What is the average life expectancy of a video card?

[morteduzionism]

That's it...

I think my GPU went out.

The other day I was using the computer...no problem. I turned it off for some reason...

When I turned it back on later there was a sound...and the monitor wouldn't come on...yada yada yada...

Come to find out that the manufacturers logo sticker (PNY) that was stuck to the center of the fan slid off somewhat and caused the fan to stop...

To be honest I don't know if it happened in that instance or earlier, for all I know the fan could've been stuck for a week or more...

In any event I re-centered the sticker...bodda bip bam zoom...everything was working again...

Turned it off for the night.

Turned it on this morning...zip. Zilch. Nada.

I really don't know if it's the GPU or motherboard. When I turn the power on everything else seems to come on...

Any thoughts?

But the real question, out of curiosity, is concerning the life expectancy of GPU's. I recall reading a post where someone said that GPU's were frequently a cause of problems.

True? False? Maybe?

[Freddie]

Regarding Video card life expectancy, it really depends on who you talk to.

If you go by the name of Mark Gilbertson aka TWC's Freddie your video card will most likely start to go wrong after 11 months after purchase. Games will start to artifact, textures will corrupt and colours will not render correctly. This has been the story of my life for good knows how long.

Diamond 3DFX Voodoo 1 - artifacted
Geforce 2 Ti200 - artifacted
FX5600 - artifacted
Radeon 9600 Pro - artifacted
GeForce 6800 GT - Died two weeks after purchase
Geforce 6600 GT - lived, eventually sold when I built my current computer
Radeon X1900XT - artifacted
Geforce 8800GT - Is currently artifacting although can be cured by setting fan speed to 90% but it is getting worse.

It seems every card I buy or touch goes wrong at some point most of them survive for about a year to 18 months before artifacting kicks in.

[Strelok]

Geforce 8800GT - Is currently artifacting although can be cured by setting fan speed to 90% but it is getting worse.

It seems every card I buy or touch goes wrong at some point most of them survive for about a year to 18 months before artifacting kicks in.

And here is the story of how ASUS graphic cards suck:

It is even confirmed by ASUS that you cannot change the fan speed of the ASUS EN8800GT with any software possible, even the latest BIOS version of the card and it still does not work. There are either missing fan speed sections or greyed out. (Rivatuner, ATI Tool, PowerColor, nTune, EVGA Precision, Coolbits) and many more tried. They released the ASUS SmartDoctor tool that is supposed to work with ASUS cards gauranteed! Nope. It reports false temperatures (50C idle and 50C Crysis load..) but again the fan speed is greyed out just like all other applications. What makes it worse is that that the ones that ship with the CoH logo are confirmed to work with SmartDoctor while mine (without one) is not.

So if I ever start artifacting, increasing the fan speed isn't an option. And hence, FML

[Top-Tier-Tech]

Regarding Video card life expectancy, it really depends on who you talk to.

If you go by the name of Mark Gilbertson aka TWC's Freddie your video card will most likely start to go wrong after 11 months after purchase. Games will start to artifact, textures will corrupt and colours will not render correctly. This has been the story of my life for good knows how long.

Impressive

I've never had any part of any of my PC's go bad with exception to an old Windows 95 computer that had its' RAM give out.

[Wheelchair]

I've never had any hardware go wrong except for my 4850 >.> which was messed before I bought it, my GTX260 is running great now though

my 7300GT lasted like... 2 years o_O.....

[Jvlivs]

My GPU has been going for 2 years and still runs fine.. ram however i blow every couple months.. still its crucial ballistix so free RMA

[Strelok]

my 7300GT lasted like... 2 years o_O.....

My Geforce 2 still runs without a single artifact or issue. 2 years should be the absolute minimum expected. I hate when people expect a 6 month life span. 75% of life span issues are due to overclocking and / or improper cooling.

[wupwup]

Mine went afterabout a year but that was because the fan literaly couldnt turn due to dust. When i get a new one im de-dusting it every month

[SonOfCrusader76]

And here is the story of how ASUS graphic cards suck:

It is even confirmed by ASUS that you cannot change the fan speed of the ASUS EN8800GT with any software possible, even the latest BIOS version of the card and it still does not work. There are either missing fan speed sections or greyed out. (Rivatuner, ATI Tool, PowerColor, nTune, EVGA Precision, Coolbits) and many more tried. They released the ASUS SmartDoctor tool that is supposed to work with ASUS cards gauranteed! Nope. It reports false temperatures (50C idle and 50C Crysis load..) but again the fan speed is greyed out just like all other applications. What makes it worse is that that the ones that ship with the CoH logo are confirmed to work with SmartDoctor while mine (without one) is not.

So if I ever start artifacting, increasing the fan speed isn't an option. And hence, FML

How delightful! I've not long ago bought an Asus (4850). No problems, so far... (where's a crossed fingers smiley when you need it?)

FML's a hilarious site!!

[Strelok]

How delightful! I've not long ago bought an Asus (4850). No problems, so far... (where's a crossed fingers smiley when you need it?)

FML's a hilarious site!!

My ASUS 8600GT was the highest quality graphics card I ever owned. Ran cool, overclocked extremely well and ran without issue.

[SonOfCrusader76]

My ASUS 8600GT was the highest quality graphics card I ever owned. Ran cool, overclocked extremely well and ran without issue.

Is the card's temperature as shown by CCC accurate? I have mine running at 39-40 degrees at idle (Win desktop).

[Sphere]

What type of video card is it?

Usually a dead fan will fry your GPU and make it into a fancy paper wieght, but you say it was working breifly after you got the fan going?

Anyways, I have only had one video card completely die on me, it lasted 2 years before the fan decided to stop and turn the card into a fancy paper weight.

[morteduzionism]

What type of video card is it?

Usually a dead fan will fry your GPU and make it into a fancy paper wieght, but you say it was working breifly after you got the fan going?

Anyways, I have only had one video card completely die on me, it lasted 2 years before the fan decided to stop and turn the card into a fancy paper weight.

PNY 8600 GT

PNY is going to send me a replacement...

I've had two other cards go out......that was before I learned about the effects of heat...lol...


The cards I've owned (all of this was simply to play Oblivion & CoH...with something other than ultra-low settings):

1. FX5700 -
2. 6200 -
3. 7600GT - Did pretty good in a closed case for a while...then over a period of time I heard these random snaps/pops......now I know what fuses sound like when they're blowing...I suppose it blew one too many and went caput < --- in a top floor apartment, without central AC, in Washington, DC during summer(you'd have to experience it to know what it's like...lol)
4. 8600GT - very short life (there's probably a thread in here about it)...but it was here that I learned of the dangers of heat...
5. 8600GT - lasted six months (open case and house fan propped up next to it)...killed by a faulty logo sticker

[Holger Danske]

Well my Radeon Mobility X700 has lasted pretty well for over 3 years with no artifacts or trouble, but now it's dying for sure - Artifacts and all kinds of terror!
It has been fixed a bit by updating the driver but it's not going to live for much longer and is in no way capable of delivering the same performance as it could 2 years back, even on the same old games... And it seems that the artifacts are reemerging as we speak ...