Graphics Card Woes

[PeteSmith]

Hi all, i'm having major issues with what i think is a graphics card problem. Basically i started experiencing artifacts on the display, in games at first (SC2) and then later on the windows desktop. Normally what happens is the display driver stops responding, attempts to recover itself, fails miserable and then BSOD's.

This afternoon i un-installed my graphics card drivers, used driver cleaner and installed the latest drivers from the website. This didn't help and the problem was now occuring much more frequently, less than five minutes after booting or even while booting.

I got tired of trying different things so i just decided to cut my losses and wipe my harddrive and start afresh with a new windows installation. Problem is i now can't install windows without the graphics issues interupting the install and causing it to fail. I have even witnessed display corruption in post and the BIOS.

So what do you think, is my graphics card dead or could it possibly be something else? Its a BFG 8800GTX, would i be able to get a replacement, i seem to recall them having an extended warranty? I know BFG no longer make graphics cards, does that mean i will struggle to get it replaced?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It maybe hard to get an RMA with BFG now although it is worth a try.

Supposedly an oven can be used to make faulty 8800GTX cards work again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_taI-CkPD3M

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...php?p=16065513

OTH,I don't know how dangerous it is as toxic fumes could be released.

[PeteSmith]

Yeah don't really fancy baking my graphics card so i will look for a replacement. Any suggestions?

[Phage]

What's the budget ?
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-g...-d-hdmi-minidp

[Steve]

Supposedly an oven can be used to make faulty 8800GTX cards work again:

OTH,I don't know how dangerous it is as toxic fumes could be released.

Yeah, don't try this at home. Go to somebody else's house instead.

So long as there's decent ventilation and you have a door between the kitchen & living areas, I don't see how this would be too big a problem unless you cooked the thing for a long time, or at too high a temperature.

Still, it's a bit of an 'out there' solution, and the bigger problem is probably not the fumes, but any residue left in the often afterwards that could come into contact with food. So yeah, on second thought maybe stay clear.

[PeteSmith]

I went with http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-m...ores-mini-hdmi one of these.

[hungryjman]

i was looking at that gfx card actually, but couldn't decide between the 460 or the Radeon HD 6850,

any ideas dude? I think the 460 is slightly better for gaming not sure though.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The HD6850 1GB consumes significantly less power than a GTX460 1GB.

Even when overclocked an HD6850 1GB consumes around the same power at load as a GTX460 1GB at stock clockspeeds:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4002/a...asus-xfx-msi/8

[Zak33]

well PeteSmith, we're dying to find out if the card solves the issue

I hope so bud.

[PeteSmith]

Back up and running thank you. Sadly the new graphics card hasn't improved my SC2 game. New card is some degree quieter than my 8800GTX. Good stuff.