Graphics cards overheating!

Who-

I have a P4, 2.4 (SuperMicro mobo with on board video), 512 ram. The computer is about 4 years old. My uncle built it for me. I have windows XP. It came with a ASUS TI 4200 128 meg video card which served me quite well for four years. About 5 months back I noticed my computer acting very funny (which I thought was just all the damn free porn, lol :o) I noticed a strange sound coming from the tower which was a fan dying (turned out to be the one on the v-card) and my screen would randomly fade to black when playing games (DOD) If I quit the game the screen would come back and I was OK to surf, although as time went on it got worse and worse and would do it anytime the v-card was taxed. It would come in waves though. The computer would be unusable for a week sometimes more, and then randomly would be fine to use for a while. I found that re-setting the v-card would help. I noticed that the card was getting very hot though. I didn't think much of it at first because I just assumed it was the fan not working well. Finally the fan quite working all together and I could no longer use the computer without the screen just going black on me. The last time I took the card out it was so hot you could not hold your finger tip on the metal near the fan for more then a few seconds without having to pull away. And that was just from having the computer booted up long enough to uninstall the drivers. Once again I didn't think much of it because the card was getting tossed anyways. So I run down the road to my cousins house who had a few older cards laying around that I could try. One was a ATI 9800 Pro. I was told it was a 256, or 512, but the static free bag says its a 128 . I wanna say when I had it installed the profile had it listed as a 512. So I install the ATI, run this CD that had some ATI diagnostic thing that my cousin gave me to check and make sure it was working right it told me I was getting like 200+ FPS and showed me a thing that floated in a box (lol sorry don't know how else to describe it) and got playing some DOD right away. The card was nice, I didn't notice a FPS increase in game though, but it played very smooth and looked fantastic. I played for a good 3-4 hours straight no exaggeration. At the end of my session I noticed the screen a bit twitchy but didn't think much of it. Next morning I wake up, fire the PC up, and try to frag some, and my screen is all twitchy and going discolored. I tried re-booting it and it got even worse. I tried booting it again and then it was freezing and all freaked out. I just shut it down and yanked the card out to see how hot it was. It was just as hot as the old one was getting, maybe not quite as hot, but it was damn close. I know the fan was working cause I checked it before shutting down. After that I just plugged into my on board video and had to install the drivers and I have been good to go. It runs DOD like crap though. I do have another Card I can try. Its a FX 5600 256. I don't want to over heat another card though. I was going to buy which ever one I decide to keep, and now I am worried I ruined the better card. I have bought new v-cards in the past and never had a issue.

What would cause the video card to over heat so fast? The card was fine when Armando stopped using it. He just bought a new one and put that one aside, so I don't think it is the card. Do you think my Motherboard is the issue?? Perhaps I need to update my Mother boards Bios? My uncle suggested trying that. I don't know if it would help or not. I would rather not cause I have no clue what I am doing, lol... I am not really a computer tech kind of person. I can figure stuff out just enough to get me in the game. I never try to tweak or overclock. probably why I never get great frame rate, and always have choke. My computer is pretty clean right now. I blew all the dust out for the most part. The V-card is also fairly clean. It has some gunk in the fan area, but nothing major. Any suggestions??

Thanks in advanced for any help. If you need me to clarify anything please ask. I did my best to describe the problem but I am sure some more info would help, just ask. :bigggrin:

Brian

Leonardo

Brian, are any of your case fans obstructed or inhibited with dust and lint? Is the airway to your video card or the air pocket surrounding it obstructed with cables? Open the case side with the computer running. Put your hand in and observe for flowing air. Is cool air reaching the video card? A video card's heatsink and fan are of limited value if there is no cool air for the card's heat to be dissipated into.

The current card with the apparent overheating problem: does it have a fan and is the fan functioning?

If all fans are working and there is unobstructed air flow in your computer, then you can also test your system by running it with the case side off.

Also, is your computer case located in a corner, under a desk? It could be the computer is recirculating hot air from its own exhaust.

Who-

All the fans work, however the one in the front on the bottom on comes on sometimes. I assumed it kicked on auto. It is not running now, but I know I checked that before and it was working. Also the fan on the v-card works.

The case always has its side off, and is on a top shelf in the open air (its actually in a cold air draft from the window too).

Is that lower fan always supposed to run?? There isn't much air circulating in their thats for sure. Would the v-card heat up that fast without that fan running??

Harudath

Is the new card you have overclocked? If it's overclocked and you don't have the cooling you need for it then it will overheat very quickly.

Who-

Not over clocked, but if the main intake fan isn't working properly maybe that is the cause. Maybe the other card was just less demanding. The new one is like twice the size of the old one. Is the main intake fan suppose to only run randomly? I am starting to wonder if it even works anymore... I have had my puter on for about 2 hours now and it has yet to kick on, and is currently off...... Perhaps I should start with a new fan? Is there a way to try to force it to run to make sure it is the fan and not a driver or something software??


EDIT: As I sit here and think about it more and more. I am starting to wonder if it is something as simple as the intake fan. I assumed that the fan on the card itself is what kept the card cool, but it Harudath is right then it very well could be as simple as my tower not having enough air moving in it.

What confuses me is the first night I used the computer taxing the video pretty much as much as I am going to tax it and it worked find for a few hours in a row. Why the next day did it heat up so fast? Do you think I caused damage to the card? Is there a possibility that it is going to be prone to overheating now? Should I use the card still? Can a card that over heats hurt anything else in the computer?

I plan on getting a new machine in the summer so I don't want to spend any real money on this one. I will be getting something very nice when I do so I wanna just keep my cash for that.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Brian

Harudath

Yeah, not having cooling on properly will easily cause that. Not having my CPU heatsinc on properly, off by a couple mm and the PC wouldn't boot for more than 10 seconds. So I'd check that the card cooling is working properly. Check to see if it's not clogged with dust too.

Who-

I am going to try to get my hands on a fan. My Uncle will likely have an extra laying around I can try. It that helps I will just get a nice fan for the case. Any idea on weather I could have caused permanent damage on the card by letting it get so hot?

Harudath

It's possible- Take the case off and blow a desk fan onto it if you have one, or any type of fan. Works a treat (did for me at least :P)

Who-

Well so I stuck a small window fan next to my box, and that seemed to help the over heating issue, but my screen still scrambles and it is unplayable at this point in time I am thinking it is just a driver issue and today and going to over hall all my drivers starting with the v-card... I hope I don't have to do the bios for the mobo cause I have no clue how... lol.

Harudath

lol :P You shouldn't have to go into the BIOS as far as I know, but if I'm wrong someone tell me :P

Harudath

Are all your drivers up to date? Chipset etc?

Who-

I am working on getting all the drivers up to date as we speak. I downloaded a program called 'Driver Detective' and according to the program I had 14 out of date drivers. One was my ATI Video card driver, so I found the most up to date one and updated. Seems more stable, but it still scrambles. If I click or highlight whatever is getting scrambled it fixes it for a few. I tried DOD and had a much better frame rate but the screen was all scrambled and hard to play. Also I can't figure out how to adjust my gamma/brightness. Does this card have those options like my old G-force? Or do I have to use Power Strip? I had it on but thought maybe that was some of my problem so I uninstalled it. DOD was still unplayable though. I think that once I get all my drivers up to date I will be OK. I am just having a hard time finding them :/ My search for the 'Intel(R) 82801DB Ultra ATA Storage Controller - 24CB' driver keeps leading me to dead ends. I figure it is one of three.. That one is listed under 'IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers' (what ever that is?) The other one it may be is under System Devices and that is 'Intel(R) 82801DB PCI Bridge - 244E'. The third is under Universal Serial Bus Controllers and is '(4) Inter(R) 82801DB/DBM USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller - 24CD'. I have no clue what any of them are, lol but they sound more important to the Video then the others. So I am just assuming/hoping they are my problem. The others are for the mouse, Keyboard, 2 for the sound card, and a couple of unplugged devices. I assume these will be easy to find, but I don't think they will help my issue anyways so I am saving em for last. I am going to move on and try for another. I bet that they all need the same one. They all have a very similar begging and the one place I found the driver (but the link was dead) had about 40 devices it would support. I wish I had the extra 30 bucks cause I would just register the Driver Detective and I would be done by now, lol.

Thanks for the idea on the fan though it seems to work. The card is still pretty warm (not sure if that is normal?) but nothing like it was. I don't know the temp on it but you can touch it with out feeling any real heat. Maybe between the range of 70-90F(just a guess).