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Video Card problem?

S

shadowbreaker513

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 15, 2005
Messages
1,410
I've had some ongoing video issues with my computer for about a month now. Originally I thought it was because my processor was overheating (the fan was spinning at a max of 1000 rpms, frequently closer to the 350 mark under load). So I chalked it up to that, I never had any blue screens or anything, just a series of green dots in firefox and occasionally in games, I would get odd graphical errors, most notably polygons getting pulled horribly out of shape, and occasionally they would randomly start flashing over the entire screen. Interestingly enough, the video distortion problems would instantly be solved merely by alt+tabbing out of whatever the program was, and then they would be gone when I tabbed back in. Also, the green dots start with just a singular tiny green dot in the bottom right, and duplicate when I scroll. Should I move my mouse over the extras though, they disappear. It also only occurs on black web pages. Never in games. I did some fan modifications and found an adapter that let me put a 80mm on my proc until i can get a new real fan, which have brought my video card temp down to 43C idle, and my CPU down to 34C idle. However, the green dot is still there (haven't played anything to check the warped polygons). I have no overclocks other than the stock factory overclock on my video card. Any ideas?

Green dots - http://shadowbreaker513.freepgs.com/strange dots.jpg
(Much fainter in picture than they actually are)
Distorted polygon example - http://shadowbreaker513.freepgs.com/poly.jpg

Update: yep, distortion and flashing still occasionally popping up.
Update2: picture of the flashing - http://shadowbreaker513.freepgs.com/flash.jpg
 
Hm, I wonder what that could be. It happened to me as well and I found out it was my power supply not being enough for the video card. got a new one and it never happened again. However, it seems you have a sufficient power supply for your setup, I'd have to look into it in more detail. Have you tried running any benchmark tests just to see what happens under full load?
 
Also I'm wondering -- has this been doing this since the very beginning (when you first got the card)? The main reasons I've seen for artifacts is overheating, but you've obviously gotten that fixed, and you haven't overclocked any. It's rare but could be possibly a defective video card, unless this hasn't been happening since day 1.
 
I got the card in May, and this problem only started popping up around October or so - about the same time I started using the heater in my room. My room has poor air circulation so the computer was sucking in the warmer air. Mabye it had overheating problems and either the video card or cpu was permanently damaged from it?
 
i don't think it would be permanently damaged. unless your heater put out any humidity i don't see how that would be possible, your heater wouldn't come close to the temps your card would normally put out or you'd be a piece of toast :)
 
Another vote for overheating. The orientation of the cooling fins in these cards can make getting all the dust out difficult, unless the shroud is removed. Dust accumulation + the higher ambient temperatures would account for the timing of these graphic anomalies.
Or you could just be another 7900 series card victim. I've read alot of folks had cards die in less that a year, but I've never owned one, so would rather leave that diagnosis to someone who's had that problem.
 
Well, to be fair, my temperatures were obscenely high even by bad airflow standards. I think the highest I saw under load was 62C by the processor and around 84C on my video card. Now that I've fixed the airflow and dust, processor or video card don't top 50C under load.
 
Anyone have some more info on the 7900 cards dying randomly and prematurely to see if mine my fall into that category? I'd like to get this fixed asap.
 
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