Sigh.

I RMA'd my 8800GTX from MSI about 4 weeks back because it was just, well, dead.

So finally, I received from MSI the "NX8800ultra HD" as a replacement. I was happy, till I plugged it in.

First problem, I saw little " - " lines all over my bootup screen in a nice pattern, little bigger though. I ignored it, I installed the drivers, and when the screen flashed in the middle of the driver installation my screen went all garbled and i couldn't do a thing. I restarted.

well, it did that continuously, freezing at windows welcome screen, artifacts in bootup, till the point i have it at now.

Now, it boots up nicely without artifacts, and it runs stable on my Desktop only. When i go to play WoW, it runs smoothly at the login screen for about 10 seconds then freezes up. I ALT+F4. I try Nvidias "Stability test" program, it runs smooth, then freezes up, then runs smooth then freezes up, with tiny blocks randomly occuring throughout the screen of the video it is playing.

So, I've tried 3 different drivers, newest one, oldest one, and MSI's driver. Still freezes up. The tempuratures are fine according to Ntune and PC wizard. I've tried underclocking the card, my Start bar got fricked up and was garbled with color. I tried overclocking a little bit, nothing.

I don't know what the problem could be, I really don't want to believe they sent me a Faulty card because I don't want to wait another month for an "will it work?!" card.

AMD Athlon X2 5000
M2N4-SLI Asus
2GB DDR2 667 (2x1024)
Creative X-fi Xtreme gamer
320 Barracuda HDD
Antec 550W HE PSU (3x 12V @ 18A each)

Hmm.. I unplugged all my fans, my CDrom, and now my games are running smooth....

...would unplugging a DVDrom/Fans really give that much more power to the GPU for it to work?

cause it seems to be working now

Sounds like you found the problem. You need a better PSU to handle that beast is a card.

Yup, its the PSU... lmao, sorry about the post. I figured this out right after i posted.

Never knew a PSU could do so much... and make it seem like its the Gcard ya know?

Well, actually in theory your current PSU should be more than enough for your system. But it sounds like it's probably dieing. How long have you had it?

Try to replug the video cards a few times. sometimes the coper contacts are a little dirty.

For the CD rom, use another cable. there is no way a 8800ultra is gonna overtake that psu.

On the psu

There is a max 12 volt current its not 3 x 18(to get total number of amps) = 54amps
54 x 12(to get wattage) = 648 watts(too much).

The psu has 18 amp limmits on each "rail" they all draw from one big rail that supplies a max of xxx watts(its on the side lable. it will say 12^1 + 12^2 + 12^3 can not exceed xxx watts, ) take that xxx number and divide it by 12 to get the total number of amps.

EDIT

your max 12volt is 42 amps. looked it up. still way more then enough(unless the thing is defective). check the cables and use another line for the DVD drive.

EDIT EDIT

My system

Case: Antec 900
PSU: OCZ 700watt
Board: P35 DS3R
CPU: Q6600 @ 3.00
CPU cooling : Zalman 9500 @ 500-2200 rpms(PWM)
Memory: 2x 1024MB ,2X 512MB @ 4,4,4,10
Video: 8800GTX 600(core) 1400(shader) 900 x2(memory) - Factory OC
Storage:
2x WDC 250gig (Raid0)
2x Seagate 320gig(Storage)
2x Seagate 500gig(Storage)
1x 500gig Seagate (Backup-external) <--not in power use test
Optical drive: Pioneer DVR-115DBK
KB/Mouse: Logitech Access 600, G9 Mouse
TV card: PVR 250
Sound: Creative SB Audigy 2zs
Screen: Samsung 950b (LCD) <--not in power use test
Speakers: Altec Lansing Select 641 <--not in power use test

And it all pulls around 330(370 with ati tool + defragging 2 drives + burning a DVD + all cores folding) watts from the wall....

Thats not taking into account the the 20% lost during the power conversion and step down.

Hmm.. could it be how i had my fans and DVDrom connected?

Because it works now perfectly with no freeze ups ever since i unplugged the fans and DVDrom

http://www.antec.com/us/productDet [...] odID=28550

is my power supply

http://www.antec.com/specs/NeoPower550_spe.html

504 watts of 12 volt if needed. 42 amps

Try another cable(for the fans and dvd). i had that with a floppy once.

im not the psu, my computer is freezing ALL the time.. like 1 frame per 2 minutes right now as i type.. it might restart, i think it may be my psu that is dieing because it worked for a while when i unplugged, for a good 30-40 minutes then it froze...

now it barely runs, even the desktop/mouse freeze.. it took me 4 minutes to load this page, the screen went all artifact like then went back to normal..

everything is freezing, it seemed to stop now...

could it still be that my PSU is dying or something of that sort? The Gcard was running SMOOTHLY for 30-40 minutes earlier.. when i unplugged fans/hard drive..

Try to reseat(take out and reinsert it) the video card. If that does not help try to use a software like hwmon or speedfan to try to monitor for voltage changed.

http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

If all else fails see if you can RMA the thing or at least borrow another one to test. its hard to diagnose without a known good psu

Its got to be my PSU or something with power.

I take both PCIe cables out, insert 1 to get rid of the artifacts, it freezes and reboots on the desktop. I insert the second, and here i am now able to type and so far no freezing, I do not DARE touch a game.

I think you figured it out. Don't run it any longer than you have to in case you screw something else up.

Well...

Tried this card on 2 completely different systems and its just dead. Artifacts everywhere...

Guess i am RMA'ing the card i got for a replacement from my other RMA..

Don't MSI ever test their damn cards before sending them out?!?