My new graphic card, I think it's broken

M

MacUserMDM

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• Oct 23, 2003

• #1

ATI 9800
2.6 P4 800 FSB
Abit IC7-G
512 Meg PC3200 Geil Golden Dragon

I just finish building my first PC and it's almost perfect. I noticed that when I put a DVD in the drive, the movies played back with a blocky green flicker to the movie. I then noticed that the screen savers that came with my card didn't display correctly. They has all of these weard angles, lines, and triangles all over the images.

I was wondering how do I determine if I should return it to Circuit City or should I be looking to a different part of my PC.

 

P

Pinnacle2k4

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Sep 5, 2003

• Oct 23, 2003

• #2

sounds like artifacting.

Check and make sure the heatsink is attached and the fan is spinning. Sounds to me like the gpu is overheating.

 

OP

M

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• Oct 23, 2003

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• #3

it is spinning.

Another example of that it's doing:

The ATI bacteria screen saver has these 3d worm like things that move around. Instead of being smooth or textured, they have all of they squares and rectangles all over them.

 

snvpa

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• Oct 24, 2003

• #4

return the card the memory is bad or overheating.what is your case airflow like and what power supply do you have.

 

OP

M

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• Oct 24, 2003

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• #5

Do you mean return the Video card or return the memory?

I have the Thermaltake Phase II and the thermaltake Silent Pure Power 480 watt PS. THere's 2 fans on the PS. 2 on the back and 2 on the front of the case. There's on on the side panel. 1 on the cpu and one on the northbridge.

I also touched the GPU heat sink (after I powered down the PC adn grounded myself) and it was cool to the touch.

 

snvpa

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• Oct 24, 2003

• #6

the card is bad then. return it. better luck next time. is it a built by ati card or another reference brand?

 

OP

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• Oct 24, 2003

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• #7

It's an ATI

How do you know? (just from experience?)

(Sorry, I'm a PC dumbie.)

 

CamH

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• Oct 24, 2003

• #8

It sounds like the heatsink isn't making contact with the GPU...

 

snvpa

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• Oct 24, 2003

• #9

He's describing artifacts, which are caused by the memory creating errors. could just be an internal card voltage issue but he should just get a new card. gpu errors usually result in small white dots all over the place or the game locking up not what he's describing.
I was also just curious what brand of card you have. certain manufactureres ie powercolor are known for using substandard parts. I must ask you what are the ram chips on your card amrked as. Are they samsung or infineon?

 

OP

M

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• Oct 24, 2003

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• #10

So, I should just return it. I hope that solves this.

Is there anything else it could be? I don't want to replace the card only to find that wasn't the problem.

 

stan03

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Mar 30, 2003

• Oct 24, 2003

• #11

what drivers are you using? a few people had problems with 3.8....

 

pkrew

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Nashville, TN

• Oct 24, 2003

• #12

I would just replace the card. I doubt that the drivers would cause that much problems. Its a remote possibility the your mobo has a bad agp slot, but the best way to find out is to try another video card.

 

N

NCtramp

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• Oct 25, 2003

• #13

what driver are you using ...3.8??? if so change to 3.7 before you return the card.


nctramp

 

OP

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• Oct 25, 2003

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• #14

I returned the card and installed the new one last night, and it works great.
Thanks for your suggestions and help.