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Studio XPS 435T and graphics problem.
Started having a stuttering and jurky on my monitor a couple months ago and it is now getting worse. It doesn't matter if I am playing FSX or just checking E-Mail or surfing the web. I have a 6 months old Dell LED monitor and thought that may be the problem. I swapped that out just for a test with a different brand LED monitor and DVI cable and that didn't help. I shut down the computer and pulled off the side cover and checked all fans, All fans are spinning, but the fan on the ATI 4870 graphics card actually slows down enough where I can see it. When that happens the temp will go up to 79c and sometimes higher that's at idle. That's when the screen starts to get jurky. When the fan starts back up to normal speed, the temp comes back down and the stuttering stops. To me that's a graphics card problem, but I ran the Dell support center program and everything passed. I E-Mailed Dell tech support 3 times over a period of a week without a answer. The last e-mail I said my next contact with Dell would be to corp. in TX. 30 minutes later I got a call from Dell support so I guess they do read those E-mails. I had just left my house so really couldn't do anything except make a appointment for when I will be home during the week. The person told me I will have to let a tech get into my computer remotely to change some power settings. That didn't make any sense at all to me. My question to the forum is, could power settings actually make the fan on the graphics card slow down and speed back up randomly like it's doing? Both power plugs on the card are plugged in tight. A little history on the graphics card is that the one that's in there now is the 3rd one in two years so I am a little paranoid of the 4870 card. I am hard of hearing anyway and only understanding 2 words out of 10 from those techs is bad enough so wanted to get some advise before I talk to them next week.
Thanks
Wayne
lynne4270
445 Posts
1
December 15th, 2011 13:00
Changed out the card and the trouble is gone. Only hangup was the new (refurb) card didn't like the older version of the catalyst Control Center so had to download the latest one. to change settings.
sugarbear18
2.3K Posts
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December 10th, 2011 20:00
Yes the power settings can do that. Have you taken canned air and cleaned the inside of your pc lately? Dust build up can do this to.
lynne4270
445 Posts
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December 10th, 2011 21:00
Yes, I do the inside cleanup with canned air about once a month.. The reason so frequent is because the tower sets on a plastic mat on a carpeted floor and I have a dog. It's good to know that power settings can cause the problem I am having.
Thank you
Wayne
sugarbear18
2.3K Posts
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December 10th, 2011 21:00
Many people don`t know to keep the inside cleaned out of dust. Every month is not to much when you have a lot of dust and it will make your pc last a lot longer. After tech support changes some settings in the bios, watch it closely and see if your problem is fixed. Post back and let me know how things are.
lynne4270
445 Posts
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December 11th, 2011 09:00
They are supposed to call me between 8am and 5pm Thursday so will post back on what they find.
Thanks Again
Wayne
lynne4270
445 Posts
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December 14th, 2011 18:00
They were a day early and called me and tested everything out today. Power settings were right on and everything else was OK except the graphics card, that was causing the problem. They are overnighting a replacement. Is anyone here familier with the ATI 4870 card? This will be the 4th one including the original that came with the computer since June of 2009. The card works great, but goes bad much too fast. I am hoping they don't even have that card anymore and send something else as this is getting to be too much of a habit.
One thing I can say about Dell and that is once the problem is found they do not mess around getting you a replacement part. The warranty and replacement service is excellent. It was the same on the other graphics cards and also a keypad on my laptop, so I see that as a rule and not an exception.
speedstep
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
•
47K Posts
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December 15th, 2011 08:00
Dust bunnies are vicious creatures they Kill everything.
lynne4270
445 Posts
0
December 15th, 2011 09:00
I agree with the dust bunny problem, but I never give them time to breed in my computer. I clean it out at least once a month and sometimes more. I had a tech friend measure my power supply and he said it's actually putting out more power than the 475 watts it's rated at. He said 513 watts. The 435T has a huge case with plenty of ventilation and fans and he didn't know what else it could be, except the video card. He said their shop doesn't see anymore ATI problems than other brand. Will Just have to wait and see how the new card holds up.