As you read my brother too fixed his 9800 GX2 using the same method I did.. baking that sucker in the oven. Yes.. baking the card in the oven helps renew old frail solder joints. After remembering that I came across this method awhile ago on the internet, someone popped their failed Xbox into an oven and fixed it (not the whole thing mind you, just particular component inside). That followed a long list of successful testimonials. I too also never took pictures... slipped my mind.
My baking method consisted of preheating the oven to 385ish degrees. Placing the card on 3 balled up pieces of aluminum foil and that on a cookie sheet. I baked the card for 8 minutes and then took it out and let cool for about an hour. Just to be safe, I tested the card in another PC of mine and it worked! I used this forum post as reference.
The failing BFG card explains my flickering issue in Just Cause 2, and also my current game Assassins Creed 2 where the game would freeze.. (more like the whole PC would freeze again resulting in a reboot), and fixed my recent issue of the weird artifacts and lines upon booting up and into Windows. I am thrilled to be able to enjoy my SLI configuration again on the games that I have come to enjoy so much.
