Bought the OCUK X1950 Pro 512MB about 3 months ago, no problems until a couple of days ago, system wouldn't power up (not even POST beep) -- [Gigabyte K8-NF9 m/b, Antec 350W PSU, A64X2 4200, 1G DDR, 2xSATA, DVD]

Bought a new 370W power supply, same problem -- grr, so looks like motherboard has died.

Bought a new Socket 939 motherboard (not easy to find, had to get an Asrock 939NF6G-VSTA), rebuilt machine, same problem -- fans give a quick turn and then stop, suggests power supply short.

Since the Asrock m/b also has integrated graphics I remove the X1950 Pro -- and the system starts up just fine, boots all the way to working Windows. Shut down, plug in X1950, dead. Unplug X1950, starts OK.

Anyone ever seen a similar problem? I've got an RMA number from OCUK and plan to send the card back, but I don't want them to then charge me £10 for telling me that it's OK...

(general view is that a 350W PSU is fine for a system like this with a relatively cool CPU and single graphics card -- and it's worked fine for 3 months)

Ian

you got the power cable going into the x1950pro?

Yes, via 2 Molex connectors and adaptor (same as always)

Would this be the card in question in your case>

Yep, that's exactly the one

Ah right, had 3 people that I built PC's for return with issues involving this gfx card and would appear heat build up under load was the reason for troubles. 2 of the cards suffered huge dust build up in very short space of time upon inspection, although I put that down to been housed in homes with fairly new carpet (see pic).



(Edit: should add that one was using 350w unbranded PSU, 2 others Seasonic S12 430w, so imo its not your psu)

Decided to install Zalman bracket with attached 1400rpm fan blowing across card(s), temps dropped by around 14c on idle and saw much the same results when under load (Tests were run after cleaning with and without bracket fan btw). The area of most concern for me was the lack of any heat sinks directly on the memory let alone extra 512mb which is housed on reverse side of pcb (Didn’t like that the moment I saw the card tbh), again the bracket + fan method worked fine in reducing memory temps as well. Out of the 3 systems used this card within; all are fine since bracket + fan method with no artefacts or anything abnormal happening involving gfx card. Not that I’m saying 100% heat build up is what may have caused your cards apparent failure, just some useful information that may be of some help.

Anyhow I’m sure OcUK will sort it out for you one way or another should the gfx card be at fault in your case...

Thanks for the info -- I'm pretty sure the problem I've got isn't overheating, the heatsink fins are quite clean and I never saw any crashes or hangs even during prolonged gaming (the case is an Antec SL1650B which has good cooling with a 120mm case exhaust fan as well as the Antec SL350 PSU fans).

It all points to the gfx card -- unfortunately I've already spent £60 and a lot of time replacing both the PSU and m/b before this became obvious...

The other interesting question is what will OCUK supply as a replacement? The OCUK card is 512MB with 575/1380MHz clocks, but the only X1950 Pros they have left in stock are all Powercolor:
AC2 silent 256MB 575/1300MHz £65
AC2 silent 512MB 575/1300MHz £80
SCS3 heatpipe 256MB 575/1380MHz £82
I assume they'll ask me before supplying a non-exact replacement...

They normally send like for like, well at least in terms of it been another x1950pro 512mb, suspect it wont be same one if they no longer stock. I've never had issue with returns with them as yet, cant recall if they contact prior to sending replacement. Heads up though; your not supposed to chat about how the shop works with regards to RMA's on the forum - so your best to enquire with them.