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My x800pro almost bit the dust

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dreIU

Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2003
Location
Bloomington, IN
Well, after installing my new CPU (claw) and doing some OCing, I decided to run Aquamark03. I had the 4.8Cat's insttalled, so I went ahead and installed the latest beta's from ATi.

So, after I reboot from installing the beta's, I get a screen that looks... well you know that screen when a video card is fried. After a few seconds it goes back to looking normal. So I run A3 and I get like a score of 23K... well Ok, that's not right, so I go back to the control pannel and make sure all is set to "performance." It is, so I re-run the test, but it is just as slow.

So I go and install the official 4.9 Cat's and it does the same deal upon startup. I run A3, and it all artifacts like crazy... this is at stock for the video card! ATi Silencer4, idle of ~32 and load ~50. So I start freaking out... then I install the latest Omega's and I reboot, but the screen does NOT look messed up. I run A3 and I get ~64K.

So, WTF did I just go through? Is this a sign that my card is about to die? :-/
 
anybody else heard of this or experience this? I think it's kind of odd that drivers make that big of a difference.
 
try reseating the card, and check for good contact with the HS.

maybe its something simple like you bumped it while installing the new cpu.

GL man.. :-/
 
Yep, looks like a dud card. Happens all the time. The first 30 days you own a card is the worst time to own a new video card as most cards have the highest "Fatality" rate during this time. If you get a card that survives the first 30 days, the likelyhood of a card dying drops to next to nothing for about 3 years, hence why warranties are for 3 years. After 3 years, the failure rate climbs way back up again.

I would try to get it rma'd or sent back. Especially if this is happening at stock.

Now, it COULD be a power supply problem. Is the card hooked up to a dedicated line off the supply, or better yet, it's own dedicated circuit? Also, what supply are you using and have you tried measuring the voltage on the card itself while running and on the line it's hooked up to with a multi meter?
 
hUMANbEATbOX said:
try reseating the card, and check for good contact with the HS.

maybe its something simple like you bumped it while installing the new cpu.

GL man.. :-/

Very good idea, I will do that as soon as I am done Priming. I hope this is the problem and not something worse.

DocGiggs said:
Yep, looks like a dud card. Happens all the time. The first 30 days you own a card is the worst time to own a new video card as most cards have the highest "Fatality" rate during this time. If you get a card that survives the first 30 days, the likelyhood of a card dying drops to next to nothing for about 3 years, hence why warranties are for 3 years. After 3 years, the failure rate climbs way back up again.

I would try to get it rma'd or sent back. Especially if this is happening at stock.

Now, it COULD be a power supply problem. Is the card hooked up to a dedicated line off the supply, or better yet, it's own dedicated circuit? Also, what supply are you using and have you tried measuring the voltage on the card itself while running and on the line it's hooked up to with a multi meter?

Well, I hope it is not a dud card :( It works fine with these new drivers :-/ I am not sure if I have the option of RMA'ing it, I bought it as an OEM from someone off these forums.

Power supply is an Antec Tru480, and I think that I have the card and a fan or two hooked up to this circuit.
 
if it's working fine with different drivers chances are your first two driver installs were borked. keep an eye on it for a while, but it sounds like it'll be fine.
 
crimedog said:
if it's working fine with different drivers chances are your first two driver installs were borked. keep an eye on it for a while, but it sounds like it'll be fine.

I will definitely keep an eye out for it. I am wondering if I should wait a while before I start OCing this more.

ColtIce said:
while your at it put those fans on a different line.check out the sticky in the cooling as for why http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=246262

Also good advice. I've been delaying this for a while now, but I will go in there and make sure the card sits right in the AGP slot and do some rewiring.

Thanks for all the help guys, hopefully the card will not have to be scrapped.
 
My question to you is, does it have artifact even in DOS, just when you boot up before the windows log on screen,?? if it has in DOS then its dying or almost dead, (hardware problem) if the artifacts start when you are in Windows then , reformat and do a clean install. I dont trust beta drivers, especially if you install them with previuos versions still residing on the HD....... Your PSU is fine
 
mata2974 said:
My question to you is, does it have artifact even in DOS, just when you boot up before the windows log on screen,?? if it has in DOS then its dying or almost dead, (hardware problem) if the artifacts start when you are in Windows then , reformat and do a clean install. I dont trust beta drivers, especially if you install them with previuos versions still residing on the HD....... Your PSU is fine

No artifacts in DOS, as far as I know. This is a fresh install of windows, maybe a week old or so, adn I have been booting into safe mode and using driver cleaner to get rid of old drivers. I am getting ready to rewire my fans and make sure that the card is sitting in the agp slot correctly here in a few hours, I am still priming atm. thanks for the advice.
 
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