A warning about ArmA2 and video card temps at menu screens

[datter 0]

Short version : It seems some ArmA2 menu screens can cause your GPU temps to climb out of control so don't leave your system unattended when playing the game.

Longer version : When I first started playing ArmA2, I noticed something odd about the game menu screens and my GPU temps. When playing co-op with a friend I found that if I sat in the multiplayer lobby menu screen for too long waiting for him, my system would lock up. I eventually noticed that my GPU temps would start climbing on these menu screens for some reason, and if I didn't hurry my friend along the system would crash as the temps got up around 90c. I found this occurring with my system overclock in place, and at stock speeds so it was unrelated to that and rather random.

Over time, I tweaked my system a lot and sort of forgot about this as it didn't seem to come up anymore. At the time I'd been experiencing in-game CTD's related to an n4v_disp error which I tracked down to a slightly too high factory overclock on my video cards. Once I pulled that back a bit, the CTD's stopped completely and the menu screen GPU temp thing seemed to have went away too. At least that's what I thought.

A couple of nights ago (prior to installing Win7 RTM which I have in place now) I was happily playing single player ArmA2 (see specs/settings in sig). Great frame rate, no CTD's, freezing or blue screens. At one point I got called away from the computer so I hit escape to pause the game and I went off for about 10 minutes. When I returned I found my screen was a bit weird looking. The text was fuzzy and blocky, and totally unreadable. The graphics were distorted, miscoloured and there were odd shapes/lines all over the place. I was a bit confused for a moment until I noticed my GPU temps had climbed to 120c (the temps were available via my keyboard LCD). I quickly clicked where I thought "resume" was and as soon as I got out of the menu and back in the game my temps started coming back down. Not fast enough for me however, so I just rebooted the system. Everything was cooled off and fine when it fired back up I'm glad to say.

I have an overclocked system, and monitor my temps very closely. I know for a fact the GPU temps never get over 70c in ArmA2 and in fact usually hover in the mid 60's. For some reason, leaving it at the menu screen caused the temps to climb out of control.

I thought I'd pass this along for general knowledge, just in case someone happens to hit escape and leave their computer for awhile only to come back and find a fried video card (or worse).

datter

[Jonney Napalm 10]

Thanks mate, I've noticed that to.

It's harsh when the menu screen taxes your system more than the game.

[datter 0]

Yes, something is clearly not right when you can game at less then 70c but the menu screen causes the card to nearly catch fire. I'd hate to hear about someone destroying hardware because the paused the game to go make a sandwich.

[flake 10]

try running furmark in xtreme burning mode full screen with post processing and 8xAA. if your card doesnt explode then it should be ok for running arma2 menus :D

modern cards just dont seem to have their fan profiles anywhere near as aggressive as they should be. I had to use rivatuner to create a better fan profile for my 4870 otherwise it would lock up in all kinds of games, and thats straight out of the box.

[CrazyAce 0]

With the 8800 GTX cards (I don't know about the GTS cards) that the temps will climb very high, I've seen my 8800 go above 90 degrees Celsius without Riva Tuner. I switched my one 8800GTX with too 250GTS and my temps are around 40 to 50 degrees Celsius and this is without Riva Tuner, I bet with Riva tuner that the 250's will drop to 20 or 30 degrees Celsius.

[mils 10]

out of curiousity

why would you go over your res? 150%? why not just 100%?

[mrcash2009 0]

Deffo get "Rivatuner", complete control of the fan from 0-100 percent fan speed, I use mine all the time running the fan at about 80 percent (much faster than defaults).

No excuse from what your experiencing, but certainly a way to force you fan to cool at its optimum rate before firing up the game.

[datter 0]

For the record, I was using Rivatuner at the time and had my fans set at 100% as I always do when running ArmA2, FSX, Crysis and a few other titles. If not for that and my lucky return I think the thing would have caught fire.

[flake 10]

120c with 100% fan? is your pc in an oven? afraid i dont have that problem, however the menu in empire total war is similar in that it speeds up my card fan. something like 1000fps on it lol

[Rough Knight 9]

Hi guys,

I have noticed this issue also. Interestingly I have an 8800gtx like crazyace.

thanks

Frosty.

[datter 0]

120c with 100% fan?

Yes, hence the problem and hence the post. My system is generally very cool, and I haven't seen this happen with any other game/app aside from ArmA2. It's not something I see regularly, but since it happened once it can presumably happen again and I thought it needed mentioning, just in case it hit someone else.

[KeyCat 131]

Thanks for the heads-up datter! Will test and see if it's the same here... Sounds like a quite dangerous issue summertime and all!

/KC

[Indecisi0n 10]

8800GTX gets hot to (80-85) but i read the cards are good for up to about 103 !

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

I had 2 8800GTX from Asus, in SLI.

They both died 1 month apart from each other, after 2.5yrs.

In the beginning, Nvidia claimed the high temps were "normal", lol.

The GTX260 and 285 run much cooler.

[Ebden 10]

Good info. My 9600GT is crying under the ARMA II load, but that's for equipment quality issues with the 9600. This thread helps steer me toward the newer gear and a mightier investment, since it appears even the best stuff still struggles under full specs.

Hell, even with moderate settings I get stuff like this. Look familiar?

[kremator 1064]

Edben, you don't have 8Gb RAM installed do you ?

[FraG_AU 10]

Yes, something is clearly not right when you can game at less then 70c but the menu screen causes the card to nearly catch fire. I'd hate to hear about someone destroying hardware because the paused the game to go make a sandwich.

I think they need to put an FPS limiter on, but obviously stripping the engine of all things AI just frees up the GPU to pound out GFX hence the "toasty" nature.

I have noticed a +10C odd when in menu to game however not 120C etc. (I am running a GTX295 in a smallish case, tho I do have some decent fans inside)..

But yeah good point for others to check :)

[Bad Pilot 0]

Mate of mine's 8800 GTS went titsup playing arma2 a couple of days ago. This heating-up would explain my 8800 GTX fan making noise whilst in Arma2 menus (and nowehere else).

I think this might apply also when I go afk from a sever and come back after a while to find a "session lost"/ "you were kicked" or somesuch message - the fan is rattling around again in the same way as the menu.

I recently installed Kegety's software triplehead and have an incompatibility with Fraps now. I start the game with Fraps. The fps quickly shoots up to 170 or 172 and the display freezes.

[ganjaish 10]

ive had no problems with my 8800 gts no freeze no fan noise strange stuff.

[ProfTournesol 956]

@ datter : launch the game with the "-world=empty" parameter to ease to main menu GPU charge (only water).

[datter 0]

@ datter : launch the game with the "-world=empty" parameter to ease to main menu GPU charge (only water).

I do that already, and this didn't happen at the main menu. I had been playing single player for a good long time with temps in the low 70's. I had to go away from the computer for a bit so I hit escape to pause things and when I came back found the very high temps.

Most of the time temps are a-ok, but it seems that once in awhile something goes weird in the menu screens or something that causes temps to climb ridiculously high and fast.

There is a link to a 3rd party FPS limiter in my sig that's certainly worth using. I can't say for certain if I had it running the night this problem happened to me, but I suspect I didn't. I generally use it as a rule anyway to lock me at a solid, steady 30fps.

[wooly-back-jack 10]

scarey stuff, thanks for the info.. I think highest my 8800GT has got is 60, and that was overlocked.

I don't use rivatuner, I just use the nvidia system tools + speedfan

[dmarkwick 261]

Just for info:

I currently use a 8800GTS and for the first time in my PCs lifetime (5 years) I heard the overheat alarm while playing ArmA2. Now, I have to take the side off the PC and blow a floor fan into it to keep the temps down. Also, I'm getting more & more video corruption. I think ArmA2 is wrecking my card.

[=wfl= sgt bilko 10]

Does this appear if you run vsync at default (as in not forced OFF)?

Seems to me that in menu, GPU is racing beause it's allowed to run as fast as it possibly can without any restrictions (like waiting for data in one end and capping in the other). The default is to let vsync cap to same as refresh rate.

Edit: I see you run the 30fps limiter, does this temperature rise happen with that enabled?

Or maybe the builting vsync cap is not working properly in menu?

Btw, from what I've seen, vsync forced OFF will give you more fps on sections where you normally would be capped by refreshrate. On the sections where system is bogged down by other stuff, the fps will stay as crappy as before. But the combination of the higher fps during what would normally be limited to 60 fps and the low fps will of course give an higher average making you belive that the gain is evenly spread.

Edited July 27, 2009 by =WFL= Sgt Bilko

[Soldier of Anarchy 10]

Just for info:

I currently use a 8800GTS and for the first time in my PCs lifetime (5 years) I heard the overheat alarm while playing ArmA2. Now, I have to take the side off the PC and blow a floor fan into it to keep the temps down. Also, I'm getting more & more video corruption. I think ArmA2 is wrecking my card.

I've been doing just that since FALLOUT 3 killed my last card. I don't mind though, if a house fan will help me play my games better, I'm all for it.

Think they need to make computers with full size box fans as side panels from now on.