Problems with my new GTX260

Hello, First-time poster "Shook" here. Got a tough one for ya, well it is for me anyway. Just built this PC about 3 weeks ago. Did a fresh install of Win7 Ultimate 64bit. I play games like Left4Dead 1 and 2, Call of Duty MW2, Counter-Strike:Source, Team Fortress 2, Need for Speed:Shift, Battlefield 2, and a few older ones.

Heres the problem, when playing any of the above mentioned games, I will get some missing textures, what looks like tears in the screen or graphics, and sudden game freezes. The only way I can get out of the game freeze is to Ctrl+Alt+Del to the desktop, but the wierd thing is, after I do that, I can go back into the game and start playing. Usually the game will freeze again very shortly, however.

Here is a short video of the video problems in CoD:MW2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt1sojaDM78

Another that I get is the good ole "Display driver has stopped responding and has recovered". This happens sometimes while gaming and sometimes not.

I have got a BSOD twice now, while gaming. The game would freeze, I would go to the desktop, then back to the game, then it would freeze to a black screen. My monitor then would act like it had no input. After waiting for it to respond BSOD! Don't think that I can reproduce it though.

Okay now I've been on the phone with BFG Tech Support a few times and here is what they suggest....

Update Chipset Drivers-Downloaded newest version from Gigabyte website.

Update BIOS-Now this is tricky.... I have the "F1 Version" of BIOS on my board. The "F3 Version" is available.... But I try to download and install it, and it tells me it only works on 32bit systems....

Try using another PCI slot-Tried the card in both PCI-e slots on my MOBO, no difference

Try original drivers-I have used the drivers off of the CD that came with the card, as well as the 191.07 drivers(currently) and the beta 195.39 drivers. None make a difference.

Is heat an issue-The card has never gotten above 73 degrees Cel and they said thats fine

Enough power?-630W psu and can't remember the 12V rail powers, but he said they were more than enough

The card is a BFGEGTX260MC896OCDE bought from Newegg

I'm at a loss... Any help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED! I don't want to RMA this card, but if that's the problem, I'd be happy just to have it fixed!

Edit: Check my System Specs for more info

Check to make sure the heatsink is firmly attached to the card.... those are not driver problems thats hardware, over heating memory clocked to high...

ba5ik said:

Check to make sure the heatsink is firmly attached to the card.... those are not driver problems thats hardware, over heating memory clocked to high...

Click to expand...

I'll check the heatsink but that card is pretty well "covered" with plastic.

Ken, I have the latest drivers.....

Also, I just got a BSOD while gaming and it pointed to nvlddmkm

Shook, I have the same board. Did you check all your power connections and are both 12v cables firmly connected?
Ken

I can't stop watching your video... I have never seen artifacting that bad with no crashing.

Yea both power cables are firmly connected. You running a nVidia card on that board Ken?

ba5ik. For some reason using FRAPS actually helps out the "artifacting". So its actually worse than it looks. It would start doing it real bad, I would start recording and it got alot better... As soon as I stopped recording, it got so much worse

hmmm. usually what you are seeing is a result of hardware issues not driver, but have you tried rolling back drivers ?

yea started with the original drivers from the disk, then the 191.07 WHQL drivers from nvidia, then the 195.39 beta drivers.. all did the same so I am currently on the 191.07

I just searched the web for this error and it seems to be everywhere, with no real solution that i could find. I do know this. I have the Evga GTX 260 superclocked version from Newegg. I only purchased it after I read that Evga, after reading all the reviews, and DOA cards or ones that failed within a week of purchase went into Newegg and removed every single card and replaced them with and I quote"100% quality tested cards". I'm not trying to be an alarmist but it could be the card. But with that being said after surfing the net for the error file listed it doesn't seem limited to just that card but a bunch of different cards. With no real fix evident.

thefabe said:

I just searched the web for this error and it seems to be everywhere, with no real solution that i could find. I do know this. I have the Evga GTX 260 superclocked version from Newegg. I only purchased it after I read that Evga, after reading all the reviews, and DOA cards or ones that failed within a week of purchase went into Newegg and removed every single card and replaced them with and I quote"100% quality tested cards". I'm not trying to be an alarmist but it could be the card. But with that being said after surfing the net for the error file listed it doesn't seem limited to just that card but a bunch of different cards. With no real fix evident.

Click to expand...

Yea fabe, I also found all the people with similar or the same problem and no fix. Many forums pointed towards your guys (sevenforums) so I thought I would give it a go. My last resort is RMAing and/or Trading up for a better BFG card

Watching that video with the artifacts suggests the card may be failing, especially when you mention the display stopped responding issue. Now the "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered" error is an issue in and of itself, but again, looking at your supplied video, it looks like a bad or over heating video card, which will also give you that error.

Are you in a position to swap video cards? If so, do that and see what happens.

Let us know

I saw on the egg that their were only 5 reviews with 1 that died within a week. One good thing is with BFG I've never had any problems with them and RMA's as a matter of fact once they didn't have any of my cards in stock so they upgraded me. Like I have written before when if comes to graphics cards I only buy from XFX,Evga and BFG. Cause warranty and customer service with graphic cards is very important to me. Since they have a higher rate of failures or problems than other hardware, or it seems. Fabe

Yes I am in a position to RMA the card through BFG. However I don't want to do it unless I know that is the problem(since I would be without a vid card for maybe 2 weeks) given I do have ATI onboard vid card.....

I can't remember but does BFG cross ship? At least you can still use your onboard in the mean time.

You can call or e-mail BFG and see if they can send you a card before shipping your old one back to them, but I believe that will require a credit card payment first, then when you ship them your old one they reimburse your charges back to you credit card.

That might be a hassle but...

Try running with a room fan blowing on the open case. It could be a heat issue. This way, you'll know either way from testing.

Also, visit the maker of your RAM's site to see the correct Vdimm (RAM voltage) and timings. Adjust motherboard accordingly.