Generic GPU/CPU Over heating

[mattlach]

...and perhaps in my case only using one of the two GPU cores in my video card.

You are not the first to mention this issue with multiple GPU's. I have yeat to hear anymore detail on this issue though.

• One
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This is what my tiles look like when I play on my laptop with integrated Core i5graphics. (I usually play on my desktop with a GTX470). On my laptop it looks like this because the graphics are slow, and the textures get applied to the tiles one by one, and slowly update. After the game has been running for a few minutes, this problem is gone.

I doubt your problem is that the GPU is slow, as the 4870 X2 is last generations by far fastest single card vidoe card. There does appear to be some issue with texturing going on though.

[Mythdracon]

How can I tell if I'm overheating? My computer is close to top-of-the-line, and has an NVIDIA 460 card....the computer/fans do make more noise after 1 hr or so of playing Civ V, but I can't tell if it's *overheating* per se....and how do I adjust the fans?

I'd need specific instructions/pictures, as my desktop computer is in Korean.

[everthen]

As my Ati HD2900XT get severely damaged, I am about to receive my new PC with an Intel i7 950 on it and a Geforce GTX480 1536Mb GDDR5.

I hope this game won't crash my new gpu, couse it's so expensive...
Anyway, I'll try to play in low res to avoid it. It's a pity, but until devs don't fix GPU stability and reliance on this game, I won't dare to play safely at max. graphics and res.

[Whity2XLC]

How can I tell if I'm overheating? My computer is close to top-of-the-line, and has an NVIDIA 460 card....the computer/fans do make more noise after 1 hr or so of playing Civ V, but I can't tell if it's *overheating* per se....and how do I adjust the fans?

I'd need specific instructions/pictures, as my desktop computer is in Korean.

Look here: http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/sho...&postcount=155

I have posted screens of temperature of graphics card.

To check try programs like HardwareMonitorPro, which is able to log temp while playing.
For ATI Users get ATITrayTools and enable the FPS-Overlay to check if Civ5 is raping your graphics card or not. For Nvidia Users I am not sure what to get, maybe Rivatuner has such overlay too - else google.

[Liberal]

For Nvidia Users I am not sure what to get, maybe Rivatuner has such overlay too - else google.

Speedfan works just fine. Please note that this post is in no way intended to troll or flame, thanks.

[moomooman]

@ Stergil

I have the same video card and have encountered all the problems you describe.

Very tired of buying released software that is still in development. I dont believe for a second that they werent aware of the problems before they released.

Guess this is another title I'll put to one side for a few months and see what the patches achieve.

[cheatrz]

Just posting since my computer shut down completely last night due to overheating, I'm also part of the 8800 GT camp. Was running in DX10/11 mode when it happened. Just played a round today in DX9 mode, every now and again I'd get a red checkerboard in place of a texture, and the game froze about 150 turns into the game. Computer is clean as a whistle, running inside of a pretty heavily air conditioned apartment (as in, never goes above 68), and have the latest nvidia drivers installed. This computer runs other games quite fine though (MOH beta, F1 2010, iRacing, Dragon Age, Battlefield BC2 to name a few). Specs:

HP Pavilion m9180
Intel Core 2 Quad q6600 2.4ghz
nVidia 8800 GT 512mb @ 1600x900 and 1024x768 (dual monitor)
4gb RAM
Windows 7 64-bit

Hope the info helps, and hope a solution is found soon

[Heliocon]

First off where the hell is 2k on this? Why not even a mention in the thread that they know it is here...
*edit - the thread is stickied, did not notice that before so atleast that is something.
And I was running at 1920,1280.

[mattlach]

First off where the hell is 2k on this? Why not even a mention in the thread that they know it is here...
*edit - the thread is stickied, did not notice that before so atleast that is something.
And I was running at 1920,1280.

That, and a 2k tech support guy started the tread

[nanowired]

I had a NVidia Geforce 8800 GS.. Now it's fried.
Tried the demo, worked fine for a few hours - next day I got a blue screen of death 20 sec into the game and now the card is fried

The machine should fullfill the requirements: 3.06 GHZ Intelduo proc. 4GB Ram and Windows 7 64-bit and ofcourse Geforce 8800 GS

I have no dxdialog since I was not aware of the problem before it toasted the card.

Ditto for me, My 8800 started locking up anytime I touched the game. My heat moniters didn't report anything odd, but after the 3rd time it happened it was clear the card was cooked.

Hmmmmm....

[skikaz]

My 9800gx2 has had no real temp problems, a bit higher in DX10-11 than DX9 but still under 65C with fan @ 75%. Like some others, in DX9 the game lasts about an hour before locking up, graphics had red checker board once in while but that did not lock it up. Reboot and could play again. For DX10-11, it can run 24hrs straight with no lockups. Graphics look like crap though! Has anyone had problems with the 9800gx2 in Civ V? FPS has stayed under 100 for me. Only 2G ram right now, some went bad awhile back.

Was looking at upgrading to the GTX460 in 3-6 weeks, not sure now....

EVGA 9800gx2
Q6700
EVGA 780i
2G Memory
750W PS

[mattlach]

My 9800gx2 has had no real temp problems, a bit higher in DX10-11 than DX9 but still under 65C with fan @ 75%. Like some others, in DX9 the game lasts about an hour before locking up, graphics had red checker board once in while but that did not lock it up. Reboot and could play again. For DX10-11, it can run 24hrs straight with no lockups. Graphics look like crap though! Has anyone had problems with the 9800gx2 in Civ V? FPS has stayed under 100 for me. Only 2G ram right now, some went bad awhile back.

Was looking at upgrading to the GTX460 in 3-6 weeks, not sure now....

EVGA 9800gx2
Q6700
EVGA 780i
2G Memory
750W PS

I think it would b einteresting to summarize the data in his chart and see which graphics cards are affected. Thus far it seems that - by far - the Geforce 8800 is leading the pack, both for heat related crashes, and for the few boards that have fried. (at least they only lost obsolete hardware)

I have seen no comlaints thus far from owners of Fermi based boards (GTX 4xx) complaining of overheating. The GTX 460 will be a huge improvement over your 9800GX2, as long as you are using Vista or Win7, and not XP. DX11 makes a world of difference in this game. (XP does not support DX11, or DX10 for that matter)

[blob4000]

Running Civ 5 full version, but this issue also occurred with the demo on Steam.

After only 10 minutes in game, my GPU fan has to kick in really heavily to cool the GPU. I reached temperatures above 100*F in under a half hour.

Nvidia GeForce Gtx 280 GTX, latest Nvidia driver.

Has 2k Games made any official statement about this issue?

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 10/8/2010, 11:13:08
       Machine name: PC
   Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100618-1621)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
       System Model: System Product Name
               BIOS: BIOS Date: 10/28/09 15:49:52 Ver: 08.00.15
          Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 955 Processor (4 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
             Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4096MB RAM
          Page File: 2999MB used, 5190MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
   User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
 System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
    DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
     DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
      Display Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 2: No problems found.        
          Input Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D:    0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw:  0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay:  0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow:  0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
          Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
       Manufacturer: NVIDIA
          Chip type: GeForce GTX 280
           DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
         Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_05E1&SUBSYS_055710DE&REV_A1
     Display Memory: 2797 MB
   Dedicated Memory: 1005 MB
      Shared Memory: 1791 MB
       Current Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
       Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
      Monitor Model: ASUS VH196
         Monitor Id: ACI19E5
        Native Mode: 1440 x 900(p) (59.887Hz)
        Output Type: DVI
        Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver File Version: 8.17.0012.5896 (English)
     Driver Version: 8.17.12.5896
        DDI Version: 10
       Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
  Driver Attributes: Final Retail
   Driver Date/Size: 7/9/2010 18:38:00, 12471400 bytes
        WHQL Logo'd: n/a
    WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
  Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-46A1-11CF-6664-5B251FC2C535}
          Vendor ID: 0x10DE
          Device ID: 0x05E1
          SubSys ID: 0x055710DE
        Revision ID: 0x00A1
 Driver Strong Name: oem43.inf:NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTamd64.6.1:Section003:8.17.12.5896:pci\ven_10de&dev_05e1
     Rank Of Driver: 00E62001
        Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeVC1_C ModeWMV9_C 
   Deinterlace Caps: {6CB69578-7617-4637-91E5-1C02DB810285}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive 
                     {F9F19DA5-3B09-4B2F-9D89-C64753E3EAAB}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY 
                     {5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY 
                     {335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch 
                     {6CB69578-7617-4637-91E5-1C02DB810285}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive 
                     {F9F19DA5-3B09-4B2F-9D89-C64753E3EAAB}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY 
                     {5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY 
                     {335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch 
                     {6CB69578-7617-4637-91E5-1C02DB810285}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive 
                     {F9F19DA5-3B09-4B2F-9D89-C64753E3EAAB}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY 
                     {5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY 
                     {335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: 

.............

The whole Dxdiag.txt, here.
http://pastebin.com/yTyRghXe

[sikboy1029]

No statement yet, but from reading the thread it seems to effect nVidia cards way more than ATI cards. So maybe they're working on a fix with the card companies?

[mattlach]

No statement yet, but from reading the thread it seems to effect nVidia cards way more than ATI cards. So maybe they're working on a fix with the card companies?

Some charts and graphs







(too bad we are not allowed to insert images on this forum)

Some notes.

I read through this thread and the previous thread in its entirety. I did not record instances of high temps alone, only instances when the high temps caused problems. Crashing/instabilities went into the overheating bucket. Fried cards went into the fried bucket. I also noted the model of card and whether or not it was a dual GPU (SLI or CX).

Interesting to note is that the Nvidia G92 based boards (Geforce 8000 series, 9000 series and some 200 series) are an overwhelming majority of troubles here.

We should also note that Nvidia had a huge problem a while back with G92 based chips failing due to insufficient tests of the effects of thermal cycles.

I am still overwhelmingly convinced that the failures are solely the fault of hardware problems. (whether they be design failures or cooling failures) The increased load that Civ 5 introduced may have triggered the failure on an already failing board, but it can not be blamed for the failures, as it is insane to think that you can have a poorly functioning video card that cant take a full load.

Now, introducing a frame rate cap may help a little it, as it gives the boards a little break when not displaying complex rendered content, but this will be minor, as most of the game is made up of rendered scenes.

At least those who have lost video cards due to this can console themselves that a replacement 8800GT can be had used on eBay for $10-15, with a little patience.

Either that, or take this as an opportunity to upgrade an obsolete 3 year old video card.

[mattlach]

Also worth noting.

There were 37 total noted cases of overheating or frying on this forum.

Out of the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of sales of Civlization V at this point, this seems like a very very very small proportion of all people.... ...even to the point where it is no greater than noise...

I can do the exact numbers, if I can find real total sales figures for Civ 5, but the data I could find was that there wee 200,000 sales by the end o launch day, and th egame keeps topping the weekly Steam Sales chart

So in summary, while losing a board certainly is painful, and I sympathize, the following should be kept in mind...

• It is caused by faulty or improperly cooled hardware. Civ 5 only acts as a trigger to already failing hardware.
• The majority of the boards that are failing are older, and thus cheaply replaced (especially if used on eBay)
• The problem only appears to impact a tiny proportion (parts per million) of all people playing Civ 5

[blob4000]

There were 37 total noted cases of overheating or frying on this forum.

Out of the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of sales of Civlization V at this point, this seems like a very very very small proportion of all people.... ...even to the point where it is no greater than noise...

Yes, but how many people with fried video cards would be on the 2k Games forums this soon, or at all?

If I was a casual PC user, let alone casual gamer, I wouldn't know to come to this forum and make a post about Civ 5 frying my gpu. I wouldn't make the connection between the game and the card failing. I'd be waiting in line at my computer store, thinking it was just a hardware problem, or calling my nephew to come take a look at it.

edit:
Given the wide range of cards that this game seems to cause this problem with, I'm shocked that it got through testing without this being noticed.

[mattlach]

Yes, but how many people with fried video cards would be on the 2k Games forums this soon, or at all?

Google civilization v fried and it takes you right here. Where else but the official game support forums would you go? Yes, not all people with problems are going to report them here, but if it really was a huge problem, this forum would have been overrun with posts on the subject.

Given the wide range of cards that this game seems to cause this problem with, I'm shocked that it got through testing without this being noticed.

Probably because in their testing they bought new boards for their test machines.

Thermal cycling issues usually don't show up until after years of hot and cold cycles.

They probably experienced high temps and loud fans and determined it to be normal for a game with an intensive high polygon dx11 rendered environment.

[Iggloo]

As a final update of sorts, I wanted to say that I purchased a GTX 460 card to replace my fried 8800 GT and the game now runs great--well, aside from the 21 mb savegame files that take forever to load and totally dumb AI that tries naval crossings with tons of infantry units only to get slaughtered by a few ships, etc.

Moral of the story: don't believe the specs on the box. You need a powerful GPU to run this game at the moment if you want to be safe. It says 9800 GT is the recommended card, but until this gets optimized you would be nuts to run this game on a 9800 GT (or its sister, the equally powerful 8800GT) if you value your hardware.

[Liberal]

As a final update of sorts, I wanted to say that I purchased a GTX 460 card to replace my fried 8800 GT and the game now runs great...

I have one on order. Be sure to check your power supply. A minimum of 450 watts is recommended to run the 460 GTX (a Fermi card) with fairly standard equipment: a couple of hard drives, a DVD-RW, a processor of course, and a floppy drive. (An extra cage fan wouldn't hurt.) Please understand that this post is not intended to troll or flame, thanks.

[mattlach]

I have one on order. Be sure to check your power supply. A minimum of 450 watts is recommended to run the 460 GTX (a Fermi card) with fairly standard equipment: a couple of hard drives, a DVD-RW, a processor of course, and a floppy drive. (An extra cage fan wouldn't hurt.) Please understand that this post is not intended to troll or flame, thanks.

More than just raw wattage, please look at how many amps the power supply has available on each 12v rail, and use and dedicate a 12v rail that supplies at least the minimum amount of amps the card needs to it.

The GTX460 actually isn't that bad. heat wise. It uses the GF104 chip which produces a lot less heat than the GF100. TDP is farily reasonable at 150W for the 768MB version and 160W for the 1GB version.

The GTX470 and GTX480 (and to a lesser extent, the GTX465, which I would not recommnd getting, as it is hotter and more expensive than a GTX460, and performs worse) are all based on the GF100 chip which is the real heat and power monster.

[Iggloo]

I have a 750 watt power source, since this is an SLI setup that I initially had, and it is more than enough to run this single card. This card is actually pretty energy efficient, more so than some other recent Nvidia products.

[bigcat1969]

What I can't figure out is why my cpu0 is running 100% all the time with this game on even on the game menu with the game tabbed down to the bottom windows bar. The other 3 cpus show normal use cycles, but cpu0 is just full on all the time as the temp climbs on it. What would a game be doing that uses 100% of a cpu when it is on the game menu?

[Whity2XLC]

Out of the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of sales of Civlization V at this point, this seems like a very very very small proportion of all people.... ...even to the point where it is no greater than noise...

Hm... I doubt all of those people have a registered forum account to take part on the discussions...

[Liberal]

More than just raw wattage, please look at how many amps the power supply has available on each 12v rail, and use and dedicate a 12v rail that supplies at least the minimum amount of amps the card needs to it.

The GTX460 actually isn't that bad. heat wise. It uses the GF104 chip which produces a lot less heat than the GF100. TDP is farily reasonable at 150W for the 768MB version and 160W for the 1GB version.

The GTX470 and GTX480 (and to a lesser extent, the GTX465, which I would not recommnd getting, as it is hotter and more expensive than a GTX460, and performs worse) are all based on the GF100 chip which is the real heat and power monster.

Good points, mattlach. Thanks.

Please understand that this post is not intended to troll or to flame.

[mattlach]

What I can't figure out is why my cpu0 is running 100% all the time with this game on even on the game menu with the game tabbed down to the bottom windows bar. The other 3 cpus show normal use cycles, but cpu0 is just full on all the time as the temp climbs on it. What would a game be doing that uses 100% of a cpu when it is on the game menu?

This one I haven't heard yet.

I recommend starting a new thread for this issue.

[zartcore]

260m GTX
Overheating resulting in crash/freeze and in rare cases Blue Screen of Death

same here, after playing for 20min my game crashed to desktop und killed my graphic card (Nvidia 8800GTX, latest nvidia drivers (258.96)) .

thank u 2kgames for killing my graphic card !!!

[Dandolo]

As a final update of sorts, I wanted to say that I purchased a GTX 460 card to replace my fried 8800 GT and the game now runs great....

Me too. My fried 8800GT is now sitting in a corner... a testament to the fact that a commercial game really can harm your hardware. My new GTX460 (and the new Corsair 650W PSU I installed to feed it) works like a dream. It still works too hard for a strategy game, but it never heats above 75C and the fan never runs above 50%. I didn't want to upgrade my card and PSU, but now that I have I'm content.

[nanowired]

Me too. My fried 8800GT is now sitting in a corner... a testament to the fact that a commercial game really can harm your hardware. My new GTX460 (and the new Corsair 650W PSU I installed to feed it) works like a dream. It still works too hard for a strategy game, but it never heats above 75C and the fan never runs above 50%. I didn't want to upgrade my card and PSU, but now that I have I'm content.

I needed to get work done that night so I picked up a ghetto Gforce 250 That, when I compared it to my original card, has mostly the same tech details, just with a shader.

[MeanMug570]

I just signed up for the forums to say the same thing everyone else has been saying. Very disappointed I wasted 50 bucks to be able to play a game for about 10 minutes at a time while my computer burns itself out from the inside.

There should be some sort of refund available through 2kgames, because not only is this game 100% unplayable with the required hardware, but it is also damaging to my entire machine.

I just don't understand how a game that looked like it could have been a game of the year candidate would just fail so absolutely hard, and do seemingly nothing to fix a huge bug... You know you have a problem on your hands when the Support forum has 11,000 more posts than any other forum section of a game...

Very disappointed, I don't see myself paying for any other 2kgames PC releases again.

[twickstr]

Playing in Directx11 or 9, the opening movie flickers real bad. But when I get in game it seems to run fine. I read thru the posts. It seems like some of you have cards that may be a little older.

While playing Champions Online (another game hard on vid cards).. I was getting black screened (vid card overheat and shutdown).. I pulled out my Nvidia GTX-295 and cleaned it out... Now runs great (and very cool).
So you might try and take the card out and have it cleaned.

I have no idea tho on the flicker of the opening movie. Sometimes getting some black blockyness.. Would that be because of the game not supporting sli?
(cause the GTX-295 is really 2 cards)...

Just wondering.

[mattlach]

I have no idea tho on the flicker of the opening movie. Sometimes getting some black blockyness.. Would that be because of the game not supporting sli?
(cause the GTX-295 is really 2 cards)...

Just wondering.

It could have something to do with this. Titles without SLI support can behave unpredictably in SLI setups.

Keep in mind that it's not the game per se that does not support SLI. SLI support has to be added by Nvidia to their drivers for each title (an odd way to do things)

Nvidia may still add Civ 5 as an SLI title in their drivers. It just hasn't happened yet.

[mattlach]

Keep in mind that it's not the game per se that does not support SLI. SLI support has to be added by Nvidia to their drivers for each title (an odd way to do things)

Nvidia may still add Civ 5 as an SLI title in their drivers. It just hasn't happened yet.

As an added note, you can add an SLI profile manually until Nvidia does so.

See this link:
http://www.slizone.com/page/slizone_appprofile.html

[starrywisdom]

I sent out multiple PM's and had this thread created specifically for this - since the games day 1 release in the US. I am absolutely digusted we haven't been updated yet as I STILL can't play the game I spent 60USD on. It's outrageous -_-

[Delyn]

Thought I would post this in case it helped someone else with an older system/GPU that was overheating.

I have an older system with an older video card. Ran the demo and realized that yes... my GPU was getting too hot. Used HWMonitor to track my temps.

Decided to upgrade 1) my video card and 2) my power supply.

Purchased full game on Steam and am running in 1680x1050 on my Samsung 22" monitor. Game looks great, is running very smooth and card temperature has not gone over 64C.

I actually am able to use my second monitor for other tasks as well (like watching these boards )

My ORIGINAL specs were as follows:

Opteron 180 2.4Ghz
2MB Ram
450w power supply
EVGA GeForce 8600GTS/256Mb/128-bit/GDDR3/PCI EXPRESS
Win XP sp3

NEW specs are:

same processor
same RAM
750 watt power supply
HIS Radeon HD 4850/1GB/256-bit/GDDR3/PCI EXPRESS
Win XP SP3

Did not upgrade my RAM to recommended specs because I'm still running XP. So far, RAM has not been an issue.


I really believe a big reason that the Radeon HD 4850/1GB card is working so well is because of the AWESOME fan HIS put on the card. It's a very good fan and very quiet.

Hope this can help someone.

[GangusKahn]

Thought I would post this in case it helped someone else with an older system/GPU that was overheating.

I have an older system with an older video card. Ran the demo and realized that yes... my GPU was getting too hot. Used HWMonitor to track my temps.

Decided to upgrade 1) my video card and 2) my power supply.

Purchased full game on Steam and am running in 1680x1050 on my Samsung 22" monitor. Game looks great, is running very smooth and card temperature has not gone over 64C.

I actually am able to use my second monitor for other tasks as well (like watching these boards )

My ORIGINAL specs were as follows:

Opteron 180 2.4Ghz
2MB Ram
450w power supply
EVGA GeForce 8600GTS/256Mb/128-bit/GDDR3/PCI EXPRESS
Win XP sp3

NEW specs are:

same processor
same RAM
750 watt power supply
HIS Radeon HD 4850/1GB/256-bit/GDDR3/PCI EXPRESS
Win XP SP3

Did not upgrade my RAM to recommended specs because I'm still running XP. So far, RAM has not been an issue.


I really believe a big reason that the Radeon HD 4850/1GB card is working so well is because of the AWESOME fan HIS put on the card. It's a very good fan and very quiet.

Hope this can help someone.

DX9 doesnt seem to have a problem. DX10/11 seems to be the issue with overheating.

[player1 fanatic]

One thing to watch out is frame rate in menus.

This game does not cap frame rate on its own, so if you have fast GPU and Vsynch off, when in 2D mode (main menu strategic view), you could experience ridiculously high frame rate (several hundreds or more).

Many cards are just not designed well to run with such high load in 2D mode, which could lead to overheating. In many cases card's cooling is more focused on parts that relate to 3D processing.


I have no issues with overheating (using Gainward 4850GS), but if Vsych is off, my graphics cards memory temperature goes up to 72C while in main menu, while in normal 3D gameplay is never gets over 68C. In main menu, frame rate gets around 500fps.

In my particular case, there was no noticeable difference between strategic and 3d mode in temperature, but then maybe that's because strategic mode had "only" 250fps. Still, if Vsych is added frame rate drops to around 55C in strategic mode (while staying higher in 3d mode, of course).

P.S.
Another interesting thing to point out is that with tessellation reduced to low (with Vsynch on), my max video memory temperature dropped to around 62C in 3d mode. So I guess that tessellation feature used by game can stress GPU a lot.

[Fahrbot]

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 10/12/2010, 19:19:58
       Machine name: ORTHRUS
   Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100618-1621)
           Language: Swedish (Regional Setting: Swedish)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
       System Model: System Product Name
               BIOS: BIOS Date: 08/13/10 16:23:55 Ver: 21.04
          Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 955 Processor (4 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
             Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3326MB RAM
          Page File: 1483MB used, 5167MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
   User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
 System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
    DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
     DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 64bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
      Display Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 3: No problems found.

Full DxDiag here.

Also left HWinfo32 logging in the background, here's the latest sensor poll before crash.

ITE IT8712F	CPU	51.0 °C
ITE IT8712F	Motherboard	36.0 °C
ITE IT8712F	CPU	2008 RPM


ATI On-die @ GPU[#0] ATI RADEON HD 4850 (RV770 PRO)    GPU Thermal Diode    60.0 °C
ATI On-die @ GPU[#0] ATI RADEON HD 4850 (RV770 PRO)    GPU TS0 (DispIO)    61.5 °C
ATI On-die @ GPU[#0] ATI RADEON HD 4850 (RV770 PRO)    GPU TS1 (MemIO)    74.0 °C
ATI On-die @ GPU[#0] ATI RADEON HD 4850 (RV770 PRO)    GPU TS2 (Shader)    70.0 °C
ATI On-die @ GPU[#0] ATI RADEON HD 4850 (RV770 PRO)    GPU Fan Speed    64.000 %
ATI On-die @ GPU[#0] ATI RADEON HD 4850 (RV770 PRO)    GPU Utilization    72.111 %

[mattlach]

Also left HWinfo32 logging in the background, here's the latest sensor poll before crash.

ITE IT8712F	CPU	51.0 °C
ITE IT8712F	Motherboard	36.0 °C
ITE IT8712F	CPU	2008 RPM


ATI On-die @ GPU[#0] ATI RADEON HD 4850 (RV770 PRO)    GPU Thermal Diode    60.0 °C
ATI On-die @ GPU[#0] ATI RADEON HD 4850 (RV770 PRO)    GPU TS0 (DispIO)    61.5 °C
ATI On-die @ GPU[#0] ATI RADEON HD 4850 (RV770 PRO)    GPU TS1 (MemIO)    74.0 °C
ATI On-die @ GPU[#0] ATI RADEON HD 4850 (RV770 PRO)    GPU TS2 (Shader)    70.0 °C
ATI On-die @ GPU[#0] ATI RADEON HD 4850 (RV770 PRO)    GPU Fan Speed    64.000 %
ATI On-die @ GPU[#0] ATI RADEON HD 4850 (RV770 PRO)    GPU Utilization    72.111 %

I don't think your crash is temperature related. The 4850 can run very hot. Some sources say thermal throttling doesn't kick in until 120C.

There is very likely something else going on.

Just because I am curious, how many cities does your civ have in your current game? I ask because there is a known stability issue that occurs when the city count starts getting close to 70. Rumors and vague references are that Firaxis are already done with patching the 70 city bug, but it just hasn't made it's way through QA testing and Valve's Steam testing yet.

Since Valve is notoriously slow at this, I'd give it a couple of weeks.

[Fahrbot]

I don't think your crash is temperature related. The 4850 can run very hot. Some sources say thermal throttling doesn't kick in until 120C.

There is very likely something else going on.

Just because I am curious, how many cities does your civ have in your current game? I ask because there is a known stability issue that occurs when the city count starts getting close to 70. Rumors and vague references are that Firaxis are already done with patching the 70 city bug, but it just hasn't made it's way through QA testing and Valve's Steam testing yet.

Since Valve is notoriously slow at this, I'd give it a couple of weeks.

Yeah, temperature seems fine to me too.

I actually started a new game, so I had only three cities (small Pangea map) and was about 80 turns in the game.
The really weird part is that when I got this game it worked perfect, until I in one game hit turn 370 and had loads of cities. Ever since that crash the game has been unplayable even if i start a new game, wonder if it helps to delete that specific save.