Connect3D x800GTO blowing up

[NerdCoreRocks]

Hi guys. I was one of those people who bought a Connect3D x800GTO from Newegg.com a little after Thanksgiving last year. I was also one of those people who got the versions that did not unlock the extra 4 pipes. Well here is my issue. I have been overclocking it whenever I play games (545/540ish) and then left at default speeds otherwise until now. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a solid green texture in Day of Defeat:Source. I hoped it was just a fluke. A few days ago, I noticed weird graphic artifacts in certain parts of WoW (the map, looting bodies, talking to NPCs). Now, it is just completely messed up. When I play any modern game like DOD:Source or Pirates Vikings and Knights:Source the graphics are completely messed up.

I am going to attatch a few screenshots. I hope someone looks at them and gives me an idea whats wrong. I know that my video card is not overheating. When I took these pictures, the x800gto never reached past 55 celcius. I don't think it's my power supply? It has worked fine up until now. It's a 550 Watt Rosewill (I know it's not the greatest brand), but I haven't had any problems with it. Here are the numbers for it: +3.3V 30A, +5V 45A, +12V1 18A, +12V2 16A, -12V 1A. I took the stock heatsink/fan off of the x800gto and replaced it with some Valman one that was good at the time. Ummm....it's not a ATI driver issue either, since I rolled back the drivers (deleting all the new one's properly with drive cleaner pro) to the version circa two Thanksgivings ago, and that didn't help.

Did it just burn out from being overclocked sometimes? Should I RMA it (have a warranty for almost another year), or is it fixable? Let me know what you guys think and I'd greatly greatly appreciate it. Thanks!!!

Stefan K.

 

[DaMulta]

Connect3D is one of the biggest ATi vendors.
BUT
I would just RMA it or try resetting my heatsink if you trust yourself.

OR put a new 3ed party cooler on it.

 

[pt]

point a house fan at it and see if the problems is solved
if not RMA (some users may not agree with the rma)

 

[NerdCoreRocks]

but it's worked fine for over a year and I do have an aftermarket cooler on it. (a big Zalman one). ATItool reports the temps as not going past 55 in those games

 

[DaMulta]

Then I would say RMA it. Put your stock cooler back on because you will not get that cooler back.

 

[largon]

Those green blocks appear to be corrupt textures caused by malfunctioning GDDR chip(s).

 

[peach1971]

The team from THG was able to clock that card to 590/494 MHz with unmodified cooling.
http://hardware.thgweb.de/2005/12/1...x800_von_powercolor_und_connect3d/page15.html

What largon wrote about the memory issue could be true, because you have to remember
that the mem temps can not be monitored, so they might have a heat problem (or they´re already damaged).

The memory heatsinks from Zalman are somehow tiny, that´s why my X800 GTO (XpertVision)
receives extra cool air from a house fan, just like pt suggested.

 

[dolf]

RMA it as soon as possible.

 

[NerdCoreRocks]

well if that's it, that's poopy. i heard of a lot of people getting their ram up to 550/60 with the same cooler, so i thought it wouldn't be a problem. i didn't notice artifacts until i got up into the upper 50 range, so i figured low 550s or 540 would be ok for the mem. i'm not overclocking it any more, and it still is producing those errors, so the mem must be permenantly damaged

 

[NerdCoreRocks]

The team from THG was able to clock that card to 590/494 MHz with unmodified cooling.
http://hardware.thgweb.de/2005/12/1...x800_von_powercolor_und_connect3d/page15.html

What largon wrote about the memory issue could be true, because you have to remember
that the mem temps can not be monitored, so they might have a heat problem (or they´re already damaged).

The memory heatsinks from Zalman are somehow tiny, that´s why my X800 GTO (XpertVision)
receives extra cool air from a house fan, just like pt suggested.

actually....look right underneat that. the 590/490 score is for the x800gt not the connect3d x800gto. the x800gto got to 560 or something! so why did mine break???

 

[peach1971]

Ooops, you´re right,
Anyway, the THG testing is not supposed to be a long term test, so... just RMA it.

Still could be a damage to the RAM due to heat problems.
Or the GPU has a `born defect` which just showed up now.
Have you ever touched these tiny RAM heatsinks when gaming?
Yes, they can get very hot without extra cooling.
Especially the ones on back (where there´s no Zalman fan cooling at all).

There is no guaranty for ultimate stabile use in overcloking...

 

[mmx]

Hi guys. I was one of those people who bought a Connect3D x800GTO from Newegg.com a little after Thanksgiving last year. I was also one of those people who got the versions that did not unlock the extra 4 pipes. Well here is my issue. I have been overclocking it whenever I play games (545/540ish) and then left at default speeds otherwise until now. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a solid green texture in Day of Defeat:Source. I hoped it was just a fluke. A few days ago, I noticed weird graphic artifacts in certain parts of WoW (the map, looting bodies, talking to NPCs). Now, it is just completely messed up. When I play any modern game like DOD:Source or Pirates Vikings and Knights:Source the graphics are completely messed up.

I am going to attatch a few screenshots. I hope someone looks at them and gives me an idea whats wrong. I know that my video card is not overheating. When I took these pictures, the x800gto never reached past 55 celcius. I don't think it's my power supply? It has worked fine up until now. It's a 550 Watt Rosewill (I know it's not the greatest brand), but I haven't had any problems with it. Here are the numbers for it: +3.3V 30A, +5V 45A, +12V1 18A, +12V2 16A, -12V 1A. I took the stock heatsink/fan off of the x800gto and replaced it with some Valman one that was good at the time. Ummm....it's not a ATI driver issue either, since I rolled back the drivers (deleting all the new one's properly with drive cleaner pro) to the version circa two Thanksgivings ago, and that didn't help.

Did it just burn out from being overclocked sometimes? Should I RMA it (have a warranty for almost another year), or is it fixable? Let me know what you guys think and I'd greatly greatly appreciate it. Thanks!!!


Stefan K.

Same thing happent to mine to, and RMA.

 

[NerdCoreRocks]

Same thing happent to mine to, and RMA.

Did you overclock it when it died on you? I'm wondering if i get a new one if i should still overclock it, or if I should just run it as is...I want it to run for at least like 3 years. Is it honestly just impossible to expect a decent life expectancy out of things when you overclock them?

 

[Zubasa]

Did you overclock it when it died on you? I'm wondering if i get a new one if i should still overclock it, or if I should just run it as is...I want it to run for at least like 3 years. Is it honestly just impossible to expect a decent life expectancy out of things when you overclock them?

You have to understand thaat when you overclock something, you will shorten its life span more or less.

 

[NerdCoreRocks]

well i know that it will shorten its lifespan, but i have video cards that are 5 years old still running. so i thought overclocking it would make the lifespan closer to 3 years. oh well...

 

[Zubasa]

When you OC a card to its limits you greatly shortening its life span.

 

[NerdCoreRocks]

would overclocking a graphics card during gameplay and underclocking it during normal use (text editing, internet browsing) help to even that out and make it last longer?

 

[dolf]

Usually not the overclock is the real problem but the temperatures. All the DDR3 memories have max. rated working temperature of 80C but usually they are not stable even at rated speeds with temperatures close to 80C (what about 85 or 90C). The key of the long life with overclock is the good cooling solution .