Game crashes and beeping sounds with Geforce 6800?

hey everybody.ive just started to play pc games after being a mostly console gamer.so i though to start myself of i would get myself a nice graphics card. so i did a leadtek winfast a400 tdh.i then started to download some game demos to see what games were good.but all the demos i have played crash after about twenty minutes and then all i get is a loud beeping sound? i have one full game deus ex invisible war which runs perfectly.all the rest crash after some time.i simply dont know what to do.any suggestions? thanks

 

I'd almost certainly say its a PSU problem, you've got a system there that will draw a lot of power and you're only running a 320W PSU, what make is it> is it generic i would say get a better rated one, one with more amps on the 12v rail as your's only supplies 16....

 

hey thanks for your reply matt. the psu is a carillon one which came with the computer which is a purpose built audio pc.im not sure of the quality of the psu but the pc was definetly not budget. im getting conflicting views.i have had lots of people tell me it might be the psu but also alot of other people telling me it almost definetly isnt. I thought that maybe it would be an overheating problem as the crash only happens after several minutes of playing.and the fact that the card runs deus ex perfectly for a very long time.is there anyway way checking that the cause of the problem is my psu? its just that i dont want to buy a good quality psu only to find it makes no difference? thanks again

 

the only way to check without equipment is to try and read reviews on the internet, you can wait and see what others on here have to say as more views/opinions = better problem solving abilties....
but the cooling that came with the card should be good enough, you could try and download a program (not sure which one, others will say) to tell you the temps then post them on here, me, i still tink its an inadequate PSU...

 

o.k thanks.if anyone can suggest any temperature checking programs then please do.i shall try to eliminate this as a possiblilty so that we can get that out of the way.thanks

 

also just because its not a budget PC doesnt mean there'll be a good PSu in there, PSU's are overlooked but are an integral part of your computer.

 

good point matt555.
o.k i looked at the temperature of my graphics card whilst running a game (age of empires 3 demo).i forgot you could check it in the nvidia properties bar. the temperature goes as high as 90 i dont know if this is too hot or not? the threshold temperature (i presume this means the maximum safe temperature) is 135.does anyone know if 90 is too hot for the card or should i still investigate the psu?thanks

 

90 is extremely hot, look at a new cooler,
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Arctic_Cooling.html
there are some arctic cooling coolers, apparently very good and highly rated by the people who have them on this forum, i'd say it was cooling now with that temerature reading, but also i'd get a new PSU as well, that one just wont cut it and people on here will back me up i'm sure

 

The 16A on the 12V rail is a little bit on the low-end of things, and it is recommended that you do invest in something a little bit higher-end simply because the power supplies that come with cases tend to be crap.

While that 90*C isn't the worst you can get, it's still a precarious temp. Things you can do to remedy this are:
-Cable management. Make sure you don't have cabling going all over the place as that will block airflow.
-Dust bunnies. I don't know how long it's been since you've cleaned that sucker out, but I'd wager if you've had this system awhile and not taken some canned air to it, it'd be immensely helpful to get the dust out.
-Fan management. Make sure your fans keep the airflow going in one direction. Ideally, because heat rises, you want to suck in through the front and blow it all out the back.
If there's a place on your case door around the slots, it would be a good idea to have a fan sucking in air if one isn't already installed.

 

yup 100% agree with Big B there, you can serioulsy drop case temps (and sometimes component temps) by sorting out your case fan air flow and cables, if you can supply the fans/heatsinks with cooler air then your components will run slightly cooler as well,

 

o.k thanks guys.the p.c is only afew months old so im guessing there shouldnt be too much dust. there isn a great deal of cooling in my case anyways.i only have the zalman cpu cooler and the fan on my psu for cooling. do you guys know how to find out how much of the psu's power is being used up.because if i could tell it as all the psu's power that was being used then i would know for certain it was the psu right? i think i will geta new fan.it seens like the cheapest option at the moment.im a bit short on cash!thanks

 

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/
try that for a general idea and remember generic PSU's wont put out their full wattage at certain tempoeratures whereas branded trusted named ones (guide to chosing/finding out about a decent PSU is here ) will put out more wats/amps at higher temps

 

o.k i tried the calcultions and my sytem comes to 280 watts and thats being genourous!does this mean its not the psu then?regrards

 

well i think its a combination of your graphics card temps and PSU, that PSU you've got might not be supplying 320W of clean power, it might not even be supplying 320W of power at all as most generic PSU's only put out their maximum rating at a certain temperature, and that temperature often is much lower than what they run at, if i were you i'd buy a new cooler, see how it goes and then invest in a new PSU, even if its working fine you dont want a generic PSU to suddely fail and then take your computer with it