8800GTS massive artificating

[munisgtm]

Two days back i was playing Total war 2 when the computer got stuck and i had to reboot , this happened several times , then i checked ATI tools for artificating , the rotating cube became full with yellow dots within seconds and i had to reboot , other games are also casuing these crashes. My rig is

e4300 @ 2.8
MSI P6N-sli platinum
Corsair 2 GB Value DDR-667 RAM
XFX 8800GTS 320mb XXX edition (THIS IS AT STOCK!) idle at 61
600watts cooler master PSU

What should i do ? i tried new drivers but no use! im really really worried about this!

Thanks in advance!

 

[wanderer27]

Is your fan running on the Video Card?

You may also want to check if the fan/heatsinks are clogged up with dust/dirt.

 

[chizow]

I'd also run a few passes of Memtest86 and make sure its not your RAM going bad. I had 3 kits die on me and spent a good bit of time troubleshooting my GTS, but each time it turned out to be the RAM.

If the RAM checks out, you can see if its a heat issue with the card or the card itself. Can try increasing fan speed with RivaTuner and see if that helps stability at all, or downclocking it as a last resort.

 

[munisgtm]

can i check RAM with Orthos Memory test ? i haven't used memtest before

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: munisgtm
can i check RAM with Orthos Memory test ? i haven't used memtest before

Not sure, if the problems are bad enough to cause complete crashes/BSODs, any stressful app should do the trick. Memtest86 is pretty easy to use though, just need to make a DOS boot disk and run the app.

 

[munisgtm]

i tested RAM through Orthos its running stable , i'm pretty sure the problem is with GPU , i'll now maxout the fan speed

 

[munisgtm]

i had to lower 545/825 from 580/900 at 100% Fanspeed to get the card stable! should i RMA the card ?

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: munisgtm
i had to lower 545/825 from 580/900 at 100% Fanspeed to get the card stable! should i RMA the card ?

I would...

The HSF assembly must have become loose, or the card overheated and the thermal compound was destroyed.

 

[chizow]

Yeah if its not running stable at stock speeds I'd look to RMA. Otherwise you'd have to look into running the fan faster or increase case cooling, but judging from your idle temps that isn't really your problem.

 

[munisgtm]

agreed chizow, i'm gonna RMA this card for sure!

Thanks for the awesome suggestions guys!!! as usual AT saves my day!