Video card problem

   Hi folks. This isn't really a linux problem but rather a hardware
problem ... at least, I think it is.

   My son bought the components for a gaming machine this past summer and
we assembled it and he started using it. The problem is that when he plays
graphics-intensive games the machine freezes ... not immediately but
usually after some seemingly random time. If he doesn't play games and
uses his machine for browsing etc. it behaves normally. During one of his
gaming sessions when it froze I touched the graphics card and it was HOT!!
So hot that I involuntarily pulled my hand away. The card is an ATI
Sapphire X800.

   We took the card back and had the vendor test it ... no problems. We
took the whole system back and had them test it ... no problems. Bring it
home ... problems. We loaded a program called ATI Tools and measured the
graphics chip temperature at 70 degrees C.

   I took the card back yesterday and was told that this temperature is
normal for the card operating under load. I was also told that the heat
sink can be hotter than the chip. Now, I don't know what the normal
operating temperature for the graphics chip is but I do know that if the
chip is emitting heat and the heat sink is getting rid of it, the
temperature of the heat sink cannot possibly be higher than the chip.
Otherwise the heat flow would be in the other direction. This is basic
physics of which I am more than a little aware.

   Do any of you think that there is, in fact, a problem on the graphics
card, given what I have said? I have no gaming experience and don't know
what to expect as far as performance of the higer end cards goes. I feel
like we're getting the runaround from the 'technicians' ala the old place
on Quebec Ave. (whose name escapes me at the moment) where Cbits is
(was?).

Dr. Keith Brown
Department of Chemistry/
Saskatchewan Structural Sciences Center
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

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Life would be so much easier if we could just look at the source code.
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Received on Sun Oct 22 11:40:50 2006