Graphics Card Underclocking

Having decided that I am not going to tolerate Vista anymore (No more "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped" crap), I reverted back to XP last Saturday. After all the installation, I realised that my graphics card, a 2-year-old GeForce 7900 GTO is "Ki Qia-ing".

=(

I smsed my friend, whose family owns a shop in SL, for his advice on which replacement card should I get. Before I buy a new card though, I am determined to try and 'cure' this existing card.

After a few rounds of uninstalling/installing drivers and directX, I am convinced the problem is hardware, specifically, heat-related.

A temperature check shows that my card is running at 50 degree Celsius when idle and up to 65 (or possibly even higher) when I am running a full screen 3D game. This is with the casing opened and a full standing fan blowing at it =/

Hence the solution: underclocking to reduce the heat emitted and minimise further damage to the (already damaged) 7900.

Now it sounds harder than it is. Just go to the nvidia site to download the utility nTune. The tricky part is to know how much to underclock. I keep trying and failing the test (urggh, trial and error) but eventually I hit on some values that successfully lowered the temperature and solved those display spikes and lines and whatsoever that was bothering me. =D

I got the link somewhere at home, its a very helpful site with advice and screenshots of the exact same problem as mine. If I do find it I will post here, heh. The idea is to incrementally underclock it as the card slowly deteriorates until the point of no return, after which the card is proclaim dead and need to be replaced.

EDIT: I managed to dig up the link. Its a really useful page, check it out: http://www.playtool.com/pages/artifacts/artifacts.html

Disclaimer: If it's down its not my fault. Heh.