Geforce Graphics Card Problem

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Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by ThinkTank »

Hi, folks.

I hope this is in the right forum. I scanned through but there doesn't seem to be another place for this to go.

Okay, so I have a pretty crappy PC. It's a Compaq but I've added and taken lots of stuff out of it. Specs are:

WinXP SP2
Geforce 5900XT (PNY 128MB)
SoundBlaster Live! Platinum
768MB DDR RAM (2700)
Pentium 4, 3.0GHz
and various other gubbins.

My problem lies with graphics card. Ever since I got it a few years ago, with certain games, I get graphical "snow" all over the screen. I'm at my wit's end with this. It's made several games completely unplayable.
I've tried countless driver versions from NVidia, I've tried adding more fans and better ventilation (in case of overheating), I've tried everything I can think of (and everything people have suggested thus far). But still nothing.

It only happens during games. Slightly at first, then gets progressively worse the longer I leave it. A few examples of games it's happened on so far are:
Tomb Raider Legend, Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy in America), WoW, Caesar 4, Sims 2, Black and White (1 & 2), Battlefield 2/Special Forces (only when stationary for a while) and Final Fantasy XI (only when stationary with glowing stuff in the background like a street light).
It didn't happen on FFVII or other older games. I *think* it's only fully 3-D games - environments and all.

I've just posted to NVidia, but I know they're going to ask me to try different drivers before anything else (which I've done. Many times). I posted to them before and this was their solution, even when I told them it didn't work.

I just tried to play Fahrenheit. After hearing great things about it I went and bought it only to be hounded by this crappy glitchiness again. I'm sure you can appreciate the amount of money I have wasted in the past on games and the card itself. However, since I am a lowly student I can't afford to get a new card. Maybe when my student loan comes through, we'll see. Right now I'm stuck with this.

Here's two examples of the graphical snow. First from Battlefield 2 (it's not too bad) and on Fahrenheit (it's awful!)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/ ... een001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/ ... enheit.jpg

Thanks for your help in advance.
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by zman »

First off. Your system is still a pretty decent system. Better than what I have.

I would say. Save your money for a new ATI card. I use the ATI I brand without problems. Although no brand is perfect.
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by Lunchbox »

I think your card might be overheating.

Might be time to upgrade to a geforce7xxx series card anyways :wink:
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by |darc| »

Visual artifacts are a usually a sign that the card is overheating. Perhaps you haven't added enough additional cooling or the damage has already been done and the issue is not reversible.
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by ThinkTank »

I literally haven't got two pennies to rub together at the moment. I broke my hand so I can't work and start uni in September, so noone would want to employ me for the two or three weeks I will be available when I'm okay to work again. However, when I move to Notts and get my student loan with a new job I might just buy a new PC altogether. I like my monitor (Samsung 17" widescreen), so just a tower on its own shouldn't cost an arm and a leg.

Overheating has been suggested before, but I honestly can't see how it would happen. It's well ventillated and I've stuck a house fan (about 15" in size) directly on the side of the case. If that didn't cool it, I have no idea what would. I have a feeling I could stick it in the freezer and still have the same problems.

Thank you for your suggestions thus far though. If there's anymore, I'm all ears... or eyes in this case.

Edit: Darc posted about the same time as me. What I didn't think about though was the irreversable damage factor. It's definitely a possibility. I highly doubt my card is still within it's warranty, so I might have to flog a few bits and bobs for a cheap AGP card.
My mate lent me a spare 9600 Pro back when they were pretty recent cards. I loved it and had no problems at all. I think I might back to Radeon. First impressions and all.
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by MKE »

Actually, check out the warranty thing. Most graphics card's have lifetime warranties.

As for the problem, do you notice it right away, or does it only happen after gaming for a while? If you dont notice it right away, then i'll say its a heat thing that shouldn't be permanent. Maybe take off your side panel and make sure it's getting good airflow.
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by neoak »

MKE wrote:Most graphics card's have lifetime warranties.
lol No. Thats only certain high-end graphics cards and by a select few manufacturers.

Most graphic cards have only a year.
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by MKE »

No, not just high end ones do. My 150$ ati 1950pro has it, and the cheap ass visiontek ones we sell at bestbuy (80$ cards) have a lifetime warranty. And besides, even though it's not a high end card now, it could have been one then.

As for this card in question, It has a 3 year limited Manufactures warranty
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by ThinkTank »

Aye, that's the one I have. Not too sure if it's within the three years though. I think it might not be. Still, we'll see what Geforce say when I propose it.
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by |darc| »

ThinkTank wrote:Aye, that's the one I have. Not too sure if it's within the three years though. I think it might not be. Still, we'll see what Geforce say when I propose it.
I don't think you can just ask the card...
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by ThinkTank »

Whoops. I meant NVidia.
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by Disheveled DrFreeze »

looks like hardware failure

have you checked to see the heatsink is touching the GPU propperly? is the memory being cooled propperly?

and one final suggestion, download rivatuner, back off the clocks 10-20% to see if that helps
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by Cid Highwind »

It also happens when the power supply isn't good enough or delivering not enough power to the card. Though less likely, I wouldn't rule it out. I have to say that I don't have any idea on how hungry that series of videocards was though.
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by ThinkTank »

NVidia offered as much help as they could. But in the end they said to contact the manufactuer as they only provide the chips and not make the cards (fair enough, really). I couldn't be bothered to contact PNY as it's highly likely that I bought the card over 3 years ago now. I'm not sure, and I have no way of finding out.

However, I did try underlocking my card. Before I did this I started playing Sniper Elite and the graphical snow came back again in full force. It was horrible.
After unclocking it (and lowering the graphical detail/resolution to compensate) it seems to be running fine. I'm on the third level with no glitches. Fahrenheit is also glitch-free too, so I am guessing that it's definitely a heat issue. I'll just keep it like this until I can afford a new PC. Hopefully when I get my student loan I'll be able to build a new PC that'll keep up with the latest games. I tried my mate's Rainbow 6: Vegas and even the loading screen lagged graphically.

Thanks for the suggestions, folks. Here's to hoping I've nailed it and the glitches don't come back again. It wasn't the ideal solution, but on my budget it's the best solution that could be.
Thanks again.
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by Disheveled DrFreeze »

ThinkTank wrote:NVidia offered as much help as they could. But in the end they said to contact the manufactuer as they only provide the chips and not make the cards (fair enough, really). I couldn't be bothered to contact PNY as it's highly likely that I bought the card over 3 years ago now. I'm not sure, and I have no way of finding out.

However, I did try underlocking my card. Before I did this I started playing Sniper Elite and the graphical snow came back again in full force. It was horrible.
After unclocking it (and lowering the graphical detail/resolution to compensate) it seems to be running fine. I'm on the third level with no glitches. Fahrenheit is also glitch-free too, so I am guessing that it's definitely a heat issue. I'll just keep it like this until I can afford a new PC. Hopefully when I get my student loan I'll be able to build a new PC that'll keep up with the latest games. I tried my mate's Rainbow 6: Vegas and even the loading screen lagged graphically.

Thanks for the suggestions, folks. Here's to hoping I've nailed it and the glitches don't come back again. It wasn't the ideal solution, but on my budget it's the best solution that could be.
Thanks again.
nice to see that worked

if it starts corrupting again, realize you could buy a used equivalently fast (or faster) AGP card for under 50 bucks, things to look for would be the 6600GT or 9800pro (9800XT too, but this card is kinda rare)
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Re: Geforce Graphics Card Problem

Post by ace »

I had to underclock my Geforce 7600GT when I got it. Used to cause my system to hang something awful. Spontaneous rebooting and artefacts came part and parcel with the card too.
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