Hiya,
I have a MSI Radeon 9250 Graphics Card with the latest MSI Drivers and whenever I try to play any 3D game, the onscreen image crashes and I get the MSI VPU Recovery message. I'm wondering if this probably means that my video card is conked or if there is a way to fix it. It worked fine a few months ago, but I reformatted about 3 months ago and haven't played a game since then.

Thanks

It sounds like typical heat related issues. Are you overlclocking? Are your temps okay? Try blasting a desk fan in there. Have you added any other hardware? Does you PSU meet demands?

If you disable VPU recovery does it still crash?

I'm not overclocking, haven't added other hardware and my PSU is fine. However, I have tried blasting it with a desktop fan whilst playing games and it is absolutely fine so it was a heat related issue. I will buy some PC fans because I currently only have a CPU fan in the PC, can you recommend any particular type of fan? Would a case fan just do?

You mean the only fan drawing air out of the case is through the PSU? I am surprised your case did not come with even one case fan. Although it does contribute to front to back air flow, typically the PSU fan is designed to remove the PSU heat only.

Your goal is to achieve good front to back air flow, therefore, I prefer to have one fan in front drawing cool air in, and at least one fan in the rear, pulling hot air out.

You need to inspect your case to see what it supports. Rear support should be easy to determine. Front support, if your case supports it, is a little more difficult as it may be in front of the drives (behind the front panel - so you may have to remove the drives ), or some cases support a fan mounted on the drive cage, behind the drives so the fan draws air from the front across the drives, then through the fan towards the rear of the case. The latter is how the popular Antec Sonata is setup.

The old standard is 80mm case fan support, as measured across the box width (about 71mm from mount hole to mount hole). Better and newer cases support 120mm fans (or bigger). If yours supports 120mm fans use them. They move massive amounts of air, but at a much lower RPM - resulting in much quieter operation.

There are many good fan makers - Antec, Papst, Panaflo/NMB, Vantec Stealth, Cooler Master, Enermax are a few (I use a lot of Panaflo/NMB and Vantec). Better fans will list their dB (noise) levels, CFM (cubic feet/minute) specifications, and bearing type. Better fans use precision ball bearing or fluid bearings. Avoid sleeve bearings - if no bearing type is listed, assume it is of poor quality. The better the bearing, the fewer vibrations and that results in much less noise reverberating through the case, and longer bearing life.

As a general rule, the higher the CFM and RPM ratings, the higher the dB rating will be. That's inevitable. But the better fans can keep a fairly low noise level, and still move considerable amounts of air. Higher RPM may not mean higher CFM - as that is also a factor of blade pitch and shape. So you need to find a medium for your situation.

If your case supports multiple fans, weigh noise levels over CFM since you can compensate with more fans. If your case only supports one case fan in back, as, sadly, is often the case, then you need to concentrate on CFM. But if you are in that situation, I would use that as an excuse to get a new case.

Most better fans will also come with necessary power adapters. Some fans(even good ones) come with no connector at all!

When inspecting your case, look for power options. Your motherboard probably supports 1 case fan. However, the BIOS is probably setup for typical 80mm RPM settings - this means if you install a slower 120mm, your BIOS may yell at you reporting low fan speed. Disable monitoring or adjust alarm threshold as necessary.

Inspect your PSU for spare 12V (4-pin Molex) connectors. Splitters may be necessary. Some PSUs have power connectors designed for fan support - these are usually speed controlled. I have found they often slow down the fans too much, allowing internal heat to rise too much. You just have to try and see.

Do make sure you keep the internals of your case clean of heat trapping dust and dirt. And I recommend replacing all flat ribbon drive cables (including floppy) with round cables. Round cables come in various lengths and colors. This allows you to get a more appropriate length and colors make it great for tracing with troubleshooting/maintenance - but most importantly, the round cables do not act as huge air dams blocking desired front to back air flow.

Many fans come with fancy lights. I avoid fancy lights. They do nothing for performance, draw some power, add some heat, and do nothing for performance (worth repeating). And besides, I tend to watch my monitors and prefer the PC to sit quietly and discreetly off to the side.

So, I either cleared that up, or added to the confusion. I hope it helped.

No that really helped, thanks for detailed explanation. I'm pretty clued up and know my basics for most things, but how to effectively cool a system is something I've never learnt or thought about before. My case didn't come with a fan and I never had any trouble previously. My case supports two fans at the rear and one fan at the top of the case, so it seems like I should be able to effectively cool it with two or three decent fans. I'll have a look around and order some online.

You're welcome.

Top case fans seem to be making a come back. Several years ago, I used to modify cases by cutting a "blow holes" in the tops of the cases. Since heat rises, they work quite well at removing heat. But, depending on where your PC sits, even with quiet fans, they tend to be noticeable.

also, remember to clean your case from all the dust it may accumulate over time. this will effectively improve cooling. may i ask what games you play when you say 3d games?

The case is clean. Far Cry, Driv3r, etc.

Hi,

I have a radeon x1650 512mb brand new and it crashed the vpu everytime i played a game, even non demanding ones like World of warcraft.

It turned out that there is a compatibility issue between ATI and ASROCK motherboards.

That was the board i had previously.

Also Have you though about reverting back to your old drivers to see if that helps?

Other than that, digerati has said it all.

I bought four Antec case fans with Dual Ball Bearings last night and I'm going to see how I go on when they arrive.

I actually examined my case last night and it turns out I have room for 5 case fans, 2 at the back, 2 at the front and 1 on top so I'm spoilt for choice