GFX Card up the duff

[Spitfire01]

Hey guys I tihnk my gfx is dying/dead... I currently Have an Nvidia 8800 Ultra (rest of system sepcs under my name on the left)

Out of the blue yesterday i got a BSOD as soon as my computer booted up.. the fabled nvlddmkm.sys being the culprit. I've tried a few suggested fixes from the net and while the BSOD seems to have subsided I am getting strange artifacts on the screen if windows loads up.I am guessing it is hardware overheating/failure as i've not installed any new software for months. At the moment i've got a desk fan in my case and that only just seems to give me a couple of hours of use before i need to shut down for 10 minutes or so. I dunno what to do this card cost a bundle and i don't have the money for a new one...
I've got loads of 3d work i need to get done..
any suggestions?

[matty-hodgson]

do you know what 'up the duff' means?

[Spitfire01]

yea lol eitherway it's not doing any real work anymore ^_^

[matty-hodgson]

have you ever cleaned the dust out of the card?
maybe it's just got full of dust and it can't keep itself cool anymore

[Zak33]

Up The Duff? Don't fret then....you'll have a new baby card soon enough

Seriously though:

you need to take off the heatsink, reapply some thermal paste, and refit the heatsink, having done what Matty said.....HOOVER OUT THE DUST.

BUT.... /fanfare

What if it's NOT the video card, but the Power Supply?

[Spitfire01]

how do you mean powersupply? is there a way i can test it? i'm not certain is overheating now anymore i've got riva tuner up monitoring the temp and it's (now atleast) hovering at 60 degrees...
I must admit my sound card was aprticularly clsoe to the gfx card until i moved it yesterday to help and i've underclocked it but still having major issues with it...


EDIT: It has gotten to the point where i can just about get away with booting up in safemode. anybody got anymore mroe suggestions of a cure? or am I gonna need to buy a new card?

[MadduckUK]

oh, it it one of THOSE nvidia cards? that would explain it

[Blitzen]

do you know what 'up the duff' means?

Definiton = Matty-ed

[matty-hodgson]

what?

[Jay]

did you not make sure you got the same gender cards for SLi?

[MadduckUK]

what you DONT want it hermaphrodite Gcards

[WhiteGiant]

I feel offended by the sexism displayed regarding graphics cards' genders, or otherwise. Thread reported.

If a GPU chooses to have a baby, despite gender, who are we to judge - you people sicken me.

[Speed]

LOL! Classic Thread Title!

Run Furmark in "Stability Test" mode with "Xtreme Burning Mode" along with "Log GPU Temperature". This will give you a visual account of the cards temp rising while under extreme load. I've not yet found a programe that creates higher GPU temps than Furmark, so it's well worth a look. Leave it running for 30 minutes or so and see what temps it gets to. Would rule out overheating anyways.

http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

As for the PSU, try running a loop of say 3 runs of 3D Mark Vantage, see if it gets through those.

[Spitfire01]

I'd love to run these things but it's got to the stage where it won't load up windows. just a black screen of artifacts. they sometimes even appear during the boot-up process in bios when it restarts.