X-Files with Nvidia GTX 295

[jose12680]

Hello everyone!

First of all, I apologize for the length of this post. I'm writing it now, driven by my computer paranoia, and on the other hand, it might be useful to some users, so here it goes.

Recently, I had an Intel Quad Q6600 with 8 GB of RAM and an Asus P5k motherboard, with an Nvidia GTX 280, everything was perfect.

A trusted colleague from work was selling his gaming PC complete or by parts, because he was switching to a laptop, quite typical... and I bought his Nvidia GTX 295.

I had a 650 watt power supply, so I thought, well, if something goes wrong, in principle, you just have to buy a better power supply... so I was counting on another 100 or 120 euros in addition to the graphics card.

The games worked perfectly at resolutions of 1920x1080 with all filters activated, but occasionally, the computer crashed during games.

Screen with frozen image and sound blaring in some cases, and in others not,.........but I always had to turn it off and on again.

The first thing you do is the easy part, let's disassemble the GTX 295....... spotless inside, new thermal paste everywhere, and assemble.....but nothing.. still... crashes.

So, following a bit of logic, if Nvidia asks for a 680w power supply for this graphics card, and I have 650, plus 3 hard drives, the Logitech steering wheel, the optical drive...........it's normal to think that there's a lack of power, and that during peaks, it doesn't have enough power to function, but okay, not for gaming, which is when it consumes energy.

When I disassembled everything, I saw that the Thelmaltake cooler had several broken brackets and was quite loose, oh my what a mess......anyway.....the motherboard had several bent pins that I was able to straighten......and I reassembled, with the same crashes...

You also think......overheating..could high temperatures be it?¿?
No.

2 fans in front of the graphics card bringing in air, one in front of the hard drives also bringing in air, and two others taking out air, one behind the tower, next to the USB ports, and another on the top of the tower.

In total, 3 bringing in, and 2 taking out, plus the Thelmaltake turbine.

We checked the temperatures at rest of the micro with several programs....all ok...playing...all ok.
Let's see the graphics card...........from 33 to 40 degrees at rest....maximum 55 playing.....

I say look, I had to leave the socket 775 sooner or later to play, if this has happened, well, look, better time than this, I don't think I'll find another.

So, I bought an I5 3470, an Asus P8B75 MX Plus, 8 GB of Kingston DDR3 1333 MHz RAM, and a Corsair GS 800 power supply...new computer...as happy as a clam...

I assembled everything and........same thing...crashes when playing.....

After a month, we continue with The X-Files.
I usually play Rfactor, Shift2, Residents, Medals of Honor...........

I'll list everything I've done before writing this post:

New micro, motherboard, and memory
800w Corsair GS800 power supply with its original cable, not connected with another power supply cable.
Never overclocked anything

Disassembly on my part with new cleaning and thermal paste on the GTX 295
Same thing, but for the last time, I took it to an APP in case I had messed up and they could assemble it.
Temperatures of the graphics card when it crashes...no more than 55 degrees...at rest from 33 to 40 degrees.

Micro temperatures that aren't worth mentioning because they're so low.
I removed a hard drive that was a bit bad, in case it conflicted with "something".
Crashes with Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8 enterprise, and now I'm with the normal 8, all 64-bit.
About 7 or 8 formattings also.

I have an Nvidia HDMI adapter connected to the VGA output of the GTX 295 to connect it to my Samsung Led screen, which only has HDMI.

3 Hard drives, not even 6 months old, I've already checked them and they're perfect, Seagate Barracuda
One for Windows only, another for installations, and another for storage of things.
Everything organized.

I've tried putting the video input cable in the two different VGA ports, but nothing.
In "System" of the Windows control panel, maximum performance power profile.
Multi GPU deactivation in the Nvidia panel, leaving the graphics card as a GTX 280 like the one I have in the drawer :hangover:

Verification with Nvidia Tools and Rivatuner that the clocks are at their original values.
Benchmarks of all colors, with very good results.
The graphics card has all its PCI cables properly connected.

Installation of the latest drivers in their 64-bit versions, for Windows 8 and Windows 7.
New Thelmaltake cooler for the new socket.

Result:

Only the 295 works well for me, with very old Nvidia drivers.
With the latest ones...crashes......

It's on 314 and I'm running with 302...that's it...
With the fan at its default normal value, 40 percent...crash.
If you raise it to 50, 60, or 100.....it stops crashing.

And the funniest thing is that, it's fine in temperature, plus you take off the cover, touch the graphics card, and it's so cold you could spit ice cubes on it.

Right now the graphics card is without casing, the temperature has dropped 3 or 4 degrees......
And as of today, it works....in fact, whenever it works, it has always worked with old drivers, with the latest drivers it always crashes, there's nothing to be done.

I've read many forums about this, problems with the GTX 295 I've seen a lot due to lack of power and high temperatures, but my case.....is quite strange......

Many people agree on the same thing, that the latest drivers with this graphics card go bad, and that they leave the fans spinning slowly.

Is it the power supply, which will continue to be scarce?
Is it the graphics card, which has some paranormal problem?
Is it another problem, that my lack of knowledge prevents me from seeing?

In stores, they've already left my case as impossible and told me to leave old drivers and the fan at 60 or 70 percent.

I think the only thing left for me is to update the BIOS of the GTX 295
Ah, of course....if I put the GTX 280.....no problems......everything happens when I put the GTX 295

I accept wise advice, I'm sure one of you will hit the nail on the head.

Best regards and thanks for really reading it

[Franziskaner]

well I can only think of one thing/question: did your partner's graph work well?
regards

[jose12680]

The truth is that yes, without a problem, and with a power supply like mine. :wall:
I have played at his house, many times…...

I already told you, it's to end up at the psychiatrist, I don't wish it on anyone.:mudo:

At least, I have a backup and I have the GTX 280 there in case a tragedy were to happen.
But this is already personal.......

I still have the nagging doubt that I might need another more powerful power supply, and to be honest it's almost impossible to know 100x100 if it's the drivers.

Or maybe it's a purely physical hardware failure and the card has something wrong with it.....
I already had a 9800GTX+ that fried after 6 months and you're always a bit worried with those precedents.

Although it's true that there are people out there with the GTX 295 with drivers from almost when the graphics card came out, because of these problems.

Greetings!

[Franziskaner]

what connectors have you put on the graphic (power supply)
regards

[jose12680]

Better that you see it, thanks uncle!

[Franziskaner]

are they both PCI E? I say this because before I had a 280 and I had it with the two connectors of the F.A PCI-E because there was also the option to connect one of the two connectors to a peripheral socket (molex) which I didn't trust much
the truth is that the case is strange :mudo: what drivers did your colleague have?
because it may be that this graphics card has always worked the same way (bad)
P.D very cool the MOD
greetings

[jose12680]

Well, yes, mate, I've taken off the cover again and checked the cables.
They are not PCI Express, 100% safe, mostly because it says so on the connector;D.

Basically they are the same pins that I used with the other power supply on the GTX 280.
In fact, with those same pins that you can see in the photo, you connect the 280... and bye bye problems, with the latest drivers, standard fan speed, balanced power profile......

I'll tell you the truth, the person I bought the graphics card from was a work colleague who I got on very well with but when we stopped working together, I lost track of him.

I'm not working there anymore, (or anywhere else XD), and it's materially impossible to locate him, I don't even have the same phone number anymore because I changed it and deleted the people I had the least contact with... and that was a while ago.

I want to think that he had the latest drivers, although the reality is that it's not just the latest ones that don't work for me just... you see Google, there are loads of people with the GTX 295 having driver problems.... and many other problems that aren't driver-related, most of them reach 80 or 90 degrees, due to poor ventilation, because they are very stupid, putting a graphics card that's already a bit warm in a poorly cooled tower.

Other people, like me, the minority, have them exploding, but with power supplies of 500, 600, and 700, I haven't found anyone who has had theirs explode with a Corsair GS of 800 (What a disaster, for God's sake).

And some lucky ones get blue screens, driver errors, that have recovered and other things, they get black screens.... their temperature goes up to 100 degrees, they don't get any video...

There's all sorts, but as for mine........ I think they're going to give me the medal for the luckiest person XD.

You never know if his graphics card was also malfunctioning and that's why he foisted it off on me.

Just thinking about it...

I already told you, with old drivers and the fan at only 50 percent, 10 percent higher than the original, it runs like a dream but if I update the drivers or do a factory reset and stop doing any of these things, maximum power profile, fan speed increased... the explosions return... and at 50 degrees, cooler than a lettuce the graphics card...

I already told you, for me it's great because the games I use run it without breaking a sweat, I usually turn off many real-time shadow effects or set them to the minimum, for me the important thing in Shift2, for example, is that the car and the track look perfect, and that it runs smoothly without any stuttering... the rest, I consider secondary, I think you understand.

A complete X-file for Mulder and Scully, total conspiracy.
Thanks for your interest, mate.

Best regards!!

[majo]

I think I have read the whole post and I understand that with old drivers the graphics work correctly.Si if that is indeed the case it is simply a driver problem. Forget about everything related to power supply and hardware, that is fine. The only thing you could do and I don't know if it exists or if you could find it is to update the firmware/BIOS of the graphics card, to see if that way it accepts more modern drivers. Download GPUZ, see what version of BIOS you have and if there is a more modern one than yours and if you dare, update and test.Me I would like to look for you BIOS but I have to leave right now for work, I don't work today but tomorrow but I have to leave today.

The only thing, check if the PCI ex speed is set to 100 in the motherboard BIOS and if you have any OC, remove it, although it is strange that it would be this and you pass the bench tests without problems.

[jose12680]

@majo:

I think I have read the whole post and I understand that with old drivers the graphics work correctly.Si if that is really the case it is simply a driver problem. Forget about power supply and hardware, that is fine. The only thing you could do and I don't know if it exists or if you could find it is to update the firmware/BIOS of the graphics card, to see if that way it accepts more modern drivers. Download GPUZ, see what version of BIOS you have and if there is a more modern one than yours and if you dare, update and test.Me I would like to look for you BIOS but I have to leave right now for work, I don't work today but tomorrow but I have to leave today.

It worked and in fact it is working, I have been busy for more than a month... with the old ones and the fan up, it works correctly...
...

Look at the most tangible proof... I was left to test Windows 8 normal, I mean I installed it, come on, let's go, to rule out compatibilities, after all, you have Windows 8 running in 20 minutes.

It's about formatting, installing the latest drivers, Resident 6, and crashes again.
I remove the 314 and install the 302..and it works, but I have to raise the fan to 50, it's the same at 100 as at 60 as at 80, the thing is that it's not at 40 percent of origin.

The power... well you always have the fly in your ear, if it asks for 680 and I give it 800 from a Corsair, in theory it should be enough....... but....

DVD burner, Thelmaltake turbine at full speed always, 5 fans, the Logitech wheel, the Xbox controller with its wireless, a PS2 controller adapter, a multi USB adapter from conceptronic, the Soundblaster sound card........ if you start counting....... I'm not 100x100 sure that in the current peaks I have enough.

In fact in several stores they told me the same, that with my Corsair... I could still have problems...

The BIOS of the graphics card probably has another more modern version..... I have seen tutorials and other things, but I don't know to what extent it is profitable for me to do something that involves risk, if with old drivers from the year catapum, and the fan up, my problem is solved....

The PCI are fine, without OC, I didn't touch anything when I put the new Asus board in that sense, but I checked it just in case.... and nothing, default too.

And as I say, Rfactor, Shift2, Fifa, Pes, Resident 6..... they ventilate them with all the filters you put on them....
I remove what I have commented, to gain some fluidity, graphically it already looks very good, and above all it flows as it should flow, without dramatic frame drops or anything.....

But despite everything and as Mourinho would say:"Why?"

A hug man and thanks really to you too.

[Franziskaner]

and with the 314 and the venti at 100% it also crashes, right?
regards

[jose12680]

Correct, with the 314 and at 100% ventilation, the PC crashes catastrophically.
And in response to 33 -34 and playing at 41-42…

The 314, and all the previous ones, I have to uninstall them, because I can't use the computer, it freezes even on the desktop.

Others in the Win 8 start menu, others while playing.......

From 306 down and older, those are the ones that work for me, right now I'm with the 302.

You start playing and the graphics (the micro) is at 46-47 degrees today with Resident 6 with the fan at 55 percent.
I also check it with a digital thermometer, with a metal pin that I fit into the heatsink and it measures the temperature of the graphics card.

Crazy, man :wall:

[Franziskaner]

check the temperatures with GPU-Z, which sometimes show temperatures that are anything but real :mad: it happened to me with an asus MB that said the micro was about to melt :wall::wall:
anyway and I know what I'm going to say next is a pain in the ass …
why the hell did you buy a 295? saving a little more would have gotten you a 7770 or a 660 with directx 11
regards

[jose12680]

You are right about the GPU-Z, unfortunately I have also had to use it.

It gives me the temperature of the micro and graphics card from the card's driver and from the graphics chip.
There is usually a difference of about 3-4 degrees between the two cases.

That's why I check it with the digital thermometer, and so between the 3 values, it's easier to make an average.
While gaming, I have never gone over 56 degrees for the micro, 50 for the card.

And at rest or browsing the internet, the temperatures are derisory below 40 degrees, micro and card.
I never trust a single method... because of what might happen XD.

Why a GTX 295?
Simple

1: It improves the GTX 280 I had.

2: I traded it for a Samsung Galaxy S2 that I was given with a Movistar contract a while ago, and that was stored, I use another phone for daily, I tell you, investing money.....it hasn't been the case.

I left everything I had on the new PC, and not even that, because I sold with blood, sweat and tears, the Quad, the memories and the Asus P5k, and I recovered something from the investment.

The issue of Direct, I don't want to derail the post, I might get scolded XD......but.......

To be honest, I respect all positions and opinions, but I have never had a problem with any game because of Direct... and I'm very retro and play old stuff, and with modern and current games, since I started using the PC... playing without problems for having such or such version of Direct.

I can't tell you much either, because I don't know much about Direct... just that my card has Direct 11 and the graphics is Direct 10, and I understand that games will use the ones from the graphics, but I don't know why it reflects the ones from the card... well... another song....... that deserves another post XD

With the 8800 GTS I played for almost 5 years, it's the only one I bought new, almost 500 euros, but they are amortized, it still works je je je, shortly after I got the 9800GTX+ which went to pick up green figs directly from the tree and I found a GTX 280 at a good price........and in the end, I got the GTX 295, and here we are.

Maybe this will change in the future, I'm not saying no, there's always a first time for everything and I might not run some future game with the GTX 295.

Regards

[Sylver]

Well you could sell the Galaxy S2 second-hand and with the money get a graphics card for around 200€

Is the 40% of the original fan fixed or self-limiting? Because maybe it has problems with "recognizing" the rpm of the fan and if it's not in auto it won't go up proportionally when the graphics card is under load, that could happen, you know...

For practical purposes, I recommend that you sell it second-hand, you can still get some money out of it, and invest in another graphics card, even if you have to put in a bit more, but you'll be out of trouble, and that peace of mind of not having to deal with strange crashes or driver issues is worth it :sisi:

Regards

[Franziskaner]

jose12680 it's not that they don't "rule" with the 280, I had ALL of them working ;D but you know what a 280 is, right? fresh, quiet, doesn't need F.A, it runs all your D11 games "at full speed and with all the filters" so I don't understand why you got a 295 (to top it off, the dual PCB one) which is: twice as fresh, twice as quiet and so on ;D;D
I had a 280 playing BF3 on ultra not even in paint and the turbine was making such a racket I thought I was being followed by a helicopter :troll::troll: a change to a current low/mid range and hey
everything on ultra and I DON'T HEAR THE GRAPHICS ;D

!
about the 295 no it doesn't support Dx11 they'll take longer but soon all games will be compatible only with Dx11 and then you'll have a nice paperweight
but back to the topic:
either as your buddy said you update the GPU's bios or you keep using old drivers or you sell it and buy something more current.
regards

[jose12680]

If with the 280 GTX that I'm going to tell you that you don't know... it's great, man, I'm with you 100x100

But twice as cool......it doesn't reach 5 degrees more playing the GTX 295 than the 280, and in terms of fluidity, there really is no comparison... that's where you beat the 295, there really is no comparison.

In terms of visual quality it's tough when you're talking about these beasts to improve the quality and your eyes can notice a noticeable difference in practice, I tell you, with the Samsung LED and the HDMI cable with the 295, the bar is set very very high, and I've noticed few visual differences from the 9800GTX+ or the GTX 280, with the 295 to be honest.

They are noticeable, but I notice more improvements in fluidity always.

These are just my experiences logically.

The thing is that there are many ways to see it and I have verified, and I speak only for myself, that the top of the range things in the long run with time... are more profitable.... what I was telling you about the almost 500 euros in its day of the 8800 GTS of 600 and odd megs.

Of course there have been better graphics cards than the 8800 GTS, things advance and that's how it is, and in computing more, but it hasn't affected me, 5 years playing everything with maximum filters and resolutions... I think the 500 euros best invested of my life..... now things are not as buoyant as when I was single XD and 500 for a graphics card, I cost the divorce.

The day that Fifa started to lag and I had to remove things, 5 years later, I decided to change, just for that.

The noise, I'm with you too, with the turbine, at full capacity, the 5 fans, and the one on the 295 at full capacity.... it's anything but silent hehe, but the thing is that I have a wife, and I can't have the 5.1 here in my house at full blast because I'm not single anymore, and I play with headphones always when she's at home.

With the headphones, as if a bomb were to fall here XD;D

It really only sounds a little louder than normal when playing, in the rest, it's reasonable, but well, you know that the equipment is working under reasonable temperature conditions, which in the long run, is always good.

I have tested mid-range graphics cards from my colleagues, in that you are right, and they move the games well for the money they are worth, I won't deny it, and things have changed a lot since a while ago.

I respect everyone, because in this there are many ways to approach it, but the truth, and quality price now for 200 or a little more euros, there are very very interesting things, but they don't reach the levels of visual quality and fluidity of the 295.

Clocks and memories are given by all brands, but where there is a difference is in the texture rates, that costs money, and ultimately, a mid-range one of now moves it the same or almost the same, but it looks worse.

It's just my totally subjective point.

The thing about the drivers being bad is something that is almost 100% confirmed more than anything by people with the same problems, and something that in practice is solved with the old ones.

And I tell you, the graphics card works perfectly with the old drivers from 306 and below, you just have to raise the fan by 10 percent, nothing more, and there are no problems in any sense, neither of temperature nor of crashes nor of anything.

In Rivatuner and Nvidia programs, it recognizes it as in Auto at 40 percent, it's just a matter of switching to manual and setting it a little higher.

The thing is that, after a while we have hit the key that very possibly is that, but why does this happen? It doesn't make sense.....it's to grab Nvidia and kill them, and I'm not the only one who wants to annihilate them on the net XD.

I just wanted to get to the heart of the matter, because it pisses me off that there isn't a concrete cause and a why for things, but this time it's going to be tough to have a 100 percent certainty, of why this happens, when it shouldn't.

Since you mention it, and by elimination, the only humanly possible thing that's missing apart from suicide :wall:, is to update the Bios of the 295, so look, we're going to do it, to be on the safe side, I'll tell you how it goes.

In any case, I find it more than regrettable that a company like Nvidia is acting this way, because that is confirmed, that their drivers on this graphics card, fail.......and look that I'm an Nvidia guy, but they have me a bit up to my neck in this regard.

A hug man, thanks for the interest really, it's a pleasure to chat with you.
Regards

[deeiivid]

I had until recently a POV GTX 295 dual PCB and I never had any driver problems :S
Have you tried it on another PC completely separate?
Have you tried playing with a clean installation, with nothing but the games and drivers?

Anyway, bad time to get one, with the DX11 issue you're going to go crazy. Still, great graphics, never disappointed me.

If it weren't for the hackintosh I would still have it.

[jose12680]

@deeiivid:

I recently had a dual PCB GTX 295 and I never had any driver problems :S
Have you tried it on another PC completely separate?
Have you tried playing with a clean installation, with nothing but the games and drivers?

Anyway, bad time to get one, with the DX11 issue you'll go crazy. Still, great card, never disappointed me.

If it weren't for hackintosh I'd still have it.

I already tell you, I've done that with all of them, Windows 8, Seven and even some Vista.

In Win 8, the GTX 295 drivers go terribly from 306 onwards and you can tell there are compatibility issues or who knows what, and that's the unfortunate part.

I've tested the card on other PCs and even in a store, with mixed results, in some it crashes and in others it doesn't, always depending on the OS and the driver model.

Look today, I took and installed Seven ultimate 64 on another hard drive, only drivers 314, plugins and libraries and a couple of games, and not a single glitch, without touching the fan or anything, all ok.

I think that when I previously tested the 295 with Win 7, drivers 314 didn't exist, and it's likely that's why it crashed too and that Nvidia has fixed it with the latest ones.

In Win 8 all versions, which is what I have at the moment, both 32 and 64, if you install drivers higher than 306.....you go back to the blue screens.

I have no choice, I have to come to the conclusion that, it's the drivers, basically because the card works with certain drivers and not with others within Windows 8.

So finally I went back to my Win 8 enterprise and left the drivers 302, which after a few hours of testing with Rfactor, Shift2, Resident 6 or Fifa, work well even without touching the fan....

If you put other drivers higher than 306......you need to turn up the fan, so it doesn't crash, and others directly just freeze.

Very good work by Nvidia ^^, yes sir.

So thanks to everyone for the cable, the issue is solved, by the way, the card's bios, was the last existing one.

Regards!