Nvidia card: really died or something else

first of all sorry for the bad english. i got a big problem with my GeForge9500.a friend of mine told me about this forum, i really searched everywhere but couldnt find the problem.
to understand the situation, i'll tell you the whole story:
i used the card 1 year. never cleaned it.a week ago i was playing NBA2k11 smoothly. after playing it for 4-5 hour i remember about my plans to reformat the computer, but im bit of a newbie about that, so i went to a computer store, a guy who can reformat. he opened the computer and zomg! the whole graphic card was fully covered by dust( same as other parts). he told me that he will clear the mess and reformat the computer. after 5 hours i took the computer from him, reformatted and cleaned. but when i go home and start playing assasins creed, after 40 min later fps dropped to 7-10(from 25-35). i tried NBA but that was worse ( 40 min later, 3 FPS). wtf?!
so i went back to the store that guy sayed ''dead due to overheating'' a second wtf for me.when it was fully covered by dust it was great! same as the first day i bought it. now you cleaned it and it overheated?! 3. wtf?!

something just happened, i was playing nba, then as usual FPS falled to 4-8. 8 min later FPS suddenly rised to 40-50, 10 FPS more than first
4. wtf?!

i dont belive it at all. what about you guys? any ideas about what really happend and how to fix ?!?

Future reference, All you need for clearing dust out of a pc is compressed air.

What probably happened(card is probably dead still.) Is the guy took off the cooler on the card, and didn't properly put it back on after it was cleaned out. It then probably overheated due to the heatsink contact being faulty.

If you have money to back it, I suggest buying a GTX 550 ti. Its only $120(less if you score a sale.) That card is a bit old. That will solve it no problem.

If you have the money to spare, a GTX 560 ti for sure($200)

The guy there probably realized this and tried to play the "this guy is an idiot" card, and put the blame on you for letting it dust up.

To be honest, that card is a bit outdated.

Good luck, hope it helps.

If you have a video card to run as "backup" or the money to replace, look up "video card oven trick" and try that.

i'm planning to buy a whole new computer, DDR3 ,4GB ram 4 core but couldnt find a good graphics card for it, but im not going to buy it now.maybe 10 months later?


anyway, the guy said the card still has 1 year warranty* but you know i dont want to wait my card for 3-4 weeks

just to make you sure of it:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/195/adsznuy.png/
heard that 90 Celcius was Ok but?

edit: looked at the card again when lags started, it was 115Celcius... maybe i can raise the fan speed? from %85 to %100 ?

get someone who really knows what he's doing, the card is throttling due to heat.

before with dust it was working ok as you said, and without dust it's overheating? no way

that guy at the store really messed it up. he most probably removed the cooler from the card and didn't put it back the way it was.

i know the kind of ppl that works in such places, and honestly sometimes they really don't have a clue.

if you don't have nobody to help you, you can try in another shop and tell them what happened to you, and that most probably that noob did something wrong.

That card is not broken.

90C is ok under load not on idle.
115C on load is where the card lowers its' working frequencies in order to prevent heat damage, this is why you see fps going down and after some time when temperature isn't as high as before speed goes back to normal.

In 10 months time, come see us, And we will link you a pc within your budget that you list.

I can't really say "buy now" because there is so much new tech coming out within 5 months alone, never mind 10.

What you want to do is this: get a budget,(how much money you are willing to spend) And a list of games you want to play. From there, We will do the corner cutting for you, so you get the best for your money.

Zantal said:

that guy at the store really messed it up. he most probably removed the cooler from the card and didn't put it back the way it was.


That card is not broken.

90C is ok under load not on idle.
115C on load is where the card lowers its' working frequencies in order to prevent heat damage, this is why you see fps going down and after some time when temperature isn't as high as before speed goes back to normal.

Click to expand...

+1
OR he could have put on a different cooler, and tried to charge extra for a new cooler to get more money from you. How much did you pay for his "de dusting"?

thanks for the awnsers everyone!
so zantal are you sure the the card is not dead, instead it got a problem with the cooler? because if i open the computer, it warranty will gone, and i have VERY low budget to back somethings up if thigs goes wrong.

How much did you pay for his "de dusting"?

Click to expand...

im not that stupid
the whole computer has warranty (1 year left) so exept reformat, no money.
its hard to find someone who really knows computers these days.
oh and its 90Celcius on idle -___- ''

i can only tell you what i think it is. it is up to you to decide.

You can believe the shop guy, that it's your fault

or you can believe us who believe it is his fault.

anyway you can ask him to open the pc while you are with him, so you are sure he will check that he did a good work

if he removed the cooler then there are few things he MUST have done

remove cooler
remove dust
remove old thermal paste
apply new thermal paste.
mount cooler on card.
screw everything tight enough to not let it loose.

if the cooler doesn't make proper contact with the chip surface, or the paste hasn't been replaced

the card will inevetably overheat.

Zantal said:

i can only tell you what i think it is. it is up to you to decide.

You can believe the shop guy, that it's your fault

or you can believe us who believe it is his fault.

anyway you can ask him to open the pc while you are with him, so you are sure he will check that he did a good work

if he removed the cooler then there are few things he MUST have done

remove cooler
remove dust
remove old thermal paste
apply new thermal paste.
mount cooler on card.
screw everything tight enough to not let it loose.

if the cooler doesn't make proper contact with the chip surface, or the paste hasn't been replaced

the card will inevetably overheat.

Click to expand...

And the reason we think its the guy's fault, and not yours, is because it worked fine before the dust was cleaned off.

And he is right, if it boots up, it isn't dead. Once it is to the point where it doesn't boot, it is dead.

I made an early assumption. The guy there did the same thing, from what I understand.

Have him or another tech guy have a go at reseating the video card heatsink.

lol i didnt say anything about believing him,i dont believe him, thats why i opened this topic

i knew he screwed up something, and he did some screwups long time ago, that was just my fault to trust him again.

i could try to give computer to someone else who really knows, or i can to fix it too, but as i said, i cant open the interior of the computer, i have to cut the band, which will kill the all computers warranty, and i literally cant waste a dollar to buy something for my computer right now.card has warranty. i'll just bring the computer to him, give the card, and wait for 3-4 weeks. at least nothing will distrupt me while im working.

Have him or another tech guy have a go at reseating the video card heatsink.

Click to expand...

i'll try that!

thank you guys!

look up a guide on youtube on how to remove a VGA heatsink (trust me its really easy) then apply some new thermal paste (less is more less is more!!!!!!) should help bring the temps in control.