Video Card Issue

[DarkPretender]

So recently my screen has been going blank. Basically, ill be watching a video or something and then the hole screen freezes (not the mouse, but the video and other animations). Then the screen goes blank and the audio turns back on. The only thing I can do is restart at that point.

My voltages seem fine, I reset my overclock to default clocks, my video card hasn't been overclocked for a while. My computer really doesn't seem too hot. It might be a little hotter since I put the side of the case back on. Trying to make it not so noisy, damn x1900xt is LOUD!

The only other thing is I did air spray it like a week ago, get all the dust out. Everything should be in tip top shape. If its my video card I want to RMA it before it's to late.

[caveman-jim]

Have you updated any codecs recently? How about a defrag and disk cleanup?

Use ATITrayTools to test for artifacts and monitor temps while watching something, see what's going on.

[DarkPretender]

WHOA!

Wow, I need to monitor my GPU temps better, telling me 100 degrees! Time to open the side of the case again.

[caveman-jim]

Use ATITrayTools to set your fan to 100% all the time, see if that helps. Start looking for some AS5 and a Zalman replacement fan, I guess. Either that or clean your gpu hsf out.

[DarkPretender]

Just ordered one of these.

[DarkPretender]

Found the problem.

First off, I did clean my case about a week ago but it never occurred to me my 6th month card might require cleaning. Popped open the hood and whoa...lots of dust.

Sprayed it with air, its maxing at 82 degrees. More importantly its not super loud. This will hold me off till the new heatsink arrives.

Moral of the story, dust really does matter...alot. We are talking 18 degrees cooler here.

[caveman-jim]

Awesome! Glad your card is going to live

of the new cooler when it arrives!

[DarkPretender]

Ok so I got the new cooler and installed it.

First thing that went wrong, my XP boot wouldn't go up. Now im getting worried I fried my $400 dollar card, so I load up my Vista install just to check. Run some Doom3 and some HL2...no problems.

Ok so the card isn't the issue. Well I had to reinstall XP anyways because I am getting Vista soon and wanted to have Vista for my SATA drive. So I load up XP, no problems. So then I gotta download all the new patches, directx 9, go find my mobo disk because XP doesn't have native support for my network chip, spend about 3 hours getting everything up and running.

What a pain.

But it loads at about 75 degrees and idle at about 46-48. This is with full 3d clocks running and GPU folding. Generally that takes my card to the hottest. But the BIGGEST improvement is the noise! Oh its so much quieter then my old one. Its still loud at full speed, but easily half the noise of the old cooler. Also if I turn it all the way down is just about silent, but id rather have it up to keep the temps down. It cools my whole case down another few degrees.

No digital camera, so no pics, but this cooler is a must buy if you have heating and sound issues.