GTX 480 Woes

[GrahamP]

Since upgrading to Windows 7 x64 and the GTX 480 my system has not been stable and reliable.  The high frame rates provided by the GTX 480 with most FSX sliders maxed are a big improvement (although noticeably lower than what others are getting) but the problems and trying to find out what's wrong have prevented me from enjoying that.  I did try a virgin fsx.cfg but there's more to the problems than that.

One problem is what seems to be very slow FSX loading times compared to what I had on XP (which I haven't found a reason for yet).  The other is graphics problems.

I had thought being unable to run at 5040 x 1050 with the TH2GO was a driver issue.  Every time I tried to start a flight on the ramp at Darrington with that resolution, after just a few minutes doing pre-flight checks and scanning around with Track IR there would be several pauses of about 4 or 5 seconds each, then the cockpit, autogen, objects and weather would start flashing, then FSX would freeze with just the terrain textures showing and then FSX would crash.

The realisation that this may not be a driver issue came when I experienced the same thing starting a flight on the ramp at Darrington but this time with just one monitor.  The ambient temperature was 23 degrees C, a little higher than previously, which possibly explains why I didn't get the problem with one monitor until then.  Actually, I did already have another clue in that the drivers have been working OK for others at 5040 x 1050.

I was able to repeat this while monitoring temperatures and the GPU temperature was only 79 degrees C when FSX crashed, with the maximum CPU temperature only 71 degrees C, which got me wondering whether another part of the GTX 480 is getting overstressed.

I've been reading that FSX loads the GPU memory more than it loads the GPU itself, especially on higher resolutions.  This ties in with the fact that the graphics problems happen more readily with the 5040 x 1050 resolution.

I then started a flight in the air with the TH2GO and with the FSX sliders turned down.  Lo and behold, no graphics corruption or crashing, which seems to confirm that it's not the drivers causing the problem. 

To cap all this, I've just run MSI Kombustor with one monitor and after a couple of minutes the GPU reached 98 degrees C and crashed.    That's without any overclocking of the 480.  Ambient is 23 degrees C.  I've got a good case with good airflow - Antec 1200 with 4 case fans on 100%, the 480 fan on 100%, all put together with care to make sure fans are running in the right direction and cables, etc. tucked away out of the airflow.

So it seems to me that FSX is loading the 480 sufficiently to cause something other than the GPU itself to fail (possibly the GPU memory?).  Also, the GPU is getting too hot anyway on the Kombustor test.

Any input on whether my deductions make sense or not would be welcomed.

With all the other positive reports on the GTX 480, it seems I've just been unlucky.  I'm thinking about e-mailing Scan to ask if I can return it and get a credit to use when the GTX 485 is released. 

Back to the GTX 285 for now and the next task is to look into the slow FSX loading times.

Graham

[Phil Manhart]

Sorry to hear that you are having so many problems with your rig and the GTX 480 Graham.

A few questions come to mind though:

- Did you do a full driver uninstall, driver sweep using Driver Sweeper, reboot the machine, and then install the newest WHQL Drivers?

- What is the airflow like from your 480's exhaust? In my own test using Kombuster I was only able to reach 93C with a 100 percent fan WITH it overclocked and overvolted...

- For the loading issue, have you done a very thorough defrag and made sure that your anti-virus and Windows Defender are either disabled, shutdown, or have your FSX directory exempted?

[Spirit Flyer_old]

Hi Graham,

I was just about to ask the same questions Phil just did. I tried Kombuster again today at full over-volted overclock, running it for almost 2 hours wide open with 98-99% GPU load. Temperatures did not exceed 90 degrees celcius. In addition it should run several degrees cooler now with the new high flow bracket. I don't know what to say. Perhaps there is something wrong with your copy and you should RMA it for a repair or a new one.

Stephen

[GrahamP]

Thanks very much for pointing me back to the fan, Phil and Stephen.  Checking again, I found it wasn't actually reaching 100%, even though it should have been according to the fan slope and the temperature.  An obvious thing to check really but having checked it at an earlier stage I assumed it was still reaching 100% without checking properly, so I'm somewhat embarrassing. 

It does seem the fan control software is a bit suspect though, which I had read about previously but I had thought that would be OK with Afterburner.  I'll keep a closer eye on that now and if that happens again I may run it at a constant speed.

Anyway, it now holds 91 degrees C on Kombustor with a 1.125v, 850, 1700, 1975 overclock and ambient 23 degrees C.  That's at 1680 x 1050.

At 5040 x 1050 it holds 97 degrees C for an hour on Kombustor with the same overclock (very close to crashing, which happens at 98 degrees C).

At 5040 x 1050 it holds 94 degrees C on Kombustor with the standard GTX 480 clocking.

Hopefully the new high airflow bracket may bring that down a bit.

FSX still doesn't work for me at 5040 x 1050 in full screen mode, though.  In this mode, the toe brakes and the shifted key functions give a black loading screen for about a second every time they are pressed.  Also, sitting on the ramp at Darrington in cockpit view in this mode and not doing anything, FSX crashes after 2 to 3 minutes.  When it crashes the GPU temperature is only 72 degrees C, roughly 50 to 60% GPU load and about 630MB of the GPU memory in use.  This is repeatable and also still happens with the new 258.69 drivers (Driver Sweeper used first).

Thankfully I have now found that runing FSX in window mode overcomes those problems (I don't know why I didn't think of this before but it suddenly occurred to me driving home from work today).  The down side is that in window mode there is about a 14% hit on the frame rate.  Not really a concern around places like Darrington but will be more noticeable in places where every frame counts (e.g. YBBN).  That aside, it's a big relief to finally get the GTX 480 working OK at 5040 x 1050 with the TH2GO.

I think I still have an issue with loading times and thanks for your suggestions on that, Phil.  I've had enough of troubleshooting for now though, so I'll come back to that separately. 

For now I'm just going to install 3W5 and WA56 and enjoy them.

Regards

Graham

[GrahamP]

Now it's crashed in window mode as well.  Temps OK and GPU load only 56%.  Also tearing in window mode, even with VSync forced on in fsx.cfg as well as in NVidia CP.  Tried  =1  instead of  =True  as well but still no good.  I though W7 and a GTX 480 with TH2GO would be FTX heaven but it's driving me nuts.

[Sniper31]

Graham,

You just MIGHT have a bad card on your hands. Maybe time to RMA it?

[GrahamP]

I think you may be right, Sniper.

It just crashed again in window mode taxing the A2A Cub down the track to the runway at Israel's Farm (temps still OK).  Restarted FSX, took off and looked down while I adjusted the trim and it crashed again.

I've tried to create a custom 3840 x 800 resolution but I haven't got anything to work.  I've just been on the Widecsreen Gaming Forum to ask if anybody can give me the correct numbers for a starting point to create that, so I'll see if I get any joy with that first.  If that doesn't work I may well give up and RMA it as you suggest.

Graham

[Spirit Flyer_old]

Graham,

You just MIGHT have a bad card on your hands. Maybe time to RMA it?

He is probably right Graham. Perhaps it is time to send it home to Mama and Papa...