SubJeff on 8/12/2012 at 13:23

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This is my current set-up:


* Gainward GeForce GTX 460 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express
* Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz
* Asus P7P55D Evo Intel P55 Motherboard
* 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 12800C6 (1600MHz)


My Windows experience index is 7.0 determined by


* CPU - 7.1
* RAM - 7.4
* GFX - 7.5 (both categories)
* HD - 7.0. Its an OCZ Vertex 240GB SATA 2.5 SSD with 49GB free.


And I'm running Windows 8.

I have a dual monitor setup - 27" Samsung T27A300s running at 1920x1080 most of the time (1650x for CoH).


The problem I'm encountering is sometimes it slows a little and it frequently crashes to desktop in certain games, but in those only. Company of Heroes (which I can't run at full res without it becoming a mess) and Planetside have about a 45 min lifespan before crashing to desktop. I've checked the installs in Steam and there are no issues.

So I was thinking it's either the gfx card or the CPU. Or an issue with the HD.

I'm tempted to get a new gfx card, CPU and primary HD but I don't know whether to go at this in bits. I'm sort of tempted to get a new HD for a new install and set-up altogether actually but I'm not sure.

That gfx card is solid, no? And the CPU should last me a while shouldn't it?

What to do what to do?

bikerdude on 8/12/2012 at 19:42

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* This maybe a gfx driver issue, what driver version are you running..? and regarding the CTD after 45mins see below.
* This may indicate a failure in one of the memory modules - download and run (http://www.memtest.org/) memtest
* The GTX460 is not a bad card, but if you can trade in the 460 against a newer 6 series card then go for it.
* The CPU is more than capable CPU and in this instance its fast enough that ist waiting for the GFX card not the other way around.
* See 1-4 :-)



Yes, dust bunnies can cause overheating and the sort of issue you have been having, make sure to clean out any and all the dust, fibres and such from the CPU/GFX card cooler and the rest of the case.

voodoo47 on 8/12/2012 at 20:14

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usually you are supposed to make a bootable media of some sort (cd, flash drive or a diskette, if you still remember what that is), restart the pc, and boot from it. you should be presented with a simple screen that will allow you to run the test.

3d apps crashing (to desktop) usually mean gpu overheating or driver issue - I would check the gpu temperature just after the crash. if that' not it, swapping the graphics card and seeing whether things improved or not would be good (there is a good chance that either you, or some of your geekier friends will have a spare junk card laying around, try borrowing it. or, if you have another pc in your household, borrow it from there. does not matter how crappy it is, it's just for the sake of the test anyway).

SubJeff on 8/12/2012 at 20:30

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Okay.

I got Free ISO burner, burnt the iso to dvd but my machine ignores it an just boots to windows. It doesn't even spin up the DVD.

Wtf?

voodoo47 on 8/12/2012 at 21:04

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gf660 and hd7850. or hd7770 if you are on the cheaper side.