Videocard issue.

[GTGear]

About two days ago, I experienced random freezing with my 8800GT. Within 5 minutes of gaming on Half Life and Back Ops, I'd get a total computer lock, resulting in me having to restart my entire computer. I ran ATI tool, and the same problem occurred with the artifact test. So, I decided to pull out my old 8500GT and plug it in. I load up Half Life 2..and I played for 10 minutes with no issues. I tried Black Ops, no issue.

So I'm safe in assuming that my 8800GT has burned out? It was such a worthy card, but I guess I will have to upgrade.

 

[xBruce88x]

what are the temps like on it? try and run the games in a window if you can with gpu-z monitoring temps by the side and see if it locks up at a certain temp. could be dust clogged in the heat sinks or may need new thermal paste... worst case, the card is going.

EDIT, how old is your PSU?

 

[GTGear]

Temps reach about 75 to 80c. One day, my sister was gaming on a hot day and my card hit 90c. BUt that was a one time incident, I installed new fans in my case after that.

Also, my PSU is about 2 and half years old. I got it the same day as my 8800GT.

 

[xBruce88x]

that's pretty hot. does it have nvidia reference cooler (blower style) or an aftermarket type? I'd say take a can of compressed air and blow out the heat sinks and see if that helps.

2 1/2 years isn't too bad i guess.. but over time they do loose their ability to put out as much power as they did new. what are the 12v rails like on it?

I'm leaning more towards heat though

edit: nvidia lists the max temp at 105C so i guess your ok... have you updated drivers recently? i'm wondering if its freezing up instead of blue-screening.

 

[HXL492]

I think i read somewhere before that the 8800Gt can die easily when exposed to an intense amount of heat

 

[GTGear]

I tried blowing it out when the problem started. Still had the same problem, and it has the Nvidia reference cooler.

Also the 12Vs on my Antec are

12V1@18A, +12V2@18A, +12V3@18A

 

[xBruce88x]

you should be fine then as far as amps go. nVidia list the card as drawing a peak of 105W, less than 9amps.

I guess that leaves drivers, what version drivers are you using? have you done any overclocking?

 

[Widjaja]

A trainee of mine bought one and was having the same issues.

I removed the heat sink, cleaned the thermal grease off thoroughly, used an air compressor to clean out all the dust and fluff, then picked out whatever else was left.

reapplied the thermal paste carefully on to the die.
Used regular thermal paste and reattached the heatsink.
Been going fine ever since.

It was a stock standard XFX 8800GT 512MB alpha dog with reference cooler (lol alpha dog)

 

[xBruce88x]

^ 2nd with the thermal paste. had to do that with a friend's x1600pro.

 

[GTGear]

I used to overclock..but stopped months ago for fear that I would damage something. Also, I'm using the latest drivers.

 

[Widjaja]

And?

Removed the heatsink and reseat it.
Make sure you celan off the old thermal paste well.
Use Isopropyl wipes or diluted iso with a cotton bud.

What may have happened is over time the screws on the 8800GT have come a little loose.
Don't just tighten the screws.
Remove the heatsink.
Do a thorough job of it.

My trainees 8800GT failed after 20min of gaming before I cleaned it for him.

My XFX 8800GT (faulty from purchase) had a bad heatsink and would fail at 95degC so yes they do not take heat too well.

Over clocking your GPU shouldn't cause issue unless the voltages were increased by a significant amount.

 

[sliderider]

Is your 8800GT a single slot design? I read somewhere that the single slot models tended to run hotter than the dual slot ones because the cooler is less efficient.

Honestly, if you have any money saved up it might be a good idea to upgrade rather than try to drag it out with the old card. Your existing games will run better on a newer card and you'll be ready for new games that take advantage of features your card doesn't support when they come out. If you're sticking with nVidia a GTX460 would be a good upgrade and I've seen them as low as $130 for the 768mb model and they overclock like mad.

 

[meran]

last week my relative's 9800gt died it had a small cooler very small it used to hit 90s even 100 pretty easy and it started to show up only 640x480 res with 8 bit color i tried to bake it but no luck so i gave them my old 8800gt with after market cooler that i changed it clock inn bios to 700/1700/2100 for 2 years

 

[meran]

that 9800 used to freez with colors

 

[Melvis]

Is your 8800GT a single slot design? I read somewhere that the single slot models tended to run hotter than the dual slot ones because the cooler is less efficient. .

Yea this is very true as i built a comp yrs ago when the 8800GT first came out and had the single slot cooler, it ran VERY hot, allmost hitting 90c. A yr later or so a m8 bought one with a after market cooler and it never got over 65/70c.

Replace the cooler with something else, the single slot are crap, that is if your card hasnt got damage to it already.

 

[xBruce88x]

here's a nice one to get if you're limited on funds

http://www.xsfans.com/index.php?mai...id=683&zenid=1077f9ec8bbcd98efb7fd2500231755c

and slap an 80mm fan on it and your set, it comes with memory heat sinks too

 

[Magikherbs]

After a good cleaning and thermal pastin ...Try a 2x 4pin to 6pin adapter, instead of the built in 6pin. Doing that will move the gpu's power draw to another 12v rail. Oc'ing the gpu may have burnt out the main 12v rail.

I'm pretty sure that 8800gt's draw a min 16-18 amps at stock...

 

[xBruce88x]

nvm about the cooler, its out of stock (or they just took it off their site)

i doubt the 8800gt uses 192w-216w, maybe total system power draw but not the card itself (btw the wattage comes from the amps you listed, 16-18, times the volts, which is 12. one of the formulas for DC electronics)

I wouldn't suggest moving the card to another rail either, since the CPU and others are already using it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-9800gtx-review,1800-12.html

 

[Magikherbs]

I wouldn't suggest moving the card to another rail either, since the CPU and others are already using it

I meant for diagnostic purposes only. If it works, that means the first rail is burnt and the psu should be replaced, outright. Its also highly unlikely that his aging psu is capable of 18a.

The 9800GX2 I checked out the other day had a similar story. It would not make it to the welcome screen on my comp, until I switched to the 6-pin. My psu has, 12v1 30a and 12v2 26a, btw. By your calculations my psu should have easily handled the 2 9800s.

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=49999&view=findpost&p=273328
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=50218&view=findpost&p=274317

edit.. in case you didn't read down abit on the first link lol..

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=49999&view=findpost&p=273753

 

[xBruce88x]

is this the part you're referring to

"The requirement listed by NVIDIA is 26A of +12V current. To adequately power the card, and at the same time adequately power the rest of your system, you'll need a PSU with a total output of 550W or more"

the 26A is for the total configuration, not just the video card.

same goes for this

"1. Does your power supply meet the minimum power supply requirements for the 8800GT? Wich is: 400W and 22 Amperes on the +12V rail(s)."

well considering the total power of your power supply is 650, there is no way it would handle both the rails at their peak output... (that'd be 672w alone for the 12v, leaving everything else starved for power, 3v. etc.) same goes for the OP not being able to run all 3 rails fully loaded... I just saw he has 3 rails and not 2, so if he could move it to the other rail not being used by the cpu (i'm guessing another pci-e connector) that would be a good way to test.

according to nvidia's site, the 9800gtx uses a max of 140w (just the card). 140/12=11.7A Technically, yet the RAIL of your PSU is capable of supporting the cards, even the 26A, since the cards would be using 23.4A but that's if all that's on the rail are pci-e connectors and nothing else drawing power. the cards would have been using 280w peak of the available 650w of your psu. leaving 370w for the rest of your system. Which should be plenty for your config as my 400watt psu is running everything in my specs just fine on a 22A single 12v rail. so your psu technically should have ran 2 9800 or a 9800gx2, which actually uses less power than 2 9800s at 197w or 16.42A. (again going by the numbers on nvidia's site... if your rig didn't handle the load then either the brand of the particular cards used more than the nvidia ref., nvidia lied, or your psu isn't as strong as it used to be?)

Its true that his PSU may not be capable of the full 18A, but then again he doesn't need 18A for the video card itself, since the card itself draws around 9amps. At least i hope antec power supplies don't loose %50 of their capacity in 2 years cause the one i have now is even older

seeing as he does have extra rails, he should be able to move it to another rail for testing purposes. I agree that he should replace the psu if its rails are damaged.

edit: of course there is that fact that not everything always works the way it should...

 

[Magikherbs]

As far as I know, every rail is/can be shared by the cpu, ram ect..

I have looked.. and nowhere do I see others posting your numbers. 16a for a GX2 ? lol

Galaxy says... 26a ..
http://www.galaxytech.com/en/productview.aspx?id=63

 

[xBruce88x]

yes... see that little star at the end of that requirement though? they left out the text in which the star is referring, but it stats that the requirement assumes a fully loaded system, in other words 26A for the whole rig.

its not just some random numbers i came up with... its a LAW of DC elecronics... AMPS x VOLTS = WATTS, WATTS / VOLTS = AMPS, WATTS / AMPS = VOLTS.

nvidia states the card uses at most 197watts, divide that by 12volts and you get 16.42amps. Am i saying a 16A 12v power supply will be enough? NO because there are other 12v devices that draw watts and therefore more amps.

 

[Magikherbs]

yes... see that little star at the end of that requirement though? they left out the text in which the star is referring, but it stats that the requirement assumes a fully loaded system, in other words 26A for the whole rig.

its not just some random numbers i came up with... its a LAW of DC elecronics... AMPS x VOLTS = WATTS, WATTS / VOLTS = AMPS, WATTS / AMPS = VOLTS.

nvidia states the card uses at most 197watts, divide that by 12volts and you get 16.42amps. Am i saying a 16A 12v power supply will be enough? NO because there are other 12v devices that draw watts and therefore more amps.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40426&stc=1&d=1296316016

Using your formula works on my psu. 650w / 12v = 54.167a .. or.. 56a x 12v = 672w. This works great for calculating total power output. But not for power draw.

Too bad manufacturers don't have a listing standard, when it comes to minimum power requirements. Some post the amps.. most do not. Still none show your low numbers.

 

[xBruce88x]

they don't need to b/c nvidia and ati have already listed this draw in teh form of watts. which is why i do the formula to convert the watts to amps. thus the low numbers. and this works b/c we know the cards use 12v and we know the wattage, so we can find its power draw in amps

 

[Magikherbs]

I can only go by what I see. Show me proof lolzz..