On 22 Sep 2005 16:32:51 -0700, "Cyde Weys"
<cydeweys@gmail.com> wrote:
>It seems like my 9800 Pro is dying. The problems first started roughly
>when I updated to Catalyst 5.8 drivers. Textures would simply start
>disappearing or warping to really strange colors starting at around 10
>minutes of gameplay. Quitting the game and reloading seemed to fix
>that, but who only plays games for ten minutes at a time? So I
>reverted to the 5.7 drivers. It's not quite so bad anymore, but I
>still get the problem.
>
>What is going on? My 9800 Pro worked for over a year before these
>problems started showing up. Do you think I'm having an overheating
>problem? I did replace the stock fan it came with with a large
>fan-type dealie that takes up a whole PCI slot, and I was overclocking
>for awhile. I got these problems and stopped overclocking, but it's
>not seeming to help.
>
>How do I tell if my GPU is overheating, anyway? Is there a temperature
>probe like there is with CPUs?
>
>Thanks for the help!
[rant]
What a good laugh? Read this,
http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews...22_094501.html
Excerpt:
"Graphics drivers developed for Vista, Microsoft's next
generation operating system, will be far more stable than
their Windows XP-based counterparts, and not crash the
operating system anymore, an executive of graphics chip
developer ATI told Tom's Hardware Guide."
Translation:
ATI is doing same thing they have in past years. They chose
to not get the bugs worked out of their drivers and just
leave them broken, instead "implying" that if only you buy
their NEXT product generations, then suddenly things will be
right. Problem is, this is nothing new, just a bit of deja
vu. You've already PAID for a product they decide they're
only going to put a minor effort into supporting. Today
there are servers out there where you can't even remove
properly installed ATI drivers because ATI couldn't even be
bothered to fix something as basic as uninstall routine in
Add/Remove programs. They are essentially saying "screw
you, now buy more stuff from us!".
[/rant]
As for your aftermarket fan (is it the heatsink too)?
I presume you've checked to make sure fan is still spinning
at proper speed. If it's using a cheap sleeve-bearing fan
it would be good to lube that fan _before_ it starts making
noise due to chewing up the bearing, with a high quality
moderately thick oil (almost grease consistency).
If the 'sink (metal portion) was also replaced (or for that
matter, even if it wasn't) you might also see if it's still
making good contact. Maybe it's fine or maybe it needs
removed, the contact area on both parts cleaned off, and a
fresh application of high-quality, synthetic based thermal
compound (like arctic alumina or take-your-pick). If there
is a 3rd party metal heatsink body installed and it doesn't
make quite perfect contact (or is relatively rough on the
bottom and you don't want to lap it till it's flatter), it
can be necessary to put on more thermal compound to
compensate. In that case it might be best to avoid those
compounds that aren't electrically inert, like Arctic
Silver. It's relatively non-conductive but still
capacitive, IIRC.
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro _dying_? 
Linear Mode
