How do I finish off my 8800GTS without physically destroying it?

[Razztastic]

Hey guys,

So I have an old 8800GTS SC 320mb in my work computer. I noticed it started to be real flakey when gaming for a few hours. I checked the temps and to my surprise they were 100+ after gaming. So I realized I had a problem. Cleaned out the fan, got everything so it was idling around 60 degrees, not great but it works, under load with games it gets to around 85-90 degrees, still no TOOO bad, BUT my games will freeze & blue screen after about 2 hours of gaming or so, just before that I artifact up like crazy and my screen goes real weird(sorta like if you had a bad vga cable and you were wiggling it around while active).

Anyway, If I run ATI tool bench, it gets up to 104 degrees and stays there - no errors for hours on end, I had it running for a max 6 hours straight at 104 degrees not getting any errors.

I have reinstalled the drivers a few times, I triple boot this PC and checked in XP 32bit and Vista 32bit, main OS is Vista 64bit.. So I don't think it is any driver issue.


I am really afraid that I will waste time if I send it in for an RMA because the benches in ATI tool all look fine, how can I finish this card off once and for all and get it replaced?

[south side sammy]

My 640 card doesn't get that hot. You realize that's 85-90 "C" not "F"..... it's over the boiling point. I'd RMA it and get it over with. They may send you a newer card in it's place seeing how old the 320 is. ... or you can pull the heat sink and fan off and cleanup and re-apply arctic silver to see if that would help. I think the card is shot though. If you RMA it put a small hidden mark on it in case they try and send the same one back.