6800GT Problems

[Rexli]

Well, i'll start with the spec;

Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (build 2600)
3.60 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
ASUS_FLASH P5VDC-TVM 1.XX
ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5VDC-TVM 1.XX
512Mb RAM (2x 256)
Maxtor 6G160E0 [Hard drive] (160.04 GB)
WinFast A400 Geforce 6800GT

A few days ago i was playing a game when all of a sudden my screen went black, upon restarting my machine everything seemed to be fine until i clicked the 'Start' button. As i did this my desktop 'scrambled' into a million multi-coloured pixels, nothing was possible when this happened so it forced me to restart by pressing the button at the front of the machine. When the machine started again, exactly the same problem as with the previous start up happened (screen 'scrambled' into a million colours).

After an hour or so of messing around trying to fix the problem such as, checking the gfx was propperly plugged into its AGP slot, power cable was plugged into the gfx card ect, i decided to perform a fresh install of Window XP. When the install had finished, booted up, everything seemed fine, so i began installing the necessary things for my PC (Windows updates, Anti-Virus ect.) When i got to the graphics drivers, i tried the latest install of Nvidia's version 93.71 i believe, it asked me to reboot, upon rebooting i clicked 'Start' and again screen 'scrambled' into a million pixels.

To get rid of the 'Scrambled' effect on my desktop, i had to reboot into Safe Mode, uninstall the drivers i just installed and reboot again.

Ive searched this problem over the net but found not fixes for me, I've tried installing previous versions of Nvidia's drivers (93.71, 91.31, 81.98) aswell as many other types of drivers (Forceware Utility-BETA, Omegadrives). Also when on websites ive notived a 'choppy' effect when scrolling down but i just imagine this is the effect of having no drivers installed on the PC?

Any help or advice given would be greatly appreciated as ive tried everything i can think of, except other gfx cards (none available to me).

 

[sghiznaneck]

Check to see if the fan on your video card is running. If not, this is causing the card to overheat. If it is running, your card has died. Either case, this is definitely a video card issue. If it's just the fan, contact the manufacturer and see if they can get you a new fan. They're easy to install. There are only two little screws and a clip to attach. But beware, not all manufacturers will be able to get you a new fan (either free if still under the warranty or for a price).

 

[Rexli]

Yes, the fan on the card is still running, think i'll try the card in a mates computer, if the problem is still there i guess i'll have to buy a new one. Sucks its around 1 year and a month old (yep you guessed it 1yr warrenty).

If i am to get another card anything you can recommend?, with pay day coming up along with x-mas, price shouldn't be a problem.

 

[sghiznaneck]

What kind of power supply do you have? Do you have PCI-e slots or just AGP?
If you stick with the NVIDIA chipset (I've never run any ATI cards), the 7600 series is fairly cheap. I just upgraded my card to a GForce 7600 GS (512 megs of DDR2 RAM) for $145. The performance is great and it's a pretty good midrange card. I comes in both AGP and PCI-e.

 

[Rexli]

Power supply is a 750W, got it after having some power issuse's with the current card i have at the moment, im 90% there is only an AGP slot on the MOBO although i honestly could tell if it has any PCI-E having not seen them before. A card i have been looking at is this I'll have a check around see if it does have any PCI-E slots or not, but thanks alot for the help.

Regards Rexli

EDIT: From what i can see/read it has 1 AGP and 3 PCI slots, no PCI-E.

 

[wolfram]

That card is pretty good. Actually,it is the fastest card for the AGP bus. However, it appears that ATI will launch a X1950PRO for AGP, so it may become the new performance king for AGP8X.

What brand is your PSU? How many amps does it have on the +12V rails? Check the label attached to it.

Regards :wave:

 

[sghiznaneck]

Great. Power is not a problem and with that psu, it will run without even taxing the system.
The 7900 GT is a great card. I would have upgraded to that one when I purchased my 7600, but the price was still a little steep. If you can take your present card to a buddies house and put it in to test it, that's better than springing for a new card without knowing 100%. Then you can make your decision about the 7900GT.
I'm going to upgrade again, but I'm waiting for April to do so. I'm about to jump on the PCI-e bandwagon and the Athlon AM2 5000 dual core. But to do so right now, will cost a chuck on cash. Reason being is that since us gamers are going to be forced (eventually) into the Vista w/DX10 support, we really are at the mercy of the manufacturers pricing. It's still early in the game, but right now the 8800 cards from NVIDIA (only ones with DX10) are too pricey, and it seems that we are no longer going to be able to get cards in AGP. So, we're going to be forced to upgrade along the lines of what the manufacturers want us to.

 

[Rexli]

What brand is your PSU? How many amps does it have on the +12V rails? Check the label attached to it.

Had a look at the label and it says 230v, 5A 47-63Hz, not sure if this is the information your looking for because there is tons of information on the PSU itself. Its just one i picked up from my local computer shop when as i say i was having trouble with my old one.

Sghiznaneck think it would be worth jumping on the PCI-E bandwagen now? would hate to splash out £200 on an AGP gfx card to find non of the manufacturers make them cards anymore and would force me to replace almost everything in my PC a while down the line.

Cheers guys for your input.

 

[wolfram]

We need to know the amperage on the +12V rails
It should say something like:
+12V: 18A
+12V2: 18A

BTW, it wouldn't be a bad idea to jump to the PCI-E bandwagon. PCI-E cards are generally cheaper, and perform faster.

Regards :wave: