ATI drivers have stopped responding

[sazkion]

I am trying to figure out the cause of this issue. I have had a problem where my computer's display will randomly stop working and I'll get a message saying that my ATI drivers have stopped responding. I built this computer three years ago and have replaced all of the components except for my CPU and Motherboard. I have a Sapphire ATI HD6870 SAPPHIRE 100314SR Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity - Newegg.com. My old video card an HD 4860 had this same issue. However, when I gave it to my little brother to use for his computer he hasn't had any issues with it. Any ideas what could be causing it? I've had this issue on Windows 7 and 8 and have had clean installs on separate hard drives, I've gone through several versions of drivers where I let Windows choose one and also where I go to ATI's site and download the ones needed.

Usually I'll get the error ATI drivers have stopped responding when I'm playing a game like Minecraft or Starcraft II after that my video card's performance drops quickly. I usually have to change my graphics from high down to low. I'll get the error randomly, I usually get it once and then don't have any more issues for a while. Lately I've been getting it two or three times within ten minutes and then my video card's performance drops.

I'm guessing it's a hardware issue that has to do with either my motherboard or my CPU, I don't have any extras of these and don't want to purchase new ones since these still work pretty well for me. Is their any way I can figure out what is causing this issue?

Thanks in advance.

[profJim]

Which ATI driver version is installed?
Have you tried older or newer versions?
Is your cpu and/or memory overclocked? If yes, what settings are your using?
Is your video card overclocked? If yes, what settings are your using?

What is the model name of your OCZ ssd? How much free space does it currently have?
What screen resolution are you using? 1920 x 1080?
What are the specific game settings (e.g. quality/performance) that you have set in your games?

It sounds like you are "pushing" your video card to hard.
Have you tried lowering the settings in your game(s) to see if your graphics drivers are more stable?

[sazkion]

Which ATI driver version is installed?
Have you tried older or newer versions?
Is your cpu and/or memory overclocked? If yes, what settings are your using?
Is your video card overclocked? If yes, what settings are your using?

What is the model name of your OCZ ssd? How much free space does it currently have?
What screen resolution are you using? 1920 x 1080?
What are the specific game settings (e.g. quality/performance) that you have set in your games?

It sounds like you are "pushing" your video card to hard.
Have you tried lowering the settings in your game(s) to see if your graphics drivers are more stable?

I've had this issue across several different drivers. I'm currently running 13.1
Nothing is overclocked

OCZ Solid 3 SLD3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC - OCZ Solid 3 SLD3-25SAT3-120G Solid State Drive - Newegg.com

I've also used a WD Black 1 TB drive on Windows 7 Western Digital WD Black WD1001FALS Internal Hard Drive - Newegg.com

1920 x 1080 on two 23" monitors, I usually don't have anything running on the other screen while gaming
It has happened on all types of games. When I have them on high I usually get around 50-60 fps. I still get the issue while running games on a lower resolution.

Typically I get the error once when I first start a game and then after it works fine. Lately games have been getting sluggish after the popup though.