3 EVGA 8800s fried, halp!

[franky]

A few months ago I was playing games and my card that I've had since 2007 started to freeze a few seconds into any 3d app. I sent it back to EVGA (rma lifetime warranty). The brand new card they sent me lasted about 4 days, it froze during a game of dragon age, and I got vertical lines after the POST, then frozen at the windows loading screen, couldn't boot at all.

I tested it on another computer (work computer that belongs to my family) and it was able to boot all the way but the screen was distorted and the vertical lines remained. I thought they had sent me a defective card so I sent that back too. The 3rd card lasted 90 minutes, until I started a 3d app then zap, same scenario as the second.

I have to figure out what is going wrong, EVGA has been very generous but they won't keep sending cards unless I can figure out why they are frying. I checked my 12v power supply via the bios and it's 12.144v and never changes, but I have to be sure. Does anyone know a guide somewhere for checking voltages on your motherboard? I have a multimeter but I don't want to cause further damage to my computer without asking around first.

Any other reasons why cards might have a short lifespan? None were overclocked.

Thanks,

 

[raiyus13]

hmmm i got the same issue with my palit 9800gt.....i was getting weired vertical lines too........and it was freezing during boot as well....but it got replaced it's working fine almost 2years now..........

my card also got fried coz i spotted black patches in there...but then i brought an ups before running the second one!!!!....do you have one?? if not its a must recommend for you bro....because it clears out the voltage up down............

 

[wa1]

What is your PSU? brand? model? how old?
And what about the cards temps?

 

[FunSurfer]

Did you try to use older drivers (at least one year old)?
Also as asked above, what is your PSU?

 

[Bluescreendeath]

I think evga has been sending you either badly refurbished cards, or they've been trying fix your card and has been sending your own card back to you...

Try and ask them for another card that is equivilent to the 8800...

 

[franky]

This is the brand of my power supply, if it helps.

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad - Copper 750W Continuous @ 40°C (825W Peak) EPS12V

I've had it as long as the first card, 3 and a half years. Everything is 3 and a half years old. I had figured that this rig would last through my last year of college, it cost enough.

As far as the replacement cards EVGA said the old cards were failed and the replacements were new, they worked great until they didn't.

I didn't try using older drivers. I had updated the drivers in fact after the first card started giving me trouble. The second and third card, unlike the first, didn't indicate a problem until the instant they froze, there was no warning, things didn't run sluggish, text and color were fine, no prior crashes. The second card even played ME 2 and dragon age for 4 days.

I never monitored the card temp. I didn't overclock so I wasn't worried about it.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

What is your voltage on 12v rails? (also the other rails?) Just to make sure your PSU's 12v rails didn't clunk out.

Your PSU is a very high quality PSU and could run at least two of them in SLi...so it's more likely the GPU is at fault.

 

[franky]

How can I check this? By hand with a meter or a program? If by hand I will do this in the morning and report back.

Edit: Found a guide for the meter testing... Will get back to you.