So my video card has been dying for years...

PETC

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I've got an old ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb video card (I know, ancient technology) and it was doing fine for years. Then I overclocked it and it was still doing fine, outperforming a lot of cards and keeping its temp down.

One day I overclocked it waaaay too much on accident and the screen artifacted everywhere. I quickly set it back to normal before the screen was unreadable and the card has worked ever since, albeit slower. It can no longer operate at stock clock frequencies and needs to be turned down to operate without artifacting.

Recently it has been artifacting upon initiation during windows startup and now it's finally affecting my desktop/GUI.

I just thought I'd post a screenshot here just in case I have misdiagnosed this problem. Perhaps you guys could give me your opinions?

Screenshot.jpg


I have no money right now... a very bad time for my video card to start dying on me... :(
 
I'm not sure of an answer, but you could try posting on www.ocforums.com for a quick response. Is the fan working properly for your card? heatsink secured? power connected properly?
 
I've got an old ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb video card (I know, ancient technology) and it was doing fine for years. Then I overclocked it and it was still doing fine, outperforming a lot of cards and keeping its temp down.
Overclocking the 9800 pro is a bad idea, especially with the stock-cooler. I?ve had one ...
http://img524.imageshack.**/img524/4407/9800pro3dr9.jpg
... and the Problems is, that only the 9800 from Gigabyte had Temperature sensors build in (and those were not very acurate) ... so the only way to notice you?ve gone up too high is when it?s actually already damaged and showing arifacts ... it?s like russian roulette ... and to make matters worse ... a lot 9800s couldn?t take much overclocking ...
I have no money right now... a very bad time for my video card to start dying on me... :(
It?s already dead ... it might have worked a bit underclocked and without problems under 2D, but that?s over now. There are a couple of things you could try (mainly trying to use some other Bios of other 9800 variants in hope it deactivates the damaged parts), but that?s like trying to find a needle in a haystack and it?s even more likey you?ll make the problem worse.
 
New video cards are dirt cheap.
 
If you can't even fork out $50 for a new video card, you shouldn't have a pc in the first place.
 
If you can't even fork out $50 for a new video card, you shouldn't have a pc in the first place.

Oh really asshole? Money is tight right now so don't be a dick. But I'm sure since money is no problem for you and your brand new BMW or whatever the hell it is you drive that means everyone else with less money is doing something wrong, right? It's called supporting yourself through college dickhole.
 
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I had the 9800pro, I once used a vaccum cleaner to get rid of the dust from its cooler, since then I had the same problems you describe, bought an x800 which cost 150? at the time :/ Also note that AGP is more expensive than PCI-E.
 
Yeah, if my mobo wasn't so old I'd definitly just buy PCI-E, but like I said, I've got a pretty old computer. Once I get some cash I'll just grab a new video card. I was meaning to do that and get some more RAM anyways.
 
Oh really asshole? Money is tight right now so don't be a dick. But I'm sure since money is no problem for you and your brand new BMW or whatever the hell it is you drive that means everyone else with less money is doing something wrong, right? It's called supporting yourself through college dickhole.

Woaaaah easy there. We're just trying to help you.

I'm on the side for getting a new video card. If you badly need money you can always get a loan from school and just give supplies as your reason. My roommate did that when his monitor fried, and he also needed money for rent.

You should be able to find ones like crazyjeeper posted for $50 or less. Happy hunting.
 
MadCow809 was kinda being a dick, but he's right in that video cards are relatively cheap and it's not worth the trouble spending money on a shit card (new HSF or whatever), especially when you can spend a little money and get an insane improvement in FPS.

My sister spend like $120 and got a 3850. Compared to her old 9800 Pro, she probably got like a 25x performance increase.
 
I bought a 9600xt a few years back and after 6 months had the same artifact problem without overclocking :whistle:. When I pulled the card out to replace it I found that the heatsink and fan was so clogged with dust that the fan had stopped spinning. I cleaned it out and got the fan working but it was too late. Going back on topic, this card looks pretty reasonable except for maybe the power requirements.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814141075
 
Yeah, like I said, once my paycheck comes in I'll be getting a craptastic video card and saving up for some new ram + a nicer card as well.

Until then my busted ass card will have to do. :(
 
I hate to say it, but if you really get enough money (which its usually less than you expect so maybe you shouldn't plan on this too) you shouldn't spend more on that MoBo if it doesn't have PCI-E. I think if you can get a Mobo with PCI and a video card with it, or built in one just to hold you over it may make your life a little easier in the long run. Then you won't have to look for more expensive AGP.

Just a 2 cents worth.
 
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