[theholygod]

Hi again

Recently bought a GeForce 8800 GTS 512mb. Sometimes it gives a really weird problem though. In the middle of most of my games there will be a few second pause before the game suddenly resumes but with textures completely changed randomly; some games just crash.

Its difficult to describe, harder to search to see if anyone else has ever had this problem. Im running the latest drivers and such, im fairly certain the card isnt overheating. Is it possible there is something wrong with the hardware?

Im a little hesitant to send this expensive card back to the manufacturer before making sure theres nothing wrong with the software, i really hope there is a fix for this.

thanks for any input

[Nayana]

It's possible that the video card isn't receiving enough power. What is the rating of your power supply, and what CPU do you have + how many devices getting power from the USB ports etc.?

[MorphiusFaydal]

I was going to say check the temps on it, but if you're certain it's not a temperature related issue, then okay.

If you're really certain it's not temperature, then I'll have to go with Nayana's hunch about it being a power issue. That's a pretty hefty card, I wouldn't feel too good about running it on a PSU that offers less than about 600 watts. Even if the rest of your computer is fairly "lightweight" in comparison.

http://www.nvidia.co...5.05.54.00.html <-- NVidia nTune.. So you can just double check the temps.

[Nayana]

If it's neither a temperature nor power-supply problem then you need to get your card replaced.

AFAIK and IANAL, but in the UK you have about a week for right of return on anything, and also warranty doesn't matter. If your product doesn't work for a reasonable amount of time, they have to give you a replacement, repair, or refund. And which of the three is YOUR choice, not theirs.

I would suggest replacement, simply because you can never trust anyone to repair anything.

If they refuse, just take the store to a small claims court. That's really cheap (if you lose), and free (if you win).

[MorphiusFaydal]

Wow... The UK is really strict on that... I have 90 days on most everything I buy, hardware wise. The only exception is usually CPUs.

And... IANAL? I know AFAIK, and IIRC, and IMO... But not IANAL..

[jjhaag]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IANAL

good ol' wikipedia. maeks mee smrt!!1! lol kthxbye

[1lacca]

In what programs do you see this happen? I've noticed with my 8800GTX that some games are simply more stable on XP and some are on Vista. Vista is likely to download patches to fix some minor issues, but there are simply some applications that just do weird things from time to time.

[theholygod]

The PSU is actually 500W

I've never seen the GPU go above 60c

The games include a fairly wide range of things: Source games (half life 2, portal, etc) crash, doom3/quake4 crash

Psychonauts, guildwars and 3rd person games in general do the texture swapping. Guildwars almost completely rectified the problem after a loading point.

Gainward (the manufacturer of the card) seem to have a decent return policy (i have to send the card back to germany though).

I suppose i'll give the problem a couple weeks until my birthday, buy myself a new Case/CPU combo (im still using an ATX case from 2000) and see if that fixes stuff.


One last point however, im using an adaptor to convert two 4pin power plugs into a single 6 pin plug for the graphics card, i've heard it mentioned before that this isnt as ideal as simply having a PSU with a 6 pin plug, is this possibly the source of my trouble?

[1lacca]

It can be, and also your PSU might have problems keeping the exact voltage levels on some rails. Some things are more sensitive to this than others. I am not an expert in this field, but maybe somebody knows if your card is one of those (testing with a different PSU might worth a try before returning).

[MorphiusFaydal]

theholygod, on 18 Jan, 2008 - 08:12 AM, said:

The PSU is actually 500W

<snip />

I suppose i'll give the problem a couple weeks until my birthday, buy myself a new Case/CPU combo (im still using an ATX case from 2000) and see if that fixes stuff.


One last point however, im using an adaptor to convert two 4pin power plugs into a single 6 pin plug for the graphics card, i've heard it mentioned before that this isnt as ideal as simply having a PSU with a 6 pin plug, is this possibly the source of my trouble?

You might want to try a bigger PSU. IIRC, GTX/GTS cards require about a 550, with 600 being recommended.

Nothing wrong with an ATX case. Considering that's the form factor most mobos are anyway.

And yes, that adapter could cause trouble. To go along with trying a larger PSU, try and find one with a PCI-Express plug. It's like 1lacca said... if it's a crappy PSU, then it might not be providing very stable or "clean" power, and your video card, sucking so much of it, is more susceptible to the fluctuations.

[theholygod]

MorphiusFaydal, on 18 Jan, 2008 - 09:23 AM, said:

Nothing wrong with an ATX case. Considering that's the form factor most mobos are anyway.

This ATX case is really falling apart now, im pretty concerned about the airflow in it as well (i've been keeping the side off since getting the graphics card).

Thanks everyone for your input!

[theholygod]

I managed to get an example of my problem off HL2:

http://img99.imagesh...textureskg7.jpg

You'll notice not all textures have changed. The texture changing is completely random every time. To the left of the picture you'll even see a "breencast" instead of a poster.

[Nayana]

Ha, that's actually pretty cool... Well, not when you're trying to play the game though...

And yeah, you should try with a higher rated power supply before you go about returning the card.

If you can get hold of a friend's computer, you could unplug everything from it's power supply, and plug it only into the graphics card.

[theholygod]

I got some Nvidia chipset drivers off the ASUS website this morning. I must admit that i have no idea what they do except they seem to be working so far.

[MorphiusFaydal]

theholygod, on 20 Jan, 2008 - 04:53 PM, said:

I got some Nvidia chipset drivers off the ASUS website this morning. I must admit that i have no idea what they do except they seem to be working so far.

They provide the drivers for hardware on your motherboard. If you don't have an NVidia-based motherboard, they won't do you any good.