Upgrade to GTX 980Ti - COH2 crashes PC

I have been running COH2 on an Asus GTX 680 since the game was released and had no problems. I just upgraded to an Asus GTX 980Ti Strix and now the game crashes every time. Same driver, no change in graphics settings, and as soon as I run the performance test and the SU-76 gets hit, my PC hard crashes and reboots. I tried setting all the graphics options to their lowest settings, got the same result. Removed the nVidia driver and let Windows 10 x64 install its own driver (dated July 2015), same result. Installed 3 different versions of the nVidia driver, same result with each one. Installed the Asus version of the driver, same result. I put the 680 back in and the game runs perfectly, no crashes. I ran the graphics performance test in COH1 and it ran perfectly, no crashes. This leads me to conclude that there is an issue between COH2 and the 980Ti. I also tried the "Verify integrity of game cache" trick, that made no difference.

I laid out $650 for this card and dammit, I want to use it! If anyone else has seen this problem and has a solution, I'd be most grateful. I've researched this to a fine degree and haven't found a solution that works for me.

My system:

Asus Z-170A motherboard
32Gb RAM
Intel Skylake 6700K CPU
Samsung 950 M.2 SSD
Asus GTX 980Ti Strix 6Gb video card
Corsair HX750 PSU
Windows 10 x64 Enterprise

I have been running COH2 on an Asus GTX 680 since the game was released and had no problems. I just upgraded to an Asus GTX 980Ti Strix and now the game crashes every time. Same driver, no change in graphics settings, and as soon as I run the performance test and the SU-76 gets hit, my PC hard crashes and reboots. I tried setting all the graphics options to their lowest settings, got the same result. Removed the nVidia driver and let Windows 10 x64 install its own driver (dated July 2015), same result. Installed 3 different versions of the nVidia driver, same result with each one. Installed the Asus version of the driver, same result. I put the 680 back in and the game runs perfectly, no crashes. I ran the graphics performance test in COH1 and it ran perfectly, no crashes. This leads me to conclude that there is an issue between COH2 and the 980Ti. I also tried the "Verify integrity of game cache" trick, that made no difference.

I laid out $650 for this card and dammit, I want to use it! If anyone else has seen this problem and has a solution, I'd be most grateful. I've researched this to a fine degree and haven't found a solution that works for me.

My system:

Asus Z-170A motherboard
32Gb RAM
Intel Skylake 6700K CPU
Samsung 950 M.2 SSD
Asus GTX 980Ti Strix 6Gb video card
Corsair HX750 PSU
Windows 10 x64 Enterprise

Other people own 980tis and use them for coh2 it doesnt make sense that it cant run CoH2.

Do you have any OC on your CPU?
Tried to do a stability / stress test yet?

Did you run other games and grafic tests?
You need to be sure that its problem with Coh2 and not your card.
But I will not be surprised if problem is coh2

Other people own 980tis and use them for coh2 it doesnt make sense that it cant run CoH2.

I agree that it makes no sense. I have been in IT for 30 years and am quite accomplished at troubleshooting technical problems. I believe that my testing has effectively isolated the problem to the combination of the GTX 980Ti card and COH2. The 980 runs every other game without issue, and COH2 runs perfectly with the 680 in place. The *only* change that I made was to swap in the 980, and COH2 fails to run. Swap the 680 back in and the game runs.

I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Did you run other games and grafic tests?
You need to be sure that its problem with Coh2 and not your card.
But I will not be surprised if problem is coh2

Yes, I did. I ran the original Company of Heroes graphics test and it passed. I've played Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and Civilization V on the 980 and it worked beautifully. The *only* game that fails on this card is Company of Heroes 2. You know, the game I play the most.... *sigh*

Do you have any OC on your CPU?
Tried to do a stability / stress test yet?

I'm one of those weird gamers that doesn't believe in overclocking. I buy hardware that excels at it, then run everything stock. I buy overclocking-capable hardware because it is built with the highest quality components, and I buy enough muscle that I don't need to overclock to achieve the experience that I desire. Yours is an excellent suggestion, but doesn't apply to my situation.

FaHu /GameGamblers has the same issue.

He has a TITAN GPU and a computer that would make even the worthiest of i7 builds look like garbage. But he also has some of the worst issues with COH2 i've seen lol!

I have quite a modest set up.. it is over clocked a little but I can run COH2 on max and stream in 1080p with literally no issues..

Here is the standard I get from my system - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5XCa2Jpb3U

And these are my system specs

Processor : AMD FX-8350 8-core Overclocked to 4.2Ghz

RAM : 8gb Corsair DDR3 1600Mhz

GPU : R9 290X 4GB (Sapphire Edition)

Cooling : Panther CPU Cooling unit

Hard Drive : 250GB Solid State Drive

OS : Windows 10


Based on a lot of what i've seen, I actually wonder if the problems are something to do with Intel/Nvidia based systems... is that possible that this happens more commonly with Nvidia cards?

...Yours is an excellent suggestion, but doesn't apply to my situation.

I assume you also disabled vsync, and therefore you got no frame limiter in place. COH2 is one hell of a stress test on it's own sadly.

Nevertheless, your PC should never do a hard reset due a game in the first place. That smells like faulty drivers or hardware issues - i didn't suggest the mentioned above for no reason.

FaHu /GameGamblers has the same issue.

He has a TITAN GPU and a computer that would make even the worthiest of i7 builds look like garbage. But he also has some of the worst issues with COH2 i've seen lol!

I have quite a modest set up.. it is over clocked a little but I can run COH2 on max and stream in 1080p with literally no issues..

Here is the standard I get from my system - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5XCa2Jpb3U

And these are my system specs

Processor : AMD FX-8350 8-core Overclocked to 4.2Ghz

RAM : 8gb Corsair DDR3 1600Mhz

GPU : R9 290X 4GB (Sapphire Edition)

Cooling : Panther CPU Cooling unit

Hard Drive : 250GB Solid State Drive

OS : Windows 10


Based on a lot of what i've seen, I actually wonder if the problems are something to do with Intel/Nvidia based systems... is that possible that this happens more commonly with Nvidia cards?

AMD CPU? AMD graphics? You *are* completely sold over to the Dark Side, aren't you? :-)

I'll be sure to post a resolution to my problem if / when I get one in the hope that FaHu / GameGamblers can find some stability for his COH2.

I assume you also disabled vsync, and therefore you got no frame limiter in place. COH2 is one hell of a stress test on it's own sadly.

Nevertheless, your PC should never do a hard reset due a game in the first place. That smells like faulty drivers or hardware issues - i didn't suggest the mentioned above for no reason.

Yes, vsync is disabled.

I concur - a game should never be able to get deep enough into the guts of the OS to cause a hard reset. However, that is the situation with which I'm faced. I don't believe that the card is to blame as it has worked well with every application *except* COH2. I tried drivers from 3 different sources (nVidia, Microsoft, and Asus) and got the exact same result every time. It even crashes at the exact same point in the performance test - the instant that the SU-76 takes a hit, the computer crashes. I tried playing a solo game, and it lasted about 15 seconds before it too crashed hard. I dumbed down the settings in COH2 to their lowest possible value in every category, got the same result. I let the game run its analysis and choose the settings it felt were appropriate, got the same result. I tried maxing them out, got the same result. I'm quite frustrated. In all the time I've been gaming, this is the first time I've ever posted to a forum looking for guidance.

AMD CPU? AMD graphics? You *are* completely sold over to the Dark Side, aren't you? :-)

I'll be sure to post a resolution to my problem if / when I get one in the hope that FaHu / GameGamblers can find some stability for his COH2.

Haha, well I didn't have money for a top spec PC.. but I actually found that this build has been wonderful so far. I have no regrets yet other than windows 10 lol

...
Yes, vsync is disabled....I dumbed down the settings in COH2 to their lowest possible value in every category, got the same result. ...

As expected. Those two settings don't really work together. You just get more FPS, but the same stress.

Anyways, the game isn't going "deep enough" to crash your PC, the stress or faulty driver is. COH2 is just rather demanding / badly optimized in general, and loves to cause the same results as a stress test.

For the last time: try the mentioned above. Or if you want to try the other way around: use a frame limiter with lowest settings.

As expected. Those two settings don't really work together. You just get more FPS, but the same stress.

Anyways, the game isn't going "deep enough" to crash your PC, the stress or faulty driver is. COH2 is just rather demanding / badly optimized in general, and loves to cause the same results as a stress test.

For the last time: try the mentioned above. Or if you want to try the other way around: use a frame limiter with lowest settings.

kamk - I'm sorry if I've somehow ruffled your feathers, that wasn't my intent. I attempted to be gracious in saying that I thought your suggestion had merit but didn't apply in my situation as I don't overclock. You clearly have a lot of knowledge in this area, and I don't want to alienate you.

I'll try your suggestions and let you know what I find out. I won't be able to do so for a few hours as I don't have the 980 installed right now. I put the 680 back in place until such time as I have enough ammunition to make it worth shooting at this problem.

kamk - I'm sorry if I've somehow ruffled your feathers, that wasn't my intent. I attempted to be gracious in saying that I thought your suggestion had merit but didn't apply in my situation as I don't overclock. You clearly have a lot of knowledge in this area, and I don't want to alienate you.

I'll try your suggestions and let you know what I find out. I won't be able to do so for a few hours as I don't have the 980 installed right now. I put the 680 back in place until such time as I have enough ammunition to make it worth shooting at this problem.

No problem. I'm just a bit salty after reading these kind of threads way too often.

You have to start somewhere, but it still applies to your situation overall. We can just exclude your CPU most likely, that's it. (btw.: your GPU is factory OC'd btw., and has quite a history of causing problems)

Anyways, good luck with further steps, these kind of problems can be quite annoying.

No problem. I'm just a bit salty after reading these kind of threads way too often.

You have to start somewhere, but it still applies to your situation overall. We can just exclude your CPU most likely, that's it. (btw.: your GPU is factory OC'd btw., and has quite a history of causing problems)

Anyways, good luck with further steps, these kind of problems can be quite annoying.

Okay, so I put the 980 back in and just for giggles ran the COH2 performance test, and sure enough, the instant that the SU-76 takes a rocket in the puss, my PC does too and crashes hard. I ran four different stress tests - OCCT 4.4.1, HeavyLoad 3.3.1.230, Intel Burn Test 2.54, and prime95. My den is much warmer now, thank you. :-)

The tests ran my CPU and my GPU up to 100% and held them there for several minutes each, and no issues were revealed by this testing.

Do you have a stress test program that you feel would be worth adding to the above list?

Okay, so I put the 980 back in and just for giggles ran the COH2 performance test, and sure enough, the instant that the SU-76 takes a rocket in the puss, my PC does too and crashes hard. I ran four different stress tests - OCCT 4.4.1, HeavyLoad 3.3.1.230, Intel Burn Test 2.54, and prime95. My den is much warmer now, thank you. :-)

The tests ran my CPU and my GPU up to 100% and held them there for several minutes each, and no issues were revealed by this testing.

Do you have a stress test program that you feel would be worth adding to the above list?

At least for now, my money is still on the GPU or some screwed up driver. Well, at least your CPU didn't die of boredom for a day

Let's try the other route?
http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/nvidia-inspector-download.html
> set a frame limit of 60 (or even 30), set everything to lowest possible.
Make sure the frame limit actually works. (just in case... Steam has a fancy integrated FPS counter btw.)

Though now i can't get the mentioned Su-76 scene out of my mind, which sounds oddly specific.
Might wanna PM these guys in worst case:
http://www.coh2.org/user/17376/cuddletronic
http://www.coh2.org/user/13053/spacebus

At least for now, my money is still on the GPU or some screwed up driver. Well, at least your CPU didn't die of boredom for a day

Let's try the other route?
http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/nvidia-inspector-download.html
> set a frame limit of 60 (or even 30), set everything to lowest possible.
Make sure the frame limit actually works. (just in case... Steam has a fancy integrated FPS counter btw.)

Though now i can't get the mentioned Su-76 scene out of my mind, which sounds oddly specific.
Might wanna PM these guys in worst case:
http://www.coh2.org/user/17376/cuddletronic
http://www.coh2.org/user/13053/spacebus

UPDATE:

Using the nVidia Inspector to limit the framerate made a slight difference. Here's what I did:

I set the framerate to 60. In the game, I dumbed down ALL the settings to their lowest possible value. I launched the performance test, and it ran about 2-3 seconds after the SU-76 eats it. I saw the T-34/85 on the screen for about 2 seconds, then Ka-BLOOEY. Then, I cranked all the settings in the game to their maximum settings, ran the performance test, and the SU-76 didn't even get to where he gets killed before my PC crashed. Still undesirable outcomes, but at least there is a difference to be seen.

I also tried moving the video card to a different slot on the motherboard. That made zero difference. I thought perhaps it may be running into contention with my M.2 SSD, which also runs on the PCI-E lanes.

It could be a power issue. It looks within spec, but if the Corsair isn't doing its job under load then it's quite possible that you wouldn't notice with a 680 or with non-taxing games. Got another lying around?

UPDATE:

Using the nVidia Inspector to limit the framerate made a slight difference. Here's what I did:

I set the framerate to 60. In the game, I dumbed down ALL the settings to their lowest possible value. I launched the performance test, and it ran about 2-3 seconds after the SU-76 eats it. I saw the T-34/85 on the screen for about 2 seconds, then Ka-BLOOEY. Then, I cranked all the settings in the game to their maximum settings, ran the performance test, and the SU-76 didn't even get to where he gets killed before my PC crashed. Still undesirable outcomes, but at least there is a difference to be seen.

I also tried moving the video card to a different slot on the motherboard. That made zero difference. I thought perhaps it may be running into contention with my M.2 SSD, which also runs on the PCI-E lanes.

Thought with a frame limiter you might get a way different result, sadly not :/
Do you know if the Strix properly ramps up her fan speed? I really got the feeling it doesn't.

_underscores's suggestion might be also worth a try. TDP at least changed with both cards.