7950GT(AGP) - Restarts / Bsod's

[mivanx77]

OK, I am about to throw my 7950gt and smash it. I have had nothing but problems with this video card. I had to RMA 3 times. But still I have hope. Here is my problem, the one I just recieved is working good, for the fact that when I play any game it restarts my PC or If I disable restarts, it gives me BSOD's. The BSOD messages say nothing except a bunch of numbers, so I wont get into their. My old 5700fx video card from nvidia never restarted on me, I RAN CS:S for 8 hours over night playing cs_militia with bots in first person to work the video card. When I woke up, the card was still running perfectly no restarts, perfectly fine. Now with the 7950gt after a couple minutes of playing I get restarts or BSODs. The difference between them is that one uses a 4 pin molex for power(7950gt) and the other doesnt(5700fx). The video card is using a four pin molex which is being shared to power my 4 fans. and thats all.

http://img186.imagevenue.com/aAfkjfp01fo1i-31172/loc517/09679_1_122_517lo.JPG

[mivanx77]

Sry for double posting, but some games instead of restarting or BSODing crash. Like CS:S and crysis!

[okeydokey89]

OK, I am about to throw my 7950gt and smash it. I have had nothing but problems with this video card. I had to RMA 3 times. But still I have hope. Here is my problem, the one I just recieved is working good, for the fact that when I play any game it restarts my PC or If I disable restarts, it gives me BSOD's. The BSOD messages say nothing except a bunch of numbers, so I wont get into their. My old 5700fx video card from nvidia never restarted on me, I RAN CS:S for 8 hours over night playing cs_militia with bots in first person to work the video card. When I woke up, the card was still running perfectly no restarts, perfectly fine. Now with the 7950gt after a couple minutes of playing I get restarts or BSODs. The difference between them is that one uses a 4 pin molex for power(7950gt) and the other doesnt(5700fx). The video card is using a four pin molex which is being shared to power my 4 fans. and thats all.

http://img186.imagevenue.com/aAfkjfp01fo1i-31172/loc517/09679_1_122_517lo.JPG

I've Experinced this problem with the 7950GT AGP for like 2 weeks ago and After doing everthing possible could fix this didnt work out... I just simply replaced the Psu wich was the least thing could fix it cuz i had 450V wich quite enough for it ... To 550V .. and everything worked well.

[mivanx77]

I JUST CHECKED MY VIDEO CARD!!! M******* F*****!!!! THIS IS MY 4th CARD I HAVE to SEND BACK!!! WOW IM SO PISSED within 2 days of having it the FAN DIED!!!!! OMFG!!!!!

THE BEST PART IS THAT XFX SAID THAT THEY DID AN OVER NIGHT TEST ON IT!!!

[jll544]

OK, I am about to throw my 7950gt and smash it.
Don't smash it... RMA it and then sell on eBay. It should fetch around $200, which is plenty to buy a more reliable card.

[mivanx77]

The thing is that, I am pissed for the fact that XFX said that they tested the card extensively, and kept telling over and over to test the card, which they said yes. So I try it out and the fan dies immediately!!!! SO IM LIKE OMFG!!!!!!!!

XFX LIED TO ME!!! They wouldnt have sent the video card if the fan didnt work!!!!!!

[Kougar]

No disrespect to you or your troubles Mivanx, but the chances of four different cards not working are close to nil and I don't think you are quite that unlucky. It sounds like an issue with your choice of card & motherboard, or a power issue.

Since you list a 700W GameXstream you should have enough cables/molex plugs to dedicate one of them solely to power the video card. This is important when using AGP slots since they do not provide as much power as a PCIe x16 slot, which the 7950GT was originally designed for.

If you have tried that and still get those BSODs, can you post your exact motherboard make/model, and what OS are you using? XFX's great support Rep should be able to look into this on Monday, but if ya can provide the details in advance it would help accelerate getting this problem solved for you.

[Miker]

Agreed. This card is picky on stuff, and when it doesn't get what it wants it blows. Make sure the power wire going to it only has the graphics card on it, anything else, even a fan can mess up the card.

I think, only me talking... That this card is just too powerful and good for your average AGP PC! ^_^

[xfxsupport]

I do apologize but if we said we test it, then we did! I am sorry yours failed. PM me your ticket number and I can look into a solution for you. Situations like this are the reason Scott and his staff allowed us to start our forums so we can help get situations like this resolved.

[mivanx77]

Well, I'm sorry if I am ranting so much, is just that it is the 4th time something had happened. I talked with XFX support earlier, and I'm gonna try the video card with a new fan on another computer. If you guys can help me with restarting / BSOD problem. The video card is connected to the power strand that also has 4 fans interconnected on one molex.

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/6494/23655884al0.jpg

My detailed Specs:
Case: Apevia X-Navigator (4 fans = 1x 120mm / 3x 80mm)
Motherboard: Abit IC7-G
Processor: P4 3.4Ghz (Socket 478 )
Ram: 2GB Geil (DDR 400 / PC 3200)
Video Card: 7950GT (Agp), Currently using 5700FX
Sound Card: X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatality Pro
Hard Drive: Raid 0 240GB (120 Maxtor / 120 Seagate)
- 500GB Samsung
Power Supply: 700w OCZ GameXtream
Optical: 1 CD Burner 52x, 1 DVD Burner 16x
- Floppy Drive
Monitor: 21' Sony CPD-G520 (CRT) / I use 1600x1200 resolution
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (Fully Updated / SP2)
Other:
Wireless Card: Netgear Wireless PCI card (connected but, not being used)

Dead 7950GT's:
1st. Died in 1 day
2nd. DVI slot had died within 3 weeks, then it died
3rd. BIG PINK TINT, after reapplying thermal paste!
4th. Fan is dead, but I am receiving a replacement fan.

[Sadasius]

I am wondering if you can answer me a question XFX Support. Now this card fails on a regular basis. Everyone knows that. There are two usual symptoms.

1) The fan fails due to the cooler expanding and constricting the fan. This can be solved changing to aftermarket cooling.

2) The artifacts, reboots and 1st DVI port being all blue. This is the problem that is not known in why or how to fix on the customers end. What part is failing on the cards that is causing this problem? You guys must know by now as there really is only these symptoms.

I am just wondering as we may be able to look after our own cards or maybe have a quick fix or something that can be done to make the card not only more stable but to ensure that it lasts. I want to have my next card last and I think it would help ever so much in knowing what part(s) are the culprits. My card coming back I am going to downclock severely. The GPU down to 450 and the memory down to 900. Basically I am going to neuter this thing and see if that will make a difference. I don't know if it will work or not but I would like to solve this problem. Because when I changed the cooling on it, it ran very cool so that has me very confused as to why it would fail and perhaps downclocking it may not do anything to prevent it from going again.

I feel for you mivanx77, I really do. I am just a one RMA behind you and counting as well.

Kougar.....They do get all our particulars on the XFX site. It is one of the requirements to registering the card. They know exactly what board, OS and everything I am running. I am sure they do as well with mivanx77. I too have the 700 watt GameXStream PSU and have one rail dedicated to the video card and that made no difference. I had the Ultra X3 1000 and that made no difference either. This card has something glitchy on it that repeatedly goes.

[mivanx77]

Sadasius, what do you mean that you use the 7950gt on one rail?

[Sadasius]

Sadasius, what do you mean that you use the 7950gt on one rail?

I used a PCI-E to molex adapter and run the power from the PCI-E power plug that has nothing on the rail. The other PCI-E plug shares power with the CPU. Our PSU has 4 rails in it. It is listed in the manual that came with it on what power plugs are used on what rail.

[Sadasius]

One thing I wondered actually about. When I changed the cooling the fan ran off of the motherboard instead of the cards power plug. I was wondering if this could have made the card unstable. I am raking my brain trying to figure out every possibility. I know this sounds weird but maybe the card needs to use that tiny extra bit of power to keep it stable.

[mivanx77]

So, if I get this correctly, you are saying that you are using a PCI-E to power your 7950GT(AGP), that uses a molex.

Also what should I do, my 7950gt is using a molex to power itself, is their anyway to use a PCI-E with an adapter to power a 4 pin molex?

[Sadasius]

So, if I get this correctly, you are saying that you are using a PCI-E to power your 7950GT(AGP), that uses a molex.

Also what should I do, my 7950gt is using a molex to power itself, is their anyway to use a PCI-E with an adapter to power a 4 pin molex?

Okay I will give you the link to the adapter I am talking about. You take this adapter and use you PCI-e plug from your Power Supply and plug into it. Then you plug the molex part into your video card. Voila, power to your card on one rail!

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186&products_id=21141

[mivanx77]

Okay I will give you the link to the adapter I am talking about. You take this adapter and use you PCI-e plug from your Power Supply and plug into it. Then you plug the molex part into your video card. Voila, power to your card on one rail!

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186&products_id=21141

You are you using the same one right, which works good?
Is this website reliable?


OMG THIS IS fREAKING SWEET!

[Sadasius]

Yup I am using the exact same one and order from this website all the time.

[mivanx77]

Yup I am using the exact same one and order from this website all the time.

Another quick question, the psu we are using will be able to handle the agp card right if i buy it?

[Sadasius]

Another quick question, the psu we are using will be able to handle the agp card right if i buy it?

Our PSU can handle this card in its sleep. There is barely a strain at all on the PSU.

[Xero (1)ne]

Mivanx, are you sure your case has good enough airflow for this card? can you give us some temps?

I would also recommend that you get the PCI-e to Molex adapter. That should provide some stability power-wise.

[mivanx77]

Our PSU can handle this card in its sleep. There is barely a strain at all on the PSU.
Sry, what I meant to say, if i use the PCI-E to power the agp card using the adapter you showed me, will the rail will be able handle it?

[Sadasius]

Sry, what I meant to say, if i use the PCI-E to power the agp card using the adapter you showed me, will the rail will be able handle it?

Oh hell yeah and then some. That was meant for high powered video cards to begin with.

[mivanx77]

Oh hell yeah and then some. That was meant for high powered video cards to begin with.

Thanks Sadasius, you've been so helpful. ^_^

[Kougar]

Mivanx, let us know if that adapter works for you. I'm not a technician but I would suspect those four fans are preventing the cards from getting enough amps/watts to run properly.

An AGP slots provides a max of 35W of power. A PCIe x16 slot provides 75W of power, and that is what the 7950GT was designed for originally before it got back ported to the AGP slot. The PCIe-to-AGP converter chip probably adds just a bit more power draw as well... the original 7950GT design uses a PCIe power connector, I'm not sure why some manufacturers decided to use a basic 4pin molex. The PCIe power connector is usually given its own power rail to ensure that it will be able to deliver plenty of power to be able to run any video card.

[mivanx77]

Mivanx, are you sure your case has good enough airflow for this card? can you give us some temps?

I would also recommend that you get the PCI-e to Molex adapter. That should provide some stability power-wise.

Video card temps or CPU temps.

My video card before it died isled at 53(c).
Cpu idles at 45(c) since it is uses a prescott core.

Im gonna be ordering parts tomorrow, im too tied, i've been playing Gears of War all day!


BTW can anyone post me a guide on how to appy thermal paste on a video card properly, that way i don't ruin it?

[mivanx77]

I received my fan, and I still get BSOD's. I ordered the PCI-E to molex, and ill tell you what happens when I get it.

[werty316]

BTW can anyone post me a guide on how to appy thermal paste on a video card properly, that way i don't ruin it?
Pick your poison; generally applying thermal paste to a CPU applies to a video card too except video cards don't use an IHS (except for the G80).

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/274
http://www.techpowerup.com/printarticle.php?id=134
http://www.frozencpu.com/resource/r8/How_to_Apply_Thermal_Paste.html
http://www.neoseeker.com/Hardware/faqs/kb/5,61.html

[mivanx77]

Pick your poison; generally applying thermal paste to a CPU applies to a video card too except video cards don't use an IHS (except for the G80).

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/274
http://www.techpowerup.com/printarticle.php?id=134
http://www.frozencpu.com/resource/r8/How_to_Apply_Thermal_Paste.html
http://www.neoseeker.com/Hardware/faqs/kb/5,61.html

I already knew how to apply, im just making sure. But, i dont get it, i applied AS5 and my video card idles at 53(c). While last time i got to idle at 47(c).

[Miker]

After market cooling / taking off heatsink at all is a one way ticket to RMA.

[werty316]

After market cooling / taking off heatsink at all is a one way ticket to RMA.
Not unless you know what you are doing.

[Miker]

Ok, I put my card in, used the regular drivers, had good power going to it and it never gave me any problem other then a blue tint on one port. I have not heard of one person that had there card work for more then 2 days after they put on a new heatsink.

[mivanx77]

OK, i was able to test the video card in my friends PC, and ran it for 5 hours, in which it did not restart or cause BSOD's. The power suppy we used was a 430w, in which all it did was power the motherboard, hard drive, and the video card. I brought the video card home, played Gears of War, and in 25min BSOD'd.

Im concluding, that I need a dedicated rail since their is not enough power. So right now im waiting on the PCI-E to molex and my floppy drive. The floppy drive is so, I can boot my Raid 0 up, and have a clean install and format my PC as soon as i get the PCI-E to molex and make sure absolutely that I remove every cause.

[Miker]

Do you mind posting on this thread so I can list your problems? I don't want to steal it from your SIG.
http://bjorn3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19282

[Kougar]

Mirvanx, glad to hear ya were able to do so! I have been told that underpowering a GPU can be dangerous for the components on it since they would be trying to perform out of spec which might eventually damage them, but do not really know how credible that hypothesis is.

At any rate, now you know the problem and can get it fixed, hopefully that PCIe connector is all you will need. It may sound silly but this is why I prefer to always build my own system in pairs, so that I can interchange any part with the other system and vice-versa. Considering how cheap bottom of the barrel hardware can be it's not expensive to do so, and makes for a good backup plan when things go wrong. :)

[mivanx77]

OK guys I just got my PCI-E to Molex adapter and I noticed, How come their is one 3 pin located in the plastic molding, instead of 4? Did anyone else get the same thing, does that mean I am not getting enough power?

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/7223/cable2mt7.jpg

BTW, I STILL GET BSOD's, right now I am doing memtest agian and is giving me a message VERY SIMILAR TO THIS ONE:
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4589/dscf1914mf3nk9.jpg
This happens on all my RAM sticks for some reason., does that mean that they are all corrupted and broken?

[Coralon]

I cant answer regarding the memory errors but for the PCI-molex connector lacking a pin, if you read the description of the adapter it says it only carries 12v power so is missing 5v and as such doesnt need all 4 pins that normal molex connectors have.

[mivanx77]

I cant answer regarding the memory errors but for the PCI-molex connector lacking a pin, if you read the description of the adapter it says it only carries 12v power so is missing 5v and as such doesnt need all 4 pins that normal molex connectors have.
But, why? I meant I thought it would give enough power to the Video Card like that... but my BSOD still happens!

[Miker]

Can you post a picture of every page in BIOS for me? I want to see if you have anything odd.

[mivanx77]

Can you post a picture of every page in BIOS for me? I want to see if you have anything odd.

It will take a while But, if it means getting rid of my BSOD... then Ill do it. But how about the ram, and the "Confidence Error Value"?

[mivanx77]

Can you post a picture of every page in BIOS for me? I want to see if you have anything odd.
K, here it is, your gonna have to download it, its a zip file containing multiple pictures of my bios:
http://www.mediafire.com/?et03mo7kfi1

[Miker]

Be have almost the same PC so I feel comfortable helping you out with BIOS options.

Boot 1: should be CD
Boot 2: should be floppy
Boot 3: should be Harddrive

Set AGP Aperture at 128 not 256, for some reason I was having all sort of problems at anything but 128.

If you don't use on-board sound and LAN disable them in BIOS.

Disable Serial and Parallel port if you don't use them.

[mivanx77]

Be have almost the same PC so I feel comfortable helping you out with BIOS options.

Boot 1: should be CD
Boot 2: should be floppy
Boot 3: should be Harddrive

Set AGP Aperture at 128 not 256, for some reason I was having all sort of problems at anything but 128.

If you don't use on-board sound and LAN disable them in BIOS.

Disable Serial and Parallel port if you don't use them.
I did what you told me, will setting the aperture size down, lower my FPS?
Also, wouldnt my RAM be the culprit since it is showing those "ERROR CONFIDENCE VALUE" on memtest...

[Miker]

AGP aperture doesn't affect FPS I don't think.

Try different RAM, one stick at a time, different Membanks and higher timings.

[Sadasius]

But, why? I meant I thought it would give enough power to the Video Card like that... but my BSOD still happens!

Your power adapter is normal to have the three pins. Mine was the same thing and is what I am running now.

[mivanx77]

well aparently their is something funky going on with my ram, that might be causing my BSOD's... you can check it out here:
http://www.geilusa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=494

also, if you, gve me your inputs on what to do, I haven't been gaming in ages.

[Sadasius]

Well as it was said over on that board it is either a bad bios setting or the PSU. But didn't you get a new PSU? So it cannot be that so then it will have to be a bad bios setting. Now I am going to go out on a limb here but I have seen this done before. Is your ram set for 400 or 200 mhz? I ask this because what many people do not know is that DDR stands for (Double Data Rate). So if you have a set of 400mhz for your rig the setting should be set on 200mhz as double this will give you the proper setting for your ram. If you set it to 400mhz then you will get BSOD all the time and sudden restarts etc.

[mivanx77]

well, i consulted Geil ram for my Ram, and I found out that 2 of my sticks a re dual channeled and the other 2 are not, which might be causing my BSODs, so far, when I changed some stuff in the BIOS, and put my dual channel sticks in first in slots 1 and 3, since they are color coordinated, my BSOD's have stopped. Also, I ignored this for a while now, but my video card showed me funny shpaes during games that looked like artifacting, but as soon as I get to my desktop or in 2D mode, it stops and goes away...but I have to restart the PC to play my games normally.
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/6981/10ns4.jpg

Original Size Image (http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/4426/10tl1.jpg)

[Sadasius]

Yeah I know what this is from....Overheating! I got this when when my other cards overheated and heck the one I have now too until I swapped the cooler. Never had it since. Our cards are glitchy and when the temps go over 73 they start doing what you get there. So the trick is to get your cards temps to stay below 70 while playing. I have mine downclocked as well as third party cooling and now it runs better then ever. No more glitchs, no more freeze ups, no more temp spikes etc. Now I get to enjoy the damn games...lol. FINALLY!!!

my idle is 41 degrees and my heaviest load is 63 degrees. Before the cooler swap the idle was 55 and the heaviest load was 76 degrees. Massive freakin difference!

[mivanx77]

Yeah I know what this is from....Overheating! I got this when when my other cards overheated and heck the one I have now too until I swapped the cooler. Never had it since. Our cards are glitchy and when the temps go over 73 they start doing what you get there. So the trick is to get your cards temps to stay below 70 while playing. I have mine downclocked as well as third party cooling and now it runs better then ever. No more glitchs, no more freeze ups, no more temp spikes etc. Now I get to enjoy the damn games...lol. FINALLY!!!

my idle is 41 degrees and my heaviest load is 63 degrees. Before the cooler swap the idle was 55 and the heaviest load was 76 degrees. Massive freakin difference!

Thats what I thought to, right now, I just removed and receded my thermal paste on the card, it used to idle at 51, now with some Arctic Silver Ceramique, it idles at 48. Hope it doesn't happen again. Also btw, thanks for everyone that helped me and a late Merry Christmas to all. Btw, it doesn't mean i dont need help anymore, so i might come back here to this topic. >.-

[Sadasius]

I use Rivatuner to show my temps while playing games. This is where you will get the highest temps especially from demanding games. Every time the temps went over 73 degrees I got the graphic tears and glitches.

[mivanx77]

I use Rivatuner to show my temps while playing games. This is where you will get the highest temps especially from demanding games. Every time the temps went over 73 degrees I got the graphic tears and glitches.

Now that I think of it, when I played Gears of War compared to CS:S, it would artifact or tear in like 5 min, compared to CS:S, which would tear in 20-30min. Also, isnt their a Video Card Bios update that can lower the clockspeeds in 2D mode and then, when you place any 3D mode, it goes to its normal clockspeeds?

[Sadasius]

Now that I think of it, when I played Gears of War compared to CS:S, it would artifact or tear in like 5 min, compared to CS:S, which would tear in 20-30min. Also, isnt their a Video Card Bios update that can lower the clockspeeds in 2D mode and then, when you place any 3D mode, it goes to its normal clockspeeds?

You can do all that in Rivatuner.

[mivanx77]

Well... It still keeps artifacting even with the BIOS change, the video card has a lot of room to breath, even with a fan blowing on it on the side... this is so frustrating....

[oxylord]

Dude 7950 is a power eater.. get a good psu like 550. and make sure all your mobo drivers are updated

[oxylord]

oh and if you can reformat your hard drive so that everything is clean for the fresh install. and if none of that works. then look into getting a different card

[mivanx77]

oh and if you can reformat your hard drive so that everything is clean for the fresh install. and if none of that works. then look into getting a different card

LOL, I have a 700w PSU, and the power that I am using is PCI-E for an AGP, which should be more than enough. I dont need to format, my PC is super clean no virus or spyware. I scan every other day and defrag everyday. But thank you, Im just convinced that the Video card is dying... because my other video cards never artifacted due to overheating issues, they just die. But this one artifacts then it will be fine as soon as i restart. It idles very hot now at 54(c).

I will post pictures of my case, my digi camera just died, so im gonna borrow my friends.

[asterasy]

If possible, get a cheap (but good) aftermarket cooler. See if you can drop your temps a bit. May fix the problem, if not - I'd say it's a dying card.

[mivanx77]

If possible, get a cheap (but good) aftermarket cooler. See if you can drop your temps a bit. May fix the problem, if not - I'd say it's a dying card.

I would like to do that, but this is my 4th video card, the rest broke, and the 2nd and 3rd worked fine and had cooler temps.

[A-L-E-X]

I use Rivatuner to show my temps while playing games. This is where you will get the highest temps especially from demanding games. Every time the temps went over 73 degrees I got the graphic tears and glitches.

I feel bad for you. The temp in my room was up to 90F (over 32C) because of fans pumping out the heat, and my GPU reached 30C (still cooler than my room!) but no graphics glitches or discolorations of any kind playing GRAW! My card is almost 2 months old without even a single problem! (***Knocks on wood and crosses fingers***) I guess its just the luck of the draw...

[A-L-E-X]

This is sad, but I think the capacitors on our cards are not of high quality. Arent nvidia and ati cards supposed to be able to stand at least 105C without artifacting? I wonder whats going on here!

Anything under 80C should actually be considered pretty good... but I guess thats not the case with our cards. Anytime my card temps approach 80C now, I just crank up the AC to the coldest temp lol.

Yeah I know what this is from....Overheating! I got this when when my other cards overheated and heck the one I have now too until I swapped the cooler. Never had it since. Our cards are glitchy and when the temps go over 73 they start doing what you get there. So the trick is to get your cards temps to stay below 70 while playing. I have mine downclocked as well as third party cooling and now it runs better then ever. No more glitchs, no more freeze ups, no more temp spikes etc. Now I get to enjoy the damn games...lol. FINALLY!!!

my idle is 41 degrees and my heaviest load is 63 degrees. Before the cooler swap the idle was 55 and the heaviest load was 76 degrees. Massive freakin difference!

[NoRest4wkd]

I would like to do that, but this is my 4th video card, the rest broke, and the 2nd and 3rd worked fine and had cooler temps.

One dead video card is unfortunate but it happens. Two is bad luck. Three is a trend, and four is a probably a major indication that something else is going on. From all the comments in this forum, it sounds like heat is the likely culprit.

Double check airflow inside of your case. Have you moved, replaced, or added any fans? Check their orientation to make sure cool air is being pulled in and hot air is being pushed out. Make sure all fans are clean and running. Also make sure all vents are clear and unobstructed. Make sure no cables or other internal components are impeding airflow.

Do you have a cooler on your CPU? The P4 socket 478's run VERY hot and need a good fan/heatsink. DO NOT use the stock cooler. If you do have an aftermarket cooler, make sure the fan is blowing the right direction.

Where is your computer located? Does it have enough clearance around it to allow good air circulation?

I'm running a P4 3.06Ghz system with an X1950 Pro AGP card and had similar problems. Turned out the issue was heat building up in my case. I added a couple of case fans and beefier CPU fan/heatsink and all has been fine ever since.

I know this all sounds basic, but so often problems like this can be traced back to simple causes. If cooling the system doesn't fix the problem, it may be that your motherboard is failing or at least the AGP slot has issues. Four video cards failing is either really, really bad luck (and in that case, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near you in a thunderstorm) or something else is going on. Heat will cause memory errors, video card errors/artifacting, hard drive failures, and a variety of other system failures.

Try running the card with your case completely open and well ventilated. See what happens.

[mivanx77]

OK, I am going to clarify my heat issues. I am not using any stock heatsink fans for my processor, I am using a ZALMAN CNPS7000B, for my processor, that Idles at 42(c) which is good for a Prescott core at 3.40Ghz. I have new 2Gb that had passed memtest 3 times for 4hrs, 6rhs, 4hrs. My X-Navigator, has 3x = 80mm fans, 1x = 120mm fan. And all of which have good cooling, all fans spinning at top speeds, and strategically placed them so cool air goes in and hot air goes out.

Now today, when I turn on my PC to play games, it artifacts, then after a simple restart games can be playable, no more artifacts, BUT EVERY SINGLE DAY, I GET AT LEAST 1 ARTIFACTS.

My 2nd and 3rd ones, worked like a charm, they had cooler idles in temp and when in use.

I made a support ticket on getting this issue fixed.

Where is your computer located? Does it have enough clearance around it to allow good air circulation?
My PC is at the top of my desk where it has a lot of room to breathe... I wish I had a digital camera, ill post some pics of my PC soon.

[mivanx77]

Sry for DBL post, but now my Video Card is artifacting at like 63(c), this card is F***ing impossible to play with!

[Sadasius]

RMA it! Once again and maybe the next one will be friendlier to you. You got to get one that will last eventually. I am surprised I went as long as I did now actually. Damn I have no wood around to knock on.....oh wait.....Pamela Anderson......okay I am good!

[mivanx77]

RMA it! Once again and maybe the next one will be friendlier to you. You got to get one that will last eventually. I am surprised I went as long as I did now actually. Damn I have no wood around to knock on.....oh wait.....Pamela Anderson......okay I am good!

OK, thats what im gonna do... Im ready to buy a sludge hammer to destroy this card... and say the card blew up.

[Sadasius]

OK, thats what im gonna do... Im ready to buy a sludge hammer to destroy this card... and say the card blew up.

Yeah very frustrating. I almost threw mine out into the parking lot from the third floor. I was so mad. Girlfriend stopped me. But in the end I finally got one that plays well and I am pretty happy with it now. Was it worth it? Hell yeah! To finally get games that run nice with the trimmings is really good. Makes my happy real happy :lol:

[Serlant]

Fancy nipping back over to your mates, trying the card watch temps and see if theres any artifacting / tearing if you get the same temps and it doesnt artifact, something else it going on, if you get the same temps and it still artifacts then theres your culprit, also if you get lower temps and it doesnt artifact, thats an indicator too :)

[mivanx77]

Fancy nipping back over to your mates, trying the card watch temps and see if theres any artifacting / tearing if you get the same temps and it doesnt artifact, something else it going on, if you get the same temps and it still artifacts then theres your culprit, also if you get lower temps and it doesnt artifact, thats an indicator too :)

Also, I noticed on CSS, I would get an avg. using their stress test, 108 fps, then as the day continues it would reduce down to 102 the 98 fps. Odd...

I submitted an RMA, I'm gonna mail it out today or tomorrow.
XFX Support Rocks