So this falls under the W T F - Over department.
The Uber PC with the Uber video cards has been stellar PITA, the video cards are eating them selves at the rate of one a year over the last three years.
Yup
2009 July 27 one died, Dell replaced both.
2010 August 04 one died, Dell replaced both.
2011 July 20 one died, Dell replaced both. (New ones are in transit arrive today by 16:30)
Have you heard of anything like this? You can damn near set your watch by the frequency it eats a card.
Dell has been outstanding (ought to we pay for the "with in 24 hour" complete repair 6 year plan)
And we kpked about three more years to go.
But seriously one of the dual cards just craps every 365 days, WTF?
More importantly - I can't BEGIN to tell you how freaking boring my time is with out the "internet/Game PC" (hear me sob - hear you laugh - bastards)
This lap top runs my VPN so websence is active so no fun for bonzo - turned it off for lunch to check email and the tracking of the Fed Ex truck (out for delivery)
The box is a Dell T3400 if it matters to anyone......
Sob story over - VPN back to active..... interwebs off again.....*cry*
poor, poor duck......Sucks when you are dragged back.
The only idea that I have about the cards is whether it might be a heat issue since it is always happening in the summer. Don't know if you have AC in that room, but a hot room + a hot card might cause issues. Are your case fans working? What's the temp in the case when operating?
Mom - I'm homeeeeeeeeeeeee
AC - Check
I thought heat also - got to get one of those utilities that show temps.... (Bubba - Atomm?)
Case fans DO work, and I some times run with out the side on just for more air circulation, dust is my issue, I-De-Ho is dam dusty a fine grey powdery (like talc) dust, but I know that and typically clean quarterly, vacuum then canned air.
Mah - it works and the parts are just 24 hours away (for now)
Here is my opinion:
It's power or heat. I would think what you have done and the fact you don't hear those things screaming/ feel it venting on your leg means it's most likely not heat.
Next I would check power. Dell is VERY notorious for using the bare minimum PSU they can get away with. I would almost think what you are seeing is the cards aren't bad per se, but they are getting more resistive as time moves on and then the PSU just isn't doing enough for em. Check first, but, last I knew all Dell PSUs since about 2003 are standard ATX, now sometimes they don't mechanically fit too well, but buy a decent PSU $50-$100, and I bet the issue goes away. It may be that they just aren't getting quite what they need.
Also, I always suspect wall power. Wall power even in the best situations can cause craziness in computers. You can spend a lot of money on line conditioners and electricians and with your local public utility company to remedy bad power or you can buy a nice battery backup and have it do all that work for you. (trust me it's far easier)
I have seen fluctating wall power cause any and all issues, and I can't tell you how many times I 'fixed' a computer that no one could fix by adding a UPS at the customers location. I run them on all my equipment, not for the battery capability but for the line conditioning.
BTW, I extracted this into it's own thread so we could converse.
New Video cards are notoriously hot. I had a monster heatsink/fan combo on my last card and I still burnt my hand when I touched it.
They are also very power hungry. I assume these cards take the additional 6-pin power plug. I agree with Bubba about line conditioning. My last house had terrible power lines and I was burning up power supplies like mad until I added a battery backup. The line conditioning is so worth it.
There's also the fact that it's a Dell. The components are on the cheaper end. I'm not knocking Dell. I have a XPS laptop that I love, but they already have thin margins, so they have to squeeze the money out of the hardware whenever possible.
You ain't had fun with wall power until you had you some Idaho wall power.
Yes suh'
I've been yelping for a decent UPS for years now, to no avail, I'll try again - I too (and Joe also) think a real good UPS would be a giant leap forward.
Bubba good point, I think I have that real nice PC Power and Cooling PS I bought for the old box right before I got this new one.... may do some raiding if the connectors match.
The connectors should match. Dell had a short run in the early 2000's where they deviated from the ATX spec, but used the same ATX connectors (= blown out motherboards). I think they realized the error in their ways. BUT what they don't conform to the ATX spec on is sizing and shape of PSU. It'll fit, but it might take a little crafting on your end.
Duck, tell them that you have a (i don't know) $2000 piece of hardware their and horrible Idaho power. A UPS will be $100 or less, it's worth the investment. and also it gives you some run time to shutdown in event of an outage rather than just have the machine crash instantly.
Honestly, it's not even about being in a rural area either, I transformer on the pole nearest to you that is old can send large wave spikes, you won't notice them except high end electronics. This can happen anywhere.