Video Mosaic and Computer Crash

[StormRoyale]

Howdy y?all. I?ve been having the following problem for over a year now and I can?t seem to get it worked out. Hopefully someone out there can help me.
The issue is: while playing any graphic intensive game, my screen will lock up (looks like this: http://static.flickr.com/28/48375225_f129ea3ec0_o.jpg ), then go black; come back on (looking like the link) and then reboot. Sometimes you can tell what you?re looking at, other times it?s almost colorful static. It doesn?t always do this. I?ve gone a week or two without incidence only to have it come back and do it several times a night.

Here is my systems specs:

Asus A8V Deluxe (replaced twice and swapped once with an Abit AV8)
eVGA GeForce 6800 Ultra (Originally was BFG 6800 ultra, replaced twice; then Asus 6800 Ultra)
AMD Athlon 64 FX55
Consair XMS 1GB (2x512MB) DDR 400
2x Western Digital Raptor 74GB Serial ATA150
Enermax Noisetaker 2.0 ATX 600W PSU (replaced twice and swapped with Antec True Control 550W PSU)


I?ve spoken with Asus, BFG, Abit and eVGA tech support. As you can read from above, I?ve replaced several components several times to no avail.
I have the newest drivers for EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. My video card is powered by 2 power cables from SEPARATE cables, which have nothing else attached to them. I have 8 fans in my computer tower and now leave the side door open.
I have also edited the video card BIOS to run both 2D and 3D at 400MHz; Memory Clock at 1GHz. Power is at 1.6 and fast writes is disabled. Sideband Addressing is still enabled, cause I can?t figure out how to disable it. (Cannot do it through the Mobo?s BIOS)
The lockups happen a few times a night. CPU Temp during heavy game play is 44-47C, with GPU temps between 72 and 88C. (The temp varies with the ambient temperature of the room? When the GPU core is 88C, the ambient temperature in the computer case is 64C.)
I know that 6800s run hot and this one especially?. But this is my 4th card and all of them locked up on me. I don?t know what the temps were like on the previous video cards.

Help me AnandTech, you?re my only hope!

 

[xtknight]

Despite replacements your video card looks way too hot. The air is not circulating correctly is my guess. Either you'll have to get a custom cooler or get a good air flow mechanism up and working in your case.

Since it looks like it's all over the screen, are you sure it's not a problem with your display at a particular resolution/refresh rate? Come to think of it that's sort of how my CRT looked when I tinkered with refresh rate settings a bit too much. Maybe your VGA cable is bad? Or is that an LCD? I can't really tell. If it is an LCD, the refresh rate would not affect it like a CRT.

My friend had a 9800XT and the same issue. He had his PC running for 40 days straight I think, trying to set a record. Then his video card started artifacting even on the desktop at 91C. I told him to turn it off for the night. Next morning and ever since then (probably been a year), everything's been fine. So you can try that too.

 

[StormRoyale]

I've tried both my monitor and my husbands LCD... no change... Don't forget that my system reboots, so I can't imagine that it's the monitor.
I have 8 fans in my case, one large one that points directly at the Video card too. For a while, I had the case door off and had an actual floor fan pointing in its general direction... no help. I don't recal what kind of temps I had while doing that.
I am always using the same referesh rate though.... 1280x720 @ 85Hz (in World of Worcraft)
My desktop is 1280x1024 @ 75Hz... but that's not where the problem lies....

Originally posted by: xtknight
Despite replacements your video card looks way too hot. The air is not circulating correctly is my guess. Either you'll have to get a custom cooler or get a good air flow mechanism up and working in your case.

Since it looks like it's all over the screen, are you sure it's not a problem with your display at a particular resolution/refresh rate? Come to think of it that's sort of how my CRT looked when I tinkered with refresh rate settings a bit too much. Maybe your VGA cable is bad? Or is that an LCD? I can't really tell. If it is an LCD, the refresh rate would not affect it like a CRT.

My friend had a 9800XT and the same issue. He had his PC running for 40 days straight I think, trying to set a record. Then his video card started artifacting even on the desktop at 91C. I told him to turn it off for the night. Next morning and ever since then (probably been a year), everything's been fine. So you can try that too.