Issues with Nvidia 9800 GX2 and Cinema :(

[Kuroyume0161]

Could be that the drivers aren't up to snuff with this card yet. Or that the card has conflicts with OpenGL and C4D (it is a rather recent card, right?). Or it could be that your power supply isn't sufficient enough or the system isn't being cooled enough. I opt for the later because locking and rebooting systems after adding hardware are usually a sign of insufficient system power or cooling.

Do you have a temperature monitor on your system? And what is your power supply wattage?

[Tysus]

Do you have a temperature monitor on your system? And what is your power supply wattage?

Hey Kuroyume, thanks for the reply.

Actually, the bloody thing just locked up during 'Software Shading' so I stand corrected.

My PSU is 1000watts so I can't imagine that's the problem.

The system is overclocked, but I've done 24 hour tests with Ortho's yielding zero errors. I just upped the voltage to 1.525volts, but I don't see this being an issue. I don't really want to go any higher than that because the thermal threshold of the chip is 70c and I'm reaching that during renders.

Oddly, I seem to get a lot of lock-ups when using Internet Explorer while rendering, but I can't imagine there's a relationship.

It's a bit frustrating not being to solve this; Cinema has been running error free for me for years!

Looks like I might have to call support for the first time.

[Kuroyume0161]

Overclocking is a good point of reference. ;)

Your power supply sounds sufficient (if not overkill). :)

Did the problems start after installing the new card or was there something else done just before the problems began?

It is also notable that the latest Nvidia drivers aren't always the best - sometimes a few back is more stable. But that is after determining other possible causes.

[philhoole]

I would have guessed the power supply as well.

It might be worth downloading memtest and boot from the disk it creates just to be 100% sure that you RAM is OK. I've had a bad stick of Ram before that didn't cause a problem during normal desktop operations but would crash the system once it was worked harder. Memtest showed this up.

I would suggest that you try running the system at stock speeds too which should eliminate a driver issue. Isn't 1.525 Volts quite high for a modern CPU which are normally around 1.3V ?

One other thing - I don't believe the GX2 really gives you any better viewport performance than a similar card with just a single processor. It may well give big gains for games but I didn't think it did anything for OpenGL in Cinema.

[Zmurowski]

I think it's more than just the graphic card since it freezes when you render - and that's the part the Graphic Card doesn't take part in.

[Tysus]

Thanks for all the replies.

I run memtest about once every few months during clean-up and, yap, the problem did start after I installed the video card.

I seem to have sorted the problem out though. I've had 10 successful renders of the file after adjusting my CPU voltage to 1.525 volts.

This is odd given the fact that the system was completely stable, just a week ago, with < 1.5v. I can't imagine the card is sucking power away from the CPU as the voltage is regulated through the BIOS, but who knows.

I'll chalk it up to one of those 'things that makes you hmmmm'.

Anyway, thanks again guys.

[fluffouille]

My guess would be overheating.
Overclocked system, high voltage, new graphic card that might be running hotter, computer locking up when multiprocessing, and so on...

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