x1800xt causing problems- help please

[Noopz]

Hi guys,

I got a powercolour x1800xt 512mb in march from OCUK, and have only really just got a chance to try it out.

It seems that it has some problems, whenever I play HL2 or oblivion the graphics become fuzzy/dotty/scrambley after playing for 30 mins or so.

I suspect there is something wrong with my GFX card, FYI I am running ATI drivers catalyst ver 06.3 and the temp in CCC shows as about 75oC when I exit the game. It is not overclocked, nor ever has been.

As soon as I exit the game my graphics in Windows are absolutely fine.

Anyone got any ideas what this could be?

I'd like to work out whether its definately faulty before returning it and getting it sent back + a hefty ocuk 'service' charge.

Many thanks

 

[Minstadave]

Definately sounds like its overheating, I'd RMA it tbh. If you download and install the latest Rivatuner, its hardware monitor will give you a graph of the last few minutes of temps. voltages and clock speeds. Start that up and let it run in the background, come out of the game when the problems have started and check the temps.

 

[Darkwave]

75ºc in Windows actually sounds normal to me, since I got the same before fitting my Zalman VF900-CU. My suspicion is that there's some problem with the card itself like faulty memory or something.

I'd try it with some other drivers (6.3 recommended) and then try it in a different PC, but if you get no joy with that then I would request an RMA from OcUK and have them take a look.

 

[sanofi]

My Connect3d x1800xt is about 65C idle, 70+ seems a bit hot but if the air flow wasn't too great then its understandable that it would be hotter.

 

[Jakus]

Temp Problem for Sure
Make sure Your Case has front fans supplying cool air to the X1800 air inlet

Its been pretty hot recently so its a good chance the Card is OK but if You don't cool it down You will kill it

Also something like Ati tool and crank up the fan speed should stop the temp building,On the same theme make sure the Fan is good and inlet/outlet and heatsinks are not blocked up

 

[Darkwave]

There should be no need to crank up the fanspeed at all with the stock cooler. These things go up to 45% under load, and anything higher is like a jet engine. As for front fans, why? It's a dual-slot cooler, all the hot air is sucked from the PCB and blown directly out of the back of the case, so even the most horribly ventilated cases don't make much of a difference with these cards.

Like I said, 75ºc idle and up to 85ºc under load is pretty average for X1800XTs using the stock cooler, and they are rated for up to like 110ºc with perfect operation (but obviously that is too much simply on principle.)

Just for the benefit of the doubt, try the Catalyst 6.3 drivers and the card in another machine, then RMA it if there is still a problem. Wether it is a dodgy card or temps (which I seriously doubt), it's still going back either way, so you might as well try everything first.

 

[sanofi]

There should be no need to crank up the fanspeed at all with the stock cooler. These things go up to 45% under load, and anything higher is like a jet engine. As for front fans, why? It's a dual-slot cooler, all the hot air is sucked from the PCB and blown directly out of the back of the case, so even the most horribly ventilated cases don't make much of a difference with these cards.

Like I said, 75ºc idle and up to 85ºc under load is pretty average for X1800XTs using the stock cooler, and they are rated for up to like 110ºc with perfect operation (but obviously that is too much simply on principle.)

Just for the benefit of the doubt, try the Catalyst 6.3 drivers and the card in another machine, then RMA it if there is still a problem. Wether it is a dodgy card or temps (which I seriously doubt), it's still going back either way, so you might as well try everything first.

Are the cat 6.3's considerably better than the the latest version?

 

[Darkwave]

Are the cat 6.3's considerably better than the the latest version?

Not better per sé, but they're pretty much accepted as the most stable version in recent times.