Graphics Card DEAD

WaterSnake

WaterSnake

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Joined
Jun 16, 2008
Messages
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Hey, I'm beginning to frequent these forums, as my computer is now over 1 year old and falling apart.

This time, my $230 graphics card.

It's an nvidia 8800 GT overclocked to 650 mhz. And now it's acting up. If I play a game (zeno clash, tf2, css, whatever) after a few minutes it looks like someone just stuck a fork into it, with crazy colors and lights flashing everywhere. After about 30 seconds of that, the game I'm playing hiccups and doesn't come out of it. I have to restart my computer. I did recently (today) update my drivers, but this also happened before it. So now I'm playing it safe and not playing any games, and I'm going to contact EVGA support tomorrow. But I trust you guys for guidance, and maybe you can help me.
 
1. Download Rivatuner
2. Check your temps(idle & load).
3. Down clock your card to stock 8800GT clocks(600Mhz Core and 900Mhz memory).
4. Check your temps again.
5. Try a gaming session and see if it still does this.
6. Report back here.

Oh yeah, also check to make sure the GPU is seated properly and the 6 Pin PCIe power cable correctly plugged in.
 
FreakingHell said:
1. Download Rivatuner
2. Check your temps(idle & load).
3. Down clock your card to stock 8800GT clocks(600Mhz Core and 900Mhz memory).
4. Check your temps again.
5. Try a gaming session and see if it still does this.
6. Report back here.

Oh yeah, also check to make sure the GPU is seated properly and the 6 Pin PCIe power cable correctly plugged in.
Click to expand...

My temps are fine, I just adjusted my fan speed.

It should be fine, I've had no problems with it in the past...
 
Whats the status on your drivers? Having new or old drivers could have caused this. I would reinstall them either way.
 
When was the last time you blew the dust off your video card? It'll build up on the chips and help it to overheat and artifact like crazy.
 
Thereven said:
When was the last time you blew the dust off your video card? It'll build up on the chips and help it to overheat and artifact like crazy.
Click to expand...

It's been awhile. I gotta open it up and pull it out to get the product info anyway, may as well clean it off.

And maybe I knocked something off, since I moved my computer recently, and it may have fallen out.

So I'll go in, dust, check connections, and tell you how that goes...

FreakingHell said:
Oh yeah, also check to make sure the GPU is seated properly and the 6 Pin PCIe power cable correctly plugged in.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I didn't see that advice. That'd be the logical thing to do...

Update:

Just blew it off, now I'm going to clock it down to factory standards.

Update 2:

Just Clocked it down, now going to try a gaming session. Wish me luck :P
 
Last edited:
Dust out your whole computer, a simple fan clog could cause many problems. Try that and let me know how it goes.
 
It could either be dust, but I'm thinking maybe it's over heating? How many fans do you have? I have had a similar problem on my laptop last year, I once was playing css when I got all those colors and I couldn't turn it on again. They said it was an over heating problem...
 
Alright, I dusted, clocked down to factory standards, and increased my fan speed. Just from dusting alone i got a 5 degree temp drop on my cpu and a 1 degree temp drop on my gpu. The fan speed increase gave me a 5 degree temp decrease on my gpu.

I tried playing css, and it worked fine. The clocking down seemed to have no performance impact. I still have yet to play tf2 with it...
 
If you have the stock heatsink (and I suspect you do), don't forget to dust underneath the heatsink. Most stock heatsinks cool the GPU and the memory, but dust can build up between the heatsink and the card itself. If the memory overheats, you get problems.

A can of compressed air with the small tube attached is great for this. Just make sure the memory isn't overheating.
 
xenophek said:
If you have the stock heatsink (and I suspect you do), don't forget to dust underneath the heatsink. Most stock heatsinks cool the GPU and the memory, but dust can build up between the heatsink and the card itself. If the memory overheats, you get problems.

A can of compressed air with the small tube attached is great for this. Just make sure the memory isn't overheating.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I made sure to do this.

It appears the problem is not solved, it just happened again. I begin to suspect that it's not my card, but Direct X. It's been acting funny for over 6 months now...
 
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