First off, let me post the system spec for you all... AMD64 3500 clawhammer core MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum 2x Patriot 512mb PC3200 RAM at 2.3.3.8 timmings BFG 6800OC 128mb SB Audigy2 ZS WD 80GB SATA Maxtor 120GB PATA Antec Truepower 430 WinXP Pro SP2 Now onto the problem. I had been using the BFG card in my system for about a month with no problems whatsever. I upgraded the fan assembly on the card to a Zalman VF700-CU to help the card run a bit cooler and to quiet down the noise. I installed the Zalman unit as instructed and gave my system a quick run through to make sure everything was working correct as I was taking this system to a huge LAN party that same day. Well, everything ran fine so I packed up my system and went to the LAN party. When I set up my system at the LAN party my graphics seemed to be causing major system instability. CS:S would work for about an hour before I would get graphical glitches and my system would either freeze up or I would get the BSOD. BattleField 2 did the exact same thing. Well, after the LAN I plopped in my old tried and true ATi 9800pro. I cleaned all the Nvidia video drivers and installed the Catalyst drivers. Now, my system tends to do the same glitching/freezing/BSOD thing with my 9800pro! To top it off, now whenever I play BF2 I get polygons that stretch and glitch out on moving objects. The HUD even disappears from time to time. I've tried reinstalling BF2, Steam and HL2 and those didn't work. When I was moving the computer to the LAN party it did get jossled around a little bit, but nothing harsh like banging into anything. Could this have causing my motherboard to get damaged? Could a damaged AGP port be causing this problem? I would greatly appreciate any help with this. Thank you!
I popped the stock heatsink back on the BFG 6800OC and installed it in another computer today and was greeted with this mess... The video card that I pulled out of this computer to test the BFG card was a PNY FX5200 w/ the latest Nvidia drivers. Nevermind the disk boot failure in that picture as it happens with the other computer if you hit reset a few times. I'm guessing that means that whatever the hell happened, the video card got damaged somehow in the process. I checked the core closely with a magnifying glass to see if the core got crushed or chipped and it appeared to be perfectly fine. I also looked over the entire card with the magnifying glass and everything looked as it should. This somewhat solves the problem with the BFG card, but it does not solve the issue with my system pertaining the 9800pro and the possible motherboard damage. If anyone has any insight on this, I would greatly appreciate any help. Thank you!
