BSODs and Artificating

Klo · 14 Jul 2012 at 20:45

Hi all,

I was playing a game a few hours ago when my computer suddenly BSOD'ed. After pressing the restart button, there was what appeared to be artifacting all over, even the post screen and bios. It managed to boot in ok, still with artificating, but as soon as I tried anything it instantly went BSOD. Tried restarting again, same problem.

I know this is often a problem caused by a graphics card ,so I removed all the dust to make sure it wasn't overheating and reseated it, but the problem persisted.

Now, my computer is quite old , I'm running a ATI Radeon 2900xt, Intel Q6600 and various other 5 year old components. Is it finally time to say goodbye to my 2900xt, and upgrade to something better?? I can't afford to do a complete system upgrade at the moment so it would have to be in steps.

I've uploaded a picture of what it looks like whilst I was doing an emergency back up before it BSODed:

RJC · 14 Jul 2012 at 20:46

Defintely looks like your GPU has failed.

mickyflinn · 14 Jul 2012 at 20:54

Agree with RJC but what psu do you have?

Klo · 14 Jul 2012 at 21:02

mickyflinn said:
Agree with RJC but what psu do you have?

Corsair HX650W.

A reasonable brand I believe, should be powerful enough for the 2900xt I imagine.

RJC · 14 Jul 2012 at 21:17

The Corsair is a quality unit and is plenty for your setup

mickyflinn · 14 Jul 2012 at 21:22

New gpu required do you have a budget?

Klo · 15 Jul 2012 at 11:45

Around £200 ish.

Are all new graphics cards compatible with PCI-Express 1? I know performance will be reduced, but I can upgrade the rest of the system later.

PorkPieCat · 15 Jul 2012 at 13:31

around 200 puts you at hd 7850 but seeing as you might lose 10-15% of the power from the pci slot not to mention your cpu, 6850 might be a more sensible buy? usually about £90

GTO656 · 15 Jul 2012 at 13:36

Yep no doubt its your GPU time for a new one lol.

trickynickyuk · 15 Jul 2012 at 13:58

Defo the gpu failed

mickyflinn · 15 Jul 2012 at 15:36

Klo said:
Around £200 ish.

Are all new graphics cards compatible with PCI-Express 1? I know performance will be reduced, but I can upgrade the rest of the system later.

All graphics cards are backwards compatible

The 7850 is your best bang for buck, i would go for a Gigabyte ,MSI or a Saphire card.

jamesfreddie · 15 Jul 2012 at 15:38

If you wanted you could always reflow the graphics card?

Klo · 15 Jul 2012 at 15:49

jamesfreddie said:
If you wanted you could always reflow the graphics card?

Is that where you put it in the oven?

jamesfreddie · 15 Jul 2012 at 15:59

Klo said:
Is that where you put it in the oven?

Yes can be.

Do you have a heatgun?

honosuseri · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:14

jamesfreddie said:
Yes can be.

Do you have a heatgun?

+1

Don't use the oven, heatgun is the best way to "bodge it". They aren't dear and they are common for people to have, you could maybe borrow one perhaps.

You will find walkthroughs on youtube. I use this method to revive laptops, consoles and of course computer GPUs. What you are doing is heating the solder back to a molten state then let it cool to make the contact good. Personally I always add a lil flux when I do it.

Certainly worth considering if you are certain the GPU is the culprit.