Help: 2 failed 8800GT's, or other problem?

CapnCrunch53

CapnCrunch53

Weaksauce
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Mar 17, 2009
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Hey guys, I've had a pretty serious problem with my main rig recently. I made a really long post about it in a different forum, here's the link if you're interested:

http://forums.purepwnage.com/index.php?showtopic=91142

But some of that is not worth repeating now. Here's a synopsis:

My setup is 2 EVGA 8800GT's in SLI (single slot), one is Superclocked, one stock. The SC card I purchased new in April 08, and the stock card used from ebay in February 09 for SLI. Never had problems with either until now. SC card is under warantee, I doubt the used card is. Both have been running at superclocked speeds (650/1620/950) until this problem, they are now at stock 8800GT speeds.

I began getting bad artifacting and lockups in CoD4 last night. These would occur between .5 and 1 hour of gameplay. Updated video drivers, no help. Then I found I also get almost immediate crashes in Fallout 3, and that ATI-Tool gets errors in under 4 minutes. Having tried various drivers, I assumed one of my cards was at fault. However, I have tried each of the 2 cards my themselves in the machine, and still get Fallout crashes instantly and very quick artifacting in ATI-tool.

I should mention that temps aren't the issue; while logging them gpu temps for the top card (hotter in my case) never surpassed 75C while playing CoD4.

At this point I'm completely confused; could both cards have gone bad at once? Could it be a mobo issue? What am I missing? Any input is GREATLY appreciated, I'm kinda stressing out now, which is sorta silly since I have a secondary machine, but still.

PS My full specs are in sig. Mobo is a MSI P7n SLI Platinum, with an E8400.

Lemme know if you need any more info; I'll update this with any progress I make, but I'm at a loss for what to do now.. I've tryed everything I can think of (I've helped others with gfx card problems before now). Thanks!
 
try installing your 9600gso in that rig and see if it works without crashing/artifacting. That should let you know if it's something besides the cards. seems highly unlikely that both cards would crap out at the same time.
 
maybe your psu is starting to crap out. i would definitely try a different card and see what happens.

does the 8800gt have a 6-pin connector for power?


maybe try a molex-> 6-pin adapter from a different line on your psu and see if that affects stability at all.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, after I finish powerwashing the garage I'm gonna try each 8800GT individually in my second rig, as well as my 9600 in my main rig. I believe this will help me determine if it is indeed the cards, or a mobo problem or something else.

Also good idea with the psu, after the first test I will try using a different line, that sounds quite plausible as well.

I'll post with results after I try these things. Thanks again guys!
 
Temperature could still be the issue, theres more gets hot on a gfx card than the GPU.
Another possibility is a bad connection or PSU problem.
Take the machine apart, clean up any dust and refit together.
Make sure airflow isnt blocked and there is a decent air route through the case.

I have an 80mm fan blowing on my chipset + the back of my gfx card and have done this for years.
When I had an X1800 card, the voltage regulators used to bake and cause crashes so I had a fan blowing on them too.
fyi
 
While corsair makes a great psu, I think you are dancing on the line of not enough power. A 520w wasn't meant to handle 2 8800gt's.
 
Well this certainly is interesting:

I switched cards: put the 9600GSO from my 2nd rig into my main pc, and one of the 8800GT's (the used one) from my main rig into my 2nd rig. The main rig, with the 9600GSO in it, still crashes immediately in F3, and still artifacts and locks up ati-tool in 40 seconds. The 8800GT running in my 2nd rig has had no errors for 3 minutes 30 seconds so far, still going, and I don't have Fallout3 installed on here atm, but I'll try it out in CoD 4.

Haven't tried the other 8800GT in here yet, but I dont think there is any need to; this seems to pretty conclusively indicate its something else with the system.

So... how do I determine if its a motherboard or PSU issue? I don't have another high-power PSU to test with it, and I've no idea how to diagnose a faulty mobo. BTW 7 minutes now no errors in ATI-Tool, I believe the cards are good :D

Someone suggested that I try to power the card on a different rail from the PSU, I'll dig out a molex>pcie adaptor and try that out.

So, any other ideas where to go from here? Maybe with luck it's a software issue, I may end up reformatting just to see. Thanks again for input.
 
lloose said:
Just wanted to add that even the corsair psu calculator says that you need at least the 620w. Pretty sure that your problems are coming from keeping your psu overloaded for long periods of gaming.

http://www.corsair.com/psufinder/re...325799&cpu_oc=False&cpu_oc_ex=True&vc_oc=True
Click to expand...

I'm thinking you could be right; I'd seen others run dual 8800GT's and crossfire HD4850s on this psu, and thought it'd be allright... However it still has problems with only one card, so does this mean its possible it's actually damaged the psu itself?

I wish Corsair had modular 750W's, they only have 520, 650 and 1000..

Edit: Holy crap they have modular 750 and 850 watters now! :D
 
OP, test the other 8800GT in your second PC to be sure it isnt faulty.
Also try running your machine that crashes with only the 9600GSO and tell us if the problem persists.
 
Nenu said:
OP, test the other 8800GT in your second PC to be sure it isnt faulty.
Also try running your machine that crashes with only the 9600GSO and tell us if the problem persists.
Click to expand...

Tried both 8800GT's in my second rig and they both work. I also had already tried the main rig with just the 9600GSO and it did crash.

The more I think about it, the more the argument that the PSU went bad from overloading makes sense. I don't really feel comfortable running this rig on 520W, so I went ahead and ordered a new HX850. When it comes, if it fixes my problem, then I'll RMA my HX520 and probably stick the replaced unit in my secondary rig as a nice upgrade. If the new PSU doesn't fix my problem, at least I won't be running an underpowered system, so in that sense its a win-win for me. Hopefully, however, it will prove to be the culprit.

Anyways, I'll update you guys with the results, and until then I'm just using my secondary rig. Thanks for all the suggestions and help guys :)
 
Bizarre. I had 2 8800GTs paired with that same PSU. I didn't have the setup for a very long time, though, so who knows.
 
One thing to keep in mind is when dancing on the line of maybe not enough power is it may work ok for a while. How many times have you guys seen like 53453434 appliances hooked up to some wall socket and it works ok for a while then randomly the breaker trips.That's a rough example but for a power supply if its over drawn it'll work for a while and the higher the quality power supply probably the longer it'll last but one day *BEWWWSShhh....* it shuts down on you.
 
So, I feel like a complete damned fool. In all my testing, I completely forgot to check RAM. Got my new PSU today, installed it but still had the problem. In a flash of belated genius I ran Memtest+. Came back later, saw 1 pass had completed and the screen was lit up like a firetruck in a 4th of July parade.

So I took out the 2nd stick, no errors in 2 passes with the 1st stick, Fallout 3 works no crashes, and ATI-Tool's been good for 11.5 minutes so far. So, now I must test the other stick, to determine whether the stick was bad, or a slot / memory controller on the mobo. I might put that off until tomorrow, however, because I have to remove the video card to remove RAM and I'm too happy that its at least working now.

Despite the fact I feel like a fucking moron, I'm happy this happened, because at least now I've got a nice new PSU and don't have to worry about overloading it. And, since the 520HX was not the culprit, it should be safe to stick that in Daedalus, my secondary rig, to replace the 430W Rosewill in it, a nice upgrade. That one can then go down into one of my old P4 prebuilts to replace the OEM psu in it, which will then go into the closet as a spare. So a nice ripple effect there :D

Thanks for all the help guys, just thought I'd update you, and I'll update one final time when I determine if the RAM or the mobo was bad.
 
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