lt_navvara Posted January 21, 2007 Posted January 21, 2007 It must be either my luck or something I do but ever since i've built my first computer i've had video card problems. It would be nice to have other hardware problems for a change but alasm it is not so. The latest adition to my rig is no exception exception to this rule. My brand new Sapphire x1650 (600 mhz core, 1400 mhz ddr3) runs games pretty well except that it has a nasty habit of randomly corupting my screen with artifacts. And I don't mean a couple of artifacts I mean a screen full of artifacts. So far this has happened to me about 10 times in 20 or so hours of gaming with the last 5 incidents happening in a space of less than one hour. I'll keep my camera close so I can take a picture of the screen when this happens again. Also I cannot read the GPU temperature: the sensor reads 0 centigrade permanently. Now my question is: what is causing this problem? 1. Driver problems. Thought of that but switching to omega drivers didn't help. 2. Bad video card. Please let it not be so!!! 3. Video card overheating. I have a zalman vf 900 and therlmaltake copper ramsinks installed so this seems unlikely unless: 4. When i installed the cooler I noticed that some of the fins were very, very close to one of those cilinders on the board (tranzistors, capacitors whatever). This worried me to some extent but since my video card didn't short out instantly I figured it was ok. Could this be the cause of my problems? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EightBitH3R0 Posted January 21, 2007 Posted January 21, 2007 (edited) Sounds like the card took a dive. Did you install the heatsink properly? Edited January 21, 2007 by EightBitH3R0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lt_navvara Posted January 21, 2007 Posted January 21, 2007 (edited) I stripped the zalman off and installed the stock hs. I took a couple of pics of the gpu and i really don't like what i saw. Could someone who REALLY knows his/her way around video cards take a look at the attached picture and tell me its not what I think it is: heat damage. Please? PLEASEEEEEEE (i'm uploading the pic via the forum in built upload feature, if this doesn't work tell me and i'll use imagedump instead) In the meantime i'll be running ati tools to scan for artifacts. Edited January 21, 2007 by lt_navvara Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingdingeling Posted January 21, 2007 Posted January 21, 2007 yea, that does not neccessarily look nice, you might wanna RMA that... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cchalogamer Posted January 21, 2007 Posted January 21, 2007 Crushed the core when mounting the Zalman heatsink more than likely. You can RMA and hope for the best but this is the type of damage that is NOT covered. Doesnt mean you WONT get it replaced, bt you know nothing about aftermarket anything and overclocking to you is setting your watch 5 mins fast...remember that when speaking to them The less you know the less likely they are to suspect you did anything, good luck is all I know to say, never tried to RMA a sapphire branded card myself so idk. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammin Posted January 21, 2007 Posted January 21, 2007 Yeah, the top left of the core is not looking too great is it. Doesn't really look like there is much evidence of any heat damage. Here's a photo of a shiny clean core for comparison Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lt_navvara Posted January 21, 2007 Posted January 21, 2007 Said problem hasn't occured since putting the stock hs back i'll just have to wait and see. (i'm still hoping that it was some short causing the problem) As per the Zalman I did tighten the screws all the way mighty stupid of me I know but i thought that a tighter fit would result in better cooling. And thanks for the pic jammin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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