Penny Arcade Forums› Help / Advice Forum
The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.

Overheating: computer problem or card problem?

thorgotthorgot there is special providencein the fall of a sparrowRegistered User regular
edited April 2008 in Help / Advice Forum
I am having overheating issues, this I am sure of. In the winter, at worst I had a few flickering dots here and there. But now that it's warm out, I'm getting lots and lots of weird stuff while playing games. Sometimes the machine just shuts off.

The card is a 7900 GT/GTO (I don't remember which). The general temperature is around 80-90 F, or 100 when playing a game.

Is this a general heating problem with the computer, or a problem with the graphics card? Do I just need to dust off the graphics card fan, or buy a new fan, or buy a new card?

campionthorgotsig.jpg
thorgot on

Posts

  • wakkawawakkawa Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    100 F is pretty good actually, so it might not be the graphics card. It could be the powersupply or the cpu.

    What kind of weird issues are you having anyways?

    wakkawa on
  • thorgotthorgot there is special providence in the fall of a sparrowRegistered User regular
    edited April 2008
    wakkawa wrote: »
    100 F is pretty good actually, so it might not be the graphics card. It could be the powersupply or the cpu.

    What kind of weird issues are you having anyways?

    Insane artifacts blocking half the screen, flickering dots, weird red dots like these.

    I don't know how hot the graphics card is. Those are CPU numbers.

    thorgot on
    campionthorgotsig.jpg
  • wakkawawakkawa Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    ah, though that was just the video card.

    I would just try taking it out and blowing the air out of the fan and heatsink. Same for the cpu and psu. Maybe try to get some case fans. Have some blowing in air from the front and another blowing some out of the back. If the computer is put under a desk put it in a place that it'll get better airflow.

    Theres not much that could be done other than just keep it clean with some good airflow. I have lots of over heating problems with my desktop over the summer cus I don't have any ac. Just turn it off when you aren't using it and try not to game for too long.

    wakkawa on
  • thorgotthorgot there is special providence in the fall of a sparrowRegistered User regular
    edited April 2008
    After blowing all the dust out of the card (which there was a lot of), the GPU is still at 58 C idle, which I read is about normal.

    It will be easy not to game for too long now that games artifact out of control immediately after opening them.

    Oh, the card is "nVidia GeForce 7900 GT 256MB DDR3 @520MHz"

    thorgot on
    campionthorgotsig.jpg
  • victor_c26victor_c26 Chicago, ILRegistered User regular
    edited April 2008
    If it's an eVGA, keep in mind that apparently the 7900 GT was a particularly bad card in regards to VRAM reliability. There was a bad batch at one point according to a friend (only person I know that had a 7900 GT), and his was artifacting after a year and a half.

    He RMA'd it and got a 7950 GT KO.

    You might want to keep that in mind in case it continues to artifact on you.

    victor_c26 on
    It's been so long since I've posted here, I've removed my signature since most of what I had here were broken links. Shows over, you can carry on to the next post.
  • thorgotthorgot there is special providence in the fall of a sparrowRegistered User regular
    edited April 2008
    It's been doing this since last summer. I guess I will try to get it replaced.

    thorgot on
    campionthorgotsig.jpg
  • ScosglenScosglen Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    If the card is running cool but you're still getting artifacting in intensive games and applications, that says to me that the card has suffered permanent damage. It may have occurred when the card was overheating before you cleaned out the cooling assembly, or it may have just failed due to wear and tear.

    I would definitely pursue an RMA or lining up a replacement though, as it's been my experience that a GPU in that condition is poised to become completely nonfunctional in short order. If you start getting artifacts doing completely mundane tasks like internet browsing or maneuvering through windows then take that as a huge red flag.

    Scosglen on
Sign In or Register to comment.
Penny Arcade Forums› Help / Advice Forum