ABIT Siluro GF4Ti-4200 problems

[Isaacsfa]

Hey guys,
I'm having trouble with my GF4 card, obviously an ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti-4200 (128 mb), and I can't seem to figure out what the problem is. I think it might be dying on me, but I don't know...anyway, here's a description of my problem, and by the way ABIT is not being much of a help.
Basically, using the 43.51 ABIT drivers, any time I try to go into a game or change my resolution, the screen 'flashes' black then shows a partial desktop, and 'flashes' in approximate 10 second intervals until it decides to load the game, if it does. Graphically, the games look fine if they load.
I thought about this being a driver problem, so I checked the ABIT site for an update. They mentioned Nvidia reference drivers, so I tried those out...same sorta deal. So, I installed the original drivers that came with the card, and had almost no problems...there are 'artifacts' all over the place in games!! Occasionally there are glitches in windows as well.
Also, there are random ASCII characters sometimes in DOS, or blackened letters in words...which lead me to believe that my card is dying or something.

FYI, I've been running this same system for over a year with no problems whatsoever:
Athlon XP Tbred 2100+ @ 2Ghz, liquid cooled
512 mb Kingston Value RAM
60gbWD and 80GbWD8mb
Asus a7v266-e motherboard
SB Audigy
That's all of importance....

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, or if someone already had this problem...I looked through and didn't see anything about this problem, so I thought it would be appropriate to post about it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks!!!

 

[mInk3nine]

i'm having a similar problem with a machine i just built for a friend. except the card is a Siluro GF4 Ti4800 8x. I've come to the conclusion that the RAM on the reverse side of the board is heating up and thats whats causing the artifacts. With a probe, temps were as high as 110°F. The RAM was very hot to the touch. If newegg will RMA the card, i'll swap it with something more reliable. If it was my money put into it i'd like to keep it for a little while longer and experiment a little by putting some heatsinks on the RAM and adding a couple more fans. I'm still kicking myself for falling for the OTES hype.

 

[Isaacsfa]

Thanks for the info, mInk3nine. Maybe I'll try sinking the ram and throwing a waterblock on the core...if that doesn't work, I'll use the waterblock on a new card and make sure to put some heatsinks on the ram.

*Smacks forehead for not picking up the $115 9700NP*