CaptSopwith 26 Posted January 26, 2011 Hi guys. I hope all is well. It's been a busy semester so far but I've been trying to keep up on my reading here. I've encountered a graphics card problem and I need some help. My system is a Gateway FX7024 with 3 Gigs of Ram, a 500GB HDD, an Intel Core 2 Quad processor, and an nVidia GeForce 8800GT graphics card. Well, over the last few days I've had the entire computer lock up - complete with whatever the card is rendering at the time - in both cases it's been Call of Duty Modern Warfare - breaking up into pixilated bright pink and white dot goo. Then the whole system has to be hard rebooted by holding down the power button for 5 seconds. It only seems to happen during COD. I played OFF and even tried ramping up ROF - thinking that it should strain the card - and didn't see any issues. I have the latest drivers, and tried rolling them back to see if it was a driver issue. I thought the problem was fixed until last night, when it happened again on COD. I've taken the card out and cleaned it as best as I can with compressed air and even a vacuum (it was completely unplugged at the time). The card is getting white hot during gaming duties - the temperature is hovering around 90C and the max operating temperature is rated at 105C. I'm at a loss for what to do here guys - is it possible that the card is going bad? I always thought that if a video card went bad, it just died, not do this. Any advice would be welcomed - and if I do have to replace it, could you point me to a comparable card to the 8800GT - as the power supply in the Gateway is a bit limited and I don't think it can run the latest and greatest video cards out there. Thanks in advance for your help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slartibartfast 153 Posted January 26, 2011 Sounds to me like the card is on the way out. Does the fan ramp up when you are running high end graphics like in COD ? The clean out could have just cleared the fan etc but it sounds as I said like the card is on the way out... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CaptSopwith 26 Posted January 26, 2011 Sounds to me like the card is on the way out. Does the fan ramp up when you are running high end graphics like in COD ? The clean out could have just cleared the fan etc but it sounds as I said like the card is on the way out... That's what I was afraid of - yeah the fan ramps up when I run high end games - but it doesn't seem to be dispersing the heat very well. Also, I clean out the case every 3-4 months but when I removed the card - which has the fan facing down in the case so I never really was able to hit it with the compressed air - the thing was chocked with dust... I'm thinking that might have done it in. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CaptSopwith 26 Posted January 26, 2011 Does anyone have some suggestions on a comparable or slightly better card to replace it with? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slartibartfast 153 Posted January 26, 2011 (edited) What PSU do you have in your PC ? And is it possible to install a more powerful power supply ? As that would then give us an idea on what card to suggest. Edited January 26, 2011 by Slartibartfast Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Freiwillige 1 Posted January 26, 2011 If it isn't the card its the PSU. PSU problems can be intermittent and darn difficult to track. I built a custom gaming rig in 2002 for IL2 sturmovik and it ran perfect but it would randomly hard lock. I reformatted, tried every driver in the book, sent it to a shop only to get it back and have the same issue and only with IL2! I was going nuts and just about gave up when a tech friend mentioned that I should try a quality high end PSU. I thought for sure it couldn't be the PSU but it was. PSU= Power Supply. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xclusiv8 35 Posted January 26, 2011 (edited) If it isn't the card its the PSU. PSU problems can be intermittent and darn difficult to track. I built a custom gaming rig in 2002 for IL2 sturmovik and it ran perfect but it would randomly hard lock. I reformatted, tried every driver in the book, sent it to a shop only to get it back and have the same issue and only with IL2! I was going nuts and just about gave up when a tech friend mentioned that I should try a quality high end PSU. I thought for sure it couldn't be the PSU but it was. PSU= Power Supply. you forgot unit Power Supply Unit By the way. Get a GTX460. They are cheap as hell no and will do the job in most high end games. Although you might need to get a new PSU aswell. Edited January 26, 2011 by xclusiv8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
almccoyjr 7 Posted January 26, 2011 (edited) Download and install SpeedFan to monitor and log all temps. SpeedFan will also monitor other areas of mobo where hard sensors are placed. If you're in the market to get a newer card, you'll need to verify that the card you're going to choose will work correctly with your current PSU. You may also need to upgrade the PSU as well. If you want to try and troubleshoot the 8800GT, then Google some vids on how to remove the heatsink from the 8800gt to replace the T.I.M. Get some cheap plastic gloves. You don't want any oil on any of the surfaces. Use alcohol pads to completely clean the GPU, ram chips and spreaders and then correctly apply Arctic Silver 5 and replace the heatsink. Start up pc and make sure everything is working good then loop a good v.c. benchmark program to stress the card while monitoring temp with SpeedFan. This should quickly induce a hard lockup of the v.c. due to over heat if the card is on its last legs. The v.c may be on its way or the T.I.M. has set and has started to harden and crack. If the latter is true, this will cause a lot of heat transfer resistance between the chips and the heatsink. plug_nickel Edited January 26, 2011 by almccoyjr Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BirdDogICT 3 Posted January 27, 2011 Download and install SpeedFan to monitor and log all temps. SpeedFan will also monitor other areas of mobo where hard sensors are placed. If you're in the market to get a newer card, you'll need to verify that the card you're going to choose will work correctly with your current PSU. You may also need to upgrade the PSU as well. If you want to try and troubleshoot the 8800GT, then Google some vids on how to remove the heatsink from the 8800gt to replace the T.I.M. Get some cheap plastic gloves. You don't want any oil on any of the surfaces. Use alcohol pads to completely clean the GPU, ram chips and spreaders and then correctly apply Arctic Silver 5 and replace the heatsink. Start up pc and make sure everything is working good then loop a good v.c. benchmark program to stress the card while monitoring temp with SpeedFan. This should quickly induce a hard lockup of the v.c. due to over heat if the card is on its last legs. The v.c may be on its way or the T.I.M. has set and has started to harden and crack. If the latter is true, this will cause a lot of heat transfer resistance between the chips and the heatsink. plug_nickel Al's right...I've been able to resurrect some failing older cards with dried up thermal paste by installing new heatsinks and aftermarket cooling (e.g., Arctic Cooler makes some nice ones). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CaptSopwith 26 Posted January 27, 2011 Hi guys, thanks for all of the feedback. As for my wattage - I'm limited to 400watts. As I'm in the middle of a lot of RL projects at the moment, I don't want to get too involved upgrading my PSU - my flying PC is also my working PC. Hope this helps with any suggestions regarding what kind of card would be a suitable upgrade. Cheers! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
almccoyjr 7 Posted January 27, 2011 I'd do the bare minimum. Just remove the stock heatsink, follow directions and reinstall same. I wouldn't invest in an after market cooler until you've verified that the card will work correctly. plug_nickel Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CaptSopwith 26 Posted February 13, 2011 Hi guys, thanks for all of the input. Just thought I'd wrap up this thread. I wound up replacing the 8800GT with a 9800GT and have had roughly the same performance with some slight - very slight - improvements in some areas. Better yet, the 9800GT card is mostly exposed to the air, and features a large fan bolted to the board whereas my old 8800GT was heavily shrouded and had precious little air flow. So the rig will keep flying. I've spent my Saturday flying some missions in OFF and setting up some new pilot careers, so all is well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UK_Widowmaker 571 Posted February 13, 2011 Exactly the same happened to me with my 8800 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CaptSopwith 26 Posted February 13, 2011 Exactly the same happened to me with my 8800 Well, at least we're not alone Widow! The installation of the card in the case was also a bit questionable. The card was facing fanside down - about three inches (at most) from the bottom of the case. So when the fan ran, it blew hot air right to the bottom of the case where there was no airflow and with such tight confinement, I'm not sure it ever really cooled itself. But more importantly than that, it means that my systematic dusting with compressed air - a virtue I espouse to everyone I meet - missed the bloody graphics card for three years, leaving it choked with dust. When I pulled the card and looked, I cursed myself for not checking it sooner - I just assumed that my compressed air was hitting it. Hopefully this open face 9800GT will prove better than its predecessor. Cheers! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UK_Widowmaker 571 Posted February 13, 2011 Well, you did better than me m8..I only got 14 months outta mine Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CaptSopwith 26 Posted February 13, 2011 Well, you did better than me m8..I only got 14 months outta mine Ech! You've got my sympathies. What did you replace yours with? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UK_Widowmaker 571 Posted February 13, 2011 (edited) Ech! You've got my sympathies. What did you replace yours with? Same card as you! (great minds think alike!) It's a great card for FSX too Edited February 13, 2011 by UK_Widowmaker Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
