CTDs with Radeon 9800 Pro

[stryker115]

I've built a new computer with:

ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe mobo, BIOS 1008
Barton 2500+ @ 3200+ (11x200)
512 MB PC3200 Kingston RAM
Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro
Windows XP Pro w/ all Critical Updates

Anytime I play a game, after a couple minutes I'm thrown to the desktop, and the game crashes. There are no error messages, it's like I exited the game normally. My processor is overclocked, but my temps are fine, and the temp inside the case is pretty low. The Radeon is running at stock speeds. I can run 3dMark03 as long as I want, and get pretty good scores.

Is there a program that can check the graphics card's temperature, or that I can use to try lowering its speed to see what the issue is? I have the newest nForce drivers, and the 4.2 Catalyst drivers. Disabling sound doesn't seem to help at all, and I've already tried disabling fast write and changing the aperture size.

[malcore]

Have you locked the PCI/AGP buses at 33/66 in the BIOS or are they still on auto? Lock them if overclocking from 166(333) to 200(400).

What is your Vcore voltage set to in BIOS? Ram timings?

Try disabling VPU Recover in the ATI Control Panel.

If neither helps, try backing down your overclock a few notches until it stops crashing in games.

[stryker115]

Yes, AGP is locked in the BIOS. I have no PCI cards.

Vcore is at 1.7, RAM is on very loose timings at 2.8V, I don't remember the exact timing numbers right now.

I will try disabling VPU Recover. Do I really need to bring down the overclock? Running the CPU stock didn't alleviate the issue, although I forgot to mention that in my original post.

[saphalline]

What games are you playing? My guess would be game patches. If 3DMark runs continuously with no problems and overclocking makes no difference, your games are to blame!

[ski]

Also, remove and reseat the video card making sure it's fully seated(sometimes it needs a good push to fully seat, and it may also raise slightly out of its slot when the hold down screw is fully tightened), and that its fan is running.

If those are ok or do not help, then remove the computer's cover and run an external fan.
If that works, then make sure that no cables are obstructing the airflow around the video card.

Also, what are the temperatures that you see, and what is your power supply's watt capacity?

[gwallen4]

If you are running dual channel, try single channel for your memory settings. That worked here:

http://www.resellerratings.com/forum/t76367.html

Another possibility is to change the compatability mode to Win98:

http://forums.bfnation.net/viewtopic.php?t=4078

Also your Kingston memory may be incompatible with the MB. Try a stick of a different brand.

http://forums.amdmb.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=257060&highlight=crash+to+desktop

[Paleo Pete]

Check your desktop settings and see if the card is set to dual monitor mode. Cards capable of dual monitors don't have to have a second monitor actually connected, I use mine with one daily since I don't have desktop space for the second one. But OpenGL refuses to run games in dual monitor mode. When I did have dual monitors, I had to switch back to single monitor mode to play games. Nothing would even load, just the initial splash screen then it would blink off with no error messages.
Set the AGP Aperture in BIOS at 64MB, try it at 128 if you want to, it won't make a noticable performance difference, but 64 is probably plenty. Check BIOS for other AGP related settings, some motherboards have several settings. Initial Display should be AGP, check the AGP 2x/4x/8x setting, match it to the capability of your video card. You might drop it to 2x just for troubleshooting purposes, I think that card should handle 8X but I'm not positive.