# I think my graphics card is fried...



## Obtuse tail (Aug 19, 2011)

Okay, so i have been planning to do a LP of Amnesia: The Dark Descent with my friends. An hour before my friends arrived, i started up my computer and launched Amnesia + the screen recorder for a test. (Mind you it tested fine the previous day and the day before)

When i clicked start, the screen began to flicker and crackle, and i recieved a message saying "Too many errors occured which is a serous problem. Go to Nvidia.com/helptextwhatever. The system will now close" And it closed. I thought, "that's strange" so i launched The Stanley Parable (awesome HL2 mod by the way) to test again. It ran fine for a couple of seconds, then froze up and the screen turned into a white/purple/black fuzzy grain.

The sad thing is, we're low on money right now so i don't think i'm buying anything anytime soon.

EDIT: I remember the night previous to the graphics error that when i was playing MineCraft with my brother, and i heard a loud BANG coming from the direction of my computer. We couldn't pinpoint the sound's exact location so we ignored it. I think that was the cause.

Nvidia GeForce 8500GT Graphics card
AMD athlon 64 X2 Processor 4200+


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## iTails (Aug 19, 2011)

Well, you are using an ancient 8000 series card. I think it's about time for an upgrade.


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## Apex (Aug 19, 2011)

Yeah it's toast. Best thing you can do, is run the serial through NVidia's (or XFX/EVGA/etc) Warranty department and see if you have one. If not, then you're out of luck until you can buy a new one.


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## Obtuse tail (Aug 19, 2011)

I guess i'm playing the waiting game 
But why did my computer have to splode a day before we were gonna do a LP?
Fuck timing.


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## Apex (Aug 19, 2011)

Ya know, on second thought...it COULD be a ventilation/heat issue, does the card work at ALL? Like, can you boot windows and whatnot?


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## iTails (Aug 19, 2011)

Apex said:


> Ya know, on second thought...it COULD be a ventilation/heat issue, does the card work at ALL? Like, can you boot windows and whatnot?


If that was the case, the PC would shut itself off or it would not display anything on the monitor. OP's card is artifacting, a common side effect to a card about to die out.


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## Obtuse tail (Aug 19, 2011)

Yes, i can do everything fine, except play games.
Which is basically all i do on this computer, other than video editing and FL.


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## Onnes (Aug 19, 2011)

Make sure the card's fan is actually working properly. If it is, then you are pretty much stuck having to replace the card.


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## Runefox (Aug 19, 2011)

Yeah, if you aren't taxing the card, you might still get normal desktop use out of it if its fan is shot. That said, an 8500 isn't exactly a powerhouse and I imagine its fan is very modest, hence why it wouldn't really notice unless it was really being used. You CAN get replacement fans, but for like $50, you can get a brand new GT 520, which while admittedly isn't so hot, is probably faster than the one you have now anyway. Though honestly, at this point, your whole PC probably could use an overhaul.


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## Apex (Aug 19, 2011)

iTails said:


> If that was the case, the PC would shut itself off or it would not display anything on the monitor. OP's card is artifacting, a common side effect to a card about to die out.



I've seen artifacts show up on overheating cards too, both in normal use and from overclocking. That's why I ask.


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## Xenke (Aug 19, 2011)

A bang you say?

Check the capacitors, I guess. Doesn't hurt to look.

Though I don't know that if there was a problem with one of the capacitors that it would still work.


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## Sar (Aug 20, 2011)

Obtuse tail said:


> I guess i'm playing the waiting game


Play hungry, hungry hippos instead 
/troll


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## Obtuse tail (Aug 20, 2011)

It wont run any games anymore.
I launched COGS and it was unplayable.
New card coming in the mail. I think i nailed it performance wise with a very low budget.
runs fear 2 MAXED with 2AA ~60fps..
Crysis maxed 0AA ~30fps all with similar specs. Under 70 Bucks new through Amazon.


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## iTails (Aug 20, 2011)

Well, before we narrow down that the card is broken, try and do a driver update for the card. That might work. If not, then it hit the shitter.


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## Obtuse tail (Aug 21, 2011)

Umm... It was because of the newest version of the driver.
I went back a version and it works just fine now.
I just got my mother to buy me a new card because she thought it was broke.
i just wont tell her. The card needed an upgrade anyway.


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## Runefox (Aug 21, 2011)

Obtuse tail said:


> It wont run any games anymore.
> I launched COGS and it was unplayable.
> New card coming in the mail. I think i nailed it performance wise with a very low budget.
> runs fear 2 MAXED with 2AA ~60fps..
> Crysis maxed 0AA ~30fps all with similar specs. Under 70 Bucks new through Amazon.


What card did you end up getting? Your CPU will likely hold the card back by a fair margin, either way.


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## iTails (Aug 21, 2011)

Runefox said:


> What card did you end up getting? Your CPU will likely hold the card back by a fair margin, either way.


Not necessarily. I'd be more worried about his PSU than his CPU in this case. I just put in a GTX460 for someone the other day with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ and a 750w PSU, works completely fine. If his PSU can't handle the card he buys, then he'll bottleneck the system to a point where it will shut down after a certain load.


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## Onnes (Aug 21, 2011)

iTails said:


> Not necessarily. I'd be more worried about his PSU than his CPU in this case. I just put in a GTX460 for someone the other day with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ and a 750w PSU, works completely fine. If his PSU can't handle the card he buys, then he'll bottleneck the system to a point where it will shut down after a certain load.



Most of the lower and mid-range cards these days are very power efficient; you can even find passively cooled cards with decent performance. Obviously an old 4870 would be a different story, but he said he bought something new.


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## Obtuse tail (Aug 21, 2011)

whoops, nevermind.
The new driver was just causing lag. Apparently new driver updates causing game lag is a common problem
i was on the internet, then the screen started artifacting and it froze. I had to shut it down.


Runefox said:


> What card did you end up getting? Your CPU will likely hold the card back by a fair margin, either way.


It's a Geforce 9600 GSO


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## AshleyAshes (Aug 21, 2011)

iTails said:


> Not necessarily. I'd be more worried about his PSU than his CPU in this case. I just put in a GTX460 for someone the other day with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ and a 750w PSU, works completely fine. If his PSU can't handle the card he buys, then he'll bottleneck the system to a point where it will shut down after a certain load.



It's a safe bet that any graphics card that uses a single 6 pin PCI-E port will work fine on any power supply that features a 6pin PCI-E power port.  Any card that would demand more power would be one of the larger cards that needs two power ports and sometimes even 8 pin ports.  It would be easy to tell if his PSU can drive the card, simply by seeing if the PSU has a PCI-E power port.


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## Runefox (Aug 22, 2011)

iTails said:


> Not necessarily. I'd be more worried about his PSU than his CPU in this case. I just put in a GTX460 for someone the other day with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ and a 750w PSU, works completely fine. If his PSU can't handle the card he buys, then he'll bottleneck the system to a point where it will shut down after a certain load.


If the power supply is going to be an issue, it wouldn't be performance-related. The symptoms would be "when I try to play games, my system crashes". The CPU has more to do with the overall performance of the card than the power supply; Case in point, my Athlon X2 6000+ got me about half the frame rate I'm getting now on most games with my i5 2500K.


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