Severe Radeon 9800 Pro issues

[EdLev]

I recently got a radeon 9800 Pro, which I heard is near top-of-the-line, only beaten by the XT version. After the first few frustrating and failed attempts to get it to work, I was told my power supply was too puny to handle this power-hungry card.

True enough, I upgraded from 350W to 420W and the card seemed to work fine. However, after about 3 or 4 hours in game, the card went crazy. All the textures became confetti, and I started getting lines and artifacts all over the screen. So I decided the card must be overheating. I ordered and installed an Arctic VGA Silencer, making sure I applied the thermal grease properly, the cooler was screwed tightly enough, etc. However, I get the same damn problem, and now it happens nearly as soon as Windows starts. I've tried everything, reinstalling video drivers, mobo AGP drivers, directx, even FFXI, and it still happens. Any ideas?

[Devryn]

I hate to break it to you but that card is shot. Once it overheats you can never fix you. If it wasn't overclocked you need to return it for warantee. I think ATI's warantee is 1 year from DOP.

IF...IF IF IF you purchased a generic PS and not an Antec or other hi end brand then it's possible that the card received a surge and that killed it. Sounds to me like that's what happened. I have an Antec 350W PS and my 9800 pro works just fine. There are products out there that you can't go cheap on and power supplies are numero uno on that list. Sorry to be the barer of bad news. Hope you get it straightened out. Just remember it's probably not ATI's fault. It would have happened if you put an nVidia board in there too.

[EdLev]

I was just about to post before you did, but I actually fixed it. It did not overheat to a point where it died, and I found out what was wrong. Turns out the VGA Silencer has a switch to select fan speed. I set the switch to High, but apparently broke it when I put the card into the case (I'm an idiot) and without the switch, the fan was set to Low. So I opened the little switch, and tested the pins with a piece of aluminium foil until the fan was going at high speed, then just stuck the foil there with electric tape. Not the most professional of repairs, but hell, it works for me.

EDIT: Forgot to mention my Radeon works perfectly now. :sweat: