New 6800 giving problems

[imported_Stingray]

Hey all, i come to you in a time of great need...


Well, yesterday i picked up a "new" v9999 asus 128mb 6800 AGP from a store quite far away (only one having stock).

With it i purchased a vf700-alcu, so before installing the card in my system i installed the zalman heatsink/fan on it- the thing is, though, that i noticed that the stock heatsink had a considerable amount of dust in it, and the stock fan was coated in dust...did they sell me a 2nd hand card?!~!

Anyway, i installed the zalman heatsink no problems, and put the card in, installed drivers, etc...however, the image is terrible. Here is an example of what im watching now:

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/...sedimage4xu.jpg

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/...edimage25fb.jpg

Also, my screen constantly flickers with black lines even though the monitor refresh rate is 85 hertz.

If i put back my old 9600 pro, everything is fine (even in 256 colour mode, without drivers installed), so its definitely the video card.

What i pretty much think is that crappy store (that i found on the net) sold me a second hand, defective product for full price. However, having installed a custom heatsink which i can't uninstall (the ram sinks are stuck), i don't know what to do!

Could it be just the vga connector that is faulty? perhaps if i purchase a DVI-to-VGA converter and use that as a connector for the monitor everything will be better? I don't think its the memory or core that is defective, as everything plays fine- i got 3500 3dmarks in 3dmark05, which is in line with the standard 6800.

Please help!!!

Thanks in advance

 

[imported_Stingray]

hmm...looks like the pics don't convey the flaw...

anyway, just visualize white streaks coming out of every letter to the right, and black flickering- not to mention a darker overall tone

 

[Megatomic]

I get redirected to the imageshack homepage when I click on your links. But based on your description of the problem I'd say the card is dying. I had to replace an older GF4 MX here at work last month for doing the same thing. New card = clear picture.

 

[zagood]

Links don't work.

Really sounds like an "injured" card. It's too bad you put the zalman on first, I've done similar things with new components and regretted it. Did you trash the stock heatsink? If not, just reapply it. They probably won't notice.

Why the Asus?

Could also try to re-apply the zalman. It's a longshot, but you never know.

DL RivaTuner and/or Coolbits and check out the settings. Try to underclock it and see if that works.

Good luck!

-z

 

[Hikari]

New cards don't have dust on them, I'd have returned it when I saw that and not even tried...