

Let us know how you get on anyway over the next while.

BloodBath

It's probably nothing too complex like that. You really shouldn't have to re-apply a graphics cooler ever especially on lower heat cards.

Make sure there is no dust clogging the cpu or graphics cooler. It's pretty common after a couple of years and can really increase temps.

I'd try and make sure there is no software issue either. Clean out the old graphics drivers with this and do a fresh graphics driver installation.

Install this to do that.

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/auto/autodetectutility.exe

Also try the RAM in a different slot or a different stick of RAM if you have one to rule that out.

rachaell

Ok so I switched the ram and put them in the other slots, turned it on and nothing is coming up on screen, all fans are on except one, the fans on cpu & GPU are spinning and it has 19 switching to 50 on the little led thing on the motherboard. Looking for the book off the motherboard to see what codes 19&50 mean but can't find it.. anyone know? Maybe I knocked something out of place..

rachaell

Got it back on, put one stick of ram in the first slot and seems to be back to normal. Can it run ok on just one stick?
Sorry about all the question's it's just driving me mad, don't think I'll touch it again myself, I taught it was a goner there 😯

Digital Solitude

Yeah it'll run fine, might be a bit slower if it's only 2gb though

Skerries

If it is working with one module steadily then the next step is to try another module and try different slots until you get the most stable outcome.

rachaell

I can't believe it but I think I'm after fixing the crashing problem by fluke. . My son has been playing his games since I put just one stick of ram in earlier and it hasn't crashed once 😆 that's the longest in months.
So it must be a problem with one of the ram ports on the motherboard.. I can't believe it was that simple!!
I'm still going to get it looked at tho. Thanks so much for all the help & sorry for all the annoying questions

Taylor365

Where are you based?

If it crashes again, i wouldn't mind taking a look to see if i can help.

rachaell

Taylor365 wrote: »

Where are you based?

If it crashes again, i wouldn't mind taking a look to see if i can help.

Yeah that would be great, I'm in dublin 8.
I'll let you know if it does.
Thanks

summergreen047

you can go to the PC shop to buy a new one.

rachaell

summergreen047 wrote: »

you can go to the PC shop to buy a new one.

Thanks for the input ☺

MagTuired

rachaell wrote: »

Thanks for the input ☺

...he made an account just to say that. Wow. :pac:

SterlingArcher

MagTuired wrote: »

...he made an account just to say that. Wow. :pac:

Haha got to be a troll. Whats update, pc still running?

rachaell

Hi guys, Sorry I know this thread is old but wanted to update you. It was still crashing after I changed the ram, it only lasted a day or so before it started again. Then my cousin came over and updated the bios and changed the fan temps, and it hasn't crashed once since then.
Thanks for the help, this forum is great ☺