Video Card Malfunction?

#1 j_martin

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Posted 11 July 2007 - 04:11 PM

One day I turned on my computer and the were all of these colored bars and boxes all over the screen, artifacts, I believe they are called. They are always there, from the time the computer is turned on, even during the boot sequence, which makes me doubt it is a software problem. I have tried connecting several different monitors, which does not help. So I guess it must be the video card. (ATI Radeon 9800 Pro). Do you think a new video card will fix it? Is there any other way to fix it? If its any help, I have linked below to some pics of the problem so you can see what I mean, but they are large bitmaps which may take a bit to download, since I wanted to preserve the quality so you guyz could see exactly what they look like.
Thanks!

Pic2

Pic3

Pic4

#2 oldf@rt

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Posted 11 July 2007 - 04:59 PM

I have seen this before, if the GPU has not been damaged by overheating, it is possible to repair this issue. The first thing to check is the GPU fan and insure that it is spinning and not frozen, if it is spinning, use section F in this Tutorial on cleaning the inside of your PC. If the fan is frozen in place, and will not rotate, there are several companies that manufacture after market GPU coolers. This is an example.

Of course, a new video card will solve the problem, and the cooler may not if the gpu is damaged. My advice would be to get a new video card if the cleaning does not fix the problem or if the fan is frozen.

The name says it all -- 59 and holding permanently

**WARNING** _{Links I provide might cause brain damage}

#3 j_martin

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Posted 11 July 2007 - 07:49 PM

I have cleaned out the video card, the fan was spinning, it didnt help. Now I am looking for a new AGP video card. What do you guyz think of these:

BFG nvidia geforce 7800gs 256mb gddr3, $140 after rebate

HIS HighTech ATI X1950XT 512mb gddr3, $145 after rebate

And also, these cards all recommend a certain number of volts/amps on some rails in the Power supply. How do I check these numbers for my power supply? It is a 480W Antec TruePower I believe. Also, the ATI card has a 6 pin PCIe power connector, and does not include an adaptor for this. Are these adaptors hard to find?

And do you think a P4 3.2Ghz 1GB DDR400 will be able to take advantage of these cards?

This post has been edited by j_martin: 11 July 2007 - 07:55 PM

#4 oldf@rt

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Posted 11 July 2007 - 09:41 PM

You must open your case and read the tech data on the power supply or look it up at antec's web site.

I like card number 2.

adapters are generally easy to find. newegg has a few, also they can be obtained from Directron

The name says it all -- 59 and holding permanently

**WARNING** _{Links I provide might cause brain damage}