Advice Needed - 6800 GT Overheating

[Mr.Blond]

Hey all,

I'm having some trouble with my computer, getting random artifacts on the screen usually in the form of green and purple pixels during periods of heavier load (whilst scrolling websites fast or viewing pictures, especially during gaming when the artifacts are all over the place and the screen hangs every few seconds).


artifacts on pictures

All signs I can see point to my graphics card being on the fritz and overheating. It's an XFX Nvidia 6800 GT which has never been overclocked and is currently running at about 56 Idle and 70 ish during gaming, which although slightly high isn't at dangerous levels.

Most of the time it's producing a perfect picture and I was wondering if firstly you think I'm right and that it is a problem due to heat and secondly could I salvage the card by applying some Artic Silver and replacing the stock heatsink or is it a scrap and replace job?

I've tried using rivatuner to turn the cards fans all the way up and even underclocked the card to get the temperature down but it isnt having much effect.

My Computer Specs are as follows:

AMD 64 3400+ p
1GB Single Stick Kingston RAM
ASUS K8V - SE Motherboard
XFX Nvidia 6800 GT
500W PSU

Any advice would be great, cheers for your help guys.

 

[CrazeD]

Those temps aren't that high for a video card.

 

[Mr.Blond]

yeah i didnt think they were too bad, thats what's confusing me

it can hit closer to 80 degress at some points, but even then it is well below nvidias 120 degree cut off point.

I'm just not sure what else could be doing it.

 

[reggie_da_man]

XFX... *rolls eyes*. Ok I would start off with calling XFX and seeing if you can get a whole new card. After all it does have a lifetime warranty. If that doesn't work out for whatever reason apply some Arctic Silver5 paste and get the ZALMAN VF700-CU.

 

[Mr.Blond]

xfx have a lifetime warranty? now that's news to me, excellent.

i'm sensing some issues with the xfx brand, do they have a bad reputation i've missed? this is my first card made by them.

cheers reggie

 

[reggie_da_man]

I don't like them. They use cheap parts that don't allow for high overclocks and are just a ****off to use. Stick to e-VGA, MSI, Leadtek, BFG (in that order)

 

[Alex81388]

The temps arent that hot, XFX just has crappy hardware.

RMA it if you can, my temps got higher than those at times when i had my eVGA 6800gt, so thats not at fault, just badly made.