Freezing and crashing in HL2 Deathmatch

[Ruggerbugger]

Not sure if this is a "help" problem or not, but when playing HL2 Deathmatch the game periodically freezes, before crashing to a blank blue screen. If I exit quick enough I can get back to Windows. Checking my ASUS Probe gives me 55 degrees for the CPU and 32 degrees for the motherboard. I can't get a GPU temp as my 9800 pro doesn't support that. I've noticed that Steam takes ages to start after a boot as well. Can anyone suggest where the problem might be?

[SourceQuench]

Perhaps your HL2 install got corrupted somehow?

[Blackmage]

what mobo are you using?

[Ruggerbugger]

ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe.

Those temps are exceptional for my system, so I'm leaning towards heat as the problem. I'm going to try a long test tomorrow now that it's cooled down a bit. I've also dropped the resolution from 1600x1200 to 1280x1024, it was probably stressing the card a bit in this heat.

[Golden Dragoon]

Sounds like it will likely be a heat issue with the graphics card, I had terrible problems with my old R9800 pro and overheating, the stock heatsink is almost useless and I wouldn't even put it on a budget card, try to get yourself a replacement hsf, it will net you far more stability and give you peice of mind,.
If you have the room I sugest an Arctic Silencer, or Zalman VF-700-Cu or the newer and prob better VF900-Cu. The good thing about the zalmans is you can keep them and use them on your next card as well, whereas the arctic silencer is pretty much for 9800's only.

I personaly use a clone of the VF-700-Cu from Pc Cooler which I picked up for about £10 a while back, according to my IR thermomerter it took the temps at load down from 93C to 56C, and as I have it on a 6600GT now has taken the temps of that down from 72C (built in sensor) to 46C (built in sensor)

[Ruggerbugger]

Thanks for that. Just been playing for a while with no issues. My 9800Pro is well out of warranty now, so I probably will consider a Zalman. I've got loads of room in my case, so size isn't an issue at all. My priority for the next couple of months is renting a flat, so the GFX card may have to take a back seat

Checking ASUS Probe shows a peak CPU (in game) of about 58 and mobo of about 30. Seeing as the outside temp today is much lower I'd say we have a simple heat problem here. Are there any sheap but relatively effective ways of checking the GPU temperature I could try?

[nvening]

Steam and it games are badly effected by bad memory.