What's Wrong With My Video Card?

[Backenfutter]

Hi all! I was wondering if anyone here who is well versed in video cards would be able to advise me on what to do regarding a problem I'm having with mine. First and foremost, my specs:

A7N8X Asus Deluxe MB
AMD XP3000+ @ 2.168Ghz
1GB PC3200 DDR RAM
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB
Windows XP Pro

Ok. Second of all, here is what is happening to me:
www.members.cox.net/brianbrs/screen.jpg

Note that the black screen and no icons is just because I have blank background and am hiding my icons. If there was a normal background, etc, the artifacts/lines/dots would still be there over everything.

This just started happening two days ago. I have had my computer for exactly 2 years this month, so I'm kind of peeved that my video card is (possibly?) going down the crapper already. I also (coincidentally??) installed a webcam about 12 hours before I first encountered these image corruptions. I promptly uninstalled the webcam and unplugged it from the USB... but the problem was still there both after rebooting AND after unplugging, etc.

So then I concluded it might be a heat issue -- my computer has also lately been turning itself off after certain (random) periods of time playing games like Half-Life 2 and Unreal 2004. Sometimes I can play for 3 hours, sometimes only for 30 minutes. So, I figured maybe my computer was just overheating too much and this was the next step it was taking. So I opened up the case today and spent a good hour and a half cleaning it all up -- every fan, etc. I actually managed to reduce the temperature by about 15-20 degrees F! But within a few minutes of turning the computer on later... I still got the screen corruptions!

As I am writing this, I have been using my computer for about 45 minutes (including using the re-installed webcam) and have not encountered any glitches at all. However, I have *NOT* yet tried to play any games... which is where I first noticed the lines/artifacts.

Sorry for a long post -- last thing -- it's not my monitor (as you can see, I screen capped the problem). Also, when the screen is corrupted, I can open the start menu with lots of dots on it... then re-open the menu with the dots in the exact same place.

I tried uninstalling my drivers and re-installing the newest set (just released yesterday I think)... but I was having problems after that, too. Like I said, I'm not experiencing any problems as I write this, but I don't doubt that it will creep up again -- if not during a game, then during something mundane like chatting or web browsing. I would REALLY appreciate any help you guys can muster.

Many thanks in advance!

Brian

 

[Nights_L]

Perhaps the Core is damaged due to heat

 

[Cody_7]

I can already tell this is caused because of heat. I have an AMD athlon 3400+ 64-bit computer and it gets REALLY hot. The same exact thing has happened to me a couple times after playing games like Rainbow Six 3, and Black Hawk down. All of a sudden the screen would get exactly what you are describing.

So, does this ONLY happen after playing some type of 3D game? and, did you buy your computer or was it custom made? It looks to me like you need to get it cooled down. Whenever my card did this (very rarely) sometimes a restart or leaving it off for a few minutes would solve the problem. It's odd that it happens all the time for you.

-Cody

 

[Backenfutter]

Hey guys! Thanks for the replies so far. I will be monitoring my situation closely to see if heat is the issue. I've had my computer on for about 3 hours now (no games, though!) and I haven't experienced any screen corruption yet. I tried taking the card out and sucking out some of the dust in the onboard fan.. there was not much at all though (so I don't think that was the problem).. and then I put it back on the motherboard. When I restarted, I had to configure a few things in my BIOS and changed my video card from "PCI" to "AGP"... not sure if that has anything to do with it either.

If heat is the real issue, what can I do about it?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Backenfutter]

I think you guys are all right now... I just tried to play Unreal 2004. I only played for about 30 seconds before the green bars came up again -- then white flickering (like snow)... I tried to play through it for a few more seconds but then the in-game geometry began to turn black and white and skew... So I promptly exited.

I guess this means I have to save up and buy a new video card, doesn't it?

 

[Nights_L]

You could try to provide a better cooling for your video card, see if that helps..if not, I think it's time for a new video card.

 

[lonelypauly]

I would say new video card...if yours is 2 years old, it's about time anyway. What card is it now?

<b><font color=blue>Athlon64 3200+ Winchester/MSI Neo4 Platinum SLI/MSI 6800 Ultra/1 GB Kingston HyperX (Dual Channel)/74GB WD Raptor/600Watt Enermax Noisetaker/ Dual Mitsubishi 21 Inch Monitors</b></font color=blue>

 

[pauldh]

I'd download rage3d tweak and one at a time underclock the video cards core and memory by 20MHz and see if/when the issue goes away.

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[Backenfutter]

Radeon 9700 PRO 128MB

I will try to download the Rage3D program and tweak it a bit (I'm not so familiar with over/under-clocking hardware but I will try it out). Last night after I posted my previous message I just disabled my video card.. hehe.. The most annoying part is the choppy scrolling in IE!

I am considering buying a new video card but price is a big issue. At first I didn't want to spend more than 150... but now (after looking over at new egg for a while) I may consider below $230 or so. What would be my best bet? I was looking at swiching from ATI to nVidia (I had a few quirky problems with ATI), so I thought maybe the 6800 would be good? But the "6800 ULTRA" seems like 100 dollars more. Is it worth the money? Would either of the cards work with my current mobo? I am rationalizing the purchase as something I'll use for at least another 2 years (hopefully longer)... so I may go through with it soon.

Thanks guys.. I really appreciate the help

Brian

 

[Backenfutter]

Doh, I forgot to ask -- if I do buy a 6800/6800 Ultra, does it matter much which brand I buy? I browsed through Newegg yesterday and found a few... any comments?

Apollo Apollo 6800 128 Geforce 6800 128MB 256-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail

PNY VCG6800APB Geforce 6800 128MB DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card Retail

XFX PVT40KND Geforce 6800 128MB DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail

None of them are the Ultra.. couldn't find much lower prices for those. Oh, and I also saw this one (a bit too expensive but double the memory):

Leadtek PX6800TDH Geforce 6800 256MB DDR PCI-Express x16 Video Card - Retail

It isn't worth it to pay 50% more for double the memory, is it? Even so.. $300.. steep!

 

[Backenfutter]

Hey, I just tried your suggestion. I lowered just the core speed 20Mhz and then fired up Unreal.. played for well over an hour without ANY slow down at all. Kind of freaked me out.

I stopped playing for a little while, took a shower, then came back to my computer (which I left idle on the desktop). I started playing Unreal again but after about 10 minutes I started getting screen artifacts and the green bars... so I'm almost certain it must be heat related. I guess the card is just dying slowly? In the mean time I will try to keep the core clocked down by about 30 or 40Mhz so I can at least play games for an hour or so at a time

If the screen starts artifating, etc... and I close everything right away.. will my card become more damaged?

 

[pauldh]

If it is a retail box Built By ATI card, they have a 3 year warranty. Hit ATI's support page and fill out an online RMA. If it is out of warranty, i'd say see if undercloccking it alot makes it completely stable. If so, take a can of air duster and blow out the dust. Remove the heatsink and remount it with artic silver 5, add a slot fan that sits below the video card and blows cool air on th card. Or just opent the case and blow a house fan on it first. Hatefor you to spend too much money when the card just may soon be a gonner.




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[spazmire11]

you could also try and put a arctic cooling silencer on it put personaly i would go with a zalaman vf700 hsf cause it has seperat ramsinks and is much quieter and smaler get some case fans too




--------------------------------------------
out of my mind....ill be back in a couple of minutes

 

[Backenfutter]

Excuse my ignorance please.. But why has it worked for 2 years without any artifacting?

As for the case.. the only strange thing re: the video card is that the fan is on the bottom of the video card, which blows the hot air onto the soundcard... If the damn thing blew UPWARD... then it would hit the airflow and go out the back easier.

But this doesn't explain the 2 years of gaming (including playing HL2 all the way through just a few months ago) without ever seeing any problem like this.

Also, I just cleaned the entire case out two days ago.. COMPLETELY. Like.. it looks brand new and took me 2 hours. So that would have fixed the problem .. right?



Thanks again for all the help. I did buy the card about 2 years ago so I will look into the RMA.

THANKS

P.S. Is it possible that the fan on the video card is just dying, and not the video card? Just a total wild guess.. not sure how to test it out

 

[pauldh]

Clean it out monthly eh? Yeah, but you have some sort of a strange relationship with the 9800SEWE(Wusy Edition). :tongue:


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