Graphics card help....

[The_Rogue_Ninja]

Greetings all,

I need some help with my lower-end gaming PC. Last year, I decided to upgrade my old PC with some extra RAM and a better GPU. So after a lot of research, I decided to buy an ATI X800 XT and 2 gigs of memory.

When I first installed the hardware upgrades it was great! I was able to play Doom 3 and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion with maxed out settings. It was so good I had to borrow my brother's HD monitor, hook it up via DVI, and view the splendor. Needless to say, it was beautiful.

It was only after I hooked up my old VGA monitor that I noticed something was wrong. There were groups of red and black flickering pixels all over the screen.

Sometimes they aren't visible, but whenever I play a game or watch a video they pop up. It varies with each game, some being really bad and others not so bad, but they're always present.

Originally, I thought I did not install the drivers correctly, so I did a full reformat and reinstall of Windows and all the drivers. This did not fix the problem, though. So I did some research and found out that a lot of sites recommend at least a 500W power supply for the X800 XT, and mine has only 320W.

Would the lack of wattedge cause these flickering pixels? Can this permanently damage the graphics card? I spent about $80 bucks for the card, so if I screwed it up this will be a heckuva hard lesson learned.

Also, if the flickering pixels aren't being caused from a lack of power, what else could cause this.

If anyone has any advice, or knows how to fix this problem, I will be eternally grateful.

Thanks,

The_Rogue_Ninja

P.S. Apologies for the novel length of this message.

 

[orihS ‪‪‪Shiro]

Yes, lack of power can cause those issues.
No I don't think the damage is permanent.

It could also be driver issues or the card could be bad.
Ever get a BSOD stating anything about ati2dvag.dll or ati3duag.dll?

 

[brinks]

Since you hooked up with the dvi and had no problems, it could be a bad vga port on the video card.
The monitor is starting to go bad or the cable is bad.
Check for overheating of the video card.

 

[The_Rogue_Ninja]

Yes, lack of power can cause those issues.
No I don't think the damage is permanent.

It could also be driver issues or the card could be bad.
Ever get a BSOD stating anything about ati2dvag.dll or ati3duag.dll?

Thanks a lot for the quick reply!

I've never had the BSOD with this PC, nor have I had any error messages dealing with ati2dvag.dll or ati3duag.dll. However, I did get an error message every time I turned on the computer for the first few weeks. I don't remember what it said exactly, but it wasn't the one you mentioned.

I am concerned that my card is bad, though. To see if it was the monitor that was bad, or the cord, I decided to hook up the PC to my Pioneer TV using a DVI to HDMI cable. At first things looked okay, but when I started up Doom 3, the pixels came up in all their HD glory.

So either it is the card that's bad, or I just don't have enough power. The only thing that makes me doubt the lack of power theory is that the card did work at first. It only fowled up after I hooked it up to an HD monitor via DVI.

Before I invest in a better power supply, I'd like to know if the card is good or not. . . . . maybe I should just save my money and build a gaming PC.