Hey guys!

First of all these are my specs:

Pentium 4 3.0 GHz
1GB of RAM
256 MB nVidia GeForce 6800 XT (used to be)
BENQ DVD-/+RW
P5P800S motherboard
Hyper 6+ cpu cooling fan
450 watt power supply

Here is the story. I used to have nVidia GeForce 6600 GT OC video card after a year and half it died and my computer stopped starting so I thought may be it was the time for it to go, so I went out to Sonaggi computer store and got myself for a simple price a nVidia 6800 XT. It hasn't been a year yet. I'm playing counter-strike source yesterday and I start to smell something burning a bit, then all of the sudden my computer just dies and the smell gets stronger and stronger, I tried turning it on again but it only flashed and went off again. I thought it might be the power supply but i tested the video card on my sister's computer and the computer didn't start with it. So now my question is, what can cause this video card frying effect? Is nVidia giving up on me or is there something wrong with my pc causing the video cards to die? Help me out please.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome and thanks in advance.It's unfortunate you have lost 2 vid cards in 3 years...
There could be a few reasons for this.
The overall internal case temps are too high making the vid card cooling work too hard to keep up.
Consider adding another case fan to help things along.

The vid card is too close to other components.
This can also cause the above conditions...try using another slot if available.

The PSU is cheap or underperforming.
Without a good constant stream of power this will make components fail prematurely.
Consider upgrading the PSU for next time.

Heavy gaming.
Make sure the games you are running are within the min. specs for the card you are using.
I'd say I got a decent PSU, it was before when I just got the cheapest one to get my pc up and running again, but the last time my PSU died I got Thermaltake 420 watt. My CS:S is set to highest video settings since you don't need much to pull that game. As for the extra fan, I used to have one with LED and stuff but it made too much noise so I took it off. I use AGP video cards and there are no other cards beside it, I just have another sound card and 1394 EEEI card the firewire or w/e its called, and they are about 15 cm apart I'd say so it doesn't make any difference. I thought may be the video card could be faulty by some reason and the fan stopped working while I was playing and thats when it fried? but thats the last theory I have.

Do you think I can contact the manufacturers and send the video for fixing or exchange for another one since I still have the one year warranty on it.Absolutely...i didn't get from your post it was within the warranty period.
Contact them IMMEDIATELY for the procedure...Alright, thanks.I filled out a form at zogis.com and received an email back saying:

"Please go to www.power-color.com/club to register and log in DIRECT RMA and
fill out the RMA form. Submit the rma form and wait for email confirmation
with the instruction how to send bad video card in for repair/replacement
Thank you"

So I registered on their website, filled out my personal information and the card S/N and P/N. Before filing a ticket I had to agree to the agreement which states at the end:

"JV Logic WILL NOT TAKE ANY CARD HAS DAMAGED, SUCH AS BURNED OUT AND BROKEN PART. NO EXCEPTION! IF WE FIND IT AFTER WE RECEIVE THE CARD. WE WILL RETURN IMMEDIATELY WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE."

Now I'm curious what KIND of video cards do they except? And what else can happen to the video card for them to be responsible?Immediately send them an email stating you have contacted nVidia directly explaining the issue.
Send this to the Customer Support section of that web page.
Next send an email to nVidia expressing dissatisfaction with having to purchase 2 vid cards in 3 years.
At this point in time be very businesslike and use friendly terms with both
And fill out that RMA immediately as well and get it back to them ASAP
DO NOT mention any machine conditions that you suspect may be the cause. The fact is you have had 2 cards fail prematurely in 3 years time.

Now i'll explain the method to my madness.

By contacting the vendor immediately you have now created a paper trail that may be needed down the road...
By contacting the manuf. directly you have accomplished the same thing but more importantly you have put the vendor on notice that 1) you are serious about your dissatisfaction and 2) you are not the normal lazy Consumer that will mostly let things slide.

Keep in mind with RMA's from anywhere the stall tactic is their most effective weapon on blowing you off. So we're going to be proactive here instead of passive to achive the goal of getting a replacement vid. card.

Continue with this approach at least every week with both vendor and manuf...always reference your prior correspondences.
And it doesn't hurt to get slightly sterner with each NEW contact.

Anger won't work honey attracts more than vinegar.
Bottom line is stay proactive...and follow up
Chances are with this approach you will get satisfaction.

Best of Luck and keep us posted.

patio.All you said is true, thanks.Hey guys,

I've sent my fried video card to the manufacturer and finally bought a new video card. I'm a gamer but I mostly play Counter-Strike:Source so I don't need a video card thats too hard core.

My first idea was to get nVidia 7600 GT (for $109.99 CAD), but when I went to PC Village and this guy TOLD me that they only had ATI Radeon 2600 HD 512 MB DDR2 DirectX 10 for $95.99 and he said it was much better than nVidia one.

Is 2600 HD better than 7600 GT?

After I installed the card it seems fine I installed the drivers from the CD provided in the box. But whenever I quit CS:S it takes a while for complete exit and the desktop lags from time-to-time slowly refreshing. Could that be because of a video card???

Btw, this is an AGP video card and my motherboard is ASUS P5P800S (if anyone needs to know).