Ever Worried A Game Will blow your System?

Darkspire · August 25, 2013, 06:02:05 AM

I have Titan Quest gold, installed it last year and really enjoyed it, problem was I am 90% sure it was the main reason my GFX card blew up, I monitored the heat and GPU usage while it was running and did note it was quite excessive but never expected the card to blow, as I have built another PC with a better card and more system memory since then I have been sitting here looking at the box every now and again when I read of an update to Grim Dawn and wondering whether to take the chance, anyone else have this happen to them?

Darkspire

Staggerwing · August 25, 2013, 06:16:10 AM

When I first tried playing Minecraft I would be fine for an hour or so and then my comp would BSoD or just flake out and the fans would crank like mofos. I actually stopped playing because of that, as I did read others's stories of fried gfx cards and ma boards.

ross_ntu · August 25, 2013, 06:17:24 AM

I am not an expert but I would not have thought that any game, running on a system where the hardware has not been tweaked ie overclocking etc, could damage a system. You would surely just get massive slowdown if the graphics card was struggling.

Darkspire · August 25, 2013, 07:02:47 AM

Quote from: ross_ntu on August 25, 2013, 06:17:24 AM
I am not an expert but I would not have thought that any game, running on a system where the hardware has not been tweaked ie overclocking etc, could damage a system. You would surely just get massive slowdown if the graphics card was struggling.

Not all the time, it is obvious when you look at a games specs whether you can run it comfortably, as is the case with Minecraft that Staggerwing mentioned and with TQ for me, they run fine and do not give any impression there is a problem until you either have the system reboot or 'look under the hood' as I do and monitor the usage , I was well beyond what was needed for the basic specs for TQ, it is just with some games they are very processor / system / GFX intensive, another one that springs to mind is X3 Reunion, specs for that are fairly straight forward but even on a machine years later it still is a good bench mark program due to the system usage.

Darkspire

Nefaro · August 25, 2013, 10:43:35 AM

I've not had one fry yet, but there have certainly been a handful of games that tend to heat up my video card more than they should.

It's just a question of optimization. There are probably some effects that aren't playing well with our vid drivers, but the gfx still manage to get displayed at the cost of such added side effects. Sometimes new video card drivers address this, and that seems to have been the trend with my current video card. After it has matured awhile, I hear less of it heating up and blasting the fan at crazy speeds trying to keep up. It was worse when it was a newer model. Yet some games likely never get fixed. Minecraft is probably a good example.. it tends to run hotter on some, especially considering the graphics quality.

Huw the Poo · August 25, 2013, 11:38:42 AM

Reminds me of this classic Old Man Murray review. This is a MUST-READ if you haven't already seen it.

Silent Disapproval Robot · August 25, 2013, 12:53:15 PM

Dirt 3 causes my CPU to overheat and freeze up my PC so no Dirt 3 racing for me.

RooksBailey · August 25, 2013, 02:29:41 PM

Quote from: Huw the Poo on August 25, 2013, 11:38:42 AM
Reminds me of this classic Old Man Murray review. This is a MUST-READ if you haven't already seen it.

That was hilarious! ;D

JasonPratt · August 26, 2013, 04:32:00 PM

^^ I swore off OMM years ago because as much as I loved the satire it was interfering with my ability to edit a friend's work. Still, nice to see them reffed. :)

(On topic, I paid for Falcon Northwest equipment on my past three computers, so I'm never worried about whether a game will blow my system. ;) )

Nefaro · August 27, 2013, 02:59:58 AM

While I don't think it's in heat overload territory, I've noticed that Expeditions: Conquistador runs hotter than most games on my notebook.

I think these issues most often happen with indie games using their own, or a modified, 3D engine.

republic · August 28, 2013, 06:06:26 PM

I've heard of this. There are occasions where a game leads to a 'runaway' system. Instead of rendering something at a reasonable refresh rate a game will render something simple as fast as the GPU will go, possibly thousands of frames per second.

If I remember right, Star Trek Online did this in the beginning, if I waited at the login screen too long my GPU temps would spike higher than it ever would in an actual game. Eve Online with the old graphics engine would do that in a station, though not as bad as Star Trek.

Nefaro · August 28, 2013, 06:34:54 PM

Quote from: republic on August 28, 2013, 06:06:26 PM

If I remember right, Star Trek Online did this in the beginning, if I waited at the login screen too long my GPU temps would spike higher than it ever would in an actual game. Eve Online with the old graphics engine would do that in a station, though not as bad as Star Trek.

Yeah. I recall STO doing this quite a bit too. I've not played in awhile, but it still seemed to run hotter than I'd expect.

Blake7 · August 28, 2013, 09:26:56 PM

Your videocard probably blew up due to capacitors plaque. This occurred on my parents vidcard a few years ago. If you heard audible pops then the capacitors blew. I've played Titan Quest for many years with no issues.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Cheers,

Blake

GDS_Starfury · August 29, 2013, 12:45:44 AM

Im one of those people that keeps most of the case off the frame to better the cooling.
so there I was playing whatever it was that I was playing that I hear a metallic spring noise and get hit in the forehead with a piece of metal. as I turn to look at the inside of the pc I got to watch a 7oz orb cpu heatsink drop off its mount and take out the video card.
more recently I was dealing with a lot of reboots and startup issues. I took the video card of and clean out 2 years of whatever that dust is called and havent had a problem since.

Nefaro · August 29, 2013, 02:04:20 AM

LOL!

I once updated the Logitech mouse software, years ago, and when the Logitech program restarted into the system tray.. a nice big ZAP, flash of light, and smoke shot from the rear USB port of my computer. Where the mouse was plugged into. I managed to shut it off pretty quickly.

Luckily that was a hardy 'ole MSI motherboard, so it kept on like nothing happened. Had to start it back up in safe mode to remove the new mouse driver before loading windows up again, though. ;D

I've been lightly electrocuted a couple times, working on PCs, but nothing big. Except once long long ago when I didn't properly ground myself. In the winter, even. Sad thing was that it was my roommates' computer, and he had the side panel off to show me his new vid card or something. I reached in close to point at something and the goddamn power supply arced straight through the air into my finger! His power supply blew up. :'( Luckily I wasn't crisped.