# damaged card?



## XooM (Nov 13, 2006)

I've been running Folding@Home on my x1900GT since release in early october, and it recently began spewing up errors quite heavily. So i looked at the 3d view in ATITool and spied this:



keep in mind that the card has been running at stock since i got it with the stock cooler. Is something dead/damaged?  RMA does not sound appealing at all right now.


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## bruins004 (Nov 13, 2006)

I am sorry to say that if you DID NOT overclock it then the there is something wrong with the card and an RMA is needed.
But if you did OC it, you might of screwed it up.


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## matrlx (Nov 15, 2006)

Prolly a stupid suggestion, but did u check the temp of the gpu ? 

Best way to make sure its a card issue would be to fit it in another comp and see if u get the same results...


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## Sasqui (Nov 15, 2006)

Sounds like an RMA... Sapphire was pretty quick when I called before buying thier card - I think they said 2-year warrantee.  Talk is cheap though.  If it's NewEgg, you are in luck.

I'd let the whole system cool down for an hour, start it up and immediately lauch ATITool 3D view - see if you immediately get artifacts, or only after temps have climbed.

You might also want to try underclocking the card and see if the little critters are still there.


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## i_am_mustang_man (Nov 15, 2006)

sounds like an rma is in order. i would let them know about the whole situation in case the gpu f@h damages cards


nice avatar sasqui


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## Sasqui (Nov 15, 2006)

i_am_mustang_man said:


> nice avatar sasqui



It's not whether you win or lose, it's how many stars you have, LOL


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## XooM (Nov 15, 2006)

when i first launch ATITool, the spots are very faint, which makes me think its a RAM temp issue. another thing that makes me think that is when i touch the back of the card after running 3d heavily, the spots behind the RAM are PAINFULLY hot, much much hotter than behind, say, the GPU or pretty much any other easily-poked component. perhaps one of the stupid thermal pads has degraded heavily due to the high heatload its had on it for the past month and a half solid?


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## Sasqui (Nov 15, 2006)

XooM said:


> when i first launch ATITool, the spots are very faint, which makes me think its a RAM temp issue. another thing that makes me think that is when i touch the back of the card after running 3d heavily, the spots behind the RAM are PAINFULLY hot, much much hotter than behind, say, the GPU or pretty much any other easily-poked component. perhaps one of the stupid thermal pads has degraded heavily due to the high heatload its had on it for the past month and a half solid?




Then definitely a temp issue.  Of course the question is... why?  Get the RMA ball rolling.  If you take off the cooler and don't have identical thermal pads to replace, they may not accept it.


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## technicks (Nov 15, 2006)

Clean the card with air duster. Then check the temps again.
I have a X1900GT running at stock speeds right now. A few days back i played NFSC and my pc shut down. I checked it, the card was running at 115.  

Cleaned it. Took some 2500 grid waterproof sanding paper and some Brasso.
Sanded the copper block. Then polished it for 10 min and my temps dropped 25 degrees. 

If you don't want to RMA then try it. Might help.


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## XooM (Nov 15, 2006)

hum. the amount of artifacts definitely scales with temperature, and blowing some dust out at your reccomendation definitely decreased the number of them at the beginning, but the ram still gets obscenely hot. *sigh* i loathe RMAs...


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## technicks (Nov 15, 2006)

It is not strange that these cards run so hot.
90 full loaded is nothing to worry about with these cards. But when you get any artifacts then it might be going downhill with your card. 

How high are your temps in atitool?


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## technicks (Nov 15, 2006)

Sasqui said:


> It's not whether you win or lose, it's how many stars you have, LOL









You like?


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## XooM (Nov 16, 2006)

technicks said:


> It is not strange that these cards run so hot.
> 90 full loaded is nothing to worry about with these cards. But when you get any artifacts then it might be going downhill with your card.
> 
> How high are your temps in atitool?



improbably low: 55-65C core, 40-50C "system"


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## technicks (Nov 16, 2006)

Then i would find it real strange if it is heat related.


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