Hi guys

I've been doing a bunch of research but I don't really know what I'm doing. I finally got a good computer that I can play games on but I'm pretty sure my graphics card needs to be better.

As far as I can tell, my specs right now are...

model: hp-210f
processor: AMD phenom II X4 945 Processor 3.0 GHz
Ram: 8GB
System type: 64 bit operating system
and the graphics card I'm using right now is a Geforce GTX460

I seem to be able to play middle end graphics but I want to run the game on Ultra High with Graphics enhancing Mods. Right now if I run it on high to ultra high with no mods the screen goes black after about ten minutes and I'm assuming it's because my card can't handle it. I want to go all out as far as Oblivion goes.

I read the list of good graphic cards in the FAQ here and to be honest I don't know what I'm looking at. Does anyone know what the best Graphics card is for oblivion and would I be able to put that in my computer? I'll be checking this thread many times tonight in the hopes that one of you knows how to help me. Thanks for reading.


P.S. I downloaded the GOTY deluxe edition off of Steam last night and that's what I've been playing. I doubt this makes a difference but maybe this detail will come in handy.

Um the GTX 460 should be able to max this game fine, did you manually set the settings? How hot is the card getting when you are playing? And what Power Supply Unit do you have?

i thought GTX460 can play crysis andstuff on high O_o. hm.

QFT ^

While not at the very top of the Geforce 4n0 generation's performance ladder, this is a five year old game now, and its requirements are no longer so very high compared to newer hardware and newer games. Why not visit the "Tweaks Guides" and look up Oblivion there?

I've checked after each "blackout" to see if it was hot and it doesn't seem to be. Maybe a little warm but certainly not hot at all. my power supply box says...

Antec earthwatts 650 watt
atx 12v
eps12v
100v~240v
active pfc 99%
3+12v rails
6=2 pci-e connector
6 x sata connectors

I have no idea what most of that means...

Thanks, I will do that for sure, but umm...

So, you're saying that most likely my graphics card should be good enough to go all out. If that's true then there is a different reason why my screen goes black on higher settings? It only takes a few minutes for it to die on me and then I've got to restart my computer. It only happens when I play oblivion and only on settings higher than medium that I've found but, like I said, I JUST got it the computer and the game last night and I don't know it's abilities yet.

oh... also, I am up to date with all the drivers for the graphics card as far as I can tell.

Have you been overclocking the card? Also post the temps of the card. The card will be able to max the game, but this really sounds like an overheating issue.

I wouldn't know how to overclock a card, I haven't messed with any of it's settings but perhaps when they installed it they set it to overclock? I don't know the temperature of my card. Is there an internal temp guage for that kind of thing? I'd post it if you told me how. Like I said before, my computer doesn't feel hot when this occurs but maybe it's harder for me to detect then I think.

It would most likely tell you in the Nvidia Control Panel (ATI does it, but its been years since I have used an Nvidia GPU). Or you can download http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1907/TechPowerUp_GPU-Z_v0.4.9.html and it will tell you everything you need to know about the card.

ok, I just downloaded this and it says my cards at 52-54 degrees right now as I'm typing this. I'll run oblivion on the highest settings for a few minutes and see what the temp is then. BRB.

Ok, it looks like my heat went up to about 78 degrees after a couple of minutes. under fan it says the speed is 56 but the RPM's show 0. is this my problem?

now it's at 81 degrees. my fan says it's quiet but I don't hear anything and the program you had me download still shows 0 rpms on the fan.


P.S. it froze just after I typed that last sentence.

After only a couple minutes it goes up to 78, thats pretty hot, the fan is spinning, possibly a bad driver for detecting the RPMs.

As to the blackouts, the card is probably hitting well over 85C and then shutting down. Just to test this theory out, set the fan speed to 100% and play the game, if it plays longer then usual then its definitely an overheating issue. (Yes it will be pretty loud, but just to test this out)

Ok, I'll try to set the fan speed. I don't mind the noise, I just want to play. Maybe if I find a way to update the fan's drivers it'll recognize that it needs to spin faster? I'll be right back.

ummm... any tips on how to set the fan speed? I'm still looking for a way.

Assuming the rest of your system is up to par ... yours looks fine ... an nVidia 460 should be more than adequate. I've ran Oblivion on two systems, one with an nVidia 260 core 216, the other housing an nVidia GTX470. Even the 260 let me run at Ultra High, though I had to be careful about adding graphics-enhancing mods and suffered some noticeable lag and stutters in Cyrodiils more congested areas. The GTX470 is superior, letting me run stuff like RAEWVD without undue performance degradation.

Sadly, the 400-series does run hot. Yours seems to run hotter than normal, but not by a lot. Still, you might want to try the old trick of removing the computer case door and positioning a house-fan so that it blows air directly into the case. See if that stops the black-screens or at least lets you play longer before going black. It's not a solution, but'll help determine if the issue IS heat related.

Also, you mention that your monitoring utilities report conflicting results as to whether the GPU fan is spinning or not. Have you physically looked at the graphics card (case door off) to see if it is? You might want to do so. Better safe than sorry.

Did you connect any required supplementary power cables to the card?

-Decrepit-

I didn't put it together so I'm not sure about the supplimentary cables. I haven't actually opened up the case yet to see if the fan is truelly spinning. I need to do that before I gripe to anyone. I have run a couple tests though. The first was on the absolute lowest setting and it looked like crap but it didn't die of heat. The second one I ran at max everything and it lasted less than two minutes before it hit 100 degrees and went to black screen. I'm now SURE that it's a heating issue. I still don't know why it's happening but I'm going to go to the shop tomorrow and have them fix it and if they can't then I'm going to see about getting a Radeon hd 5850 even though it's more expensive I haven't heard of anyone complaining about it overheating all the time like I have with the nvidia cards from the 400 series.

Does anyone use the Radeon hd 5850? Anyone have any gripes or praises about it?

Well i use ATI Radeon 3200 Graphics (1.4k hyper memory) and i can run ultra high fine with hours and hours of gameplay without over heating.

I also use 32-bit Windows 7 professional 3GB RAM and a 2.1 GHZ processor (although its rated performance is 3.36 because i have a dual core.). So pretty much the hd 5850 should work considering my 3200 does perfectly.

Do you think the 5850 is overkill? It IS a bit more expensive than the 460 I've got, although at least it would work. I've heard stories about people getting three different replacements for the gtx460 and having the same heating issues leading to the black screen of death. I don't want to go through that BS. I want to play soooo bad! This is the first time i've had a computer capable of playing oblivion and I've been an addict on the xbox360 for the last four years. 54+ days of gametime over 9 characters. I NEED TO PLAY WITH MODS NOW!

The GTX 460 should be maxing this game and is a stellar card in its own right. The Radeon 5850 is a bit faster than it if it needs to be exchanged for another replacement. Your temperatures for the card at load is not that far above what's expected:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-460-gf104-fermi,2684-13.html

I feel there's something else going on here. Perhaps the auxiliary PCI-E connector cable wasn't attached to the card? Simply opening the case to check it is not something difficult to do....it's a cable connection to the card either on the side or top of the card like shown with the red card in this picture:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/gtx%20460%20pci-e%20connection/adrian5606/new_layout.jpg

Actually TIG his is getting hotter in the last update since he has been checking temps he says :

So looks like a definite heating problem -- since you bought it assembled take it back and have them fix it or replace it !

Is it possible that you are getting hit by the Nvidia black screen bug? I would think newer cards wouldn't have this issue, but nothing is impossible I guess.

There is a partial fix: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11167

Ah....looks like I totally missed that part of the post. That's definitely overheating for the card then.

I just want to say thanks to everyone that helped me here. I should've said it earlier but I was busy/crazy excited playing this epic game. As it turns out it was an overheating problem. Once I opened the case (just before I felt stupid for not opening it in the first place) I noticed that a wire was hanging low and had blocked the graphics card fan from spinning. That's why it said that it was working but the RPMs were at 0. SO I've been enjoying it for a week now and I just want to say thanks.