Urgent GFX Card Assistance Needed..

• animeshadows wrote on 2012-01-10 05:18
  This is my third graphics card, currently. NVidia GeForce 9800 GT, Windows Vista 64BIT, Quad 2.33GHz processor, 6GB ram.. etc.
  
  Anyway. The past THREE graphics cards all have glitched out on me because the memory on them corrupted. This one is starting to do the same now. I have a few concerns and questions, but first, pictures of the LAST times this happened:
  
  

  [Image: http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_li6kqphegd1qaouc1o1_500.jpg]

  
  
  

  [Image: http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_li6ko6JFUj1qaouc1o1_500.jpg]

  
  
  So anyway... I don't have any coverage on this computer's warranty anymore. I have no clue what the problem is, but this KEEPS HAPPENING to ALL OF THE CARDS I have been provided with. The two replacements up to this point are refurbs.
  
  Currently it's operating at an average temp range from 65~70 Celsius. Whenever a game, such as mabinogi, or the screensavers run, the screen pixelates and changes colors before the computer crashes entirely. (Exactly as last time.)
  
  ... what is going on, why, and how can I fix this?
  
  ====
  
  Additional note: The card started small, as it is now. Eventually it wouldn't be able to handle a boot up.
• Juno wrote on 2012-01-10 05:28
  Gonna guess that the problem is actually on your board or with the power supply. It's a little out of my league, but the chances of three cards dying on their own just doesn't exist.
• animeshadows wrote on 2012-01-10 05:59

  Quote from Juno;730518:

  Gonna guess that the problem is actually on your board or with the power supply. It's a little out of my league, but the chances of three cards dying on their own just doesn't exist.

  
  
  Ive replaced BOTH in the past.
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-01-10 08:14
  Were all 4 NVIDIA cards? 'cause NVIDIA has committed hardware design fail of epic proportions for the GPUs around the 6000-9000 series range. Long story short, thermal cycling caused the GPU to crack. >_> It's quite possible that your 9800 got hit by that fault, but it's hard to say if it was caused by something else instead.
  
  I think newer NVIDIA GPUs have a lower failure rate, and AMDs are likely even better.
  
  I doubt it's your motherboard or PSU, as you've already replaced them and those parts tend to be quite reliable, unlike GPUs. Unless of course the PSU is of some crappy variety? O_o
• TA wrote on 2012-01-10 08:52
  Video card is dying. My GTX 280 did the same thing. If it continues happening with different cards, something definitely has to be causing it. That, or they're giving you faulty cards.
  
  PSU supplying the wrong power to your computer could definitely mess things up.
  
  Is the power in your area stable? Does the power flicker a lot, drop during storms, etc? Spikes or drops can seriously damage sensitive electronic equipment, even such small amounts that would barely affect lights.
  
  I'm just gonna throw this out there, but... Some motherboards the northbridge controls the RAM, but on some CPU's the CPU controls the RAM. So if it's a fault with your CPU, it would explain why replacing your PSU, motherboard and GPU didn't fix it. I'm horrible at hardware diagnosis though.
• animeshadows wrote on 2012-01-10 20:14

  Quote from TA;730665:

  Video card is dying. My GTX 280 did the same thing. If it continues happening with different cards, something definitely has to be causing it. That, or they're giving you faulty cards.
  
  PSU supplying the wrong power to your computer could definitely mess things up.
  
  Is the power in your area stable? Does the power flicker a lot, drop during storms, etc? Spikes or drops can seriously damage sensitive electronic equipment, even such small amounts that would barely affect lights.
  
  I'm just gonna throw this out there, but... Some motherboards the northbridge controls the RAM, but on some CPU's the CPU controls the RAM. So if it's a fault with your CPU, it would explain why replacing your PSU, motherboard and GPU didn't fix it. I'm horrible at hardware diagnosis though.

  
  
  Could it be intense usage? I do a lot of video processing on Vegas;;
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-01-10 23:05
  Usage on itself would not cause it to fail like that.
  /me points to his earlier questions
  And which PSU exactly are you using and have been using before? (Again, wondering if they were crappy.)
• animeshadows wrote on 2012-01-11 01:11
  Psu would be...?
• TA wrote on 2012-01-11 03:06

  Quote from animeshadows;731371:

  Psu would be...?

  
  
  Power Supply Unit.
  
  It's the big box at the back that the power hooks into, and it should have a bunch of cords running from it that plug into your video card, hdds, motherboard, etc.
• RebeccaBlack wrote on 2012-01-11 03:06
  Power Supply Unit.
  
  Or just power supply, same thing.
  
  Looks like I was beaten to it by a few seconds.
• animeshadows wrote on 2012-01-11 03:13
  Well.. Posting this from my phone. The card just broke. In the bios, it's pixelating and returning the cannot read/write error on the Graphics cards diagnostic. However, before it happened, I was able to steal the dump files from the BSODs that I have been getting. It seems to consistently point to one DLL file that starts with N and then.. A ton of random consonants.
  
  Dell has decided to look at the card out of warranty to determine the problem, though most likely all I'll get is a refurb card. I can't afford any replacement parts or a new computer... Debt from closure of a business hit us hard. So... Yeah. Wonderful situation.
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-01-11 04:57
  Sorry to hear. :/ The N is probably for something related to NVIDIA, but it doesn't really matter anyway since this is caused by a hardware problem.
  
  Dell generally uses decent PSUs, from what I hear, so I doubt it's the PSU's fault. The cards probably failed because they were all refurbs that weren't properly tested. And like I said, the 9000 series is known for having manufacturing problems, so that only makes it more probable. x_x
  
  I hope Dell helps you out properly.