Problem With GTX 280....I Think??

[leeakred]

I have recently built a new rig for mainly gaming, and all has been well, for the most part. My main problem came when installing the GTX 280 in my Asus P5Q Deluxe MoBo. The card wouldnt fit in the main PCI-E slots, and i couldnt see why for some time, until i noticed there is a capacitor at the end of both slots, which are to high, and stop the card from fully fitting in the slot, due to the full plastic cover over the GTX 280's! So i have had to put the card in the third slot (which im not fully sure if its full 16 lanes?). But because my case is a Cosmos S, the PSU is at the bottom of the case, now about 1cm from my GPU.

Heat is my biggest worry! But i have had no real problems for 2 months, using the Nvidia monitor, the card has an ambient temp of 34-40*c. But latlety, playing GRID and UT3, it has been 'stuttery' on occasion, and about 6 times over the past month, has frozen completly, and i have had to turn the pc off at the power to reset it! I have quit a game to check temps under load, and is around 60-70*c, which after seeing some other threads, doesnt seem to bad? I carnt think what it might be? i have the latest drivers (for vista 64bit), and my CPU temps are 22*c idel, and around 48*c under load.

Does anyone know what i can do, or had the same problem? I just hope it isnt something expensive!

Is there any after market coolers for the GTX 280s, that are worth the effort to install, and would it give the extra room to move the card to the right PCI-E slot on my MoBo?

Any help/advice much appreciated!!


Rig Spec;

CPU = Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz
Memory = DDR2 OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition
Mobo = Asus P5Q Deluxe Intel P45
GPU = Leadtek GeForce GTX 280 1024MB
HDD = Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB SATA-II 32MB Cache
Cooling = Swiftech H2O-220 Compact (for cpu only - air for rest of case)
Case = Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos S
OS = Windows Vista Ultimate (64bit)

 

[guest_9323wk]

I have recently built a new rig for mainly gaming, and all has been well, for the most part. My main problem came when installing the GTX 280 in my Asus P5Q Deluxe MoBo. The card wouldnt fit in the main PCI-E slots, and i couldnt see why for some time, until i noticed there is a capacitor at the end of both slots, which are to high, and stop the card from fully fitting in the slot, due to the full plastic cover over the GTX 280's! So i have had to put the card in the third slot (which im not fully sure if its full 16 lanes?). But because my case is a Cosmos S, the PSU is at the bottom of the case, now about 1cm from my GPU.

Heat is my biggest worry! But i have had no real problems for 2 months, using the Nvidia monitor, the card has an ambient temp of 34-40*c. But latlety, playing GRID and UT3, it has been 'stuttery' on occasion, and about 6 times over the past month, has frozen completly, and i have had to turn the pc off at the power to reset it! I have quit a game to check temps under load, and is around 60-70*c, which after seeing some other threads, doesnt seem to bad? I carnt think what it might be? i have the latest drivers (for vista 64bit), and my CPU temps are 22*c idel, and around 48*c under load.

Does anyone know what i can do, or had the same problem? I just hope it isnt something expensive!

Is there any after market coolers for the GTX 280s, that are worth the effort to install, and would it give the extra room to move the card to the right PCI-E slot on my MoBo?

Any help/advice much appreciated!!


Rig Spec;

CPU = Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz
Memory = DDR2 OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition
Mobo = Asus P5Q Deluxe Intel P45
GPU = Leadtek GeForce GTX 280 1024MB
HDD = Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB SATA-II 32MB Cache
Cooling = Swiftech H2O-220 Compact (for cpu only - air for rest of case)
Case = Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos S
OS = Windows Vista Ultimate (64bit)

Hi,

This is very strange, I have never come acrros this problem before with a GFX Card not fiting into the slots on the motherboard before, Can you please post pictures of the motherboard and GFX card. The capacitors should not stop a card from being sloted into the socket. If it goes in the other slot then that will work fine thats another PCIE 16X slot.

Thank you,

Wiz

 

[leeakred]

The GTX has a small bit of plastic, part of its case, that sticks out (near the end, where its secured to the back of the case) its this that is hitting the capacitor. And no matter how much pressure i put on it, it would not quite fit! I will try and get some pictures of it.

 

[Abarbarian]

Applying lots of pressure is not a good thing to do with pc parts. you could always cut away the offending plastic.

 

[floppybootstomp]

For a single card you're using the correct slot. PCIe 2.0 x 16_1 slot (blue).

I don't think it's worth buying an after market cooler, the stock one is quite adequate.

You should be able to run UT3 at max everything, I can with the system detailed in my sig.

Vista 64 bit can be a little problematic for gaming but as you ran the machine for a couple of months it would seem to be ok.

Did your problems coincide with installing new drivers? If so roll back to the previous video drivers.

Heat may be a problem, try installing Riva Tuner and setting your graphics card fan to 100%. It will be a little noisier but may solve your problem.

You can get Riva Tuner from www.guru3D.com

The software takes a little bit of getting to know but works well, I recommend reading the manual or guide that's available.

 

[leeakred]

The card is not in the blue PCI-E slot though, as it wont seat properley. I have the card in the bottom slot, which i fear mabey only x8 lanes?

And all the drivers are the same, Nvidia hasnt had a new one out for vista 64bit since i put the rig together.

But i was thinking of removing the plastic, but not sure how to proceed??

 

[V_R]

Hi,

Not sure if that MB is dual x16 lanes but look at this and see if it helps.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/05/28/asus-p5q-deluxe-intel-p45-has-arrived/2

If you download GPUZ from below....

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1153/TechPowerUp_GPU-Z_v0.2.7.html

and run it. It may tell you the speed of the PCI-E Slot.


FWIW, im running some of the latest Forceware from Guru3d (177 something, can't check for sure as im at work) Had no probs what so ever. got a small frame rate boost in CoD4 too! (XP 32 bit here)

http://downloads.guru3d.com/

 

[floppybootstomp]

V_R, I'm afraid Vista, and more importantly Vista 64 Bit, is a whole different animal to XP.

Which may or may not be a good thing

 

[TriplexDread]

Yeah Vista x64 is a bit poo. But hey thats another thread

Try posting some pics mate please so we can see what the problem is

 

[V_R]

Ah yes indeed i see he be running Vista 64, But that link to Guru3d has the drivers for V64 also, and GPUZ will (apparently) work with Vista.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Videocards---NVIDIA-GeForce-Vista-32|64_c32.html

I was wondering if new drivers may fix some of the issues he was having and mentioned my OS as a point of reference.

The MB is still the same board so the link above is a help as he can say its in slot "X"

I know what i mean soz if i didn't make meself clear.