9800 GT underpowered?

[getsome1]

I have a BFG 98009 GT factory overclocked. My problem is during online gaming it will occasionally freeze up on me. Sometimes I can play for a couple of hours, sometimes it happens within 15 minutes. I've had what looks like snow before on the screen, other times it goes black and somewhat distorted on the top of monitor. My computer is a dell xps 710 with a factory 750 watt power supply. I've seen that my card requires 26A on one or 2 rails. I only see 1 6 pin plug though on the back of card, there's 2 empty ones from my PSU. Is there a adapter I need to use both of these? If not what can make my graphics card freeze up like this?

Thanks in advance

 

[skolpo]

The 9800GT only needs one 6-pin plugged into it. Having an extra one doesn't affect anything. Try checking your GPU's temp. Is it going higher than 80+ Celsius under load? Download programs like RivaTuner, eVGA precision or GPU-Z to check the temps. It sounds like the card is getting too hot. Do you hear the fan cycle getting louder? Also, try reseating your card just in case.

 

[HibyPrime]

Even 80c is still in the acceptable range, I would look for temps closer to 100.

Theres a lot of things this could be, but something overheating sounds about right.

http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php This program will give you a list of all temp indicators on your computer.

 

[shubham1401]

80c is normal for load.
It should not throttle at that temp.

But over 100c needs attention.

 

[getsome1]

Surprisingly, the problem seems to be the factory OC was just set too high... I downloaded CPUID and Rivatuner, my temps remained around 83 C under load while gaming. I played around with Rivatuner and turned down the clock settings a little. Amazingly, not 1 screen lock, and no snow effects or pixel looking issues. The graphics still look great, and my FPS has not dropped much maybe 10 -15 FPS. Oh well, still over 100 FPS. Thanks for the help everyone.