Hi guys, sorry I haven't replied in a while I just haven't had a chance to test it. Though I do remember battlefield crashing due to my hdd powering its self off. I'm going to give this a try and see what happens. Though saying that I have also noticed there has been a game update so this could have fixed it too! who knows?
So test time.
I built a brand new PC for my son for him to be able to play the latest PC games without struggling with slow gfx and bottlenecks. Gigabyte Mobo, i3-6100, 2x8GB DDR4 2000Mhz, Gigabyte ATI R7 360 GDDR5 2GB RAM, 1TB Seagate HDD (might buy an SSHD/SSD to reduce the added heat that the current HDD is creating maxes out at 44 °C (111.2 °F) inside the case), 550W CORSAIR PSU.
Fresh install of Win 8.1 from DVD fresh install of Radeon Catalyst 16.2. Disabled all unnecessary software and startup programs.
SWBF installed from the DVD crashed as well as after all the online s/w updates, shortcut tweaks, switching off Origin and all the suggestions on the 8 pages here in this thread. I've underclocked the ATI R7 360 card from its base 1625 MHz to 1000, then 900, then 800 MHz and GPU clock down -4.1% and Power Limit -10%. (Games still runs very really well despite this reduction) and set fan speed at 100% continuous. No screen savers, no HDD power downs, PC is fully on constantly no green modes...
It still froze after 20 odd minutes with that annoying DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED and telling me to install the latest driver - duh.
So I decided it's time to install a hardware monitor that logs what each PC component is doing, RPM, Temp, Clock Speed etc and moved it to a 2nd screen so I could watch it whilst playing the game. After 2 days I can state that this error (similar to screenshot here: http://i.imgur.com/Dc1QdUo.png ) is due an overheating GPU. When it reaches 83,0 °C (181,4 °F) there is a "failsafe" that switches it off (Disconnects, physically removes the hardware?) at that temperature. Oddly going to task manager I can stop SWBF, and watch the GPU temp fall back about 39 °C and stay there...
When my son plays SWBF on the training maps specifically HOTH hero missions you can see the temp slowly climb on the GPU and every time at 83,0 °C it hangs with the popup error message. The ambient room temperature is around 24,0 °C when this happens. When playing other games like COD, Battlefield, GRAW, Crysis the R7 360 never reaches the temperatures that SWBF does, and they run without crashing. SWBF computationally is intense on the GFX card. I will disable graphic features of SWBF and see if it takes a lesser toll on the card... but cooling seems to be the answer. Where I live we are having a very hot summer right now (southern hemisphere).
I am going tomorrow to purchase two more case fans and install them and then I am going to see if I can get a free standing room air-conditioner that drops the room temperature by 5 or so degrees and see if that is enough to cool the GPU. Last resort is to get some water based cooling system or place the PC in a bar fridge! 😃
Hey Magnum,
A very different issue to ours which seemed to be drivers on the Nvidia cards.
Due to rising heat I recommend having the fan pull the heat away from the card rather than through it.
Here is a handy guide to see you along your way.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id-1858957/airflow-101-setting-fans-keeping-computer-cool.html
More fans is not better. Just the right amount and the right orientation can make all the difference.
Also, try and get some software to get those fans running up earlier than required. This will help stop that climb from getting out of control.
