Video Card dying - Diagnostic?

[SKIPART]

I believe my vid card (Gainward 128MB Ti3 Golden Sample) is on the verge of dying, i.e. - artifacts/weird redraws/"slideshow" fps or an outright crash under heavy use. Even though the game specs only require 32-64MB cards & about 64MB RAM to operate (I have 1GB RAM installed) No OC'ing of card even though it's supposedly capable of it.

I know this is usually due to an overheating issue but my case is extermely well ventilated & all other components run exceptionally cool...AMD XP2600, 42C @ full load for ex.. And I've tried all the other "usual suspects" updated drivers from Nvidia, MB AGP drivers, XP reinstall, etc. No dice.

Evidently, something needs to be replaced. Either the card or perhaps the MB itself (ECS K75SA Pro - not too great but stable otherwise.).

I was wondering if any diagnostics, besides Dxdiag (always passes) & fps benchmarks exist to findout where and if some bottleneck exists in the vid system or if there's a way to determine the "health" of the card?

Thanks for any info

[pam123]

Your best bet is to try it out in a friend's computer, find one who is updating his drivers, that will tell you if it's the card.
If you can borrow a video card from someone try that in your board also ( An older 4X card please. You don't want to fry someone's 9700 if it's the AGP slot. ) there are probably a few geforce 2s around.
That will tell you all you need to know and all you'll have to worry about is the warranty on the card and/or motherboard, depending on what shows up.

[Hi Ho]

The same thing happened to the first Gainward 4800 I got. It was not overclocked and it iwas well ventelated but it only lasted a week. The next one I got went to a blank screen after two months. I am on my third one now. Hopefully it will last. I wonder if Gainwards quality is slipping or if Nvidia put out a bad batch of chips.

[SKIPART]

I'm beginning to believe that my PS is contributing to the problem as well. My 3.3 & 5v readings are looking low to me - 3.3v - 2.992, 5v - 4.784. These were reported by the BIOS at rest. Under load these surely take a dip.

I'm running a XP2400 CPU & 1GB of DDR2700 RAM as well. I'm afraid I'm not getting enough juice....

Whether or not this causes vid card "artifacts" remains to be seen. Perhaps PSU & card are "checking out" at the same time.

[pam123]

Yes it is possible.
What are your plans for checking everything out ?

[SKIPART]

Well, I just went ahead & replaced the power supply just on principle (never hurts to a spare) and my voltages are now where they need to be... No outright crashes.

However, the artifacts haven't been eliminated. I guess a new vid card is in order. I'll be sure to avoid Gainward cards this time around.

[Hi Ho]

Gainward used to be (and may still be) top of the line. I don't know what happened. I also replaced my old Powmax power supply with an Enlight. Maybe that did the trick.

[SKIPART]

Yeah too bad about ol' Gainward. I had heard that they were pretty good....

I may try to pick up a ATI 9600XT to replace it. Gotta a load better than this GeForce 3Ti! Now that I picked up this Antec PS.