Video card fault ??

I bought a EVGA GTX-280 Video Card, since day first it gave signals of misbehavior, I was able to browse and surf the web all day long with no sweat, but if entering a game in less than 30 minutes monitor went blank and sound looped.

I called evga and they suggested that my psu, a Thermaltake Toughpower 750 was the culprit and even my mobo...Short story, they RMA and sent me a GTX 285...wow..quite a difference, with this one not even 10 minutes of gaming was possible, all went crazy, blank monitor, strange colors and all kind of headaches...but wait..I could surf and browse with no sweat...

After calling them, they make me buy a new PSU, an Ultra X4, 1050 watts $229.00, a new mobo,an Asus 5PNT De Luxe, A $200.00 plus service invoice from CompUSA tech dept., couple of new 120mm fans, a newer version of W XP, $169.00, a clean install of WXP, now with the burden that Windows says my cd key is no good, what else...

I am sending this cluncker back, any idea of why this is happening, I installed all new drivers as requested by evga and no results...What should i adjust or look for when next RMA card arrives. Pls don't say it loud, that with all that money spent a new pc was a better solution...:cry

Tks in advance

 

I would have said your 750w was good enough since thats more than I have yet I have an ATI card to match that.

This cold be caused by several things but they are dependant on info.

Could you post yor exact system specs please, preferably before and after money spent.

What game/s?
Any game at all?

Have you taken temperatures?

With the looping sound I can't say it's a GFX card issue, blank screen, yes, bt crashed sound. Possibly but heat crashes are usually loss of picture followed by pc shutdown, not lock up.

This is why I ask which game or if you meant any game.

 

I have a Syncmaster 2253 Samsung monitor, CPU Intel 6700, memory Corsair 4 x 1gb ea DDR2, 3 ea 120mm fans, hdd 750 gb, case shark ATX full size all aluminum, psu Ultra X4 1050 w, video card...EVGA GTX 285... A V1 cpu cooling fan, mobo is Asus 5-P-NT De Luxe, former mobo was a xfx780i.

Video card can be at 46 C degrees and I can spend all day long surfing and browsing and all goes alrighty, but when I get in game DFX, all I can play is about 10 to 15 minutes and display goes blank, pc never locks or shutdown, just no display or sound available, in order to be back to "normal" again, I have to shut down power and boot up normally.

I have the Nvidia Temp monitoring program and shows in screen huge increments of temp as soon I am in game, the more active it gets, the sooner display goes blank, usually around the 50 to 52 C degrees...

Tks for your kind help

 

Did you check your CPU temp and cpu core temps

 

The CPU temp is always around 23 C (73 F), GPU ambient is 36c (97F) and the GPU right now is 44C (111F), mobo is 33C (91F), monitor 25C (77F) HDD 32C (90F)...

If I get into any game, the GPU temps jumps inmediatly to around 49C without even shooting a cap pistol....I can see the Riva temp display going up and around the 50 to 52C, screen goes blank and I have to switch main power off, turn on and boot normally..

I wonder if the GPU so called memory affects the function, my mobo uses DDR 2 memo and this Vcard says it has ddr3 memory:confused

Tks a lot

 

The DDR2/3 difference is nothing to worry about.

All your temps look really good, no problems there.

I am thinking a driver problem.

 

I made a full clean install of W XP, installed latest drivers, first the 196.12 and now I have the 197. something which is supposed to be the last one Nvidia/evga came up...I read that the 280 gtx card was dumped by Nvidia, I ask if this 285 GTX too, because there is not much info about it anywhere...

I have read lots of reviews of it and all seems to be negative, overheating and poor design are mentioned by users....I even requested EVGA a downgrade to a pair of 98xx's, but they only swap for same card or a better....

I am afraid that next thing EVGA asks me is to buy a new pc...rolleyes

Tks a lot

 

See if you can find older drivers, newest isn't always the most stable.
I went through this issue (not crashing, just issues) with my new ATI card and eventually stabilized it with drivers 3 versions back.

I am leaning with Burrell here on the driver issue but something just doesn't seem right with the card itself, the temp as Burrell said is fine, lower than mine lol

It might be an idea to run a stress test, something like...

http://majorgeeks.com/3DMark03_d1712.html

and watch your temps/performance live, so to speak.

Also, what game are you having issues with?
Turning the settings to lowest will also help diagnose where the problem may lie, meaning if you turn it all down and it's ok or if no change.

 

I tried to run the 3DMark tests, no luck at all, just in the DEMO mode, the display went crazy, sound looped and stuttered, colors were llike an old VW hippy wagon of the 70's and resolution went up by itself...:cry

After few minutes I ran the first try of tests and at the middle when the girl battling the trolls, all froze....

No records whatsoever were logged, because tests were not concluded....I feel that this clunker of video card is near death....that's my feeling, even that I have two left hands in pc matters....:-o..Everest shows that around the 52C is when trouble starts happening..

The game I play is DFX, it is an old game, with a simple engine and its a 9X game, not fancy , simple engine and its a fps, war scenario, Delta Force Xtreme. I don't even dare to think what can happen with a modern game, maybe i will suffer a full, meltdown with my pc....rolleyes

I just sent all this indo back to evga, lets see what they have to say,,,about older drives that I will try asap...

Tks for your kind help.

Pepe