[NTLUG:Discuss] PC Hardware Issue

[steve]

Dennis Myhand wrote:
> Lenrek Xunil wrote:
>> I built my own PC.  It's got an Abit motherboard, AMD Athlon 64 CPU,
>> 1.5gigs of ram (two cards), dual graphics card,

Dual graphics cards?  Aha!

Are they nVidia cards using 'SLI' mode?

If so, I would say for 100% sure that one of your two graphics cards
has crapped out - possibly from the heat - but it could just be failing.

If you have two graphics cards using nVidia's "SLI" then the two
cards share the rendering.  If one of them fails, the result is indeed
a horribly "jaggy" display.

So - I recommend you remove one of the two cards and see if the system
stabilises.  If it doesn't then try the other graphics card by itself.

Then you know that either:

1) The card you removed is bad...or...
2) The system is overheating when there are two cards - but not when
    there is only one.  This would not be surprising because those
    high end graphics cards chuck out a lot of heat.
3) Your power supply isn't up to driving such a high end configuration.
    Modern graphics cards eat a LOT of power (that's why they generate
    so much heat).

So if this fixes things - try replacing the 'working' graphics card
with the one you pulled out.

If the system is still stable - then there is nothing wrong with either
graphics card but your cooling or your power supply is not adequate for
both of them running at the same time.

If they system does not stabilize - then you've found the bad graphics
card.

Even if your graphics cards are not in SLI mode - the odds are good that
you are overheating or running out of power.

To find out if you're overheating, get a really good household 'box 
fan', take the lid off the computer and blast air into it as hard as
you can.  If it still fails - it's not overheating!