Random crashes after upgrade to i7-870

[z0ttel]

Hi,

yesterday I've replaced my i3-540 CPU with an i7-870. After that, the game randomly suffers from 'crashes': the screen goes black but the game continues to run in the background. When hitting the Escape-key, the in-game menu is displayed, but if I go back to the game, the screen gets black again.
This occurs mainly when re-playing the Black Death track, what I've also seen is that loading the textures and displaying the environment at the beginning of the track now takes a lot of time.

With the i3-540 assembled, the game ran rock-stable without any crashes and also the texture loading times were much shorter.

Today I re-installed the whole OS and all the needed drivers; before doing this, I've deactivated the Hyperthreading functionality because I've read somewhere that this may cause problems if the program is not optimized in that way. Unfortunately, the described problems remain. :(

Game version is the latest Steam version. Before re-installing the OS, I've used the latest BETA patch which showed the same behaviour


Any ideas on that?

[TonyD]

I assume you upgraded your psu too? Or you have a sufficient one? Do any other games suffer? 'Bout a thousand questions that could be asked here, thought I'd start ...

[z0ttel]

I didn't upgrade the PSU because I assumed (and the PSU-calculator of the manufacturer said the same ;) ) it would be sufficient: it delivers up to 20A on the CPU's 12V-rail and up to 25A on both of the rails for the GC. Max. output power is 550W, it's this one: http://www.be-quiet.net/be-quiet.net/index.php?StoryID=17&ProductID=226&websiteLang=en

Currently I don't have any other game which is up to date...


I've plugged in my old GTX260 and it ran fine without any crashes. As I've seen the GTX260 consumes about 30-40W less than the GTX560 - maybe that's the reason?

[Rattlehead]

The PSU is a good place to start looking...especially if it's a few years old.

[z0ttel]

The PSU is only half a year old, so at least its internal design should be up to date :)

I've bought the PSU because of its specs on the 12V rails, there it is able to deliver up to 90A (20A/20A/25A/25A). Now I've seen that the combined max power on the 12V rail is limited to 45A (540W), that could be the cause for the problem.

[z0ttel]

Hmm, let's do some math: assuming the CPU needs about 120W in worst case scenario and the GPU needs 210W, also in WC, then we have 330W at all, there would be still 210W 'left' for the rest of the system.

Considering that not all of that power is drawn from the 12V line, the real consumed power on the 12V line will be lower. So I don't understand the argumentation that a more powerful PSU should help?

[PzMeyer]

I run my I5 750 and a gtx560 with a be quiet straight power 450w of the old e5 series.

dont trust them that you need a always a 800 w psu. thats bullshit.
i work for a huge hardware seller and i know that even gtx570 run well with a good brand mark psu with about 550 or 600w. its all about effeciency.

However, it could be that your psu is damaged. you still have warranty. the dark power series is able to run even two midclass cards in SLI without problem. its all about combined ampere in rail and not the max power output.