Is my Video Card Fried?

[BIGSTIC]

Have a 2 year old Gateway with a 8800GT in it. Wife uses it to play WoW. She was on today and the screen went plaid. Lost all control of the computer. Had to hold the power button in to shut the machine down. Restarted it and went plaid immediately. I got home about 4 hours later. Pulled the cover and sucked out all the dust bunnies and fired it back up. Surfed the web for 5 min then fired up WoW. Got to the character selection screen and the sceen goes plaid. Video card is HOT to the touch but fan is spinning fine.

So is it time for a new card? And if so, is it easy to switch to an ATI card? My co-worker has a dual ATI setup but only surfs the web so has one pulled out and is willing to sell for cheap.

Also this machine came factory with a 400w PSU. Puts 16A max on the 12V. Should I go bigger with a new card? And if so mind recomending me one.

This machine is Vista.

Thanks.

[Avanarius]

Also this machine came factory with a 400w PSU. Puts 16A max on the 12V.
Thanks.

16A Max? how the shit did it even turn on to begin with.

Try popping the card into another system if possible, or get someone to test it for you.

8800gt's get really hot no matter what, so "hot to the touch" isn't going to explain a whole lot.

[Kryssan]

That PSU is a joke. No, do not go for a bigger/better card without getting a better PSU first. Especially if you want a highend card. Would be curious to know what my pci diagnostic card would say; but I'd almost be willing to bet this is a PSU problem. Most video cards these days get very very hot to the touch. My GPU temperature are around 50~60C since I still use the stock coolers on these and they're stacked on top of each other, even though they're both next to a 240mm fan. If its not watercooled, chances are it won't be cool.

[BIGSTIC]

So would you suggest getting a 600+Watt PSU and seeing if it fixes the video card problem. Or would you guess that the video card is bad too.

Just asking because I live in BFE and have to order all my parts so if I need a PSU I need to get one ordered.

Cant believe Gateway sold this machine as a "Gaming" machine. Although it has been fine for 2 years.

[Olo401]

Actually the problem most likely isn't the PSU - it's just overheating. The card is gonna be hot to the touch (idle temps can be as high as 70 Celcius) no matter what you do, so the thing to do is download a trial copy of Everest so you can find out exactly what the temps are. If it's running more than say 80C at idle or 95-100C at load you've got a cooling problem.

[Kryssan]

Also this machine came factory with a 400w PSU. Puts 16A max on the 12V. Should I go bigger with a new card? And if so mind recomending me one.

Actually the problem most likely isn't the PSU - it's just overheating. The card is gonna be hot to the touch (idle temps can be as high as 70 Celcius) no matter what you do, so the thing to do is download a trial copy of Everest so you can find out exactly what the temps are. If it's running more than say 80C at idle or 95-100C at load you've got a cooling problem.

A 400W PSU should be able to handle the 8800GT, as tests have shown consumption to be around 200W at full load. So depending on what else your system has, you can probably deal. However, the issue isn't the wattage, it's the amperage. 16A is not enough, you need at least 24A on the rail according to tests. That's where I see a problem. If you have more than one rail, maybe, but a single +12v rail needs to have at least 24A.

[Olo401]

Oooh good catch there. Completely overlooked the amperage.

[darkscion0]

If your 8800GT is anything like mine, most of the heatsink is concealed under a metal shield with just a hold cutout for the fan. My computer is in the basement and I seem to get a special kind of velcro dust stuck to the fins of all of my heatsinks that I have to literally scrub off with the toothbrush every 5-6 months. You said you sucked out the dust bunnies but no mention of using compressed air on the card. You may want to take the heatsink apart and check that the fins are not caked with dust as it really kills its ability to dissipate heat. I have to clean my systems so often I actually own an air compressor specifically for the job.

[Elites]

I have an 8800GT and this thing runs too hot that it's just scary. I use Rivatuner to set the fan speeds manually so maybe you should try that. The default speed is at 25% which is too low for this sort of heat ( generates about 70 degrees on idle and up to about 95 on load). Increasing fan speed to about 45% brings down the temp 10 degrees. Remember increasing fan speed might make more noise from the inside but that's a good thing I suppose.

[BIGSTIC]

Update.

Thanks for all the suggestions. My coworker just gave me his ATI RX3870 card. Got it installed and has been working fine for the wife.

BTW the PSU has dual 12v rails with a max load of 30A.

Thanks again.