graphics card overheating?

[spurty]

Hello everyone, any advice would be much appreciated....

A few months ago I bought a Packard Bell iMedia x2416 (Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q8200, 4 gigs ram etc.). I normally build systems myself but this was a bargain, cheaper than buying the parts and building it myself. Shoehorned in my own graphics card (8800 GTX I think) and it's been running a treat since then. Thought when I bought it the case didn't have much cooling (bad english - sorry) but it has run fine until now.

I have a large 24" monitor that has been problem free. On Sunday I noticed certain stray pixels flashing / flickering on certain parts of the screen, PC kept running and perfectly usable though. Thought the monitor was bust but, when I moved the recycle bin icon, the flickering pixels moved with it. Opening Firefox brought more glitches, which moved when I moved the Firefox window. Downloaded SpeedFan and ran it (never worried about temps before as I bought the system complete and had no problems). GPU was at 67 degrees C, all 4 cpu cores at around 55 degrees C, which I gather is too hot without being disastrously too hot.

I need to track down what the problem is....any ideas to point me in the right direction? I thought overheated GPU was most likely but have read that 67c is pretty standard for this gfx card. I'm going to see whether the problem recurs tonight, if it does will try to 'underclock' the GPU to see if it cools down and stops the problem (have downloaded ntune and rivatuner). Thing is I can't afford the cash and effort to plumb the system into a new supercool case if I boot up and still have the problem..!!

Thanks for any pointers

[rallynavvie]

I have a 9800GTX that idles at 62°C so I don't think you're overheating. I had a driver issue with that card that caused the fan to not spin up when it was working and I watched temps on the GPU spike at 98°C before locking up the system until the chip cooled down (and causing the nVidia driver to crash). I didn't see any graphics glitches the during the entire ride. What you're describing might just be the end-of-life for your video card

I would also recommend testing your PSU just in case. Though you stated the PC was new it may still have a bad PSU which could cause these issues (and more if you don't get it fixed ASAP).

[redwudz]

What rallynavvie said. And if you think it's a temperature problem, try pulling off the side cover and directing a desktop fan in there for a while and see if that makes any difference. That's one way to mostly eliminate over temp as the problem. But I would agree to trying a driver upgrade/replace as a easy fix. If that and the PS aren't the problem, maybe your video card is dying.

[spurty]

Thanks for advice so far. Just got in and booted up...taken side off case. No glitches at mo. GPU started at 46c now climbed to 60c. 4 processor cores hovering around 50c but not doing anything yet. GFX card only same age as PC so hope it's not that.

Gonna use goldwave for a while and keep eye on display and temperatures. May try desktop fan tomorrow. This case has no system fans and no space for any, so they must be confident none would be needed. CPU fan and GFX card fan spinning ok. Think new case needed anyway, not comfortable with having no cooling at all in there (poss built for british weather?!)

Any other thoughts please post, not out of woods yet, but thanks so far.

[DarrellS]

I did a case mod and reseated my CPU cooler (had a little too much AS5, replaced with Antec F5) and knocked 10*C off my temps.

I added a 120mm side intake fan which knocked my ATI HD2600XT from 57*C to 47*C. I also added a 120mm top exhaust fan to help get the heat out of the case.

My system temp is 38*C, CPU temp is 36*C, 4 cores from 37*C to 42*C and HDDs from 33*C to 39*C. The Maxtor always runs hot.

My room temperature is 81*F.


I didn't have as extreme temp problems as you have (I already had 2 front fans) but the CPU got way too hot under load when overclocking (74*C with Prime95 before, 55*C now). Idle CPU temp was only 39*C before case mod. I am running an aftermarket cooler (CM Hyper 212) and have my Q6600 OC'd to 3.2Ghz.

[rallynavvie]

I doubt the CPU temps have anything to do with the graphics glitches though. If the temps are being reported correctly then I would look elsewhere for the issue.

A card's age is only a factor of its demise, it could very well just have a defect that is starting to appear now. You do what troubleshooting you can to identify that. Best bet is to move the card over to another PC and see if the defects follow the card. Swap GPUs with a friend and test theirs in your PC to see if the glitches stay on your system.

Before you try someone else's card in your system it would be polite to test your PSU just to make sure your system doesn't catch fire with their card in it.