Issues with GFX Card.

[TheBlackVeil]

Recently upgraded to a nVidia GeForce 7800 GS. Games can run with maxxed out graphics. Pretty cool.

Problems have arisen, though! Games randomly crash and I get visual glitches such as short, white bars or whacky textures. Really, the white bars and random crashing are the biggest issues(the whacky textures seem to be associated with Dawn of War and WInter Assault, only).

My other system specs are:

AMD Athlon XP 2700+, ~2.2 GHz.

1024 MB RAM.

When I got the card, I also updated my PSU to a 550W something-or-other.

Any clue what could be causing this crap? Bottle-necking due to my slowish processor wouldn't cause this, would it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[swker98]

hello TheBlackVeil and welcome to techspot

this can sometimes be caused by a fualty card, not enoph power because eather your power supply is to small or you may have forgotten to plug a power cable into your card, if its needed

also have you tried different drivers?

 

[TheBlackVeil]

Thanks for the welcome.

About the drivers: Yes. I had the drivers it came with, a 3rd party set, and I've just now decided to try the latest Forceware drivers(June 23).

After installing those drivers, I'm still seeing white bars.

The PSU is 550W, shouldn't be a problem for running the card, at all. As far as cables being where they ought to be, wouldn't that result in the card not working at all, rather than working half-assedly?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Nope. The card would work but not properly, since the slot would provide power but not enough for the card to run properly. So it would run, but not properly. I don't think however that u would need an extra cable, since the PCI-E slot provides ample power for most cards(assuming ur card is a PCI-E one) But if it's an AGP card, then u would need to plug in a Molex cable into the connector on the video card.
My guess is that it's overheating. Use Speedfan from the Downloads section here at TechSpot to get ur GPU temps and post them here. Post the temps when the GPU is idle(at the desktop with no programs running) and under load (playing a demanding game like Quake 4 on Ultra Quality with all settings maxed out). This will help us determine if u need extra cooling on ur card or to eliminate the possiblity of an overheating card.

 

[TheBlackVeil]

Okay. I've DL'd SpeedFan. I'm NOT sure what information you're looking for, or how to get it, but I'll give it a shot:

I've got, according to SpeedFan, three fans.

It says, at idle, Fan 1 is running at around 7700-7800 RPMs, and the temp listings on the right read Temp1 with a downward arrow: 36C, Temp1 with a fire icon: 53C.

Fan 2 is running at ~5000 RPMs. Temp2 has only the fire icon and is 51C.

Fan 3, which I'm assuming is my GFX Card's fan, is at 0 RPMs with a downward arrow Temp of -1C, with no fire-icon temp.

 

[TheBlackVeil]

Okay, with Dawn of War: Winter Assault running, here's what I've got:

Fan1: ~7700 RPMs
Fan2: ~4900-5000 RPMs
Fan3: 0 RPMs

Temp1 with down-arrow: 37C
Temp1 with fire-icon: 60C

Temp2 with fire-icon: 53C

Temp3 with down-arrow: -1C

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

No then it's not overheating. I think it's ur PSU or the slot itself then.

 

[spicyhamster]

same problem

the exact same thing is happening to me. My errors don't seem to make sense. They're in call of Juarez (crazy polygons all over the place), FEAR(moderate polygon-age), and (get this) Warcraft 3(red splotches all over the place, but not Doom 3 or Half-Life 2.

my specs are :
pentium d 930 (3.0Ghz dual core)
512MB RAM
nVidia 7600 GS (from XFX)

I'm going to try that speedfan program, but if you have any other ideas in the meantime, be sure to let me know.