Doom 3 killed my card *no kidding*

glorygunk

Senior member
Aug 22, 2004
805
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I've been reading in various forums about how people claim Doom 3 is destroying their Radeons...like most people, I thought these claims were ludicrous...until it happened to me.

I've been running a Sapphire 9600 Pro for about 5 months. I recently purchased the Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Rev. 3 due to the large number of positive reviews on this product...plus I wanted better cooling when I started playing Doom 3!

So Doom ran fine for a few weeks...until yesterday the card pooped out on me! Upon closer inspection, I concluding it was the VRAM that failed, or shall I say melted:Q, not the core itself.


As you can see, the bottom chip is the healthier of the two...
http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/glorygunk/mem.jpg
This memory chip has sure seen better days...
http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/glorygunk/memburn.jpg

(copy and paste if linking doesnt show pic)

My belief is the VGA Silencer, being as how it's so damn big, obstructed airflow across the RAM chips...causing them to overheat. The RAM itself, obviously, has no heatsink.

So is the VGA Silencer REALLY such a great "cooling" solution? I'm not so sure anymore.:|
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
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When will someone stop the evil of this game before it kills again?!?!?! ;)

Too bad about your card, think of it as a good excuse to upgrade.
 

glorygunk

Senior member
Aug 22, 2004
805
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Yeah it was OC'd...I guess Doom pushes Radeons real hard because I had no problems with other DX9 games OC'd at HIGHER frequencies. However I gotta give this card some credit...it did play Doom3 at a respectable 44FPS for a few weeks before burning out.

Thats not to say that I'm cool with sacrificing a video card for a game....:frown:
 

jiffylube1024

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2002
7,430
0
71
Your card was overclocked and D3 is a know card taxer. (Paraprhasing) "Doom3 will push your card like no other game, and overclocking is not recommended" - John Carmack.

JC said something to the extent of "D3 will kill overclocked cards" before the game's release, and yet people ignore it and run D3 on (often heavily) overclocked cards.

What did you expect? The game uses parts of video cards that have never seen use before, as well as taxes the card harder than anything. RUN THE GAME AT STOCK SETTINGS!
 

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
21,209
50
91
DoomIII didn't kill your card. You did. Sorry to hear about your loss, but Carmack warned people about o/c'ing with DoomIII as posts above me states.
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
0
0
Now his RAM-less 9600 wanders the haunted halls of the MArs base, moaning, searching for working video cards to feed on......



LOL- I'm stuck in the damn Communications Center level.
 

jim1976

Platinum Member
Aug 7, 2003
2,704
6
81
Originally posted by: Rollo
Now his RAM-less 9600 wanders the haunted halls of the MArs base, moaning, searching for working video cards to feed on......



LOL- I'm stuck in the damn Communications Center level.

Give him a break.No need to be sarcastic :p
He has to face the consequences of his actions,not your comments.
I think it's nice that ppl share their bad experiences with us...That helps other users avoid similar mistakes.
 

KenSimone

Member
Aug 31, 2003
86
0
0
Maybe I can use Doom 3 to kill my ti4200, and BFG (with their lifetime warranty) will upgrade me to something more modern :)
 

MDE

Lifer
Jul 17, 2003
13,199
1
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Why is the stock cooler back on there? We aren't going to RMA are we?
 

glorygunk

Senior member
Aug 22, 2004
805
1
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Originally posted by: MDE
Why is the stock cooler back on there? We aren't going to RMA are we?

What do YOU think? ;)

We do not condone this sort of behaviour on AnandTech.

AnandTech Moderator


As to those guys who joke, I appreciate a good sense of humor. I will be watching the news tonight:)
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
34,890
1
0
alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
Your card was overclocked and D3 is a know card taxer. (Paraprhasing) "Doom3 will push your card like no other game, and overclocking is not recommended" - John Carmack.

JC said something to the extent of "D3 will kill overclocked cards" before the game's release, and yet people ignore it and run D3 on (often heavily) overclocked cards.

What did you expect? The game uses parts of video cards that have never seen use before, as well as taxes the card harder than anything. RUN THE GAME AT STOCK SETTINGS!



did you get any "warning"? . . .. Usually, the display will artifact before the card is damaged . . . i suspect your card was "marginal" anyway . . .

my 9800xt worked fine for Doom III unless Overdrive was enabled . . . at 418Mhz - unless my case was eXtra cool, i would get artifacting . . . but then i have a thernal probe to monitore my card's core temp. ;)

And Doom iii is FINISHED . . . and sold . . . what a "waste" of a game engine. :p
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
0
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Originally posted by: jim1976
Originally posted by: Rollo
Now his RAM-less 9600 wanders the haunted halls of the MArs base, moaning, searching for working video cards to feed on......



LOL- I'm stuck in the damn Communications Center level.

Give him a break.No need to be sarcastic :p
He has to face the consequences of his actions,not your comments.
I think it's nice that ppl share their bad experiences with us...That helps other users avoid similar mistakes.


I wasn't trying to be sarcastic, I was trying to be funny. Notice I didn't even say "your fault for OCing"? I said:
Too bad about your card, think of it as a good excuse to upgrade.
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
0
0
Originally posted by: glorygunk
Originally posted by: MDE
Why is the stock cooler back on there? We aren't going to RMA are we?

What do YOU think? ;)

As to those guys who joke, I appreciate a good sense of humor. I will be watching the news tonight:)

Don't do it Glorygunk. Your honor is worth way more than a cheap-o 9600. If you RMA this card after OCing it and putting a different cooler on it, you'll be no better than a guy that throws a bug in his 3/4 eaten meal at a restaurant and complains to get it free. Or a welfare mom who has another kid to get a raise. Or a guy that burns down his business to get the insurance.

Do you want to be a two bit petty thief over a $120 video card? Jesus, be a man and eat your loss, learn from it. If you do this, you'll be changed the rest of your life. You'll know you're a scummy system abusing thief over chump change.
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
0
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And Doom iii is FINISHED . . . and sold . . . what a "waste" of a game engine
So says the man who will go to his grave never having done anything 1/9999999999999999999999999th as recognized, successful, or brilliant. :roll:
 

glorygunk

Senior member
Aug 22, 2004
805
1
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Now that you mention it, NO I did not see any artifacting or early warning. I do find that a bit odd since there is a proliferance of people reporting visual errors while playing Doom, yet my card never showed any symptoms and just dropped dead, so to speak.

In response to Rollo, video cards ARE expensive and not everyone considers $120 chump change. I don't need you to criticize me over anything. Do I know you? The reason I put this post up was to share my experience and hopefully put a warning out there to people who might be in the same situation.
 

Terranboy

Member
Sep 3, 2003
150
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Hmmm...This makes me worry about my card. I have a Radeon9800NP flashed Pro. Running at stock Pro speeds. I've never had any trouble before, and I have a large CheifTec Entry Level server case, so I'm getting excellent air flow. Should I be worried?

BTW, I'm towards the end of Hell. (final fight maybe)
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
34,890
1
0
alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: glorygunk
Now that you mention it, NO I did not see any artifacting or early warning. I do find that a bit odd since there is a proliferance of people reporting visual errors while playing Doom, yet my card never showed any symptoms and just dropped dead, so to speak.

In response to Rollo, video cards ARE expensive and not everyone considers $120 chump change. I don't need you to criticize me over anything. Do I know you? The reason I put this post up was to share my experience and hopefully put a warning out there to people who might be in the same situation.
Too bad . . . that's what lead me to suspect your card had problems - anyway; or else the Silencer might have contributed to RAM's overheating. Is there any chance you might have installed it improperly?

Please don't pay attention to the "critics" . .. one of these morons is barely able to play doom, let alone benchmark it properly and still insists on giving advice as though he "knows" anything other than to waste money on hardware. :p)

BTW, Doom III was the easiest and most UNbalanced game i ever played. Once you get a certain artifact, the last 25% bof the game becomes stupidly easy.
;)

:roll:
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
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Originally posted by: glorygunk
Now that you mention it, NO I did not see any artifacting or early warning. I do find that a bit odd since there is a proliferance of people reporting visual errors while playing Doom, yet my card never showed any symptoms and just dropped dead, so to speak.

In response to Rollo, video cards ARE expensive and not everyone considers $120 chump change. I don't need you to criticize me over anything. Do I know you? The reason I put this post up was to share my experience and hopefully put a warning out there to people who might be in the same situation.

Apparently you do need me to criticize you, because your parents didn't bother to teach you right from wrong, and what "honor" is?

No matter how "poor" you are, stealing $120 from honest people is "chump change" compared to the value of your integrity.

When you have kids of your own, are you going to teach them to steal too?

Did your parents teach you to steal like this?
"You see son, computer parts are expensive to us. Buy cheap parts, clock them way out of spec till they burn up, then return them for a new one. That's the best losers like us can hope for in life, we'll never be able to afford the stuff those smart people have"

Nice.