7th nVidia Video Card that's fan has died...

I've had my PC (Gateway 838GM) for about 3 years now. However, I'm about to replace the video card with number 8.

Now, all other PC's I've had never had this many problems with the video card. Then again, my other PC's had ATI cards.

Does nVidia have a reputation of having horrible fans? Or, do you think that my PC is 'causing' the fans on my video cards to die?

The last 2 video cards were nVidia GeForce 9400 GT's. I bought two of the same last year. The first of the two died in June. The second of the two died just now.

Any thoughts?

Honestly, I don't know. I've run, in my last few systems, all nVidia cards, the 6800, 7900 and 9800 being the only ones with fans, and those have run for quite some time with no issue. The 6800 ran until I retired the system (and had it stolen from storage shortly thereafter,) the 7900 is running in my work PC several hours a day after several years in my gaming system, and I've run the 9800 for over a year. All good.

The only reason I'm going with ATI on my new build isn't dissatisfaction or problems with nvidia, but lack of supply.

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So....you believe you've had 8 bad video cards?

Anyone else see anything wrong with that?

I've had 1 fan malfunction on an nVidia card over the last several years. I merely had to take it apart to clean it. If you've gone through 8 video cards, I think it's time to be looking at other causes. Although it's possible all 8 failed because of shoddy manufacturing, the chances are pretty slim.

We'll see....

The 300 Watt, 15A at 12V power supply may have something to do with it.

What brands were the cards?

I'm with Father X. Underpowering the card can damage a card just as badly as overpowering it. And with that power supply voltage drops are almost certainly a common occurrence.

Don't blame it on nVidia. They don't design the fans, the card manufacturers do.

Sorry, haven't been using the forums much since the video card issues.

To answer some questions:

The manufacturers were PNY, eVGA, and BFG, ranging from the 7-9 series.

I always had a feeling it had to do with the power supply, being under powered and all. I've got another power supply, and have swapped them out before, but it just seems that there's no way to catch up with the every evolving technology. I could swap the PSU and get a good video card, but the system just doesn't seem to hold up to anything coming out.

For now, I'm going to replace the video card with a cheaper version of the 9400 GT, with just a heatsink. That PC will just be used to minimul things while my laptop will take over as my main computer... till I get a new PC. This Gateway was something I bought as a last minute replacement to my other PC that died a few years back, but just kept adding onto it rather than save up for a new PC.

Anyway, thanks for all the advice.