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General discussion

ATI 9800 Graphics Card

by julialucian Feb 14, 2011 1:38AM PST

Hi everyone, Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. Once again I am seeking your advice or opinion. You guys have helped me many times in the past. I have a Power Mac G4 running OS 10.5.8. It came with a ATI Radeon 9000 Pro graphics card installed. Two years ago I installed an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition Graphics Card, AGP 4X /2X Graphics for G4/G5. It worked beautifully. However last November my monitor started showing wavy horizontal lines and lots of Pixelization. All the icons on my desktop were there but I could not recognize them through the wavy lines and Pixelization. It was like trying to see through a Blizzard. I upgraded the ATI Displays to the most recent on which is 4.5.7. That did not make ant difference. Luckily I kept my old ATI 9000 Pro Graphics Card. I reinstalled my old Graphics Card and now my desktop is clear and sharp once again. Can anyone explain to me why the 9800 started showing these wavy horizontal line? Is the Graphics Card no longer any good?

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2 Posts
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I think you just answered your own question.
by mrmacfixit Forum moderator Feb 14, 2011 3:48AM PST

It just plain wore out.

It's a card with numerous electrical components on it; sometimes they fail.

Yours just failed

P

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I agree.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 14, 2011 3:53AM PST

Those ATI cards were pretty hot. And the advice about yearly cleaning is rarely followed so you tend to see a few year lifespan on many devices.
Bob

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