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video card dying! pls help

fx55guy

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Just yesterday, I was trying to find the max memory of my X800 Pro. ATITool went up to 561 and leveled off there for 2 hours so I know it is very stable. Today, when I went to play a game (atitool auto changes the frequency to my stable overclock), stripes appeared on the monitor. I immediately hit the reset button. When windows started up again, I went to find max core, and it stopped at 456. What happened? Is my video card dying? My core can still run at 624 without problems. It's only when I raise the memory.
 

fx55guy

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Stock speeds and a little over for memory is fine. There's no problems or artifacts. What could cause the overclock to suddenly drop like that? If something in the memory is corrupted, wouldn't it not run at stock either?
 
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pray for it, then bury it, amen.

try rivatuner to see what it says.
it's possible that you damaged the RAM thou, gl then
 

fx55guy

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Why does it run at stock then? Shouldn't it artifact even at stock if the ram's damaged? I tried Rivatuner. Same thing. Anyway, I think it's starting to recover. Really weird. This morning when I searched for max mem, I hit 456 like I said above. Now, it goes up to 500. How is this even possible?
 

ReconCX

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it's probably a software problem due to that faulty restart of yours, not a hardware problem.. or your PSU might have not been supplying enough juice.
 

Jimmy 2004

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Have you installed new ATI drivers rather than softmod ones. That could cause something like that but wouldn't explain the artifacts earlier on. Try reinstalling softmod drivers and the latest ATITool.
 

Slayerstaps

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If you have problems overclocking your ram don't overclock it then :D
Just overclock the core and that would still be good enough to give u some boost....
 

fx55guy

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It can't be drivers. I've been using the same 5.3 cat since it first came out and never had a problem. Power suppy shouldn't be a problem. I have a PCP&C 510 Turbocool Deluxe. Rails are rock solid.

I just don't get it. How can it suddenly lose almost 100mhz of overclock in 1 day?
 

Jimmy 2004

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Is it getting hotter where you live? Perhaps try some extra cooling...? Might help a bit. Do you have RAM sinks on your mem at the moment?
 

fx55guy

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Yes, I have ramsinks with a fan blowing over them. Temps never exceed 43C. Core never exceeds 34C.
 

Jimmy 2004

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The only other thing you could try would to be to put it in a completely different PC and then try to overclock it. Then you should know whether it is the card or something like Windows or your motherboard. Other than that I have no idea
 
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I've had a similar problem with my old GeForce 2 MX. I overclocked the RAM from 166MHz (SD-RAM not DDR :p) to 190MHz and got stripes on my screen... Then after I rebooted, DOS was going crazy with pink and cyan all over the screen, so I shut it down. After I waited a few minutes for everything to cool down, I restarted and the memory couldn't overclock anywhere near 175MHz, nevermind 190MHz. Maybe it's the same symptoms?? :confused:
 

fx55guy

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Well now, I even artifact at stock speeds. Looks like it's really dying.
 

fx55guy

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OK, this is really weird. My card is fine again. I cleaned the 3 places where I drew pencil marks to volt mod it. Now, it can overclock again.

Could it have been something getting shorted out? If so, then why has in been acting up just now? I've had the volt mod for months without a single problem until a few days ago.
 

Jimmy 2004

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Might have been a break in one of the joins getting worse so messing up the voltmod or something????
 
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FX55guy, I think you problem is the pencil mod. Using graphite to decrease the resistance can be very unstable and cause voltage fluctuations. Remember, heat makes things expand and a pencil line will change resistance when this happens. I doubt your card is dying. Also, dust can be slightly conductive and cause problems. I recommend a voltmod with a variable resistor. Soldering is nothing to be afraid of, well if you have steady hands and can refrain from burning a finger.
 

fx55guy

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Well, everything's been fine now for the last few days. I'm still not sure what caused it though. If it was the pencil mod, why couldn't it run stable at stock speeds when the voltage was above stock? I definitely won't be doing any soldering anytime soon. I remember using one in school for a project and I was terrible with it.
 
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It probably couldn't run at stock speeds at higher than stock volts because of fluctuations in the voltage. I've had over 15 years of experience with electronics and would never use a pencil to change resistance on a sensitive regulation circuit, especially in the feedback loop where most voltmods are done.

example,
voltage jumps from 1.6 to 1.8 = artifact
voltage drops from 1.8 to 1.6 = another artifact

BTW anyone can solder, it just takes practice
Get a broken modem or nic and practice on it.

One of my college instructors said "If you can't mod it right, leave it stock."
 

fx55guy

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Say the voltage does fluctuate. Why does it seem like the video card is completely corrupt? Anything 3D was screwed up. If I get a fluctuation in voltage, wouldn't I just get a few artifacts until the voltage goes back to where it was supposed to be? I used a multimeter to see what voltages I have. Under load, vcore drops a little and fluctuates within .01V. Vdd and vddq stay almost completely stable with even less fluctuations.
 
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Small fluctuations can cause continuous artifacts in rare cases.
.01v fluctuation is bad. (Even if the voltage stays within tolerance) The regulators on a modern day video card / motherboard are supposed to be stable within thousandths of a volt (.001) Thats what the feedback (or error) loop is for. (the area you are drawing on with a pencil) It precisely detects the GPU voltage and varies the duty cycle on the PWM P/S in realtime. In theory, there should be NO fluctuations, even under load. (My voltmodded 9800 pro at 1.9v has a fluctuation between 1.9001 and 1.9004, I thought that was bad enough.
If your card fluctuates without a voltmod, you have an overclocking lemon and shouldn't voltmod it. (unless you know how to change the regulator chip and mosfets, and can find replacements) Fluctuations of that magnitude means your card has a not-so-good VR chip, or an out-of-spec resistor or coupling capacitor. It's also possible that graphite powders from the pencil ended up where they shouldn't be (under resistors, between chip leads, etc.

You can choose to believe me or not seeing as I'm not an ATI Engineer (I've had over 15 years of experience with digital and analog electronics and specialize in power regulation circuitry) What I know is 10% textbook and 90% practical real-world experience.
My only recommendation is be real careful what you do to that particular card.
(and keep an eye (finger) on the Regulator chip. If it gets hot or even warm, you got a problem.

Ask ViperJohn about this one, more than likely you will get the same response. (Seems he might know even more than I do about Radeons specifically)

Remember, smoke is very important, once it leave the chips, you cant get it back in. lol
 
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