Is my GPU dieing? (screen shots)

xanthippus

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Jan 30, 2007
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'lo all,

Do these screen shots mean my GPU is dieing?

195897608O826355875.jpg


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Screen went like that during a game of C&C3 Demo (been playing it fine for a week). Rebooted, same problem, reloaded drivers, same problem. Now I'm thinking I'll need a new GPU?

Rig is 4 years old (and about to be passed on to the family) but I need a GPU that will mean I can continue to game until May (when I will assemble a new rig). ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB looks like a fun upgrade, but I only want to do this if my current Raedon 9700 pro is actually broken, and if my 4 year old AGP motherboard will work with the Radeon X1950.....does it need MORE then simply an AGP slot? Powersupply is 350W....will that cope with going from supporting the 9700 to the X1950???

Any advice would be appreciated, you could well save me a lot of time and money.
 

SciFiMan

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Apr 19, 2006
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Let's do the obvious stuff first. Have you changed anything recently? BIOS update? Did you put a high powered speaker next to the monitor? Have you tried installing the latest video drivers, completely uninstalling the old driver first? Do you have access to another GPU (borrow from a friend) to see if a different card resolves it?
 

xanthippus

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No bios update, no new speakers, latest drivers from ATI's website, uninstalled old drivers first (this gives me a working right side of the screen after reboot, but left side remains a problem, once I install the full driver both sides go back to being effected).

Hmmmm....should be able to get hold of another GPU....will give it a try.

Although feedback about the possible suitability of the X1950 would still be good, serious option and want to order ASAP if a borrowed GPU removes the problem.
 

Dr_asik

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There's very little chance your PSU could be enough for the X1950Pro, so with the upgrade you'd have to get a new PSU as well.

I'd try to set AGP speed to 4X instead of 8X just to see if it helps. You'll need to set that in the BIOS. Also disable fast write.
 

cleeve

Illustrious
More Ati cards give up than Nvidia? Bah. I've had a Ti4200 die, it has nothing to do with who made it it's just really old at this point!

Your 9700 is dying bro. Those artifacts don't look like a driver issue, but you should try another card just to make sure. Time to consider an upgrade.
 

Eviltwin17

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if your in the process of moving to a new machine then don't buy an expensive graphics card just yet, buy a cheap low end one that is current generation. The current low end cards will easily outperform the 9700 and when you ship your computer off to your family they have a working machine.
 

xanthippus

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Just tried a new GPU and the image is now fine, so it must be down to the old GPU going tits up. Hmmmmm......now to figure out which new GPU to get.
 

JamieMole

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definately dying mate :cry: brings back fond memories of my 9600XT when it decided to start doing this. turned out my fan had died for ages and it overheated too much. But wierdly it went back to normal for about 3 months, then went back to being gay.

So i spent bought $450 (AUS) on a boody 7800gs cause it was the best agp at the time, biggest mistake ever dude. go with the 1950Pro you'll be happy :) orrrr a 7600GT. look for a 512mb version of the 1950 though, it'll help in alot of games. 256mb is holding my 7800gs back alot.
 

DarkTide

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My 9700pro died a few weeks ago and looked just like that. I ended up replacing it with a 7600GS for a little over $100. Don't invest too much into a new card, you should really upgrade to PCIe.
 

cleeve

Illustrious
256mb is holding my 7800gs back alot.

It's not the AMOUNT of memory that holds the 7800 GS back; it's the relatively low clockspeeds and fact that the 7800 GS is crippled down to 16 pipelines.

A 256mb X1950 PRO would still eat a 7800 GS alive.
 

Rovemelt

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Just wondering if you ruled out the monitor and cable and connections as a possible problem...is there another monitor that's working nearby that you can try? If it's an LCD monitor, I don't think it's likely to be the problem.
 

JamieMole

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in most games its the lower memory setting me back i found :? like in G.R.A.W i set everything on high except for textures (detects medium settings because of 256mb ram) and it run absolutely perfect. then i "hack" the display config and put every texture setting on high. runs perfect, till it needs to start loading more textures, which is hitching ... i think :? really annoying.
 

cleeve

Illustrious
then i "hack" the display config and put every texture setting on high. runs perfect, till it needs to start loading more textures, which is hitching ... i think :? really annoying.

Ah. Well there you go, don't try to use a 512mb texture set with a 256mb card...

But given a choice, you're usually better off running a faster card with 256mb over a slower card with 512mb. For example, a 256mb X1950 PRO would offer higher resolutions and AA/AF than a 512mb 7800 GS.

But it is true that the 512mb card would be able to use higher res textures without a penalty.
 

pongrules

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Well, I think you found your problem, but yeah--looks like classic overheated (and trashed) GPU to me. My screens looked the same way when my old 9800 pro took a dump on me. Turned out the heat sink had pulled away from the GPU just enough so that they weren't touching. Pretty much fried itself.
 

JamieMole

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im glad we came to an agreement 8) also the OP PSU will probally crap itself if it sees a 1950Pro or 7800gs :p mine did when it saw this 7800. so i bought a ST60F i think it is, very nice reliable psu, if a bit pricey
 

whrzmud

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I had the EXACT same thing happening to me then i got a day off from work and family and well i finally had some free time and was able to pull apart my case to take a look at exactly what was wrong with my system. it looks like my GPU fan stops spinning every once in a while or doesn't turn on when i boot up system. causing my GPU to over heat and freeze my system.

so i was thinking about getting a replacement Fan. and i was lookin at this one to replace my current GPU fan. Is there a better one for an ATI Radeon 9800Pro ?

ATI Silencer 1 (Rev. 2) http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=36
 

xanthippus

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Cheers for the replies everyone, your input has helped me both understand and realise the inevitable decision that has now been forced upon me.

Going to spend my last evening, with my Radeon 9700 Pro and a dodgy display, going through details of various AGP cards and figuring out which one makes the most sense to hook up to a 350W power supply.
 

Firewind

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I had that problem on my old 9700 Pro, but after I pulled out a can of air and dusted out the graphic card, the problem went away.
 

whrzmud

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found this


*snip*

this is a rough overview of how video cards stand up to each other.

You can use this hierarchy to compare pricing between two cards to see which is a better deal. You can also see if an upgrade is worthwhile. I personally don't recommend upgrading unless the card you plan to upgrade to is at least three tiers higher on the chart. If it's less than three tiers higher than your current card, the upgrade is somewhat parallel and you won't notice a worthwhile difference in performance.

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