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Computer restarts when scaling or zooming in on large numbers of xfiles

vvvv beta question
#1

I’m not sure if this is a bug or something im doing wrong in my patch, but…

I have a patch where i create 1024 translations of a shape, I was using the sphere node at a low resolution, but i’ve now made my own sphere in xfile form, and it has allowed me a greater number of objects (i was limited to just over 900 using the sphere node).
Each sphere is scaled in reaction to a sound input, and there’s various midi controlled parameters too.
It was all working fine using the sphere node, but now im using an xfile (with gouraudpoint fx) it keeps crashing and restarting my computer. I say ‘crash’ but it actually just restarts the whole computer without warning.

This seems to happen when i increase the scale of the xfiles beyond a certain point, either the multiplier that applies to each translation’s individual scale (which is already reacting to audio), or the scale of the entire spread of translations.

Any idea what would be causing this and how i can make sure it doesn’t happen?

I’m using v25.1 and windows 7 with a Geforce GTX470

#2

to be honest, instant crash and restart always sound like faulty hardware or drivers. if just vvvv is crashing, windows just freezes but the machine does not insta restart.

my guess is, either a faulty graphicscard driver or maybe more likely, your power supply is just not powerful enough to cope with performance peaks.

#3

thanks, i’ll look into those issues then!

#4

You might also want to check that your graphics card fan is working.

#5

good point, beyon…either heat or power
or cpu fan is on vacation ?

#6

I’ve checked on those suggested issues and all fans are working, drivers are up to date and the power supply should be adequate I think -729w?

I’ve also simplified down the patch until its just a circle spread (1024slices) of the ‘softcube.x’ xfile that comes with V. The problem persists when the size of the cube is enlarged beyond a certain point.

So assuming this patch doesn’t make anyone elses computer restart when you enlarge the cubes til they fill the renderer? (it happens on mine before they get that big)
Am I to assume there’s a problem with my graphics card, or is there anything else it could be?

morphingshapes ver 1.75debug2.v4p (62.1 kB)

#7

no restart here, whatever i do.
btw. please don’t save patches in fullscreen mode. this might actually result in funky behaviour.

#8

Ah yeah, sorry, I know thats bad practice, just forgot to un-fullscreen it.

So anyone got any ideas of anything other than replacing my graphics card that might fix this?

#9
  • run a sane memory test
  • check with a psu which has more watts

The power consumption spikes of modern graphics card can be really harsh for older powersupplies.

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