6800 gt problems..off and on....strange. and annoying.

[Bellerophon]

Okay about 6 months ago my 6800gt started acting strange. I'd had it since it came out and it worked fine. just one day, it started shutting my monitor off, and i started getting artifacts on my desktop (including the startup and bios screens.) it wouldnt play any games for more than 10 secs without crashing. than one day it just went away. everything was fine until now. now im getting the same problems only not as severe. BUT, games wont play without crashing. however i notice 2d games like STARCRAFT and DIABLO 2 play perfect, but 3d games like dawn of war and civilization 2 crash constantly. whats up?

 

[Gelde]

Hey, couple things you MUST do with all 6800 series cards is make certain the heatsink is clear of dust - most stock coolers get a small carpet covering the fans side of the thin finned heatsink - removing the fan and plastic cover via 3 screws (usually) on the rear of the card will give u total access to the heatsink and let you clean it out fully - and the fan etc at the same time. BE CAREFUL TO NOT REMOVE THE HEATSINKS 4 SCREWS OR THE RAMSINKS SCREWS EITHER - the right ones on for the shroud and fan are easy enough to spot though.

Secondly make damn sure you have a GOOD psu as those cards are power hungry monsters which is also why you MUST keep the heatsinks dust free as anything over about 80c and they do fail quite a lot. To check your psu is up to the job look for the 12v rails AMP output - it had better be at least 18-20amps or that could be a problem in itself.

Obviously these 2 points assume you havent done either - if so ignore me !.....otherwise BE CAREFUL if you go to clean the card out as acidents always happen when you hurry or arent sure.

Only other thing that comes to mind is to ask if its an overclocked card or modded at all ?.......will help if we can on this site so let us know.....

 

[Bellerophon]

nope its not over clocked or modded in anyway. How exactly would i go about cleaning my cards fan? without frying it or myself.

 

[Gelde]

Hi again, READ THIS THROUGH AT LEAST ONCE TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK AND IF THIS ISNT RIGHT FOR YOU DONT DO IT....

right I am assuming its a stock heatsink and fan on the card - look at pics in the link below to be sure its at least similar - and not an Arctic Silencer found on some retail cards etc.....by this I mean a smaller flatter heatsink / fan combo with a sticker on top saying the make or name etc with the fan being about 2" in diameter.

If so removing the card from the system carefully and placing it on a flat clean and dry surface (desk etc) with the fan facing down you should see several screws holding the heatsink and fan shroud and ramsinks on. The fan shroud will be 3 screws that look slightly different to the others and wont be metal screws but larger threaded plastic ones.

Use the link below to get an idea but ONLY take off the fan and shroud - you can see the 3 screws Im on about in the first pic in reverse - around the fan only.

http://www.tekbunker.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1396

There are smaller screws for the metal plate with the pic on (very small screws - you can remove these ones and you would see the 2nd pic but its far quicker and easier to remove the fan AND shroud via the 3 screws from the back and you should be left with what you see in the 3rd pic. Notice in the 3rd pic that you can clearly see the 3 empty screw holes from around the fan shroud Im on about so you cant really get them wrong. Oh and you dont have to unplug the fan from the pcb as shown if you dont want to - you will have enough wire to remove and replace the shroud etc.

Then its a lot easier to clean out both the heatsink and fan assembly in one go with a DRY paint brush lightly or simply pick out fluff and blow on it. AGAIN BE DAMN CAREFUL and nothing should go wrong at all but be certain you are prepared and take it slow.

I hope you will find a literal dust clog which would be causing problems and from the pictures in that link you can see how easy it is for the thin fins on the heatsink to get clogged up pretty quickly. My own card gets clogged in about 3 months - and Im a neat and tidy person who doesnt smoke so its a pretty usual problem.