6600 GT Problems

I got a XFX GeForce 6600 GT. I've installed it and I get terrible problems playing games. There are loads of artifacts everywhere, the games run OK, but look awful.

The PC I have isnt perfect for the card, its a Compaq Presario 6000(AMD 2200+, 512MB) but I'm pretty sure it should be able to run this card. I know theres a driver problem with this card, but it dosent make a difference. So I'm nearly positive that the problem is the PSU. The problems I have with the card are similair to the problems people get with it when they dont connect it up to the PSU, so I think power might be the problem.

What I want to know is, is the problem I'm getting with my card(artifacts everywhere) definitley a PSU problem? Because I always thought if there wasnt enough power the PC would just shut down.

 

More often than not, if it was a PSU problem as in not providing enough power, it would either lock up or reboot. It's probably heat related. Take off the side of your computer and see if the artifacts persist when under heavy load.

 

I've tried it with the side off a good few times, no difference.

This is my second 6600 GT by the way, I had the exact same problem with the first one and I was told it was a faulty card.

 

Try running your games at a lower resolution (by lower, I mean 1024x768 at max) and turn down some of the effects.. see if that makes a difference.

 

I've tried that, no difference. I've tried disconnecting non-critical stuff from the PSU to see if that would make a difference. It looked like there werent as many artifacts but its hard to tell. I've also tried a lot of drivers.

 

have you tried another brand of card to see if problems occurred with that ? It could be a bad AGP slot too.. I just want to rule out the card being faulty before we go that far.

 

My old GeForce 4 MX works fine so it probably isnt the AGP slot.

 

ok, so we've narrowed it down to something with that particular card.

Check for compatibility for that card and your motherboard..

You could also try a new PSU if you think that's an issue. It's much cheaper than a new card.

 

If you have been swapping out the cards without changing the driver and not doing a driver clean,it could have caused a driver conflict,if I were you I would completely remove all nvidia drivers from your comp,use a driver cleaner program
http://majorgeeks.com/download3214.html

Then try a fresh install of the latest drivers from nvidia