How common is Graphic Card Failure?

Mortymoose

Mortymoose

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Battle most of yesterday and today trying to figure out what was freezing my PC.

Thought it was the CPU overheating, then swapped the ram, the unplugged alles..... still freezing, thought it might be the OS, so did a linux live.....

turns out it was my old 256mb Graphic card..... turfed it out, now typing in lark pixels, can you okes see how kark these graphics look? Huh? Can ya? :whistle:

Ironically enough, I had ordered me a 2Gb card last week, thing the old one new what was going down!


Got me to thinking about how often graphic cards fail these days!

Is it quite common?

Do they have short lifespans?

/Moose trundles off to braai........ with his new braai tong the auld graphic card!

:D
 
I've only ever had one graphics card fail over the years and i've had truckloads of the things. Everything from a Voodoo 3, MX440, 9800SE to my current GTX970. The 9800SE failed most probably from lightning damage and was replaced under warranty.

My experience shows that graphics cards are generally rock solid and seldom fail unless there's something else going on like a bad PSU or the previously mentioned lightning strike.
 
A card can last forever if it doesn't get fried by some external source, also the only things on a gpu that can fail is the capacitors and the fan.

I don't know why ive seen people with so many RMA's and failed PC components, Ive never had a PC component naturally die on me, its always the PSU or lightning.


Except for HDD's, they are wildcards.
 
Unless you overclock something to death and then blame the manufacturer.
 
vinodh said:
Unless you overclock something to death and then blame the manufacturer.
Click to expand...

emoji-thumbs-up-150.jpg
 
I had my poor little FX5700LE (overclocked from 250MHz core/400MHz memory to 470MHz core and 461MHz memory) die on me after 3 years of solid running, after which it was replaced with a 6600GT that lasted until I sold my computer.

That was the only GPU I managed to kill, due to the fan connector coming loose while playing Unreal and cooking itself. It died a heroic death, though :)

My current GTX570 that I got in 2011 is still running strong, touch wood :)
 
Only had a gigabyte 6600gt fail but that was after 10yrs of use and being passed on to someone else.

640px-Gigabyte_GV-NX66T128VP.jpg
 
looking at the removed GFX card, it seem's might dusty, think I shall give it a good cleaning and see if something was not maybe shorting out!
 
Mortymoose said:
looking at the removed GFX card, it seem's might dusty, think I shall give it a good cleaning and see if something was not maybe shorting out!
Click to expand...

Just bath it in some whiskey. Then let it bake over a hot fire to dry out. All good to go :)
 
Rickster said:
A card can last forever if it doesn't get fried by some external source, also the only things on a gpu that can fail is the capacitors and the fan.

I don't know why ive seen people with so many RMA's and failed PC components, Ive never had a PC component naturally die on me, its always the PSU or lightning.


Except for HDD's, they are wildcards.
Click to expand...

+1

My old graphics card, GTS450 lasted 5 years without issues. Too much dust can kill a brand new graphics card in less than a year. Give your case a good cleaning once a month.
 
Never had one, touch wood.

Things that have failed me:
- RAM: Corsair Vengeance last year. Bought 2x8GB a year earlier @R480 each. When I found out how much shipping for RMA would cost me, I thought I'd just buy a new one here. Turns out the price more than doubled(was something like R1050 per stick on that specific day) so I RMA'd it. 8GB only for 2 or 3 weeks wasn't a trainsmash.

Also had 2 Hynix sticks fail on my that came with one of my PC's.

- HDD: My wife's 40GB failed once.
 
I've lost a few graphics cards, sometimes it can be from power dips or lightning...or its just a component on them that fail after a few years.

If it's freezing your PC or the screen goes black or weird, take the card out and reseat it after cleaning the port. I've had some dust issues where something would get into the port and screw things up.

In general to clean your PC, try a smallish paintbrush. It can get in everywhere your hand can't and doesn't stick to the back of all the circuit boards like a cloth does.
 
Feedback:

Took me card to work with me, dusted it off in a big way, then took meths and gave her a right good scrubbing..... she sparkled like new..... took her home and inserted into me box, updated the drivers and Bob be me uncle..... been two hours and all humming,,

think I need a new monitor, this one is looking dull.......

thanks for all yer responses....
 
Glad you got it sorted Morty :)

Ho3n3r said:
Never had one, touch wood.

Things that have failed me:
- RAM: Corsair Vengeance last year. Bought 2x8GB a year earlier @R480 each. When I found out how much shipping for RMA would cost me, I thought I'd just buy a new one here. Turns out the price more than doubled(was something like R1050 per stick on that specific day) so I RMA'd it. 8GB only for 2 or 3 weeks wasn't a trainsmash.

Also had 2 Hynix sticks fail on my that came with one of my PC's.

- HDD: My wife's 40GB failed once.
Click to expand...

Now that I saw this post, I was reminded why never to buy sets of RAM no matter how much they are discounted. I had one 4GB module out of a set of two (Corsair Vengeance LP 1600) fail on me and had to send it back to get replaced. However, they would not accept just one stick back and wanted both. I managed to scrounge out 2GB of DDR3-1333 to get me through the month I sat without my proper DIMMs, but I vowed never ever again to make the noob error of buying memory in a set :p
 
It's common for a GPU to have problem with the soldering 5 - 7 years depending how well it was looked after and used, something about micro cracks forming.
But in that case it's possible to bring it back to life via "oven bake" reflow for a few more months/years.

And yes, it's a good idea to keep a pc clean.
 
99.9% of graphics cards I have dealt with:

90% died due to lightning, or PSU over-volting them after said loud bang nearby
10% usually die because the fan is seized... caked full of brown muck that used to be dust...
 
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