gfx card took a dump- plz recommend nvidia card

nubishdubishbone · January 02, 2010, 06:07:13 AM

well my 8800 GTS finally crapped out, everytime i launch a game or anything with intense gfx it gets all artifact'd and freezes. can anyone recommend a specific card, i have my eye on a BFG 9800 GTX from newegg, only about 130$...

dont really wanna spend alot bcuz my pc is over 3 years old with no SLi support and well, you get the idea.

PS. will a PCI-E 2.0 ready card use a single power plug or two? i only have a "greenpeace" 530Watt PSU.

nubishdubishbone · January 02, 2010, 09:16:40 AM

actually is there a diagnostic tool on the net?

my screen freezes after about 1 minute in MW2 (only game i have to test besides DiRT 2), and the screen usually turns whatever dominant color is in the scene, with an audible tone present, but not a system sound. hard reboot is required as everything freezes, anyone know what this might be?

i just ordered a 275 GTX from BFG, the room the pc is in is usually rather hot with poor ventialtion and ive had the cpu much longer than the gfx card, so i am worried it might be somthing other than gfx.

AgentX_003 · January 02, 2010, 10:44:25 AM

Quote from: nubishdubishbone on January 02, 2010, 09:16:40 AM
actually is there a diagnostic tool on the net?

my screen freezes after about 1 minute in MW2 (only game i have to test besides DiRT 2), and the screen usually turns whatever dominant color is in the scene, with an audible tone present, but not a system sound. hard reboot is required as everything freezes, anyone know what this might be?

i just ordered a 275 GTX from BFG, the room the pc is in is usually rather hot with poor ventialtion and ive had the cpu much longer than the gfx card, so i am worried it might be somthing other than gfx.

solution : get a better case with better ventilation. but don't go overboard with spending ie. 200 dollars for a case. max id pay would be liike 80 dollars.

VaNilla · January 02, 2010, 01:53:40 PM

Getting a GTX 275 is not going to solve your overheating problems at all, the GTX series overheats like fuck, from experience I have to blow a fan into the side of my PC with the side casing off just to play a game on the GTX 260.

nubishdubishbone · January 02, 2010, 07:37:52 PM

yeah but no matter what i do i cannot 'fix' the heat problem- hot as hell in the summer, and due to atrocious drafts we pump the heat in the winter.

the 8800 lasted at least 2 years, so im not too worried, but i wish i knew exactly what the crashin/freezing was so i could fix/replace it as neccesary. so if anyone knows of a crash log generator for hardware that would help greatly.

thanks for the advice i totally appreciate it, temp is just an issue with me so i guess things wont last as long. - the contacts to the IC's in my card look like paper now, kind of crumbling so i think its the heat.

LennardF1989 · January 03, 2010, 02:16:58 AM

These are always troublesome cases. With everything you said it comes down to this:

- Your PSU is nearing his end
- Your GPU is fried at high-level
- Your PC simply gets to hot, making your CPU and GPU underclock to lose heat.

There is an order in which you can check this.

First, get a CPU Temp tool like CoreTemp (http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/), turn it on and play MW in windowed mode while keeping an eye on the CoreTemp. You might notice it raises soo high, your Clock goes down. In that case, get some proper ventilation.

If nothing odd happens to the variables you might want to find someone who has this kind of tool:

to test all your rails, if one or more is failing you have to get a new PSU, probably also with a bit more Watts just to be sure. Low PSU voltage causes a lot of problems, one of which is GPU failing.

If all of the above is A-OK, your GPU is fried and you have to get a new one. Please note that picking up a better one than you have now might change the needed Watts, so you would then need both a new PSU and GPU, choose carefully. And since you claim to have problems with overexesive heat, it's not even recommended to get a very good videocard, because those will only get hotter and fried faster in such circumstances.

Just for your information, I've seen this literally hundreds of times while reparing PC's: It's usually the PSU.

nubishdubishbone · January 03, 2010, 11:27:57 AM

Hooray!

lol wow thats an impressive post, thanks very, very much ; )

yeah i have basically the minumum specs for MW and DIRT 2 with a better gfx than minimum, love nvidia :

intel P D 3.0x2 Ghz
4GB RAM on XP 32bit
530 Watt PSU (wanted to be good to the economy : /)
nvidia EVGA 8800 GTS 640mb.

i am seeing this come to an end, as it was a 'nice' rig back when i got it. wanted an alienware for xmas too but i think i might build one.

i am building a parts list if i can get the cash together in this run, includes a bloomfiend 3.33 Qhad Core, tri-SLi ready 8 speaker ATX mb, i wonder about the GSkill RAM as it is xtreme series and looks to be a good price for the amount, and a thermaltake element V(take that alienware lol)...

hopefully w7 x64, already got an xtreme gamer x-fi sc, and a fatality headset, which btw rocks any onboard sound and older SB cards for a budget-priced audio solution, made my day when i installed it.

AgentX_003 · January 03, 2010, 03:31:00 PM

Quote from: nubishdubishbone on January 03, 2010, 11:27:57 AM
Hooray!

lol wow thats an impressive post, thanks very, very much ; )

yeah i have basically the minumum specs for MW and DIRT 2 with a better gfx than minimum, love nvidia :

intel P D 3.0x2 Ghz
4GB RAM on XP 32bit
530 Watt PSU (wanted to be good to the economy : /)
nvidia EVGA 8800 GTS 640mb.

i am seeing this come to an end, as it was a 'nice' rig back when i got it. wanted an alienware for xmas too but i think i might build one.

i am building a parts list if i can get the cash together in this run, includes a bloomfiend 3.33 Qhad Core, tri-SLi ready 8 speaker ATX mb, i wonder about the GSkill RAM as it is xtreme series and looks to be a good price for the amount, and a thermaltake element V(take that alienware lol)...

hopefully w7 x64, already got an xtreme gamer x-fi sc, and a fatality headset, which btw rocks any onboard sound and older SB cards for a budget-priced audio solution, made my day when i installed it.

Don't be stupid, Just because its alien ware doesn't mean its great, You pay out the ass for just the name , building your own its just as effective and cheaper too i might add , You could buy the same case with the alien on it and boom say you bought it from alien ware and its the same damn thing.

frvge · January 03, 2010, 03:34:19 PM

I'd worry a bit about your CPU. A Dual Core @ 3GHz is nice, but the Pentium D series have AFAIK never been really great.

Savior20061 · January 04, 2010, 06:59:02 AM

I agree with Agent. I had a friend who built his own and he loves it. If you have the skills and parts then that route is the best.

nubishdubishbone · January 05, 2010, 10:22:52 AM

ey guys one last question, ~~i asked it in the first post~~ yikes i forgot to ask :

will a PCIe 2.0 card work in a PCIe 1 system like mine? its coming in te mail today so i need to know. tanks.

Oops! found tis at 3dbuzz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#History

VaNilla · January 05, 2010, 05:01:12 PM

Just a tip for you, never order something without understanding it :P.

Spekkio · January 06, 2010, 04:32:50 AM

Something you might want to consider is replacing the heatsink on the GPU. I know my Radeon 9800 pro had an issue where the heatsink was insufficient for the card, and it started showing once I played more graphically intensive games/dust started accumulating in the fan. An after-market heatsink solution fixed the issue for < $50 and a bit of time installing it. It's like playing with legos, and there are plenty of youtube instructional vidoes to assist you.

nubishdubishbone · January 08, 2010, 07:35:55 PM

thatsa exactly what i am thinking... i have another desktop pc and i can keep that, maybe even sli in a new mb if it warrants upgrading.

this 275 is preety nice and i upgraded to a 650 psu (from 430), also earthwatts so im not going crazy with the power.

runs nice tested it with dirt 2 and no freezing also no artifacts so i think everything is all sert : ] very happy here.

AgentX_003 · January 08, 2010, 08:55:32 PM

Quote from: nubishdubishbone on January 08, 2010, 07:35:55 PM
thatsa exactly what i am thinking... i have another desktop pc and i can keep that, maybe even sli in a new mb if it warrants upgrading.

this 275 is preety nice and i upgraded to a 650 psu (from 430), also earthwatts so im not going crazy with the power.

runs nice tested it with dirt 2 and no freezing also no artifacts so i think everything is all sert : ] very happy here.

earth watts ? What is that ? , its that like fat free chocolate, but without the chocolate O_o . ?