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EVGA GPU and Uber-artifacting
Scosglen
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Alright, to give you guys some background on my situation I think It's neccessary to provide a rough timeline for this computer's lifespan.
To preface this, I'm running an EVGA 7800GT at completely stock settings with no hardware modifications/tinkering
I built my desktop last march from scratch and everything worked like an absolute dream until around october last year. In a few graphic intesive games I started to get very occasional graphical artifacting (stretched polygons/funky textures) and very minor issues with hanging for a few seconds. I noticed the card was running very hot, at 70-80 degrees when idle and up to 105 or so when under load. I cleaned out the dust from the exposed area of the fan and significantly lowered the clock settings on the card to help curb the tempterature. It didn't solve it but the card was at least running acceptably cool and everything was stable.
While I had the chance to bring the computer home for winter break I gave the computer a very thorough cleaning, and found a good angle to get inside the heatsink area with a compressed air can which blew a *ton* of dust out the sides and Immediately dropped the idle temp of the card down to a cool 40. After that I was able to put the clock speeds back up to normal and got great performance again with low temps.
Since then I've been carefully monitoring the temperature of the card whenever I play any 3D games and periodically blowing the crap out from the heatsink area whenever the load temp gets above 75 or so, but to my great dismay the card has slowly been "dying" since october. A few months ago I started getting this thing where the whole screen starts sort of "shimmering" with a bunch of little miscolored bits that look sort of like elongated ~ marks. At first it was pretty minor/rare and a reboot would always fix it, and I was careful to make certain that the card wasn't overheating when this occured (was never above 65-70 degrees) Gradually this shimmering thing has gotten worse and more inexplicable. The card is never showing dangerous temps when it happens and it seems totally inpredictable when it would do it. One day I could boot up and not even have any 3D apps running and be painting something in photoshop and it locked up with the shimmering thing, the next day I play oblivion for 8 hours and it runs perfectly, the next day command and conquer 3 locks up with shimmering 2 minutes into a skirmish several times in a row, the next day I play it all day again with no issues at all.
The important thing here is that the card never showed dangerous temps when this was occuring, a reboot or a power down and letting it sit for a few seconds always fixed it.
And so we come to the crux of my problem. Yesterday I had C&C3 running for nearly 12 hours with absolutely no problems, this morning I boot up my computer and within seconds from loading the desktop the shimmering starts to slowly manifest, eventually encompass the entire screen, and then the video signal dies. Reboot, the mobo post screen and windows loading bar are garbled and artifacted, gets to desktop and shimmering starts, video signal dead within seconds. It happens basically the same way every time. GPU fan is still at least spinning but it's just deja vu every time I try and I suppose the thing has finally toasted itself.
SO, since this is H/A, here's where the H/A comes in.
1. JUST to put my mind at rest, is it possible this is anything other than my video card crapping out?
2. Should I even consider this might be a power issue or is that just out of the question?
3. Has anyone else with an EVGA 7800GT or another 7800GT had cooling/stability problems or experience they might be able to share to help increase my knowledge of the situation?
When the problems started to get bad but the thing at least still worked I sent off an e-mail to EVGA tech support and confirmed that obstensibly I am covered by the lifetime warranty and can RMA the card, so that's the current plan I suppose. I'm just a bit paranoid and worried they might find some way to make me liable for the card failing once they examine it. Any thoughts about this appreciated.
To preface this, I'm running an EVGA 7800GT at completely stock settings with no hardware modifications/tinkering
I built my desktop last march from scratch and everything worked like an absolute dream until around october last year. In a few graphic intesive games I started to get very occasional graphical artifacting (stretched polygons/funky textures) and very minor issues with hanging for a few seconds. I noticed the card was running very hot, at 70-80 degrees when idle and up to 105 or so when under load. I cleaned out the dust from the exposed area of the fan and significantly lowered the clock settings on the card to help curb the tempterature. It didn't solve it but the card was at least running acceptably cool and everything was stable.
While I had the chance to bring the computer home for winter break I gave the computer a very thorough cleaning, and found a good angle to get inside the heatsink area with a compressed air can which blew a *ton* of dust out the sides and Immediately dropped the idle temp of the card down to a cool 40. After that I was able to put the clock speeds back up to normal and got great performance again with low temps.
Since then I've been carefully monitoring the temperature of the card whenever I play any 3D games and periodically blowing the crap out from the heatsink area whenever the load temp gets above 75 or so, but to my great dismay the card has slowly been "dying" since october. A few months ago I started getting this thing where the whole screen starts sort of "shimmering" with a bunch of little miscolored bits that look sort of like elongated ~ marks. At first it was pretty minor/rare and a reboot would always fix it, and I was careful to make certain that the card wasn't overheating when this occured (was never above 65-70 degrees) Gradually this shimmering thing has gotten worse and more inexplicable. The card is never showing dangerous temps when it happens and it seems totally inpredictable when it would do it. One day I could boot up and not even have any 3D apps running and be painting something in photoshop and it locked up with the shimmering thing, the next day I play oblivion for 8 hours and it runs perfectly, the next day command and conquer 3 locks up with shimmering 2 minutes into a skirmish several times in a row, the next day I play it all day again with no issues at all.
The important thing here is that the card never showed dangerous temps when this was occuring, a reboot or a power down and letting it sit for a few seconds always fixed it.
And so we come to the crux of my problem. Yesterday I had C&C3 running for nearly 12 hours with absolutely no problems, this morning I boot up my computer and within seconds from loading the desktop the shimmering starts to slowly manifest, eventually encompass the entire screen, and then the video signal dies. Reboot, the mobo post screen and windows loading bar are garbled and artifacted, gets to desktop and shimmering starts, video signal dead within seconds. It happens basically the same way every time. GPU fan is still at least spinning but it's just deja vu every time I try and I suppose the thing has finally toasted itself.
SO, since this is H/A, here's where the H/A comes in.
1. JUST to put my mind at rest, is it possible this is anything other than my video card crapping out?
2. Should I even consider this might be a power issue or is that just out of the question?
3. Has anyone else with an EVGA 7800GT or another 7800GT had cooling/stability problems or experience they might be able to share to help increase my knowledge of the situation?
When the problems started to get bad but the thing at least still worked I sent off an e-mail to EVGA tech support and confirmed that obstensibly I am covered by the lifetime warranty and can RMA the card, so that's the current plan I suppose. I'm just a bit paranoid and worried they might find some way to make me liable for the card failing once they examine it. Any thoughts about this appreciated.
Scosglen on
0
Posts
If you look around on different tech forums, it seems like the nVidia 7XXX line, especially manufacturer overclocked versions, have heating problems. Based on your experience, it is 99% likely the graphics card has failed, and I doubt it has anything to do with your PSU.