Problems with XFX GeForce 8800GT video card

[korl]

I got a XFX GeForce 8800GT video card a few months ago (upgrade from a SAPPHIRE X800PRO) and I am having intermittent problems vith the video. I get 2 FPS from time to time or the screen just freezes, and I have to reboot. I also get artifacts quite a bit. Normal game FPS is between 45 and 60 FPS.

The video settings are 1280x1024, 24bit color 24 bit depth 1x multisample, vertical sync is checked, world appearance is set to high mostly (this card has 512 MB of mem, it should take everything without any sweat), special effects: Specular Lighting, full screen glow effect, death effect and character shadows.. The other two are unchecked.

I have the latest driver, and this card has a known problem with heat, so I installed RivaTuner 2.0 to adjust the fan speed when it gets hot ... The drivers are supposed to do that but instead the fan turns at 25% speed all the time irrespective of temperature. With Riva tuner, this card runs at about 65 deg Celsius, sometimes gets up to 70-75.

I also installed an external fan to keep the temperature down, thinking the prblem has to do with GPU temp, even though 70 deg Celsiius is not that hot. Currently with the external fan on it runs at about 60 degrees celsius.

Nothing works. I still have to boot from time to time, it's so annoying. I'm thinking to go back to my old video card, I never had problems with that one. It could also be that some areas in WoW are bugged and mess up the video card, I don't know. This is so upsetting especially since sometimes this happens in the middle of a dungeon.

Any ideas appreciated.

[jschild]

Set fan speed to max, see if that doesn't solve the problem. Mine runs hot too unless I set it at 85% plus with manual controls.

You also might have very poor ventilation in your case. They do run hot. Is your computer in an open area? or does it have proper ventilation outside the case? IE, don't have the backend shoved up agasint a wall.

[Kalos]

Does it artifact other than times when a reboot is the only means to saving the situation? The card itself may be faulty if so, I'd try running the fan perminantly on 85/90% and see if it continues to do it, but if it's still artifacting then it may be indeed faulty. Have you tried dusting out your case?

[jschild]

And check the intakes on the fans, both in the case an on the card itself. My old ATI x850 started overheating when its intake got clotted with dust.

[Kalos]

And check the intakes on the fans, both in the case an on the card itself. My old ATI x850 started overheating when its intake got clotted with dust.
Very correct. The GT's that come with the second slot (some of them do these days) commonly attract dust that tends to pile up around the back of the tower right into those slits designs for the air to be pushed outside of the case. It is not a great design feature, but as long as the user is aware of the need to give it a check every other month or so it shouldn't effect the user, it just compounds an already irritating problem with the cooling fan mechanism on most of the 8800 cards.

[korl]

The card is 2-3 months old so no time to clot with dust. But yes, I dust my case regularly, at the moment it is open and I have an external fan blow air on the card. Temp now is around 62 degrees, not hot by any means.

[hreddie]

what drivers you using for it as they can have a massive impact on these cards.

Get the latest from nvidia and also remove all drivers before installing new ones.

Also have you been playing with ocing the card as you will get artifacts if you done somthing naughty like playing with clock settings etc.

[korl]

No I did not OC-ed it at all - just as it came from factory. I actually updated the drivers alst night and the comp froze on me after that. So I had to roll back to the previous drivers.

Crappy that NVIDIA has such a high end product and no good drivers to support it (need to use a third party to control the fan speed ?? ).

Just wnted to see if anybody else had similar problems with this card.

[jschild]

You don't need 3rd party support to control the fan speed, ntune does it also.

[hreddie]

You don't need 3rd party support to control the fan speed, ntune does it also.

if your comps freezing just by installing drivers you sure its the card thats at fault, could be ram problems or anything.

You got enough power on your pcu to stably run the card with all your other stuff as you might find the card is lacking power?

ntune does all your card stuff, if you goto the nvidia advanced options it gives you the option to download it.

Another one is you ever overclocked your cpu as if you did you might find you synced the pci-e slot and its causing the card to run quicker than it can.

Just few ideas.

If its major probs id try a fresh install if you aint got to much on the machine so you can get it running nice and smooth

[korl]

Ok I will look into ntune, thank you for the tip.
Computer is 2-3 yeas old, did not OC the cpu or anything else.

It could be a faulty card... I noticed it is a bit better if i keep the temp down to 60deg, even though in my mind it should run fine even at 70-80 degrees. Seems that the fan installed on the card does not do a good job at all.

So you guys think it could be a heat problem? Or a video ram problem? I have the feeling the card is not performing at its full potential and I don't know why.

[jschild]

I think its heat...my gets wonky if I let it hit 70, (158 degrees F).

Running the fan at 85-100% (depending on game) keeps me at 60 at most, and with no problems.

The issue is that the Auto option, doesn't adjust.

[hreddie]

what you could do is get ntune, and enable the overclocking of the gpu and ramp it down slightly instead of ocing it.

That way you could see if the temp is causing probs as it will make the card run cooler and hopefully perform better.

Or if the cards only 3 months old could you not return it to the shop? get a replacement.

[korl]

Well, if it is heat then NVIDIA did a very poor job with this card. Too bad, the specs are really nice, and the price is right. I will try to return it, i got it through newegg, but at this time i think it is the design that is faulty. Another option would be to install an aftermarket cooling, like a bigger fan ... Thanks for the discussion.