My 8800GT might be no more. HEEEELP!

[jsaces]

A few days ago I was playing on low graphics setting (as I always do) on a 1680x1050 screen resolution display. Suddenly the screen started jumbling up and the sound was glitching thus freezing the game. I tried to ctrl+alt+del my way out of there thinking it was a game bug but my PC actually froze so I restarted it. On restart there were artifacts all over the screen from the ASUS logo all the way to the Starting Windows screen until finally it was about to load Windows 7 but the cursed thing never did start. I shut it off and let it cool off for about 2 hours then turned it on with no problems though I noticed weird glitches pop up on the monitor once in a while. The next day (two days ago from today) I turned it on with the artifacts reappearing and after the Starting Windows screen it just goes blank. It was like this no matter how long I let it cool off. I blew out very little dust from the graphics card as I do so anyways at least once a month. For over 3 years this has never happened to me, nothing has ever corrupted my rig so I was just wondering if these were the symptoms of a dead card. Thank you for your time

 

[jsaces]

Forgot to mention the game I was playing was StarCraft II

 

[larkspur]

Those do coincide with the symptoms of a dying card. Have you confirmed that the GPU fan on the card is actually spinning when the comp in on? If it isn't there is a chance your card is just overheating due to a failed fan.

The best thing for testing is to have another working graphics card and just swap it out to test. But if have no way to test it, it is a fair bet that your card is dying. Some boards have onboard graphics. If yours does you could pull your card, enable the onboard graphics, and then see if you still have stability problems. Anyway, GL! And if you need another graphics card and want the same thing, there are numerous 8800s and 9800s being sold used on the cheap.

 

[jsaces]

Unfortunately my motherbrain doesn't come with an integrated graphics card. The fans are indeed working on the graphics card. I'm traumatized my graphics card of 3 years is dead but I guess a new one is in need. Since I haven't been in the PC building game for quite a while I noticed that there are now PCI-E 2.0 & 2.1 and PCI-E x16 2.0. My motherboard has 1 PCI-E x16 and the rest are x4 and x1. Can I still get these 2.0, 2.1, x16 2.0 graphics cards to work with my now seemingly ancient mobo?

 

[larkspur]

Can I still get these 2.0, 2.1, x16 2.0 graphics cards to work with my now seemingly ancient mobo?

What is your motherboard specifically?

 

[larkspur]

Actually - just list your full system specs please.

 

[bucknutty]

8800gt cards die all the time. This seems to be one of those times.
Tiger has a 9800gt for 70 or a gts250 for 75.

Check out "bake 8800gt video card in oven" on you tube. My card was doing the exact same thing so i baked it in the oven 390 for 10 minutes. It still works to this day in an extra computer.

 

[jsaces]

C2Q 2.4GHz, Asus P5K-E/Wifi-AP Mobo, OCZ 4GB DDR2, Corsair TX750W PSU, Zalman 9700 NT, Seagate 500GB HDD, EVGA 8800GT 512MB SC Edition

 

[larkspur]

C2Q 2.4GHz, Asus P5K-E/Wifi-AP Mobo, OCZ 4GB DDR2, Corsair TX750W PSU, Zalman 9700 NT, Seagate 500GB HDD, EVGA 8800GT 512MB SC Edition

While your motherboard only supports PCI Express 1.1, the 2.0 and 2.1 cards are backwards compatible. Your CPU/RAM are your big limitations - pairing one of the powerful modern gaming cards would be a waste because your CPU at stock speed is the limiter. 4gb of DDR2 is also going to keep you in the lower-end graphics card range as well. If you overclock that processor it should help.

My advice if you want to get the best graphics card you can without wasting its potential is to post a new thread listing your specs and asking people what card they think you should get. Things to list would include: what games you plan on playing, do you want DX11 support, are you willing to upgrade your RAM and/or overclock your CPU/RAM... etc.

Hope that helps! I don't feel comfortable recommending a particular card in your case b/c I never actually owned and overclocked a Core 2. Built plenty of systems with them but never put together my own. They are still pretty good gaming chips, but you'll need a good overclock to get the most of of it. 2.4ghz really drags down gaming these days.

 

[jyjjy]

Yeah, OC the processor if at all possible and use the card dying as a good excuse for an upgrade. Something like an HD6850/70/GTX 460 should do quite well at 1650x1080.

 

[Paul_Bakken]

I just upgraded my rig -- and happen to have an 8800 GTS in need of a new home. There really isn't any secondary market for cards this old, so it could be yours for basically the cost of shipping. Let me know if you are interested.

PS- Unless this is considered a "commercial solicitation" and thus a violation of TOS. I hope that it is not interpreted as such -- just trying to help a fellow gamer out.

 

[Friznutz]

Put it in the oven. I did that for mine and it seriously worked for me. Many people have done it and I will seriously consider doing that.
There are many videos...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NtQoijZxYg

 

[jyjjy]

I just upgraded my rig -- and happen to have an 8800 GTS in need of a new home. There really isn't any secondary market for cards this old, so it could be yours for basically the cost of shipping. Let me know if you are interested.

PS- Unless this is considered a "commercial solicitation" and thus a violation of TOS. I hope that it is not interpreted as such -- just trying to help a fellow gamer out.

There is a forum for buying/selling things;
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum-8-33.html
You may want to post it in there. Mention the amount of ram as that is rather important for the 8800GTS as the 320/640mb card actually uses a different and notably weaker GPU than the 512mb card. Cards similar in caliber to the 512mb version still sell for $80+ new. You likely could get at least half that on ebay if you wanted to I suspect.