Hi, I recently bought a new motherboard and graphics card, and since then my pc is freezing during gaming sessions (typically after 1-2 hours). My system specs: Athlon XP 3000+ Asus K8N4-E deluxe Geforce 6600 256 MB PCI-E 1 GB Kingston RAM 400W PSU Problem description: After about 2 hours of gaming, the pc freezes. Mouse/keyboard stops responding, sound loops, and the only option is to reboot. No blue screen. This only happens when I am playing games (fx World of Warcraft, Need for Speed, Galactic Civ II). Temperatures are the following (when gaming): CPU: ~35 C System: ~48 C GPU: ~70 C This is what I have done so far to solve the problem: - I checked for updated graphics and motherboard drivers (I did a clean WIN install after replacing the motherboard, and downloaded the newest drivers from nVIDIA). - I took of the cover and placed a new chassis fan next to the graphics card. This didn't help so I'm thinking it is not a heat issue (not sure)...? - Put in a new (Asus approved model) Kingston RAM block. Memtest86 reports no RAM errors. - Tested the CPU with Prime95 (stresstest) for 8 hours straight. During this time the pc did not freeze at all. Then I loaded up Need for Speed, and within 1 hour it froze... - I even tried to put in another motherboard (same model and manufacturer), but the problem didn't go away. So now I can only imagine the problem being a faulty graphics card. Or perhabs it is a cooling problem after all. I am lost for ideas, can somebody help me?

http://files.filefront.com/CPU_Burn_in_v101/;3965582;;/fileinfo.html

Hi, I think your prognosis may be correct. Since your CPU is running at 35C, and the system is hotter (which is not typical), the system heat has to be coming from another source whether its the GPU on the graphics card or the northbridge chip on the motherboard. Game for about the breaking point and find out where the highest heat is generating and that is most likely the culprit. Tony AMD Athlonxp 3200+ OC Asus A7N8x-deluxe-E ATI AIW 9600pro 2x WD SATA raptors/raid0 Corsair XMS3200 16x Lite-on DVD 12x DVD-R 48x Lite-on CDRW Aspire Super Alien Case

"Temperatures are the following (when gaming): CPU: ~35 C System: ~48 C GPU: ~70 C" How are you getting these numbers? My guess is the System & CPU temps are reversed. Check your BIOS.

"- I even tried to put in another motherboard (same model and manufacturer), but the problem didn't go away.....Odd 0. Can you give more details on your PSU ? 1. What thermal material is in HSF ? 2. Are you overclocking your video card ? 3. Did you update your BIOS ? 4. Was the motherboard chipset installed ? 5. Do you have the latest driver for the card ? When Google isn't your best pal

Thanks for the replies! Well, the temperatures are from Speedfan, and the BIOS shows the same temps. I have tried to open the cover and put a big table fan next to the pc, blowing onto the graphics card and the motherboard. The temperatures dropped a bit, but the freezes still happen with the same frequency as before. @Sabertooth: 0. PSU is 400W v.2. What other info is relevant for you? 1. Its a standard CPU heatsink for Athlon. Dont know about thermal material...? 2. No, not overclocking. 3. I didn't upgrade my BIOS. You think that could be it??? 4. Motherboard chipset is installed from Nvidia website (nForce4) 5. Yes I have the latest drivers, also from Nvidias website (84.xx) By the way, when I play Oblivion the pc hangs much sooner than in WoW (after like 20-30 minutes).

To anyone who might be interested or are experiencing the same problems: I replaced my graphics card, and it solved my problems. Either the card itself was faulty or else the specific motherboard / gfx card combination was to blame (I'm seeing a lot af GF6600GT owners with similar problems).