[Tezster]

I bought a Gigabyte Nvidia GTS 450 video card on Boxing Day - I use it for a bit of light PC gaming, and it worked well for 3 days. Soon after, running any 3D apps/games would result in screen artifacts, missing/corrupt textures being displayed within 2-3 minutes. If left running, this would eventually lead to the PC freezing completely and/or a Windows STOP error/Blue screen appearing. After a hard reboot, I would sometimes find that Windows would start up using the default vga display driver, and I would have to re-install the Nvidia drivers.

I've performed a clean un-install/reinstall of the latest drivers at least 3 times, removed and reseated the card, and also tested running 3D apps using a clean (new) Windows user profile, none of which resolved the problem.

I took a few screenshots which illustrate the problem while running the Unigine Heaven benchmark/demo. You can see the scene is rendered normally at first, but the display steadily gets more and more corrupted. As the display gets worse, I've observed a significant drop in framerate i.e. the animation starts getting very jerky with a lot of stop and starts.

When monitoring the GPU core temperature, the problem begins appearing even at relatively low temperatures in the mid-50's C. I have a 450w PSU with a dedicated 6-pin power connector (which is in line with the recommendations for this card).

I've already got an RMA for the card and will be returning it for a replacement, but I'm wondering if there's any way I can check if the problem is in fact with the card, and definitively rule out any other PC hardware/software configuration.

FYI I'm running WinXP SP3 w/4gb of memory, on an Athlon x2 7850 BE/AMD AM2+ CPU/MB combo.

I'd be interested in any suggestions anyone may have before I pack it up and ship this thing off.

 

[BGY11]

What's the make/model of that power supply?

I'd be leaning more towards an issue with the GPU itself. Seems like either faulty memory or an overheating issue (bad fan / insufficient airflow inside the case).

 

[Tezster]

PSU is an Antec Smart Power 450 - it lists a combined 32 Amps delivered on dual 12V rails, while the GTS 450 requirements recommends a 400w PSU and 22A respectively... so I'm assuming that should be enough?

I have a feeling it may be a GPU issue as well - possibly one that is overly sensitive to higher temperatures. The case is well ventilated and the ambient temperature inside the case is around 29C.

 

[BadLag]

New card

I had to replace my GTX 8800 for the exact same issue, the new card was an upgrade to a GTX 260 and works fine.....it is a pain to have to pay for shipping though but NVidia is good as they give a full 3 year warranty with the new card.

It is best to register the card serial number at their website. Unsure how it works with a Giga-Byte model.

 

[Tezster]

I went through the online vendor (Newegg) as the card was only a few days old.

The silly thing is their depot is only about 5 minutes from my workplace, but they don't accept walk-in returns, so I had to pay to have it shipped. Hopefully, I'll have better luck with the replacement.