Hausertreyen
Junior Member
Ok, I've got issues. First the obligatory system setup:
Case: 300w power supply (avg quality)
Abit KG7-RAID mobo
AMD Athlon 1400mhz Tbird
2x60 GB Seagate Barracuda IV (not raided, however)
2x256 MB unregistered crucial DDR RAM (pc2100)
Santa Cruz Soundcard
Linksys network card
DVD ROM/floppy
USB mouse/printer
Windows 2000 service pack 2
I've run a Geforce2 Ultra 64 on my system for years with zero problems. I recently installed a Gainward Geforce4 4400ti in my system, and I just can't get things to work right. Here are symptoms.
- in first boot up, on the windows splash screen, i got some weird banding graphics issues, with minor artifacting on the screen once windows completed its setup. This happens perhaps 5% of the time. I've even seen it happen on the screen that shows my BIOS information. So I really don't think it's drivers (I've got latest detonators, VIA 4x1, etc.)
- My game of choice is Dark Age of Camelot. Most of the time, the game loads ok. If I run it in 1024x768 with no antialiasing, it's relatively hard to create graphical problems. If I run in 1600x1200 with 4x antialiasing, I can create graphical problems (severe) easily. I'm assuming this is because of either heat or power requirement issues.
- When the graphical problems happen, if I simply take the my finger and push the card sideways (not down, like I'm seating it), thus bending it VERY slightly, they often go away instantly.
My first take at this was that it was a defective card, because it sounded like a weak connection within the card. I've seated it as well as possible, but I'll admit that the card went into the slot more easily than I expected (but the same tightness of my GF2). So I RMA'd it and got another one. Only problem is, this one works exactly the same as the other.
So if I assume that the card is appropriately seated, my next 2 options are powersupply and heat. I turned down the air conditioning and brought out the box fan and blasted it on my now open box. The artifacting never happened. Turn the fan off, wait a few minutes, and the artifacting comes back (which btw, isn't nominal, it makes the game totally unplayable). Still, push the card slightly and the artifacting can sometimes go away (not all the time, but most of the time).
I've unplugged the USB stuff (got a ps2 mouse), my extra HD and the DVD drive to lower the power requirements. In doing so, I was unable to recreate the artifacting (but I didn't try hard, it was too late).
So now I've got a question. Somehow, I think the card bending is somehow a red herring, even though I've seen a direct correlation between that and fixing the problem, I think my problem is either heat or powersupply issues. Do you all have any tests I could do to make sure it's one or the other? Can you give me some ideas on how to lower the heat on the card (some sort of heat sink for the card beyond what gainward puts on it?)?
Does a card really produce more heat and have greater power requirements when running full bore than when running relatively idle?
Also, could you recommend a good case in the $100 range (good powersupply, good cooling) and a good heat sink for the card?
Any other comments or questions welcome...thanks.
Case: 300w power supply (avg quality)
Abit KG7-RAID mobo
AMD Athlon 1400mhz Tbird
2x60 GB Seagate Barracuda IV (not raided, however)
2x256 MB unregistered crucial DDR RAM (pc2100)
Santa Cruz Soundcard
Linksys network card
DVD ROM/floppy
USB mouse/printer
Windows 2000 service pack 2
I've run a Geforce2 Ultra 64 on my system for years with zero problems. I recently installed a Gainward Geforce4 4400ti in my system, and I just can't get things to work right. Here are symptoms.
- in first boot up, on the windows splash screen, i got some weird banding graphics issues, with minor artifacting on the screen once windows completed its setup. This happens perhaps 5% of the time. I've even seen it happen on the screen that shows my BIOS information. So I really don't think it's drivers (I've got latest detonators, VIA 4x1, etc.)
- My game of choice is Dark Age of Camelot. Most of the time, the game loads ok. If I run it in 1024x768 with no antialiasing, it's relatively hard to create graphical problems. If I run in 1600x1200 with 4x antialiasing, I can create graphical problems (severe) easily. I'm assuming this is because of either heat or power requirement issues.
- When the graphical problems happen, if I simply take the my finger and push the card sideways (not down, like I'm seating it), thus bending it VERY slightly, they often go away instantly.
My first take at this was that it was a defective card, because it sounded like a weak connection within the card. I've seated it as well as possible, but I'll admit that the card went into the slot more easily than I expected (but the same tightness of my GF2). So I RMA'd it and got another one. Only problem is, this one works exactly the same as the other.
So if I assume that the card is appropriately seated, my next 2 options are powersupply and heat. I turned down the air conditioning and brought out the box fan and blasted it on my now open box. The artifacting never happened. Turn the fan off, wait a few minutes, and the artifacting comes back (which btw, isn't nominal, it makes the game totally unplayable). Still, push the card slightly and the artifacting can sometimes go away (not all the time, but most of the time).
I've unplugged the USB stuff (got a ps2 mouse), my extra HD and the DVD drive to lower the power requirements. In doing so, I was unable to recreate the artifacting (but I didn't try hard, it was too late).
So now I've got a question. Somehow, I think the card bending is somehow a red herring, even though I've seen a direct correlation between that and fixing the problem, I think my problem is either heat or powersupply issues. Do you all have any tests I could do to make sure it's one or the other? Can you give me some ideas on how to lower the heat on the card (some sort of heat sink for the card beyond what gainward puts on it?)?
Does a card really produce more heat and have greater power requirements when running full bore than when running relatively idle?
Also, could you recommend a good case in the $100 range (good powersupply, good cooling) and a good heat sink for the card?
Any other comments or questions welcome...thanks.
