I have come across with so many examples of dying ati 9500\9700\9800 cards, all they show the same symptoms
 
in windows  
 
and
 

in games
 
and this is the card
 

 
This seems to happen a lot frequently with the ati 9xxx series, and it has already happened to myself in the past too, with a ati9500, without any sort of possible recovering.
Once it starts to happen, in most cases its a dead card for certain, and i would like to know if anyone knows what exactly happens with these ati card series for them fo fail like this within time.
 
Im about to aquire a ati9800pro (for free, for a amdk6 450 system), and i would like to know if theres anyway to prevent this from happening, and what's the reason for it to happen so oftenly with these cards.
 
Failing ram memories or gpu core?
And how much of you have come across with these situations and how did you dealed with them.

It's called the natural cycle. They get old and eventually die. Don't forget, those cards are almost 6-7 years old, unfortunately they don't last forever.
 
Btw, why would you put a 9800pro in a crappy AMDK6 450 system? One of those was in my old IBM computer (in 1999)?????

Im sure my canopus riva tnt 16 meg card that would destroy quake 2 , would not work in my system anymore? Whats your point? lol....

My 9600Pro 256Mb I bought in 2001 still servers my father flawlessly. Note that when I was using this card, I was brutal with it having it OCed most of the time. Still it works like a charm.  
Haven't heard of such rummors for the 9 series before. That 9800 was a heck of a card back in the day!

 
I'd rather put it to use in something (amd k6 second computer) than just place it inside a anti-static bag unused, and it will max out that pc for all the previous 2000 games i have there in high resolutions (ut and quake3 included).
I know about the wasted power, i might know that even better than you think, because i already did all sort of experiences when it comes to mix the old with the new, but yet again its better to have it in use than just remaning idle indefinatly.
 
Back to the topic, about the natural cycle...i've seen so many ati series dying so fast in the last years compared with all other cards, that made me think that those ati9xxx series life cycle was not so good.
I could be that those heatsinkless memories helped a lot for the deterioration (they heated like crap!)
 

rickzor,
 
In case you care, it has nothing to do with the card it self. Or it does, but very little. The problem is faulty dvi out on the card or monitor, or morel likely both. Solution is to use VGA out on the card, picky monitors are not as picky in that case.
 
Good luck

The pics you posted look like overheating or bad memory on the card (due to overheating?).  All of this stuff doesn't have an infinite shelf life.  What can you do to prolong the life of your cards?  Keep your PC clean of dust.  Even that thin coating that builds up on everything can increase your temps.  It is like putting a wool blanket on all your parts, the heat just doesn't dissapate as fast.
 
I have 3 ATI cards in my house that run just fine.
9800 Pro (fiance's WoW machine)
9600 XT (home theater PC)
9000 Pro (home file server)
 
All of them are really old now, and none have had any such issues as you posted.  I do keep all my PCs very clean, though, so that could be part of it.  I also have never OC'd any of those.

I've had a few ati 9x00 cards bite it, and a few last forever. THe ones that bit it were all about one common factor.
 
The fan/heatsink failed. And the fan was so quiet to begin with, I never knew it was dead until the artifacting started.