so far, all the games i have played have never crashed. or they use to, but not anymore. but recently, i started playing L4D again, and it starts to crash randomly ingame, sometimes 5 minutes into the game, others 30+ min. at first, i thought the obvious and sped up my video card fans. i also used GPU-Z to record my temps and CPU-Z to record my core temps. after it crashed again, i checked the recorded temps and none seem to be too high. on 99% GPU load, temps are around 63C. CPU load is usually in the 60's, with 60C. everything seems to be okay, so i ruled out overheating as the problem of the crashes. does anybody have any other possible reasons why the game would randomly crash? system: q6600 @3.0ghz Sapphire HD4870 512mb Corsair 650TX PSU Corsair 4gb DDR2 Gigabyte EP35 oh, and the settings on L4D are all maxed at 1680x1050. it runs constant at 60fps.
Check ram voltage; Corsair will work with low voltage for 3-12 months before it starts to have issues like this.
It should be at least 1.9, preferably 2.0. If you're using manual voltages, raise the memory volts to +0.20 in the BIOS. If you're on auto, it should have picked at least 2.0V automatically. You would also be wise to update your graphics drivers, especially if you use Vista, as ATI's Vista drivers sometimes decay over time into a less stable state. Even I don't know quite why this is.
i have XP and i have updated my video card drivers. i will change the voltage to 2.0 and see if there are any changes. but just wondering, what would changing this really do? my ram doesn't seem to go passed 3gb, even though i have 4gb worth. any explanation on why raising the volts would better the gaming experience? edit: i tried chaning the DD2 voltage to +.2V, but when i got to cpu-z, and check SPD, it still says my voltage is 1.8V.
That's because it's the normal voltage the RAM asks for, not what it's being given. Use a program like Everest to see the actual voltage. You will not see a full 4GB in Windows XP 32-bit, as a 32-bit OS can only address 4GB of memory in total between the system and the graphics card, so with a 512MB card, you're limited to 3.5GB system RAM.
It's like with a car. The battery can have an insufficient charge and still work for a while, but eventually the battery will wear down and won't start anymore. This actually happened to me this week. Alternator was dead. Anyway, also try taking out one stick of RAM at a time and seeing if the problem occurs. I had this with an old computer and found that one was fried. There are programs like memtest that will help you diagnose corruption issues. Corsair is a big brand, and most RAM sticks have limited lifetime, so as long as it didn't die from overclocking or from excessive heat, you should get a free stick.
Lol that's actually nothing remotely like the cause for this, but you get the picture. Old RAM needs slightly more voltage than new RAM.
i looked around with everest, but i couldnt find it. i used HWMonitor and it read the ram voltage as 2.3V. so i think im good, ill report back if i get any more crashes.
well, i set it to +2V. ill double check later and such. i find out the way to fix it though, some people reported that setting the multicore-rendering to disable would solve the problem. apparently it did, thanks guys.
Left 4 Dead's multicore rendering causes huge lag for people that don't own dual graphics, but it shouldn't crash the game completely.
Most corsair needs 1.9-2.1V; 2.2V is probably too much. If you are not sure, look at the sticks themselves; corsair prints it right on there. Also, 'AUTO' has NEVER worked for ANY Corsair memory I have tried on any board; as far as I know Corsair always requires manual voltage setting.
Better analogy: When roads are new & smooth, cars need less fuel to drive...but as potholes, ruts, and other degradation occurs, drivers have to push the gas pedal just a little more to go the same speed. This is what is happening inside your ram; the 'Roads' are getting worn out and now all your 'cars' need a little bit more voltage to keep up the speed. The 'roads' are the metal traces; the 'cars' are electrons.
Auto has worked with all three of my Gigabyte boards with various combinations of Corsair RAM. I set the voltage manually for the Maximus II Formula I've just installed, but only because I chose to, not because I was forced.
Wierd...my DFI board detects the correct voltage for OCZ dimms, but always defaults to 1.8v for any corsair, including the 2.1v units. Dragnandy's Gigabyte mainboard clearly has the same issue, yet sammorris's boards all detect the correct voltage.
