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9800Pro Problem

J

jayjaya29

Gawd
Joined
Jan 4, 2004
Messages
928
Hi, I recently purchased a new BBA 9800Pro for cheap. So I got it and it worked fine, I couldn't overclock much with the stock cooler so I decided to put the Zalman ZM80C-HP VGA Heatpipe Cooler on. You know this one:


So the installation went well, I started playing games and I notices minor artifacting. I first tried GTA:SA. When I let the game sit, I would notice minor artifacting on just CJ(the main character). Nowhere on the screen would there be artifacts, If I moved around the artifacts would reduce, but I would still see some artifacts. So then I tried Counter Strike Source, and I see a few but not many artifacts, its not like huge triangles going all over the screen, but like small textures flicker, and the seams of objects change and flicker around.

The Zalman is hot on both plates, top and bottom. Very hot, I have the additional fan hooked up. I have even lowered my core clock by 50Mhz and I still get same thing.

My question is what is this problem, if its overheating I can buy the Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer 1 Revision 2. If its not a overheating problem then what is it? Once again, these artifacts are not huge triangles and things all over the screen, its almost like small graphical glitches. If you want some screenshots I can try and get you some screenshots. Thanks for your help.
 
What power supply are you running? Clean driver install and what version drivers are you using?

Still, it does sound like it is overheating. I have an Arctic Cooling silencer 1 rev.3 on my 9800 pro and it works extremely well. Hopefully you haven't done any permanant damage to your card.
 
If it's heat, it's only just enough heat to fuck the running of the card up. Point another 80 mm fan at it and see if it goes away.

Underclock it to like 200/200 and see if it's still there, if it is it is either driver corruption, ram corruption, cpu corruption, you messed up the gfx card core when you put the cooler on, or a dying psu. (only all that many options :()

~Adam
 
How much paste did you put on? You took care to only get it on the die and not on the surrounding PCB?

How tight are the screws holding it together? They may need to be loose/ tighter.
 
I will try another 80mm fan tonight, and I will also underclock it and see what happens.

I put a thin thin layer of AS5 on the core, I put the main piece on once and didn't move it at all to not spread the AS5 all over the place.

I have a OCZ Powerstream 520w with one of the 2 direct rails hooked up to the card so it is getting ample power.

I don't think its a problem with the cooler transferring heat, I think its just that the 9800Pro generates too much heat for the Zalman to shed off. I'm going to give it a few days, maybe the AS5 will set and I will get better thermal properties.

I did this on a fresh install of Windows, right after a reformat of both my drives. I have unistalled and reinstalled drivers numerous times.
 
Alright I mounted an additional 80mm blowing toward the side where its mounted to the core, and I underclocked to 300/300. If I went any lower I would get screen corruption. I went into GTA:SA, and still the same thing. I really hope I didn't screw my card, I have no money to get a new one. :(

Here is 2 pictures that I snapped with my camera, I couldn't get a screenshot.



Please tell me that my card isn't screwed. If I have to buy the Artic Cooler I will.
 
Run memtest www.google.com search and run it for about 2 hours and if nothing, keep going until it's gone over 12 hours. If still nothing, if you have the patience a day of memtest would pretty much erradicate any chance of your cpu and ram being corrupt.

~Adam
 
Did you buy the card new or used? Do you have the stock heat sink and fan?
 
ewb302 said:
Did you buy the card new or used? Do you have the stock heat sink and fan?
Click to expand...

I bought the card new, I have the stock heatsink and fan, but the pins that hold the core down are pretty messed up. I did that when I tried to get the damn heatsink off. I don't think they could hold the heatsink on anymore. :(

Guild Wars does work fine on a good note. So what do I do now?
 
You could always RMA it saying that the stock cooler fell off?

BTW i'm not advocating this I'm just saying it's an option and that I think that companies should have RMA contracts that allow people to have non-stock cooling, for a price. Without that option, everyone gets screwed all around.

~Adam
 
I'm not really that type of person becuase it hurts those who really do have a problem with their cards.

So here are my options:
A) Get the Artic Cooler and hope no damage was done to my card or
B) Go against my ethics just once and RMA the card

I'm leaning toward option A, but how can I see if no damage has been done to my card? I mean Guild Wars works just fine but that is not a very demanding game.

What do you think?
 
I actually like my Arctic Cooling silencer. Why not get one and try it? If you have to RMA your card, you can use the silencer on the new card. Maybe the Zalmann is not installed properly or doesn't work as well as it should?
 
ewb302 said:
I actually like my Arctic Cooling silencer. Why not get one and try it? If you have to RMA your card, you can use the silencer on the new card. Maybe the Zalmann is not installed properly or doesn't work as well as it should?
Click to expand...

I suppose you are right. I think the problem is that the Zalman is innudated with too much heat. I mean the heatsinks are really hot to the touch when I'm on the desktop, I could fry an egg on them when I play games. I don't know why it can't let go of the heat more efficiently, I mean it worked incredibly well with my 9700Pro, I got a decent overclock out of it too.

I'll get the Arctic Cooler and see how that goes along. If not then I'm going to have to RMA the card. I really do hope its just heat issues. What about heatsinks for my RAM, do you think its worth paying 10 bucks or so to get some BGA ramsinks or not?

If they are worth it, I'll get a set. Only if they are worth it.
 
I don't think it would hurt to get the ramsinks at all. I got some OCZ copper ones. I always told myself I didn't care about overclocking the card, but once I got the silencer and the ramsinks, I find myself testing it all the time. I generally run it just slightly overclocked and I like to know I have the best possible cooling on the card. I don't have any desire to run my card at the max though... it was more of a decision for cooling purposes.
 
Alright I suppose I can fit those in.

Only if I didn't kill my 9700Pro, I wouldn't have all these problems.

Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.
 
Okay ordered the Arctic Cooler and some OCZ BGA ramsinks. I'll update this thread when I get all the stuff and install it.
 
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