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Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer
Problem description: I've gone through three EVGA 560GT video cards since the end of June. The first one lasted a couple of years; I RMA'd it, and the replacement survived roughly a month. Its replacement died the other day. None gave me any indication of impending failure, and the (much older) backup Nvidia 450 has fared better than any of the recent replacements. I don't overclock anything, I make sure that temperatures remain in sane bounds, and I try to keep everything clean.

Attempted fixes: I've Googled, I've reinstalled drivers, I've tested the cards in other machines. I've pulled my PSU (an Antec Earthwatts 650, about three years old) and tested it. Something is making these cards fail, and I'm not sure if it's because they're old stock that's already been returned and refurbed, or if the PSU is flaky. I don't think the problem is further up the pipe: everything's on battery backup, and it takes care of voltage spikes and such.

Recent changes: I did a full system rebuild, everything but the case, PSU and hard drives a couple of months ago. The first of the recently failed cards konked out shortly before that, though.

--

Operating system: Windows 7 64-bit.

System specs: Intel i5-4590, 8 GB of Crucial RAM, on an ASUS|H97M-E/CSM. Intel SSD, two platter hard drives, DVD-RW, all connected via S-ATA. Another, external hard drive, but no other peripherals of note, and no daughterboards besides the video card(s).

One of the symptoms of failure is the secondary monitor not receiving signal at all, while the primary shows noise and sometimes causes a blue-screen. The secondary monitor is seriously aged-- a Samsung Syncmaster 940BF that had the caps in its power board replaced a number of years ago. My knowledge of electrical engineering might fill the tip of a thimble, but is is possible that an aging monitor could send damaging feedback down the DVI cable?

Location: Canada

I have Googled and read the FAQ: Yes. It's a weird enough issue that I haven't been able to find anything concrete.

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Zogo
Jul 29, 2003

Over the last couple of years I've noticed a lot of EVGA complaints but that's obviously an inordinately high rate of failure.

Bieeardo posted:

I've pulled my PSU (an Antec Earthwatts 650, about three years old) and tested it.

How did you test it?

If a PSU has had heavy use it can start damaging components in that 3-5 year time period.

Bieeardo posted:

My knowledge of electrical engineering might fill the tip of a thimble, but is is possible that an aging monitor could send damaging feedback down the DVI cable?

Theoretically possible but extremely unlikely. Usually when an output like monitor/printer/keyboard/mouse fails it'll disrupt normal POST operation. And output failure of that nature is very uncommon.

Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer
I pulled all of the cables and hooked it up to one of those pocket-sized PSU testers. Not exactly foolproof, but all of the connectors showed normal voltage levels and nothing threw a red, beeping flag.

The PSU's definitely seen regular use over its lifetime, probably 8+ hours a day on average. Largely idling, but still.

Zogo
Jul 29, 2003

I haven't kept up with high-end video cards recently but is this one that has it's own PSU plug? If so, I'd try another PSU at this point.

Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer
I'm sorry, I should have mentioned that. The ones that keep failing have two PSU plugs, the older one I keep using as a backup has one. Unfortunately, that tester I've got isn't built to handle testing both PCI-E power connectors at once... which I've been kind of suspecting is where things fall over.

Anyway, thanks for the help. I'll check the parts picking guide, and see what I can get in a PSU from newegg.ca. Local suppliers have nothing but crap, and I was looking for a better-educated opinion than mine before splashing out.

Thanks again. :)

Skandranon
Sep 6, 2008
fucking stupid, dont listen to me
While the power supply is a good candidate, how well does the new graphics card fit into your case vs your old/backup one? Is the new one rubbing up against anything or cramped? It could be causing a localized overheating issue.

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Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer
It's a big old tower case. The only things that get close to the card are a few cables, the back of one of the hard drives, and the CPU cooling fan; the latter two are at least a few inches away.

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