How to test if my video card is bad?

[spittledip]

Runs about 69 c under load and stutters once every 30 minutes underl load. 100% fan does nothing. Idles at 43. Raised fan speed, got about 41 c as the lowest, even with 100% fan. Please make suggestions for aftermarket cooler. I am currently looking at the Artic Cooling series. Please make some more suggestions.

Thanks much!

 

[spittledip]

Also I was wondering if somethign was wrong with the card- should it be freezing for a second while in games like COD? It seems to me that it should not be. How can I check to see if the card is ok or not? What program can I run to check the card?

 

[Ayah]

ATI Silencer 5 is my suggestion.

 

[spittledip]

Actually I am now thinking that there might be a problem with the card b/c I really don't think it should be freezing up like this every 20 mins or so while playing Call of Duty. My cpu is a a64 3800 so there is no bottleneck there. Is there anyway to test if the card is bad?

 

[Captante]

About the only way to test the card would be to swap it into another PC that you know doesn't have any problems & you are correct, it shouldn't be freezing every 20 minutes ... is the card overclocked at all?

You could also try running with the side of your case removed & see if that lowers temps and stops the freezes... aside from the temps its possible your power supply isn't giving it enough juice, what model & wattage is it?

 

[JBT]

what card is it???

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: JBT
what card is it???

Yes... This piece of infomation also couldn't hurt!

 

[spittledip]

Oops, I editted the title and took out the card- it is an x800 vanilla.

Specs:
AbitKN8ultra
Athlon 64+ 3800
2 gigs Corsair XMS
Masscool PS-PSU460 460W (this got a good review by JonnyGuru)
250 gig Seagate Barracuda

When I say it is freezing, I mean it drops to 0 FPS for a second then goes right back to 60... which is strange still. It usually happens when there is an explosion or a sudden close up of something (i.e. lots of details to render I suppose). But I dropped alot of the effects down, still doesn't seem to help.

edit: no overclocking

 

[spittledip]

Another funny thing: Sandra and Catalyst both show the card to have GTO chipset... I wonder if this card was supposed to be a GTO but the GPU got binned?

 

[F1shF4t]

I had a similar issue with my 6800ultra back in the day, the card would occasionally freeze while gaming for a while then be fine.
Problem then was the powersupply and the card itself. (the old 2d and 3d clock speeds problem, as well as the bios on the card was corrupt etc, the card was a hand full )

Whats ur 12v rail amps on ur psu?

 

[spittledip]

36 volts. I just ran 3dmark 2003 and 2005 and then aquamark just to see if I could reproduce some freezing, but I got nothing. And the scores were about what they should have been. How did you figure out the bios was bad? You were able to flash it to fix it, or was it not fixed?

 

[F1shF4t]

Originally posted by: spittledip
36 volts. I just ran 3dmark 2003 and 2005 and then aquamark just to see if I could reproduce some freezing, but I got nothing. And the scores were about what they should have been. How did you figure out the bios was bad? You were able to flash it to fix it, or was it not fixed?

dont u mean 36 amps?

By the way how did u test the temps, did i minimise during a game?
Anyways try rthdribl, its just a demo prog but stresses the cards like nothing else. Pull up the temp monitor beside it. The Skull one is the hardest one on the cards. Press O twise to get to it. Then just watch to see how far ur temps get.

You could try setting the 2d and 3d clocks the same lol, but i've never used the x800 series cards so dont even know if they have 2d and 3d clocks


Well i had 3 year warranty on the card, the card was bugging me occasionally, but after i set the 2d and 3d clocks the same it was alright. Anyways i tryed the other dvi input and it was broken, so i though good reason to send it back. When i called them up about it they said they couldnt fix it and told me that they had to reflash the card as it was acting weirdly. They also asked me how i managed to use it for 8 months lol cause it wasnt working for them.

It was a refrence sample so prolly had one of the early bioses. Anyways cutting the story short thats how i got my 7800gt for free, good replacement

 

[spittledip]

I tried that program and, believe it or not, COD stressed the card more. It only got up to 65 C with rthdribl.

I just minimized to see the temps with COD.

Yes, i meant amps

Hm, that worked out nicely for you...

I have yet to try to cool it a bit more to see if I can get rid of the freezes.. will post when I do so. Just got laid off (today last day at work) so I will have plenty of time tomorrow to test it :roll:

 

[Munky]

You need to run rthdribl in fullscreen to stress the card thoroughly. That means you'll need another program like atitool to log the temps while rthdribl is running fullscreen. If you run it in a window, or alt-tab out of it, you're not seeing the real load temps.

 

[spittledip]

Ok, that got it hotter. I got to 69 C. I put AA up to 16x nd checked the other settings under options. Is thre a particular material or lense/filter that runs it hrdest? What are the toughest settings? thanks

 

[spittledip]

I tested with the case side off and 2 80 mm fans blowing on the card and temps were much lower idle and load. 35 idle and 55 load. Performed much better and had freezing about 80% less. I guss I need to replace the stock cooler! Thanks for the help all.