XFX 7900 GT + artifacts = dead ???

[jegui]

Hi,

I wonder if anybofy could help me... I have a 1 year old XFX 7900 GT video card which lately has been behaving weirdly

Since last summer I have always played RTW and M2TW with no problems to report... I even played several VC intensive mods like SPQR and the card has been far from problems...

Lately however I have started to get artifacts and hang ups whilst running M2TW and most recently Kingdoms. I have been monitoring the GPU temps and making a log of its behaviour...

When the system starts the GPU temp reaches 40-42 (celsius) and it only increases when playing 3D games...

The RTW/M2TW engine manages to run smoothly up to 50/55 but it can either show artifacts or hang up (CTD) after those thresholds

I have always had these temps on my VC since day one and no problems what so ever... only recently it started hitting hard on my gaming. I have also noticed similar behaviour but to a much less degree when ocasionally playing COH...

I always had the impression that nvidia cards go much higher than 60s without overheating problems :hmmm: I have tried different drivers and so one with no success... I have also loaded standard video settings ingame...

It's very strange and I don't know if it's really heat related or if the VC has packed I'd like to keep playing the game on the same settings if possible...

Does anybody has a clue what could be the problem ??? Thanks a lot!

jegui

[Hadrian]

Hey jegui, those symptoms don't sound good my friend, as it does indeed sound like your 7900GT is dying.
Does it artifact during post, especially black or white screens? What chipset is that card based on? If it's the G71 then there is a very good chance it's fading on you. Have you OCed it any?
If artifacting is increasing and new drivers have no effect I'm pretty sure it's dying. Contact XFX via the tech help section of their web site, describe whats happening, and ask what they can do for you. Stress the fact that the card is only 1 year old and you bought XFX because of their quality.

[jegui]

Hey jegui, those symptoms don't sound good my friend, as it does indeed sound like your 7900GT is dying.
Does it artifact during post, especially black or white screens? What chipset is that card based on? If it's the G71 then there is a very good chance it's fading on you. Have you OCed it any?
If artifacting is increasing and new drivers have no effect I'm pretty sure it's dying. Contact XFX via the tech help section of their web site, describe whats happening, and ask what they can do for you. Stress the fact that the card is only 1 year old and you bought XFX because of their quality.

- I get white dots and red letters during system reboot in the black posting screen (bios version, memory test...)

- The model is Nvidia 7900 GT - bios 5.71.22.12.83. The driver version is forceware 162.18

Artifacts are more frequent now but today I've just disabled shader version 2 and used version 1 instead... So far I have had no major artifacts or hangs... however the trees seem to change slighlty when I scroll the terrain in battle mod. Do you think it could be the shader version and settings instead of dying VC???

[Hadrian]

- I get white dots and red letters during system reboot in the black posting screen (bios version, memory test...)

The white dots in the black screens of reboot/posting is definately artifacting and a sure sign of a defect.

- Do you think it could be the shader version and settings instead of dying VC???

I don't have any experience with altering shader version settings but what your describing are symptoms of a dying GPU. They can last for months while they slowly get worse, and then one day your system will boot with a black screen.....

@Handsome Huss

Your also describing a dying GPU. I don't think it's the maufactures, especially if the card came with standard clock settings. It's usually the model or the chipset they are based on. The 7900GTX was a defective model, not because of it's design (almost the same as the trusty 7800GTX) but because of it's unusually fragile G71 chipset. I'll bet the 7900GT is based on that same chipset....

[Handsome Huss]

@Handsome Huss

Your also describing a dying GPU. I don't think it's the maufactures, especially if the card came with standard clock settings. It's usually the model or the chipset they are based on. The 7900GTX was a defective model, not because of it's design (almost the same as the trusty 7800GTX) but because of it's unusually fragile G71 chipset. I'll bet the 7900GT is based on that same chipset....

Thats what I had been suspecting. I mean, two cards, one came to me defective, the other crapped out unusually fast. Do you know anything about the new 8800s though? Are they dependable?

[Hadrian]

Do you know anything about the new 8800s though? Are they dependable?

There were a lot of "defective from the factory" 7900 models, especially the GTXs, more than any other nVidia GPU series before or after, but so far I haven't heard of many "defective out of the box" 8800 models yet. That's a very good sign, and the 8800 series seems to have a higher standard of quality control than was utilized in the past. The 8800 models seem to be well designed and made to be dependable....

[Handsome Huss]

Wow, you too?

I'm almost in the same boat as you, only mine didnt last the year. I got it last september, and started getting a few artifacts in some games around April. It had gotten increasingly worse, and I finally took it out this week and put in an older cheap little replacement card, until I buy a new 8800 GTS in a couple weeks.

I've had a lot of problems with the 7900 GT, but cant say if its the card or the company I bought it from. When I first got it, the card did not work at all, and I had to send it back and get it replaced.

[LoZz]

have you overclocked your card? if yes restore default settings.

i dont think your problem is heat with those temps, i have a 7900gs, and it runs at those temps with no problems.

i think it could just well be dieing.