How do I know if my Video Card is bad?

[purple buzz]

ok so a few months back my PC started freezing. the only way i could run it is to lower my CPU speed. now it got so bad that i couldnt run my PC for more then 5 mins.. turned out my ASUS AH 3650 card was bad. then I went ahead and replaced it with GeForce 5500 thats im running now. It was all good for about a week and now I'm having the same problem. 5 mins into the booting process and my PC freezes. the only way i could run it is to lower my CPU speed to about half in BIOS. my system hasnt frozen in like 20 mins cuz of it.

also, there was this weird buzzing sound for 3 mins on the boot up until i took the video card out, put it back in nicely without forcing it all the way in where it sits TIGHT and DEEP. no more buzzing sound but it still freezes and i dont know what to do

how can i find out if my video card went bad?

my spec:

ASUSTek Computer INC Mobo (A7N8X Deluxe)
AMD Athlon XP: Thoroughbred, Socket A 2700+
3 gigs of RAM (Corsair 2 sticks regular of 1 each, and the 3rd XML)
BIOSTAR GeForce 5500
PLANET WL-8310 Wireless Card
200G Seagate (Master)
500GB Wester Digitital SATA
LG DVD Writer
Coolmax AP-550X Power Supply
WinFast TV2000 XP Expert WDM TVTuner

 

[wa1]

Okay, about the buzzing sound, is it your vga or your psu?
from your case i'm more suspecting your psu is dying...

 

[MMclachlan]

+1 for dead PSU. 3650 stops working - put in a lower power draw 5500, that works for a bit now that won't boot.
Try a new PSU

 

[purple buzz]

Okay, about the buzzing sound, is it your vga or your psu?
from your case i'm more suspecting your psu is dying...

thing is... the sound comes from the video card/motherboard place but when i take the video card out and launch my PC without it there is no sound.

so this is a PSU issue now?

do you think my 5500 card just died though? can PSU kill a video card or other PC parts? also, if I get a new PSU from newegg, will it work with my old system?

 

[purple buzz]

guys, how are the Rosewill PSUs? will I need single or double +12V

this one I found is single BUT it puts out 41A on it! and GeForce 7600 GS only requires 20A (my PSU is 18A) but it's single +12V, would that be a problem for my video card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182199&cm_re=power_supply-_-17-182-199-_-Product

this one is double but it's 18A http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182031&cm_re=power_supply-_-17-182-031-_-Product

im kinda afraid to buy anything under 20A on +12V rails...

 

[purple buzz]

whats the difference between a PSU that has single +12V rails and the one with double?

 

[aux]

double rail usually for psu with more than 1000w, single rail is okay so long you have pure wattage(get a good psu, corsair tx or hx series, thermaltake etc). better try friends psu, who knows it freez again.

 

[purple buzz]

sadly, i dont have any friends with psus. how do i know if its psu though? is there a software to check, or should i unplug some pci cards, fans, accessories, etc..??? i need to know because i cant be spending money on this not knowing for sure whats wrong with my computer

 

[aux]

sorry, i wish i were there
but dont you have some friends knowledgeable enough on this stuff?

 

[aux]

sorry for double post.
if youre not sure about it or you dont really know about this stuff, better get professional help. let them check or fix your pc, good psu is pricey for all i know.
i use corsair tx 850w after my pc suffer instability with my setup.

 

[purple buzz]

aux, no friends like that. and how much does a PC pro charge for this sort of thing? thats why I posted here btw, to avoid that.


if this helps...

straight from the BIOS while running at 166mhz 13.0x (Auto) @ 2700+


System Performance - Optimal
CPU Vcore - Auto (says 1.650v in grey)
DDR Reference Voltage - 2.6v
AGP VDDQ Voltage - 1.5v
FSB Spread Spectrum - Disalbed
AGP Spread Spectrum - Disalbed


CPU Temps:

MB Temperature - 35 C/ 95 F
CPU Temperature - 50 C/ 122 F
VCORE Voltage - 1.68v
+3.3 Voltage - 3.32v
+5 Voltage - 4.91v
+12 Voltage - 12.48v

CPU Fan Speed - 2721 RPM
CHASSIS Fan Speed - 2537 RPM
POWER Fan Speed - 2020 RPM

 

[aux]

if its only bios information like that it wont help much, it coud be any part of your pc.

i was once like you too. i have old gigabyte board pentiumIII, it just gave up on me. i just simply want to fix it, i already have laptop, my amd x2(2nd gaming rig), currently i7 920, and my old pentium2 hasnt fail yet.

if its only simple matter i can fix it myself, but for complicated things like my mb died, but i dont have money to buy the new one or i simply just wanna fix it i go to pc technician. they check each component of mb whether its functional or not, which component to replace or fix, they use tools i dont have , like multimeter to test it(i checked everythin i know, couldn find the culprit).

last time i went to a pc technician(i know the guy, hes nice ) to check my mb, i paid only 1$ and to change the capacitor & the crystal i paid $7.5.

i dont know how much it will cost you depending on your damage, but BDDazza is right. your pc is pretty old like mine, its only natural that youll face problem like this. it happen to me too... on my pentiumIII(hehehe i still use it as a router).

i can only recommend you to go see them(their experience,tools, for that very reason), at least ask them how much it cost to check your pc dont forget to ask about secondhand pc or parts, they usually have it, should be cheaper too. if it is expensive to check or "to check and fix" it, then youd better buy a secondhand pc or the new one or if you have the time check for information how to fix pc like this one here:
http://www.acmehowto.com/howto/pc/pc.php
http://www.pcworld.com/article/115049/pc_problems_fix_em_yourself.html
http://www.daileyint.com/hmdpc/manual.htm
http://www.suggestafix.com/
keep postin, let us know.

 

[purple buzz]

lol...

it was RAM!!!

I took out 2 sticks to test it today and my PC works flawlessly. Ran Memtest on the one Im running and no errors. will test the other 2 sticks tomorrow and gonna get myself extra one(s) if needed

it's funny cuz one guy suggested i run some tests and mentioned Memtest.. but my pc kept rebooting i couldnt even get a disk going or download all the programs. arghhh....

im glad i got a new PSU and video card though... it was partially my Old Windows, partially my Old PSU, and partially Video Card.. but in the end... it was RAM!

p.s. earlier today I had a blue screen errors with saying "blah blah blah" then at the bottom "beginning dump of physical memory/physical mem dump complete". i had this problem before about 2 years ago. googled it and people said it was RAM related. i didnt believe them cuz my windows was screwed up and had to reinstall so i did that. my problem went away. now this was around the time when I bought those 2 new Corsair RAM to upgrade my PC and put Heatsinks on them so i said nah... couldnt be RAM... this was the reason why i even thought its ram cuz the brand new PSU brought that blue screen error out. the old one sucked so bad omg... Im so glad my new PSU is here. it saved me a trip to a PC Tech tomorrow lol...


my new System:

ASUSTek Computer INC Mobo (A7N8X Deluxe)
AMD Athlon XP: Thoroughbred, Socket A 2700+
1 gig of RAM (Corsair XML 1 Gig of RAM)
GeForce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card
PLANET WL-8310 Wireless Card
200G Seagate (Master)
500GB Wester Digitital SATA
LG DVD Writer
CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W
WinFast TV2000 XP Expert WDM TVTuner
4 Fans - 3 regular, 1 92mm