ethereal

Well, I've been having this problem for a couple of days, symptoms are as follows:

-screen freezes for extended period of time, sometimes accompanied by repeating sound
-screen is flecked with neon pink/green dots, sometimes full blocks
-rarely recovers
-screen may eventually just become a bunch of jagged neon lines in a weird pattern
-sometimes the patterned screen changes to reflect that i'm trying to move the mouse, but the mouse is- a differently patterned square in the middle of the screen.
-edit: forgot to mention that occasionally while playing CS Source and WC3:FT onscreen 3d objects would explode at the screen (best description ic an come up with, when that happened, the game didn't freeze, but it would throw the whole game outta whack and obscure alot of the onscreen stuff from view.

this happens regardless of whether i'm playing a game or not, oftentimes right after a large amount of the screen changes, i.e. opening a window or closing one, viewing a new webpage, etc.

I haven't had the chance to swap out my gfx card yet, but I'm almost 100% sure that's what it is. Need a second opinion.

If that's the case, I've decided to either purchase a 6200 or a 6600GT. The deciding factor is whether or not a 6200 is equivalent in power to my old 5700 (a 256mb ram model). And if modding the 6200 to a 6600 will need an aftermarket cooler. I'd really rather only spend about $65 on it if i can, because then i could potentially buy another one down the line for my lesser machines. Would rather save potential big card buys for a PCI-E system (since this one is AGP obviously).

I had been looking at the 6600GT for a while aswell, but i'm not sure if i want to sink the $140 into it. Also I looked at an x700 AGP for $140, how does that compare to the 6600GT?

edit: is getting a 6800 and modding it to 6800GT better than buying a 6600GT since both can be ~160?

If the other computer will boot up, i managed to catch a screenshot of the problems i've been having onscreen. If anyone needs these, i can try to produce them.



I guess the main things I want to know are:

A) is this the gfx card that is causing the problem
B) if it is, which gfx card should i buy.
C) which manufacturer of 6200,6600GT should i buy? (leaning towards XFX or eVGA)

possible gfx card choices:
6200 from XFX : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150107
6600GT from eVGA : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130220
6800 from XFX : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150106

6200 is $77
both (the 6600GT and the 6800) are ~$145 after mail in rebates.

$SOLID$ Necro

Does it do it after it's been running for a while, or will it do it after a cold boot too? Might be a heat issue.

Did this just start happening? Hows the power supply?

Try this though...remove the old vid drivers (Run driver cleaner) and reinstall them, something might have corrupted.

http://www.drivercleaner.net/

I like the 6800 series myself..but it's your budget!

ethereal

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro Does it do it after it's been running for a while, or will it do it after a cold boot too? Might be a heat issue. Did this just start happening? Hows the power supply? Try this though...remove the old vid drivers (Run driver cleaner) and reinstall them, something might have corrupted. http://www.drivercleaner.net/ I like the 6800 series myself..but it's your budget!

Tried removing the drivers with the detonator RIP tool, and reinstalling 78.01 drivers because that's what i had on hand, so that's not likely the problem.

Had it off all night and it does it pretty much right after start up if i try to do anything, heat doesn't seem to be the problem, since unlike last time this card died, the fan isn't melted to the GPU. It's not overclocked or anything, though i found out a while ago i had it overvolted a bit which may account for it. With it back on normal settings however, it still does this.

PSU doesn't seem too likely, since it's the same PSU I've had forever, raidmax 430 i believe. Though I've got a new one on the way since it is nearing a year or so of being used, and it only has four of those 4pin molex connectors.

edit: as for the 6600GT vs the 6800, which will perform better stock? I don't really plan on doing any overclocking on either of them when i get one (so as to avoid the need for aftermarket cooling).

turbopsi

The 6800 will outperform the 6600GT stock, or overclocked. It has more pipelines, and better memory.

Did you have your AGP voltage turned up? That can kill a card.

LwrS10

thats it exactly what my 9800pro would do before i upgraded to a 430 watt power supply back in the day. power supply just couldnt put out enought juice....

$SOLID$ Necro

Quote: Originally Posted by ethereal Tried removing the drivers with the detonator RIP tool, and reinstalling 78.01 drivers because that's what i had on hand, so that's not likely the problem. Had it off all night and it does it pretty much right after start up if i try to do anything, heat doesn't seem to be the problem, since unlike last time this card died, the fan isn't melted to the GPU. It's not overclocked or anything, though i found out a while ago i had it overvolted a bit which may account for it. With it back on normal settings however, it still does this. PSU doesn't seem too likely, since it's the same PSU I've had forever, raidmax 430 i believe. Though I've got a new one on the way since it is nearing a year or so of being used, and it only has four of those 4pin molex connectors. edit: as for the 6600GT vs the 6800, which will perform better stock? I don't really plan on doing any overclocking on either of them when i get one (so as to avoid the need for aftermarket cooling).

Send me the 5700 and get a new card

Seriuosly though, don't you have a friend with a PC you could swap it into for troubleshooting purposes?

ethereal

that very same thought occurred to me, and i realised i had a p3 with an open agp slot sitting around. /slapontheforehead

sadly though, i've gotta go to work, then school. I'll check it out after school tonight around 10 or so, and get back to you.

Like i said, someone (chromerust) set my agp voltage a bit over a while ago, but i never thought anything of it. there were 3 options +.1 +.2 +.3 and it was set on the +.2, so potentially...

eh, it's just really depressing not being able to play wc3:ft

so the 6800 will outperform the 6600GT stock? the stats seem pretty similar. (but it does make sense)

edit: btw, necro, wouldn't mind sending you the 5700 if it is the problem, but if it isn't, and i do end up buying a new card, it'll probably go into my old p3 so that i can finally start using it to watch stuff on the TV. (but then in that case, it's not of much use to you )

turbopsi

AGP voltage doesn't really improve anything, that is probably what killed your card. In the future leave it stock.

$SOLID$ Necro

Quote: Originally Posted by ethereal Like i said, someone (chromerust) set my agp voltage a bit over a while ago, but i never thought anything of it. there were 3 options +.1 +.2 +.3 and it was set on the +.2, so potentially... eh, it's just really depressing not being able to play wc3:ft so the 6800 will outperform the 6600GT stock? the stats seem pretty similar. (but it does make sense)

Ahh, that explains a bit...

I will be down in Lima this weekend at Digi's if you need anymore help, or maybe just wanna hang out and for some "Ludicrous Speed" action..

Digi just formatted his drives and asked me to tweek it in for some Benchmarking fun

Always get the card with the most pipes, a Bios flash can fix those pesky clock speeds for good!

konai_konai666

At any rate, I always suggest a 12-pipe 6800 vanilla over 6600GT, being that at stock, the 6800 is definately faster, but factoring in price simmilarity, 6600GT's aren't really as budget-contestant anymore.. Remaining a good budget midrange choice, but not as good a deal as the 6800 is now, being that you can unlock up to 4 extra pipelines without any OC'ing at all (speaking of which, this card is usually quite capable of doing reliably, especially if somewhere down the line, if you feel like it, replacing the stock cooler).

ethereal

OK, it's settled then, the 6800 it is. A couple of noobs i go to class with were saying to go with the faster clocked 6600GT, but i thought the pixel pipeline difference would be bigger.

If i were to go with after market cooling, what cooler should i get? (for the 6800 i have linked there, if it makes a difference.)

ethereal

So, after i got home tonight, and ninja'd the thing into the p3, it worked flawlessly. Then as a test, i installed the same drivers (78.01) on it, and it went bonkers again. Evidently this card doesn't like the 78.01 drivers.

threw it in safe mode, uninstalled the device, and am looking for good drivers to install with it.

what drivers should i get for it? I don't have the ones i had before 78.01.

EDIT:

That was all a farce, my graphics card lulled me into a false sense of happiness, then it broke my will by revealing that even the drivers PACKAGED with the card made it go bonkers. And they're 52.11 or so.

SOOOOO, looks like i still need a new card, much to my dismay.

edit2: added the screenshot. note that it gets way worse than that, sometimes it vaguely shows the screen and just has a bunch of those dots.

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