Did I fry my GPU?

G

Gordon.C

Member
Hi,

I have an ATI Radeon HD4870X2 which has run for over 3 years like a charm. The GPU was able to handle quite well even todays newest games.

Well I tried playing GTA San Andreas after a very long time and at first it ran fine. After about 10 minutes strange artifacts started to appear on screen. The appearing artifacts on the screen reminded me of times when I tried to over clock the GPU (very very long time ago, that has nothing to do with my current situation).

Well I did not figure this might be causing harm to the computer so I kept playing for another 10 minutes and then quit the game through menu. Windows did not appear after the game quit and only black screen occurred.
I rebooted and since then the problems occur.

On my MoBo there is a set of diodes which shines each time the computer boots. The diodes usually dim after about 7 seconds but now they keep shining for at least 30 seconds.

When the diodes finally dim my screen looks like this.
scaled.php


scaled.php


The computer still seems to be able to boot into Windows safe mode which looks like this

scaled.php


Did GTA SA manage to fry my GPU? :D
 
The computer takes a very long time to boot (glowing diodes on MoBo) and then it displays the above. The monitor and cable are fine really...

I tried to connect the monitor into the second outlet of the GPU but the same happens.

Given that the GTA SA caused the malfunction (not the age of the hardware) could anything else have burned due to processing the game? Perhaps a MoBo circuit or god know what?
 
Very likely that the GPU is failing. Have you checked whether the fan is still working?If you didnt know the fan has stopped and you keep playing the games, you might have just fried the card.:-(
 
But they may not be fine on the inside. Check with a different computer before going out and buying a new graphics card. But it is most likely a bad GPU.
 
Agrred with clapton. Take out the GPU and put it into a different computer to verify that your GPU is at fault.
 
Well it was the GPU...

Just for record, what I did was that I removed the potentially faulty GPU from the PC I tried to boot into Windows and waited "screen-less" for the Windows welcome sound (then I heard the Avast update notification) the GPU was obviously at fault.

So I popped in a new GPU and works fine again...

Perhaps it was a complete coincidence that GTA SA finally burnt it because that old GPU had quite a history in terms of gameplay in the past 3 years. Maybe it just got tired finally...

P.S. Unfortunately I did not have 500 bucks to spare for a brand new Ati Radeon HD 7970 so I had to settle down with one of the cheapest nVidea cards for 50 bucks for now :-)
 
Last edited:
Shoorik said:
Nothing wrong with a cheap graphics card. That $500 graphics card will probably be worth $50 in 2 years.
Click to expand...

True... Well no gaming for me for a while

byteninja2 said:
My guess is you bought a 520, that is a pretty bad card for gaming, and $130 is all you need for a good gpu, not $500.
Click to expand...

I had to buy GeForce 210. As I said, no gaming for me for a couple of months

bigfellla said:
My guess is that your PSU wasn't up to it, causing heat issues in the VRAM.
Click to expand...

Its possible. I noticed that VDDC used to overheat often to up to 100 degrees C.
I will let you know if I figure something out once I open the card
 
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