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Question

Graphics Card for Windows 7 64 bit

Feb 28, 2016 6:53PM PST

Hello all,

I am running Windows 7 (do not care to upgrade) 64 bit with an I3-3240 processor. I recently purchased a EVGA Geforce GTX-960 4gb card to handle dual monitors, casual gaming and design.

The GTX-960 seemed great at first (ran dual monitors and Tomb Raider with no problem) then I began having issues such as "display driver has stopped working" messages along with crashes where it would restart my PC.

After doing some research, I found some complaints about the 960 and issues running with Win 7.

My question is should I give up on the card and go for another?
If so, any suggestions in the $150-200 range that would fit my needs.

Would it make a difference if I upgraded my processor to an I5?

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Slow down.
Feb 28, 2016 9:06PM PST

Some games and some settings can cause that error message so changing cards may not fix it.

I'd hit the game site or google something like Tomb Raider display driver has stopped working.

I've seen such before and as an example the game did that a lot on 16x AA settings. Fix? drop to 2x.

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Possibility
Feb 29, 2016 4:48AM PST

Thanks for the answer. Actually, the card didn't crash during game play (maybe once), it was during small load tasks like managing photos/web browsing using dual monitors.

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I see the answer below with newer driver.
Feb 29, 2016 8:49AM PST

In the case of GPU drivers we update if we see issues like this. I don't update if I have no issues.

In your case the light load may not be so light. Photoshop does use the GPU and is known to want very current drivers.

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Driver
Feb 29, 2016 10:11AM PST

Thanks, I'll give it a shot.

Do I have to use software to uninstall the old driver first?

Thanks.

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Your choice.
Feb 29, 2016 10:16AM PST

There are some that use driver delete updater apps, but here I follow the maker's instructions. I have to write I rarely see them write to uninstall the prior driver as the new driver does that for us.

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Answer
Gpu
Feb 28, 2016 10:13PM PST

I see a driver at the evga site dated 2-15-16.
Do you have that?

Make and model of the psu?.......read the label on the side of the psu.

Tried this with the cover off?

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Driver
Feb 29, 2016 5:02AM PST

I researched the card cross referenced with Win 7 and many people suggested not to update drivers since compatibility issues with Win 7 seems somewhat common.

I can definitely try the newest update and monitor changes.

PSU is Cooler Master
RS500-PCARD3-US