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GeForce 9800 GTX crashing systemFollow

#1 Dec 29 2012 at 11:37 AM Rating: Good
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My roommate's PC is running the above mentioned card. As far as I can tell, all drivers are up to date. Wanting to look at temps, what would you recommend for checking them. Also, any other suggestions on what may be causing the issue? I haven't done troubleshooting on a PC in years, so I'm a bit rusty. Please point me in the direction, Obi-Wan Kao-bi, you're my only hope. Or, you know, the other folks here.
#2 Dec 29 2012 at 12:12 PM Rating: Good
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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?
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#3 Dec 29 2012 at 1:08 PM Rating: Good
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I gave a 9800 GT and the thing is fine. Download and run Speedfan, it should get you the card temps.
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#4 Dec 29 2012 at 1:19 PM Rating: Good
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TirithRR wrote:
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.

Kastigir wrote:
I gave a 9800 GT and the thing is fine. Download and run Speedfan, it should get you the card temps.

I'll have him get on that when he wakes up.
#5 Dec 29 2012 at 1:24 PM Rating: Good
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I've lost two 8800s and a 9800 in the past many years. All of them started with artifacts ("snow" and other dots) and discoloration (usually pink hues on everything). And it usually was not long before the computer started BSOD, and it mentioned a driver failure, ended up being an nvidia driver that failed, but it was due to hardware failure.

Good thing is if you want to just go for a direct replacement and get another 9800 it'll only cost about 50-60 bucks.
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#6 Dec 29 2012 at 1:25 PM Rating: Good
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TirithRR wrote:
Good thing is if you want to just go for a direct replacement and get another 9800 it'll only cost about 50-60 bucks.
That isn't bad, but wouldn't that likely just lead to future failure again? Any suggestions on a comparable card without the issues?
#7 Dec 29 2012 at 1:32 PM Rating: Good
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I'm not too familiar with Nvidia's cards, but I think after the 9000 series it goes into the 400s (is that a thing? I can't remember now) and the 500s and 600s. And I think those are double the cost if not more.

The 9800s I don't think were as prone to heat related failure as the 8800s were, how long did he have it running before it started dying? Was it an item from Dell or some other prebuilt that may have been a stripped down, dumbed down version? (I heard they liked to go fanless on them to save money). My brother's 8800 failed last year and he bought a cheap 9800 to replace it. That way he didn't have to worry about the upgraded power supply to support the higher end Nvidia cards.

While I know a little about the nvidia in general, I know almost nothing about Radeon so I couldn't even begin to suggest those.

Edited, Dec 29th 2012 2:35pm by TirithRR
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#8 Dec 29 2012 at 1:38 PM Rating: Good
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TirithRR wrote:
I'm not too familiar with Nvidia's cards, but I think after the 9000 series it goes into the 400s (is that a thing? I can't remember now) and the 500s and 600s. And I think those are double the cost if not more.

The 9800s I don't think were as prone to heat related failure as the 8800s were, how long did he have it running before it started dying? Was it an item from Dell or some other prebuilt that may have been a stripped down, dumbed down version? (I heard they liked to go fanless on them to save money). My brother's 8800 failed last year and he bought a cheap 9800 to replace it. That way he didn't have to worry about the upgraded power supply to support the higher end Nvidia cards.

While I know a little about the nvidia in general, I know almost nothing about Radeon so I couldn't even begin to suggest those.

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).
#9 Dec 29 2012 at 1:41 PM Rating: Good
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So it's a new card that failed? Or an old card that's been running that has just started having issues?
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#10 Dec 29 2012 at 1:43 PM Rating: Good
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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
#11 Dec 29 2012 at 2:25 PM Rating: Good
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Got Speedfan running. GPU idles at 61C. Spikes up to 66C when a game is open. I don't mean when you've been playing a bit, I mean immediately on opening a game. Saints Row: The Third, if it makes a difference.
#12 Dec 29 2012 at 3:22 PM Rating: Excellent
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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.
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#13 Dec 29 2012 at 4:03 PM Rating: Good
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Not knowing anything beyond what kind of card is already being run, would his motherboard likely support those cards you mentioned?

Edited, Dec 29th 2012 3:04pm by Poldaran
#14 Dec 29 2012 at 4:23 PM Rating: Good
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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
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#15 Dec 29 2012 at 4:29 PM Rating: Good
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Will check it out. His power supply runs at 800W, so I'd imagine it has room to upgrade, but no idea on what plugins he has free.

Edit: Also, since I'm about to go to bed, I wanted to take a sec to thank you all for the help so far. Hopefully we can get him back into the swing of things so he can play some games again without racing against the crash clock.

Edited, Dec 29th 2012 3:31pm by Poldaran
#16 Dec 29 2012 at 4:33 PM Rating: Good
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.

#17 Dec 30 2012 at 1:28 AM Rating: Excellent
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if he has a 9800 in the case already, and an 800 watt PSU, he will be fine for any of the nvidia cards out there for certain. The 9800 GTX was a big ******* of a card, and there are only a couple that are longer, and then only by about half an inch. Also an 800 Watt PSU will definitly have at least 2 pci express 6 pin leads. you can convert over to 8 pin if necessary, or use those evil 4 pin molex converters that eat video cards, but either way he'll have plenty of raw power.
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#18 Dec 30 2012 at 7:41 AM Rating: Good
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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 :(
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#19 Jan 01 2013 at 2:18 AM Rating: Excellent
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It sounds like he's going to go with the 260GTX. Thanks again for the help. Will bug you again when I have some funds to look at upgrading my card(probably around February/March).
#20 Aug 26 2013 at 10:27 PM Rating: Decent
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The fan on mine died a slow painful death that lead to much overheating. I finally tossed it and jammed a huge fan out of some ancient pc parts I had lying around. This "new" fan is loud, but keeps the card nice and cool now.
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