Early 2008 Mac Pro fried GPU

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Your GeForce 8800GT probably has the same problem many other 8800GTs (PC or Mac version, if they are using the standard PCB from nvidia) had. The solder used for the memory isn't up for the thermal challenge of the card. I had the same issue with my older 880GTS and have found an ingenious solution for it. Remove the fan and bake the card in my oven. Apperantly this fixes the micro fissures in the solder of the memory. If the computer wants to write into the affected memory chip bad things happen. Interestingly enough the plastics used for the DVI-connector and the power plug did not melt. I did the same thing with a friends 8800GT and to this day the card is running like a champ. Mine worked for 4 months before it finally died for good. I guess my friends oven was a bit more suited to the task. :D

Sounds crazy but it works and around 200 degrees Celcius are not terribly out of the comfort zone of a modern graphics card. I did it back in the day because I had nothing to loose.

So if you ever feel like doing something out of the ordinary, pop your old 8800GT in your oven for 20min at about 180 degrees Celcius. :D

Regarding Mavericks: There were a few bugs after the initial release but they are fixed now and the System actually works like a charm.
 

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