Strange mishaps with a X800GTO, Please Help!

[Blink4m3]

Hello all. I'll cut the bs and say right out i've been tryin to repair this card for a looong time. I got it off newegg quite some time ago, and it ran perfectly for a few months, no hitches, nothing. I was inclined to use it as my first attempt at OCing seeing as i'd been using onboard graphics for the entirety of my previous PC gaming. I hardly OCed (maybe 10-20 mhz in core and mem) it but found a small boost, and left it at that. The temps weren't too high over 70, even with stock cooling (a decent cooling too). Months went by, and after which I noticed a few errors, I believe after i tried out the omega drivers. They are as follows.

There are no artifacts, not in the technical sense. There is a GRID of yellow squares on most games. (In BF2 the colors change with my movement.) Yet they are all consistent.

Some of the Icons on my desktop have lines running through and beside them, short and very thin. The words in some Steam games have a little disfiguration.

HL:1 mods are unplayable, the grid is too frustrating to watch for more than a few seconds, even though the gameplay behind it is still seamless (perfect FPS)

Ironically, CS:S Plays maxed out at 50FPS with no grids or lines or anything. It is the only game I can play comfortably that I know of.

I'm getting great benchmark scores on all my bench programs and ATI-Tool doesn't detect any artifacts.

The strangest part is, I took the card out of my computer for a month, and stupidly set it in a drawer. I thought there might be a solution by now so I put it back in my comp, redid all the drivers, and voila, it worked perfectly.... for a day. Need For Speed MW. Oblivion. BF2... All with their respected beauty ran great (not all maxed though) yet after a crash during Oblivion it strained my card back into the screwy pixelation.

I've tried Catalysts, Omegas, I've rolled back to older versions, I've fooled with the BIOS (mildly) and done numerous things to pump some life back into her.

Well, i'll stop rambling and give you my specs, please help. FYI: My first thoughts were a PS issue since I only have a 350PS yet I thought that it would have affected it earlier since I used the card perfectly for nearly 5 or 6 months.

OS : WinXP Media Center Edition
Memory: 1024GB
Processor : P4 630 800fsb 2mb l2cache
Sound : Onboard
Video : Sapphire x800GTO (16 pipes)
PS: 350 Stock PS (****ty but not under minimum)

Those are off the top of my head but if you believe you can help and need more specs just ask.

THANKS!!!

(FYI : I'll provide screens if asked)

 

[trinitron64]

Power supply makes a huge impact on the stability of ones video card.

What make and model extactly?

We are more concerned about the amps on the 12v rail(s).

 

[krazyIvan]

I’ve been reading some posts recently on problems with 800/850 parts and a weak PSU was the culprit in some of them. 350 is the MINIMUM and not all 350's work that well. The PSU's that come with cases are typically not very good. You might think about getting a +450W PSU with the new dual +12V rails.
As far as testing that out, try under-clocking it to see if that helps.
If it works that way, not enough power or to much heat is the problem.

 

[Blink4m3]

It's a ATX300-12EB3 Rev- s2
Input 100-120V- 8A 200-240V- 4A 50/60hz
Output 12va = / 18a +12Vb
5v = 25A -12v /.8A
+3.3v = / 25A + 5VSb = / 2A
Output 300Wat MAX
+5V & +3.3V 180W MAX
+5V & +12Va & +12Vb & +3,3V 288W MAX
+12Va & +12Vb 22A MAX

Ehh.... I guess I was mistaken about the power supply. My secondary computer has a stock PS of 350 and I got the two confused

PS. If I do get a new power supply will that fix my problems, or has it damagd my card in some irreparable way?

Thanks again guys.

 

[krazyIvan]

It should be ok.

 

[Blink4m3]

Thats the pic the main problem, the cubes. Also its a little too small to notice, but save it and put it in Paint and use the zoom. Its much more prominent than it looks.

Also, i'm not sure if you were talking about my question, can you confirm that there is a high probability a new PS will fix my problem?

BTW my card hasnt gone over 87 degrees and while i know its getting hot its still under 90 and shouldnt cause too many problems right? It idles at 45 and is usually at 76 while playing cs maxed out (the only game i can play right now.)

 

[Vinny]

The PS should be able to handle the card unless you've got a lot of other stuff hooked up to it or it might be a bad brand.

 

[krazyIvan]

To Vinny; His Power Supply is only 300W's, that’s a little low for that card.

To Blink4m3; I personally think a 300W PSU is to small, can I GUARANTEE that’s the problem... NO! But it is too small based on the cards rating.
That’s why I recommended under-clocking your card to see if that clears up the problem. And 87c seem to me to be a little hot, is it too hot? I can’t honestly tell you one way or the other.

 

[Blink4m3]

Okay thanks! I appreciate all the help I can get. I'm gonna get a new PSU this afternoon hopefully, maybe some better cooling too.

Thanks again.

 

[Blink4m3]

Something very... very strange happened.

Without even buying a new PSU, I sat down at my computer today to find it working perfectly. I gamed all day, mostly BF2 and NFSMW, and it stayed at a decent temp (81 aws the peak but it stayed around 78). I took a room fan and placed it directly ontop to circulate flow in at a much greater rate (The case is sideways with a side off.)

To my dismay, it took the fall again. Right when it started acting up I alt tabbed out of the checkered screen and turned on my monitoring, which recorded it at 77, could it have cooled down in a matter of seconds? The highest its gotten was without the fan at 90.1 but I dont think that would be too deadly for a video card.

Any ideas what this might mean that it started working again?

 

[zeroyb]

If you don't mind spending money trying to fix it, I'd get a better PSU and an aftermarket GPU cooler. There are no guarantees in trouble shooting though. Maybe your GPU is already beyond saving, or the problem could always be something else.