BIG artifact problem.

[Kris2456]

I have just put together my new rig, and so far i have one hell of a problem with the graphics card (I believe). I havnt installed windows yet, beacuse i am trying to fix this.
My Specs are:
Asus A8n SLI Premium
PNY GeForce 7800GT
Amd Athlon64 3200
2Gb Corsair Matched pair
Hiper Type-R 480W PSU

The problem is as follows, i turn the PC on, and after taking about 5 secs to turn the screen to on, i am greated by the Asus logo. By pressinf delete, i am taken to the BIOS. The problem is, that pretty much instantly, i start getting these random pink and green squares that flash accross the screen. It gets progressivly worse the longer the PC stays on.

I feel that this is a problem with the Gfx card, so i have tried to reseat it, with no luck. I have now no clue what it is. Maybe the card is screwed, or something else, if anyone could help me with this, or at least advise. The graphics card was the prize for a competition i won, and not only does this suck , but i am also afraid they wont give me an RMA should one be neccesary (which i hope it wont).

What i have tried so far:
Reseating, altho i havnt tried the other SLI slot.
Disabling PEG Link
Clearing CMOS

I will probably try giving it its own, 12v rail in a sec, hope that works.

 

[gomerpile]

is the extra power connected to the video card,

 

[warstrider]

see if you can get hold of another pci-x graphics card, swap them to see if it is the cards fault. also try booting with just one stick of ram, then the other stick, to see if it is a memory problem.

 

[13thmonkey]

Sounds like heat, but very very suprised to see it at boot, unless the fan isn't working and there is literally no cooling, so have you checked that the fan is working on it?

 

[Kris2456]

I have checked the fan, and it works.

I have put the card onto one cable on the PSU, and it seems to be running ok.

My dad has offered to take it to work tommorow, where his mate will try it out on another PC (he also said it might be cooling btw).