GPU Overheating

Whenever I play Guild Wars for more than 20 minutes, MY GPU (6600gt) goes up to 100+ degrees. The PC has just been cleaned out, ruling out the possiblility of Dust clogging the exhaust fan. Also, I get flickering colours on Guild wars when the graphics card begins to heat up.

Specs:

Intel Pentium 4 3.0ghz
1 gig Ram
128mb 6600gt

I have a guildie thats been getting this for a while now, I just used to berated him for not knowing anything about computers, but if someone knows how to sort it, I can get him sorted

You should check if the fan on the card is working when the PC is on. If it is and the cooler is free of dust, then the whole cooler probably somehow lost contact with the GPU/memory chips.

those colors (colours) are called *visual artifacts* and are the last cry for help from a dying (frying) card.

if still under warranty call in for an RMA

if out of warranty check into an aftermarket GPU cooler for the card.

i have one of those around here but forget if the ram sinks are separate or not.

either way the longer you fry it the better the chance of permanent damage

If the card is truly artifacting, you can assume that it has already suffered permanent physical damage.

Sounds exactly like the problem I had on my first 6600GT, the fan decided to quit. Open your box up and check to see if the fan is spinning when you fire the system up.

One other thing to do is to have an intake fan installed in the side of the case rght even wih the video car. Doing this gives the cards fan fresh air faster than sucking it from within the case. This has helped a rather large number of people that I have installed them for and should help out you also.

Mega Mouse

Although the fan directed at the gpu would help, Easyg is right-- your video card probably already has permanent damage. You could easily replace your apparently faulty 6600gt with a better card for less than what you would pay for a fan and someone to install it. (unless you have one and can do it yourself) On several sites (I don't know if linking to online stores is allowed here) I've seen the nvdia 7600gs with 256mb for about $80-$95. Not the greatest, but better than what you have. I'd shy away from the 7300gt. Theres actually a thread about someone having problems with it up right now. So if you do indeed have to resort to purchasing a fan or a new video card altogether I would go with a new video card. Make sure your fan is running and go from there.

Oh and goto google and type in "6600gt overheating" It's ridiculous.

100° Celsius or Fahrenheit?

Not always the silicon suffers permanent damage immediately, as he lets the card cool down it appears to function normally, so a replacement fan, ,dust wipe, and checking other airflow obstructing possibilities should be ok to get the systemn working again. Dust in between the cooler ribs is one notorious problem for overheating as well. Just clean out you PC once or twice per year.

Artifacts caused by heat are often formed by electrons jumping (tunneling a quantummechanic effect) from one circuit to another due to increased energy levels. The GPU is however more prone to permanent damage as fro example a normal CPU, that after overclocking also shows afterfacts (if u went too far).

i had excatly the same problem i tried replacing everythings...cleaning everything but the whole pc was shot to bits anyway...

Im still without gw since August 06

I would buy a $10 slot fan and put it next to your video card. It should help lower the temp of your video card.

FYI I've had a similiar problem with my ati radeon 9800 video card when it would display artifacts when playing about 10 minutes or so. The problem might be your power supply not supply enough juice to your video card. I had an intel 2.4a processor, 1gb or ram, with ati 9800 video card and it would display artifacts with my 420w thermaltake power supply. I ended up replacing with a 500w FAR power supply from outpost.com and it works fine.

The 7600GT is the newer equivalent to the 6600GT. If you're budget minded I'd go with that one. Stay far, far away from the 7300 if possible. It's not a gaming GPU. It'll run some games ok, but it's not made for gaming...no matter what the marketing for it says. Up from there you could go with a 7900GT, but I'd go with an ATI x1950 over a 7900GT (I have 2 7900GTs in one of my machines, and it's ok, but not great).

First, though, I'd try running the game with the side panel off your case and a fan blowing right at the video card. If it clears up the artifacting problem your GPU is probably fine. 100C isn't going to insta-fry your GPU, but it won't take very long to kill it. As has been said, get a new video card cooler (small evening project...get some help if you're not confident), assuming you can't fix the one you have. The slot fan is a good suggestion as well, although most of those slot fans tend to get loud with age.

Out of curiosity, what is the ambient temperature inside your case after it's been running for an hour or so?

Hey Markrids, I had the same exact problem with intel card to... try this, right click your desktop, graphic option, panel fit then "Maintain Aspect Ratio"... hope that work for you, because I did for me.

Oh yea, dont touch your GPU to see the temperature, because you get grease on them, the way to touch is with the knuckle, not hitting it, mind you.

I'd go with the suggestion of Dex (take of the side panel), although u would expect also experiences with overheating of the CPU. Though a much better sink and fan can cover that. To get to know the temperatures u can use MBM5. If case temperature is indeed the problem, then u can solve that by placing an in and/or outtake fan at appropriate positions, and ensure that cables are folded agaoinst the side. A small case cramped with devices will be more likely to cause these symptoms.

Anyone notice how slot coolers kinda suck? I have a Vantec SP-FC70-BL slot cooler and it's really far from ideal. I'm not an engineer, but it doesn't take a genius to see how inadequate this thing is.

If the vid card fan pulls air to cool the GPU, then it kinda defeats the purpose to put an exhausting fan beneath it, since this would create vacuum and decreased airflow to the GPU.

On the other hand, I've noticed that most slot coolers that intake air from the back panel (like mine) don't have an air filter, meaning they will tend to spray dust and debris directly onto the video card.

The perfect slot cooler would (1) intake air from the back of the case and blow directly onto video card. (2) have decent filtration. And (3) -- this is most important -- it would be UV-reactive GREEN

The fan on my 6600 gave up a few days ago too so i think the 6600-series fans are a little sucky maybe :S
Replace the fan and you'll have a very nice temperature :P

Okay.

Ive send the 6600gt back and waiting on a 7600gt. In the meantime I've put my old FX5200 back in. The problem with that Is , I used to be able to play Guild Wars at almost full settings but with no AA. Since Ive put it back in, I only get 7-9fps at Lowest settings on the 800*600 setting. Why the sudden downscale in graphics with the exact same card I used before?