I think my 8800GTS is dying!

[JCitron]

I've been in Surveyor the past few days laying some trolley tracks down in my seaport city. As I work, I occasionally get flashes of green polygons randomly flickering across the screen. At first I thought it was the driver so I switched from Open/GL to DirectX, and the same thing happened there too.

So now I'm wondering if I should spring for a high-end gaming card, or go for something better like one of the higher-end Quadro cards, which can handle the through put better anyway.

It figures because I've finally had some time to spend working on my route again after being busy all year.

John

 

[steamdrivre]

Wow! How old is it? I have a 8800 GTS with 640 mb I just bought a few months ago and haven't had a bit of trouble out of it, yet...
I'm asking because I'd like to know when I can expect this to happen to me.:'(

 

[JCitron]

Wow! How old is it? I have a 8800 GTS with 640 mb I just bought a few months ago and haven't had a bit of trouble out of it, yet...
I'm asking because I'd like to know when I can expect this to happen to me.:'(

Hi,

My card is about 2 years old now. I also have the 640MB version.
I didn't have any problems either until recently. It's been a great card overall.

John

 

[TheStoon]

I've been in Surveyor the past few days laying some trolley tracks down in my seaport city. As I work, I occasionally get flashes of green polygons randomly flickering across the screen. At first I thought it was the driver so I switched from Open/GL to DirectX, and the same thing happened there too.

So now I'm wondering if I should spring for a high-end gaming card, or go for something better like one of the higher-end Quadro cards, which can handle the through put better anyway.

It figures because I've finally had some time to spend working on my route again after being busy all year.

John

Don't get a Quadro - whilst they may have higher basic throughput they are totally unoptimised for gaming.

Unless you are absolutely always going to be using OpenGL it'll perform far worse than a GeForce.

Even OpenGL will most likely be worse than a GeForce, the drivers are not optimised for the kind of texturing and shading used in games. (and you can't use GeForce drivers with Quadros.. )

Picture quality will probably also be worse in games, Quadros have hardware anti-alias optimised for smoothing wireframe lines in CAD apps. This is completely wrong for gaming and you don't get AA options in the drivers either.

Building models in Gmax will be LOVELY though!!

 

[GP_38-2]

for starters have you cleaned out the computer lately? Usually the flashes (artifacts) are caused by overheating, which is usually caused by dust build-up. Before you write it off as a total heap I'd make sure it's clear of dust.

As far as a new card I'd look into an 8800 GT 512MB, 8800 GTS 512MB (no this is far different than your version, it's quite a bit faster), or possibly one of the new GTX 260/280 (expensive and do require a new motherboard as far as I know).

As Stoon said stay away from the Quadro series. Like ATI's FireGL series neither card is designed for gaming, the architecture is completely different from your standard 8800, HD4800 or whatever. They will do extremely well for 3DS MAX, Blender, GMAX, etc. but will perform abysmally in games such as Trainz, Call of Duty, etc.

 

[springtransit]

I also have a 640mb 8800 GTS, and I haven't had much trouble.

 

[JCitron]

Thanks guys, for the input.

I'll stay away from the Quadro and look towards the high-end gaming card. My MOBO should handle the most recent editions since it is fairly new - 2 -3 yrs old? It ought to. I figured that if I was going to spend the money on a new card, I way as well as go all the way this time instead of chintzing out at the last point. I've done that way too many times in the past and regretted it.

@GP-38 - My system is as clean as a whistle. I keep it spotless inside and even have extra fans inside to help with the cooling. I manage to keep the video-card temp around 37-48C, depending upon the ambient temperature. This isn't too bad considering that these cards can run pretty hot. I have the EVGA version with their special driver that can measure the temperature.

Seems funny for me to ask these questions because I'm a system guy and usually I'm the one answering them.

John

 

[ColPrice2002]

Hi,

just the "obvious" thought ...

Have you checked the PSU output? You probably have a dedicated power line to the graphics card - if this starts to fail you do get all sorts of odd effects.
Colin

 

[Captain_Collins]

Just a heads up: PCIE x 16 V2.0 was released within the last year-and-a-half. Most high-end cards can now use it.

 

[TheStoon]

Just a heads up: PCIE x 16 V2.0 was released within the last year-and-a-half. Most high-end cards can now use it.

This is a fair point, however, theres no real world benefit yet - the bandwidth available with 1.1 is more than adequate and PCIe V2.0 cards are backward compatible with 1.1 (There are problems with some motherboards apparently, so investigate the specifics further if/when you come to a decision...)

So basically, don't worry too much about your motherboard only supporting v1.1 - as long as its a x16 slot you'll be fine. Get the card and you can worry about the motherboard when you need to.

 

[JCitron]

Hi,

just the "obvious" thought ...

Have you checked the PSU output? You probably have a dedicated power line to the graphics card - if this starts to fail you do get all sorts of odd effects.
Colin

It's a good one, Colin. I've already done that with a power supply tester and DVM. The output is fine. I have one of those new PSUs with the modular power connectors with dedicated plugs for PCIe devices such as the 8800GTS.

John

 

[JCitron]

This is a fair point, however, theres no real world benefit yet - the bandwidth available with 1.1 is more than adequate and PCIe V2.0 cards are backward compatible with 1.1 (There are problems with some motherboards apparently, so investigate the specifics further if/when you come to a decision...)

So basically, don't worry too much about your motherboard only supporting v1.1 - as long as its a x16 slot you'll be fine. Get the card and you can worry about the motherboard when you need to.

I think I maybe all set. Here's the specs for my motherboard.

eVGA 122-CK-NF68
http://computers.pricegrabber.com/motherboards/m/34147384/details/st=product_tab/

I missed PCIe 2.0 by about a month.

John