Help on Understanding the CTD

[bobby budnick 0]

Ok I have a clean install of windows (Vista 64 SP1), the game, patches, and the latest stable Nvidia driver.  No background programs. 2GB RAM.

Arma crashes to desktop now.  Last time it complained of d3d9.dll.  Not unusual to have Arma crash but I would like to further troubleshoot the problem this time instead of stabbing in the dark.

I would like to avoid using the vm108 and maxmem switches because I feel I should not have to resort to using them.  There are plenty of users that claim no crashes without using the switches.

Therefore I have a few questions:

Does the CTD in this case indicate faulty/misconfigured RAM?

Are the users that use the switches just "working around" their faulty/misconfigured RAM?

Will playing with the RAM settings possibly allow me to play without using a switch?

[ModaFlanker 0]

When I had overclocked my system and it seemed stable and I left it alone for a while, I was running into problems like CTD and frequent graphical freezes with my 8800GT video card.

Taking a closer look at the problem, I tested with ATITool (works on nvidia cards too) where it has a program for stressing the video card to see how the cooling performs and whether there are artifacts (or whether there are lockups).  After running into problems with my video card through this [to the point where it made windows BSOD], it led me back to my memory not being as stable as I thought it was, especially in the summertime heat.

(whoops, had wrong link, this is right link now)

http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

Videocards nowadays can climb up to 75c, especially on the smaller stock cooling... anything beyond that however is cause for concern, so if the video card is running that hot you want to stop running it like that and to improve its cooling if possible.

I was finally able to get some rock solid memory settings on my computer and that fixed all those CTDs and video freezes... I haven't had a freeze lately [maybe the latest nVidia WHQL that comes with PhysX helped, not sure... but its been behaving better].

That problem solved, my last problem was my computer shutting off when playing 3d games [been annoying me for almost 3 years].  I had bought an expensive power supply to ensure clean power for my system (and help stability), but it apparently was so protective that the overvoltage protection circuits shut the system down anytime my house voltage fluctuated too much.  I finally decided to buy a $25 OptiUPS Voltage Stabilizer and so far for three days it hasn't shut off unexpectedly!  So thus ends my ArmA woes... [knock on wood!]

So, yeah, if your motherboard allows you to adjust memory settings, try overgenerous settings to see if its worth the time trying to find that one setting that doesn't impact performance but gives you full stability.