6800GT Graphics card, possible bad caps?

[Rapideye]

Hi again,

I have a 6800GT AGP here that is showing some weird symptoms.
whenever it load any driver (ive tried a few), the display goes like a mosaic of pixels, at any resolution and refresh rate.
it started intermittently, now its full time hell.
ive tried all known resolutions of driver install/uninstall, with the same results.
registry cleaning and reflashing video BIOS proved no different.

I have a fairly new OCZ PSU, and all my other components are working fine.

Could this be a sign of Cap decay?, they look ok.

Could this be related to the cards power circuitry?

The caps are the surface mounted solid type, 2 units only.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[willawake]

Re: 6800GT Graphics card, possible bad caps?

the two big ones look like oscons, does it say sepc or svp on them? what about the little cap?

seems poor to have so few caps.

was it ever working ok on that psu?
what is your motherboard?

[hkivan]

Re: 6800GT Graphics card, possible bad caps?

The card comes with digital VRM so it looks different from others.
Just like those high end ATI gfx cards & higher end Lanparty mobo.
Usually , we won't see many large caps on digital VRM out but instead,
small smt yellow cap right near the coils.

[willawake]

Re: 6800GT Graphics card, possible bad caps?

interesting. i suppose the best method would be to try it on another pc for a while and see if the problem remains. there can be some mobo driver issue or bios setting problem but maybe you have not changed anything.

but if it works the same on another pc then perhaps you may be looking at some little defective smt cap or other item. if it is intermittent it sounds like hardware problem.

it would be good to know about the caps on the mobo also.
check the caps in the psu if possible

[Rapideye]

Re: 6800GT Graphics card, possible bad caps?

the card has 2 large caps which are:
437 SVP 330 16 - Blue edge on cap

another very small cap just above where the digital VRM,s are:
47 100 16A - Blue edge on cap.

My PSU is 3 months old, OCZ modstream 520W, no signs of wear yet.
My motherboard is a DFI LanParty Pro875B, all caps are looking good (sanyos around the AGP port)

Ive managed to get i touch with Chaintech RMA, i ended up ringing taiwan head office!!!!
Ill see if they can sort a new one, but it doesnt look like a hit as of yet, so i may have to try some methods myself, recap included.
Bummer eh, ive had no 3D for a week, and missed out on a couple of clan wars.

[willawake]

Re: 6800GT Graphics card, possible bad caps?

i doubt you need to recap those.

[gonzo0815]

Re: 6800GT Graphics card, possible bad caps?

OScons are apparently known to be superior regarding endurance and performance. I higly doubth, that an Oscon would be bad that early. I have some server boards with Xeon dual CPU in my dumster wich is vervy very old and still operational. And shure, there are only Oscons and MLCC`s and may be some Tantalums. I assume that may be some of those VT VRM chips under this smal heasink are broken. i hhave a GF6800GT Ultra bla bla with an brocken VT chip, i never found out where to order sutch an chip, despite the odd`s of BGA soldering with my equipment.

If there is any changse to get it replaced just do it. If not do you a favor and sell it to whoever wants this card and buy a new 7600GS or better 7600GT. Theyr cheap ATM and at least the 7600gt can easily outperform your 6800 by numbers.