GeForce 9800 GTX crashing systemFollow

I think the 8800s and 9800s had a history of overheating and dying.

Before it crashes, are there any other things that happen, like artifacts or discoloration appearing on the screen?

He used to have discoloration and artifacts. Now it's mostly crashing.


I'll have him get on that when he wakes up.

That isn't bad, but wouldn't that likely just lead to future failure again? Any suggestions on a comparable card without the issues?

He started seeing issues pretty much immediately. It was a Systemax pre-built. It's huge as hell, but I didn't think to check if part of that bulk was the fan. We may have to see if there's a fan missing. Not sure how, as big as it is(it takes up two slots worth of space).

Apparently all issues have been happening from the beginning. However, the discoloration and artifacts haven't been happening recently, likely due to having downloaded new drivers. The crashing has been happening, possibly with a greater frequency.

He's sick and on medication that's making him a bit out of it, so I misunderstood what he was trying to say before.

Edited, Dec 29th 2012 12:47pm by Poldaran

discoloration and artifacts is almost always hardware. usually if it stops its because the card got hot enogh it reflowed. 61c is 141f, so under failure temperature. The origional run of 9800 GTX's did have the bad capacitor issue from several manufacturers. (cheap chinese made capacitors created using a stolen formula that they got wrong and tended to explode) The GTX+'s tended not to have it. if it's a GTX, look for split or bulged capacitors near the pci express 6 pin power leads on the back of the card. I think you will be able to see them weithout removing the fan cover.

Realistically it's probably the card though. Nvidia drivers rarely go bad. Anything above a 260GTX will be a major upgrade over that card, and a 660 GTX can be had for under $150.

The motherboard won't be a problem. I upgraded from an 8800 to a 580. The only thing that might be an issue is your power supply plugins. The 8800, and the 9800 I believe, only require the one six pin power plug. The 580 has one six pin and one eight pin. The 260 has two six pin, and it looks like the 660 only requires one six pin.

Edit:
Power requirements might actually vary a bit depending on the manufacturer. You should check the card before ordering to make sure you can power it up.

Edited, Dec 29th 2012 5:26pm by TirithRR

nVidia drives may not be "bad" but there's a known bug from DVI to HDMI on systems with onboard sound that they never fixed. (The driver assumes that since it detects HDMI on the output end that it should handle the sound.... even though DVI has no method of piping sound.) Since DVI is already going the way of the dodo, I stopped fighting them over it and just got a cheaper, newer card with HDMI out to solve the problem.

Depending on the manufacturer, the 9800s came with a one or two year warranty. I think mine was two years from PNY. Check and see the manufacturer and contact them for a warranty claim if it's within the replacement period.

I had to get a 6 pin to 8 pin PCI express plug adapter for my card. They were hard to find, and everyone locally told me it was a bad idea cause if you didn't have an 8pin already on your power supply it was likely not big enough. I kind of laughed at the idea cause I had a 750w, and the 12V was rated for well over the requirement of the video card. The thing I don't quite understand is looking at the pinout of the 8 vs 6, the extra two pins are just another 12V power, same as the existing. All the adapter is is a jumper going from one set to the other. Seems like they could easily do that on the circuit board and keep the 6 pin standard rather than opening another 8 pin standard.

I bought one 8 pin adapter, and it was wrong. Even though the description called it a 6 pin pci express to 8 pin pci express, it came with an 8pin connector for motherboard power and it wouldn't fit. I had to wait 3 more days for the correct one :(