ATI Crossfire and Hybrid PhysX system crashing

[Valken 623]

Hi All,

I've been given an ARMA 3 Lite invite and have been testing the game on my system when I have free time. I have all the graphics options maxed out at 1080p, 8xAA and FXAA Ultra. Usually not a problem and I have really good speeds with my i5-750 @ 4.2 GHZ, ATI 6950 CFX and Nvidia 465 GTX for PhysX. I also have 16 GB of ram with Windows 7 Pro x64.

But when I play the game into 15 mins or so, it crashes out. Most of the time my screen becomes black so I cannot see my desktop and then I have to CTRL-ALT-DELETE to get into task manager, then end ARMA3demo.exe.

I tried it again and it still crashes yet I was able to save two of the error messages:

Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: APPCRASH

Application Name: arma3demo.exe

Application Version: 0.60.106.70

Application Timestamp: 51acbc8b

Fault Module Name: ntdll.dll

Fault Module Version: 6.1.7601.17725

Fault Module Timestamp: 4ec49b8f

Exception Code: c0000005

Exception Offset: 00022262

OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48

Locale ID: 1033

Additional Information 1: 0a9e

Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

Additional Information 3: 0a9e

Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: APPCRASH

Application Name: arma3demo.exe

Application Version: 0.60.106.70

Application Timestamp: 51acbc8b

Fault Module Name: atidxx32.dll

Fault Module Version: 8.17.10.494

Fault Module Timestamp: 519e7e3a

Exception Code: c0000005

Exception Offset: 00115c7e

OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48

Locale ID: 1033

Additional Information 1: 0a9e

Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

Additional Information 3: 0a9e

Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

One error is with the system and the other is with the display driver. Latest ATI drivers at 13.6 beta 1 with 13.5 CAP1.

I'm thinking about buying into the full ALPHA game but want to fix this problem before I do. My system is stable with CFX and PhysX on for other games such as Mafia II or any UT3 engine game.

Any ideas?

PS: Great job on ARMA 3. The polish and gameplay is fantastic when the LITE version does not crash on me.

[kklownboy 43]

First you do not need or can use a dedicated PhysX card. The game uses the CPU so ATI/AMD can use PhysX.

Second What hack are you using to use Nvidia HW (as dedicated PhysX card) with AMD HW?

Lastly turn off PhysX when you play ARMA3. Game runs fine in CF/SLI

[Leon86 13]

The alpha lite version is quite old, no idea how stable it is.

anyway, the game will be in beta soon, and then it'll become 10,- eu more expensive.

maybe try running it without crossfire, settings lowered a bit, just to see if it's sortof stable.

[Valken 623]

I cleaned out my system physically (cleared the cables, vacuumed all the dust, ensured better air flow) and it is better now. Reinstalled the latest beta drivers for all my gpus and I think A3 is mainly overheating my CPU due to lack of multithreaded optimizations and it is fairly hot here during the summer. With task manager running, it shows one CPU core almost maxed out, a second cpu core at ~ 50-70 % and the last 2 cores at less than 30%. It still crashes but not as bad as before.

The Hybrid PhysX I use is working with the latest PhsyX 3 but for A3, I left the Phsyx files since it is mainly CPU based.

[RuecanOnRails 10]

As others have said, PhysX is purely CPU bound. It currently can not use the GPU for PhysX so no need to worry about PhysX with Arma 3 for the time being.

The game is entering Beta in 2 days at which point the cost of the game will increase a bit in addition to that, the Alpha Lite you are currently running will be disabled. If you think you may enjoy this game you should pick it up while it's still cheap (ignoring your current issue as that can be solved with some troubleshooting down the road)

Back to your issue, are you using a stock cooler for your cpu and is it overclocked? You can try to upgrade the cooler, or bring the clocks down a little. You should also download some sort of overlay so you can constantly monitor your temps and see if cpu is getting too hot.

To test if your CPU is stable download and run Prime95 for 45 minutes and watch your temps. If you want to test your GPU's run Furmark. Those two programs will stress your gpu/cpu and heat them up beyond what they should experience during normal gameplay. If they are stable there, then your issue may be elsewhere and not from overheating.

[Valken 623]

I fixed the problem!

My CPU was really overheating but not enough to crash the computer, just enough to crash ARMA 3. I set my cpu down to 4 GHZ and all is well for 1 hour of playing, even with the AC off and CPU and 2 GPUs in CFX mode heating up the room.

This was unexpected as my cpu @ 4.2 GHZ is stable in IntelBurnTest for 2 hours with a Corsair H50 water cooler. Its the ambient temps here... just way too hot and ARMA pushed my CPU across the threshold. :D My GPUs are all at stock speeds so no issues there.

I will purchase ARMA 3 Beta in the morning. Thanks for the help everyone.