Back about my 7800gs problem. ok removed all overclocking got a new PSU with 34A on the +12V rail(dual rail 16A and 18A). still getting triangular artifacts after playing games for awhile. so the card has a problem since the comp is completely unmodded. i will return the card but after recieving 2 bad bfg cards im wondering if i should stick with nvidia. think the 7800gs could just have an issue with my system? the x800xt all-in-wonder is going for $10 less than the bfg 7800gs. i know it will be a performance sacrifice and no SM 3.0 support but im extremely frustrated with the 2 nvidia cards that have caused me these problems(6800gs and the 7800gs). my 9600xt never caused me problems. what do u guys think? exchange for another bfg 7800gs. or refund and get an a-i-w x800xt?

Zo

A comparable card from ATI will cost you more, but I understand your frustration. No benefit in a sweet deal that you can't enjoy.

Like I said in response to your previous post, try another 7800GS brand, after all BFG is not the only one making those.

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I wouldn't go for the x800xt. The perfomance sacrifice is in my opinion too much. If I were you I'd give the 7800gs another shot.

BTW, I suppose you have the latest drivers??

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How about posting the make/model of that new PSU?...just because the rail specs look good, it doesn't mean it's a good unit.

It's also possible that you damaged the 7800GS by overclocking. If I remember correctly, you immediately overclocked it & didn't really give it much of a chance at the default clock speed, plus you were using a cheapo $17 PSU at the time. Then when you backed off to default speed, the problem was still there. Is that about right?

heres the psu and yes i have all the latest drivers for everything:

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817148008

Newegg has a peskky 15% restocking fee for refunds so im definitely gonna try just exchanging it for another one of the same card. if the second one is messed then im pretty sure the card and my system dont mix in which case i wont have any other choice than to get a wholly different card. as for immediately OC'ing it i didnt. i used the card at stock speeds for a few days where it was having problems. so then i made the post on this forum and lowered my cpu clock which was speeding up my agp slot. tried underclocking it was well and i only tried overclocking it when my comp was returned to its original clock state. unless making the agp slot too fast can damage the card i dont think i ruined it by overclocking.

Zo

Are you sure that's the right PSU? That one has a single +12v line of 35A.

Newegg apparently has sold a lot of those & the customer reviews aren't bad, but I've seen some very poor reviews of the Aspire 500W unit. I've never used Aspire PSUs so I can't offer any 1st hand experience with them, but after reading the reviews, I don't think I'd ever buy one. There are plenty of better choices.

http://www.techreviewer.com/viewpage.cfm/ui/040608194317

http://www.techfreaks.org/reviews/aspire500w.shtml

well the one i got has a sticker on it that says +12V1 and +12V2 which have 16A and 18A. i found this confusing too since the psu isnt advertised as a dual rail psu but one of the customers reviewed it said it had dual rails as well. i really dont think anything other than my graphics card is power hungry so i put it on a separate line from the psu. it should be getting all the power it wants. this is the 520W unit not the 500W one. it was definately heavier than the old 600W one i had lol.

Zo

I can only speak for myself and the eVga 7800gt. I have the 7800gt and it performs flawlessly. It was an upgrade from an ati 9600xt card - same card you used to have. I had artifacting problems with the 9600xt and have had none with the 7800. I am 90% sure the difference is the power supply. My old psu was a generic 300 watt with 16A on the 12V rail. Now I have an antec 550W with 16+18 A on 12V1+12V2 and it is much more stable. I think the old psu was just barely enough to make the 9600 card work but not enough to make it work correctly all the time.

I do not do any overclocking but I am pretty sure that you need a good psu if you want sustainable oc results. It seems like many overclockers/oc messageboards seem to recomend the OCZ 520 psu. It is not to expensive and has good specs but I have no first hand experience with it.

ok another update. i tried the card on another computer. no problems at all. and i tried another nvidia card on my machine at the same time a 5950Ultra and it ran perfectly fine with no artifacts. so the card is fine and the computer(motherboard) is fine. looks like there is some random incompatibility between my system and the 7800gs. what should i do?

Zo

Aspire PSU's are not very good.

Hmm...high powered video card works in another computer, but not your current computer with a crap PSU.

Are we seeing a pattern yet? :-)

You won't be sure until you have a good PSU.

I would think it's either that or heat buildup. Artifacting is generally not caused by hardware incompatibility.

Go with for a PSU Antec, Enermax, Thermaltake, PC Power & Cooling, Coolermaster...

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yeah the 5950 requires much less power than even the 6800.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/04/14/performance_leap/page21.html

Try putting the better psu in your system where the 7800 card is not working. Also try it with only the minimum number of other peripherals - deattach any hard drives temporarily that you do not need - try it with less sticks of ram, etc. See if it works better then. These are all things that consume power so if they are deattached the system will use less overall power.

customers who have review this psu have posted so me of their specs. some use this psu with 7800gtx's so i really dont think its the psu. im trying the motherboard issue now.

Zo

Dude, you bought a piece of crap PSU (again) & refuse to acknowledge it.

You already said "i tried the card on another computer. no problems at all. and i tried another nvidia card on my machine at the same time a 5950Ultra and it ran perfectly fine with no artifacts. so the card is fine and the computer(motherboard) is fine"

Go ahead, be stubborn...buy a new board

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103459