 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Warp wrote:
> St. <dot### [at] dot com> wrote:
>> Shutdown. Let it cool for a few minutes. Open your tower, clean dust out.
>> And I mean *clean* dust out.
>
> Get one of these too:
> http://www.extendyourlashes.com/images/air-blower.jpg
There's also "canned air", which is just what it sounds like. A bit more
vigorous than a bulb for camera lens cleaning.
> They are really handy when cleaning your computer of dust. You might also
> want to use a vacuum cleaner at the same time if the amount of dust is large.
I've seen vacuum cleaners advertised as static-free. I don't know if
that makes any difference, but you might want to consider it if you're
going to vacuum directly inside the case.
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> There's also "canned air", which is just what it sounds like. A bit more
> vigorous than a bulb for camera lens cleaning.
But limited contents.
--
- Warp
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:17:21 -0400, Warp wrote:
> Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
>> There's also "canned air", which is just what it sounds like. A bit
>> more vigorous than a bulb for camera lens cleaning.
>
> But limited contents.
I used to see cans of compressed air that came with a hand pump so they
could be refilled. I never managed to get my hands on one to see if they
worked well, and haven't seen them for a while (the store that sold them
has since gone out of business).
But I imagine they still exist *somewhere*.
Jim
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
> I see three possibilities:
>
> 1. The GPU is overheating.
>
> 2. There's a bug in the version of the video driver I have installed.
>
> 3. Valve have made an update to TF2 which introduces some kind of
> rendering bug.
4. Hardware fault on the graphics card (eg bad RAM)
> Apparently the nVidia control panel no longer tells you your GPU
> temperature; you have to download and install an additional tool. Anyway,
Try showing the temperature in parallel with running the GPU (eg 3D game in
a window), IIRC when I did those sorts of tests before, the GPU temperature
dropped rapidly very quickly (eg 10-15 degrees in just a second after
exiting a game).
> To me, that sounds rather damned hot. Is it usual for a GPU to get this
> warm?
Actual chip core temperature of 55 degrees seems fine to me, if it got to 80
or 90 I would start to get worried.
> At this point, I'm not sure if my GPU is failing, or whether I just need
> to update my drivers...
One very easy and cheap way to check...
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
>> I see three possibilities:
>>
>> 1. The GPU is overheating.
>>
>> 2. There's a bug in the version of the video driver I have installed.
>>
>> 3. Valve have made an update to TF2 which introduces some kind of
>> rendering bug.
>
> 4. Hardware fault on the graphics card (eg bad RAM)
Surely that's a rather rare failure mode on a graphics card? That seems
to me more like the kind of thing where you get a brand new card and
it's DOA. This card has been installed and running without issue for years.
>> Apparently the nVidia control panel no longer tells you your GPU
>> temperature; you have to download and install an additional tool.
>> Anyway, having just stopped using the GPU, the temperature was reading
>
> Try showing the temperature in parallel with running the GPU (eg 3D game
> in a window), IIRC when I did those sorts of tests before, the GPU
> temperature dropped rapidly very quickly (eg 10-15 degrees in just a
> second after exiting a game).
>> To me, that sounds rather damned hot. Is it usual for a GPU to get
>> this warm?
>
> Actual chip core temperature of 55 degrees seems fine to me, if it got
> to 80 or 90 I would start to get worried.
Oh, OK. Generally my CPU doesn't get anywhere near that hot - but then,
I guess my CPU doesn't develop several hundred GFLOPS...
>> At this point, I'm not sure if my GPU is failing, or whether I just
>> need to update my drivers...
>
> One very easy and cheap way to check...
Well, I did it anyway, just for the hell of it. Next time I play, I'll
see if it makes any difference.
(The wonderful thing about intermittent faults is that you can never
truly know if they are fixed.)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
>>> Shutdown. Let it cool for a few minutes. Open your tower, clean dust
>>> out. And I mean *clean* dust out.
>>
>> Get one of these too:
>> http://www.extendyourlashes.com/images/air-blower.jpg
>
> There's also "canned air", which is just what it sounds like. A bit more
> vigorous than a bulb for camera lens cleaning.
I own this. I'll give it a try later. If it *outside* of my PC is
anything to go by, it's probably about time... o_O
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
> Surely that's a rather rare failure mode on a graphics card?
About the same as getting some bad RAM bits in your normal PC RAM probably.
> That seems to me more like the kind of thing where you get a brand new
> card and it's DOA. This card has been installed and running without issue
> for years.
I had the RAM in my desktop machine at work partially fail after some time.
It started when dealing with big zip files, it would complain that the CRC
check didn't match up, even though I had just downloaded it. Then it would
blue-screen randomly, and gradually got more frequent. I did the memcheck86
or whatever it was and there was an area of RAM that was totally corrupt,
it's a wonder Windows even booted, let alone worked normally most of the
time. Replaced the RAM and very reliable now.
I had the same with my nVidia Ti4200 graphics card, actually identical
symptoms to you, random triangles flickering across the screen. Gradually
got worse over time, and also while playing a game until it crashed. Tried
it in my sisters PC and the same symptoms. I didn't bother trying to figure
out the cause, but just assumed it was bad RAM.
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
>> Surely that's a rather rare failure mode on a graphics card?
>
> About the same as getting some bad RAM bits in your normal PC RAM probably.
Well, you'd think. ;-)
I've bought brand new RAM sticks to find that they're defective, and
I've occasionally damaged one inserting or removing it, but never seen
one just fail during normal use. They seem to be quite reliable.
> I had the RAM in my desktop machine at work partially fail after some
> time. It started when dealing with big zip files, it would complain that
> the CRC check didn't match up, even though I had just downloaded it.
> Then it would blue-screen randomly, and gradually got more frequent. I
> did the memcheck86 or whatever it was and there was an area of RAM that
> was totally corrupt, it's a wonder Windows even booted, let alone worked
> normally most of the time. Replaced the RAM and very reliable now.
Yeah, RAM failures cause weird crap to happen. Depending on where in RAM
the problem is, it often only causes problems when you try to do certain
things. (But what with virtual memory, it's quite hard to predict when
it will or won't show up a problem.) Diagnosing RAM faults without a
real RAM tester is just Not Fun...
> I had the same with my nVidia Ti4200 graphics card, actually identical
> symptoms to you, random triangles flickering across the screen.
> Gradually got worse over time, and also while playing a game until it
> crashed. Tried it in my sisters PC and the same symptoms. I didn't
> bother trying to figure out the cause, but just assumed it was bad RAM.
Well, since the RAM isn't replaceable on a graphics card, I guess it
really just boils down to "does this graphics card work properly or not?"
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:43:22 +0200, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>> 4. Hardware fault on the graphics card (eg bad RAM)
>
> Surely that's a rather rare failure mode on a graphics card?
Not if it has been overheating.
Have you checked the temperature of the video RAM?
--
FE
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
>>> 4. Hardware fault on the graphics card (eg bad RAM)
>>
>> Surely that's a rather rare failure mode on a graphics card?
>
> Not if it has been overheating.
True, but since the GPU generates far more heat than a block of RAM does...
>
> Have you checked the temperature of the video RAM?
I don't have a way to do that.
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
