I only have DX9 installed...How could there be something wrong with the card when it will play other games for ever?..All drivers are up to date...Someone said something about defragging..I have Perfectdisk from Raxco and defragg at least once a day..I have three different registry cleaners...I have a program that turns off all non needed services and another that turns of all the process's that arnet needed to run..I have another that lts me chooze what programs to start at bootup..I turn everything in the task bar off..

I really love all you guys for trying to help me but I'm frustrated with it and am not going to mess with it for awhile.....:damn:

when you inslalled the game did you let everything install?
 

That's cool Clay... sometimes ya just gotta walk away for awhile... ;)

A better way to test for over-heat is run the game with the case opened and see if you get more time before it dies. Stuck loops in the sound card is no sure indication the game is still running without error in the background. If you cannot task switch back to the desktop when the video goes nuts, it's an indication the game is indeed borked behind the scenes. Even if the game is still running as you believe, an over-heated vid card could do what you observe.

What happens when you turn all of SH4's video options down to minimum. Do you get a few more minutes of play?

Just because "other" games run fine doesn't mean SH is directly causing the problem. Your other games may be less intensive. If it's a heat issue you're experiencing, SH4 may indeed be the little extra workload it takes to push your machine over the edge. I have a strong system with lots of cooling. All my fans start to whine as they spool up to handle SH4's extra workload. The only other game which does that on my system is Flight Simulator.

Defragging on a daily basis is over-rated and may cause your HD to wear out prematurely. Once your game files are installed, they keep using the same file space they did when they were 1st copied unless you over-write them with new files. If you are using Windows default cache, you cannot defrag that anyway, not completely, even with programs that claim they do.

Since your fault is time-related, this strongly points to a hardware failure.

ASUS and XP do fine with 4 gigs RAM but it has to be the correct RAM.
-Pv-

Here is a good way to test your video card whether it is overheating.

You will need the nVidia monitor (or a comparable program) to watch your GPU temperatures.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/sysutility.html

You quite possibly already have this utility. Try going into your Start Menu, All Programs, nVidia Corporation, in there I have an entry called nVidia Monitor. Start this program up.

You should get a window up that should offer you three categories: Performance, Bus speeds, Voltages. We will ignore these, but on the bottom right there is an arrow ->. Click on this and a new window pops up underneath it. It should now have graphs showing your Temperatures. We are primarily interested in the GPU temps here, but all of them are worth monitoring.

Your Geforce 8800 Ultra is a hot card...both in performance and in temps. I have an 8800GTX that is clocked to the same speeds your card is. Idling at your windows desktop my GPU reads at 74*C, it is 23*C in my room. From what I read, an 8800 is safe up to 100*C, possibly higher. Of course if you are hitting 100*C already without doing anything then you have a problem. My card typically does not exceed 90*C.

Now go to this website:

http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/rthdribl/

You can do some reading here, but you will want to download the program rthdribl.exe. The link to download is near the bottom of the page. The program is approximately 20MB.

This handy little utility is a great way to do some stressing on your video card. Once it is downloaded, extract it into a folder. Before we run it, we have a couple steps to do first.

In this new folder you should see a folder called media, and 4 files (readme, rthdribl, and two .ini configuration files. Open rthdribl.ini into notepad.

Now depending on your screen, you want to run this program in a window so you can watch your GPU temps as the program runs. Set the Fullscreen option to No.
Below this, set your WindowModeSize to one setting below your desktop resolution. Foe example, if my screen runs at 1280x1024 on my desktop, I will set the WindowModeSize to 1024 768.

*Note that on your video card, this low of resolutions does very little to stress your card...the 8800's are designed to perform at 1920x1200 and above. Running an 8800 at 1280x1024 is like having a big diesel truck to pull your 2000lb tent trailer....the 8800 is currently limited by the size of your screen and the speed of your CPU (I run ALL my games at 2560x1600, including Call of Duty, Medal of Honor Airborne, Crysis demo, Supreme Commander, Silent Hunter 4, Copany of Heroes, Timeshift....you get the idea.)

Here is what mine looks like:
Fullscreen No
WindowModeSize 1920 1200 <-- yours may be different
FullscreenSize 2560 1600 <-- yours may be different
Model knot.pvi <-- yours may be different
LightEnvMap grace.lem <-- yours may be different
GlareType 1
SoftGlare Yes
Halo Yes
DepthOfField 3
MultiSampleType 3
AutoGlare Yes
AutoMaterial Yes
AutoLightEnvMap Yes

My Model and LightEnvMap may be different from yours, as is my WindowModeSize and FullscreenSize.

Once you have edited your file, then save and close it. You are now ready to run the program. Double click the rthdribl program. Now a window should pop up showing a graphic (probably a bunch of spheres) and you are panning around. Now you want to start watching your GPU temps. If you cant see your GPU temp just click it so it sits above that window. Your GPU should climb in temp fairly quickly then start leveling off. Watch that this does not exceed 100*C. I will state here that you might want to ask your video card manufacturer what the safe temp on your card really is....my personal opinion is 100*C is as hot as I want to go. If your GPU temps hit 100*C you might want to stop that program, at which point your GPU should return to normal temps again.

If your temps remain reasonable, you can click on Options, Multisample. Mine defaults to 4x, but if your temps are ok, try setting it higher, right up to 16x. This will load your video card a lot more, and your framerates may drop. You may want to make sure there are checkmarks beside Fresnel Effect, Fill inside Transparent Model, and Detail Maps.

What you are looking for:

The image ideally should not stutter. Tiny tiny pauses may be evident, but it should not be like a slideshow.
The image should not artifact. Artifacting is when you get odd graphical glitches in random locations, such as odd-shaped color changes that are not part of the picture...I'm sure I could have explained that better somehow.
You may hear the fan on your video card (and maybe your CPU) spool up to help keep the card cooler.
Let this image play for a while, as long as it plays normally. An hour, two, even longer. Definitely longer than a few minutes anyways. Problems with your video card may not become evident until this runs for a while.

I have noted that on my computer when I run this program windowed at 1600x1200, my temps raise to very close to what SH4 runs at at 2560x1600 (a degree apart, SH4 is at max graphical settings). I have also noted that running this program at 1024x768 does not raise my temps near as much as raising it to 1920x1200. Ideally you want this program to run at the same or higher resolution than you run SH4 at.

If this program causes artifacting or other graphical oddities, your computer reboots, BSOD or anything like this, then it is likely you have a problem with your video card. If your computer runs this program normally....then it means nothing! If your temps climb too high it means you have poor airflow or bad GPU fan or otherwise defective card.

Misc notes: on the nVidia monitor, you may or may not see various graphs or readouts depending if you have an nVidia-based motherboard or not. GPU temp will work in any case, for any modern nVidia video card.
CPU temp is relatively accurate, but only reflects tCase temps, measured between your CPU cores at the heatspreader on your CPU. Your core temps will be 10-15*C higher, use Core Temp 0.95.4 to get ACCURATE temps of your CPU cores. Your temps should never exceed 60*C according to nVidia monitor, or 75*C according to Core Temp. These are semi-safe maximums, but does depend on your CPU's tJunctionMax, which is determined by your CPU's TDP (max wattage your CPU achieves). Core Temp does not work on Pentium 4 or Pentium D CPU's. Core Temp measures the digital readout directly from the CPU itself. nVidia monitor reads the temps the same way your BIOS reads them...from a sensor in the CPU that leads to a separate chip on your motherboard that is calibrated specific to that motherboard for that particular CPU... which basically leaves more margin of error. The latest version of Core Temp at this time is 0.95.4 Beta. It is known to have issues on certain Gigabyte boards, and possibly Intel 965 chipsets.

ClayP - I totally understand why its frustrating to the point of needing a break. As to your question "how could it be the card" - a reasonable question to be sure. Remember that every game taxes your computer differently. Not every game is going to stress the card - in fact - SH4 happens to be one of the more graphically taxing apps out - even as "old" as it is. Run something like ROW - especially with PPE and fog - and your REALLY stressing the card.

All I can suggest is take the time away from the issue - then come back when your ready. In the meantime - keep visiting so we can get you bit by the bug again! Enjoy!

Just to add...ClayP shows above he is running Windows XP. There is NO SUCH THING as DirectX 10 for Windows XP. His video card is DirectX 10 compatible, but his operating system is not, and SH4 does not require DX10 at all to run, which is why it runs in Windows XP.
Some new games (Crysis for example) can run in both DX9 and DX10, but in XP it ONLY runs in DX9 mode no matter your video card, or in Vista it runs in DX10 mode, if your hardware is also DX10 compatible (like a GeForce 8xxx video card).

Also agree with CaptainHaplo...Silent Hunter 4 single-handedly burnt out (overheated) TWO Geforce Go 6800 Ultra's in my laptop!!!

3DMark and PCMark are another programs to stress test your graphics system far more than typical games can:
http://www.futuremark.com/products/

-Pv-

You could DL Nhancer and run in the background. It seems to solve a lot of problems with SH4, Vista and Nvidia. Worked for my video glitch.

I like the way you can control AA and AF when you need it with this program and not effect other settings for other games.

http://www.nhancer.com/

And another good tool for video card testing is ATITool.

http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

This tool is designed for overclocking, and works on nVidia cards as well (even tho its ATI tool). Show 3D View will start the test, and the program also shows your video card temp at the same time. Scan for artifacts doesn't seem to heat up the card quite as much, but cycles between heat generation and artifact scanning.

This tool does not seem to be resolution dependant, and did heat up my card as much as running rthdribl.exe at high resolution with maximum multisampling.

You can use the tool to test, without overclocking your video card.

Leo I did not say no to anything...

I may mess with it this afternoon one last time...

sorry to hear that didn't help you out
 

I wish I did also Leo,if nothing else just to pal around...I dont belive there is any better video card made then the one I have...:cool:

true now that I look back you do have a good card