# screen flickering while playing games



## sam1_2007 (Dec 1, 2007)

hi all, i'm having this strange problem of the screen flickering like anything when playing games (initially; it stops after a while into the game). actually this started happening when i started using the new nvidia drivers (178.xx onwards). there is absolutely no prob when using drivers previous to that version. i'm using 2 8600GT cards in SLI. when i use SLI split frame rendering, only the lower half of the screen flickers. what is more annoying is - when i use a screen capture s/w (both still and video), the effect doesn't show. had it been a problem with the monitor, the full screen would flicker, even when i used split frame rendering, right? if anyone can help me out here, i'll be really grateful.
my complete configuration is as follows -
proc - c2duo e8400 (3GHz)
ram - 1 x 2GB ddr2 (800MHz)
m/b - xfx 680i lt sli
graphics - 2 XFX geforce 8600GT with 512 MB ddr2 mem. each
hdd - 320GB WD SATA + 500 GB Seagate SATA
dvd writer - samsung
monitor - 15' lg crt samsung
smps - zebronix 500W


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

upgrade your power supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&Tpk=corsair+750w


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## sam1_2007 (Dec 1, 2007)

i'm not saying it's not a PSU problem, but could you tell me why the problem goes away when i switch to windowed mode? or after the game has been playing for sometime? moreover, the problem seems to occur only with the newer drivers. there was absolutely no prob earlier.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

switch back to the older drivers


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## sam1_2007 (Dec 1, 2007)

i could. but i don't get the frame rates i get with the new drivers. plz don't get me wrong - i just need to be sure it's the psu and not anything else that's causing the problem. plugged the output to a tv yesterday - ran smoothly. i don't know how to get rid of this weird problem


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

When you run games in fullscreen mode, they use more power. This puts extra stress on the PSU, causing lag, overheating and crashes. Games that are run in windowed mode don't have this problem.

Try running a fullscreen game with just one of your graphics card installed to reduce the computer's power requirements. The card will be using less amps on the PSU's +12V line, so if it runs ok, this is a good sign that the 500W PSU is too weak.


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