Ugh, I am so dumb.. maybe

[trenchtoaster]

When I upgraded my Radeon 9600 XT 128mb AGP card to a Geforce FX 5500 256mb AG card did I actually downgrade?

I was reading the oblivion forums and some dude witha 9600 can play the game fine without tweaking ini files. Is it just a problem with the FX series, or is the 9600 > 5500?

The only reason I bought the FX 5500 was because one day I was using the ATI card, playing world of warcraft and I died. I slammed my desk in frustration and all of the sudden a bunch of redlines went across my screen, as I moved these got worse and worse and eventually it was just a huge scramble of color. When I exited the game the desktop has a few red lines going across it, and WoW just wouldnt stop scrambling. I made sure I had new drivers for it (interesting that when I restarted the computer with no drivers the red lines were gone, but I didnt try to play any games) but it didnt help, when the drivers were installed it got all screwy.

What do you think happened to the card? I doubt it overheated, my house is freezing, our heater has to be manually turned on in the basement and no one bothers, so it is usually very cold (blankets and sweaters > heat). Power surge or something? I banged the desk when it happened, but its not like I took a sledge hammer to the tower or anything.

Basically I just want to know if that card is screwed, what happened to it most likely, and if the FX 5500 was actually a downgrade purchase.

At the time I didnt know anything about video cards, I saw that 256mb was greater than 128mb, and the price was like 60 bucks so I bought it =/

 

[Vokofpolisiekar]

When you slammed your desk, did you check that the card was still properly in the AGP slot, along with the VGA cable properly attached to the socket on the back of the card?

 

[Snorkius]

Sorry, but you wasted completely $60 unfortunately. The 9600 XT is ahead of even the 5700 ultra (if I remember correctly), and as for your 5500...yeah, huge downgrade.

Your other card is probably fried - it happens. But make sure to check to see if the cooler on it is still attached as it should be, just in case it's jarred loose and now your old card is overheating.

If you're on a budget, I suggest a 6600 GT - it outperforms a 9800 XT and can be had for around ~$120 if not less.

 

[JavanBuddhi]

Yes, I am afraid you downgraded.

Bigtime.

Perhaps your card was overclocked?
I always get those same lines on my 9600XT if I go past 500/300.
Overclocks can messup even if u live in the arctic.

I would ditch the card and get a geforce 6. Besides now and then its ok to blow 60$ :lol:

 

[Datman]

When I had my Asus 9600XT in, its standard clocks where 500/600 and they OC very nicely. Something like 550/700 when pushed, consistent 530/650, with standard cooling all day.

Trenchtoaster did you try reseating the card again? Or maybe you fried it in the jolt?

Snorkius, yeah they were about even, the 9600XT & 5700 Ultra.

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

The entire GeForce 5000 series (5200 to 5950) should be avoided.
They only used a 128 bit wide interface to video memory on their high end cards, when they should have used a 256 bit wide path.

The Radeon 9800 Pro/XT had a 256 bit wide path to video memory, and kicked the entire GeForce 5000 series ass before they even started manufacturing the 5000 seres cards.

The GeForce 5800 model is the most hated video card ever made. (It is like 60 dB when idle). People don't like their PCs as loud as their motorbikes.

The GeForce 6800 GT/GS made up for their past mistakes though, and provided good competition with the Radeon X800 XL/XT series.

The last 3 digits (eg: _600, _800) are indicative of card performance.
You went from a upper end _600 to a _500 vanilla.

However, Going from 6800 GS/GT to 7800 GS/GT is a fair jump. As is going from 9800 Pro/XT to X800 XL/XT.

 

[trenchtoaster]

haha, crap that sort of sucks then =/ Just to be clear, the 6800GS is better than the 9600XT right? I would hate to downgrade again, when the care might be repaired.

Hmm, yeah I took the card out and put it back in- made sure it was in right and all that. There were still red lines. It wouldnt be a driver problem would it? When I didnt have the driver installed the desktop looked fine, it was only after my computer restarted with the new catalyst installed that the red lnes appeared again.


"When you slammed your desk, did you check that the card was still properly in the AGP slot, along with the VGA cable properly attached to the socket on the back of the card?"
-Actually I know I didnt plug any wire into it besides my monitor cable when I tried the card again. Is there supposed to be? The only other wire on the card is a small one from the fan to the card. haha, I guess it would be pretty sweet if it still worked, I never understood what happened to it, or why.

And my 6800GS should be in later today hopefully.

 

[Datman]

6800gs is an upgrade that you'll notice. Enjoy that one.

 

[Heyyou27]

The 6800GS should be a large improvement over the 9600XT.

 

[Vokofpolisiekar]

I just wondered if maybe the VGA cable connection might've been loose/miss alligned, causing a red line - but you would've seen just red completely - plus the chances of that happening is very rare.

Next time, do like I do - kick the cat, or insult the neighbour, or take your trusted hammer and kill a router or modem (my personal favourite - went through 3 modems in one day - luckily just dial up at $15 a pop) :lol:

 

[trenchtoaster]

Haha nice ^^

Well I guess now I know to research my 'upgrades' before I order them =/

The worst part is back then I had lots of extra money to spend, I was buying 3 movies from hollywood video previously viewed bin every other day. Hundreds of dolllars that I could of spent upgrading my computer so I would have to play with 13fps in world of warcraft with all the visual qualities turned off -_-

 

[uber_g]

nvidia 5500 <--- 15 fps on pong

:?

 

[Vokofpolisiekar]

:lol: I also have lots o money - it's just after I've spent it, I realize that I have obligations that somehow went unnoticed.....

 

[linux_0]

I'm sorry to say the 5500 is actually an OC'ed 5200... not good :-(

I would suggest upgrading to a 7600GT or 7900GT if you can afford it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=0&Submit=ENE&description=7600GT+PCI+express&DEPA=0&Ntk=all&Order=PRICE

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?DEPA=0&type=&description=7900GT+PCI+Express&Submit=ENE&Ntk=all&N=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=24&Go.y=40

Good luck! :-D

 

[GherkinPekul]

If it make you feel any better, I'm still running a geforce4 MX440. Who needs more than 256 colors anyway?

 

[linux_0]

I have 2 GeForce MX4000s, 2 GeForce MX400s, 1 GeForce 5500 (5200 OC) and 1 GeForce 5700LE... can't wait to upgrade.

 

[lol4fun]

heh lol, wel there is currently a 256meg agp x700 pro and a 32meg pci voodoo 5 in mi computer

 

[Snorkius]

I have 2 GeForce MX4000s, 2 GeForce MX400s, 1 GeForce 5500 (5200 OC) and 1 GeForce 5700LE... can't wait to upgrade.

You could like build a little house out of all that crap.

 

[linux_0]

lol

That was not even a complete list I have more!


If anyone is looking for ancient + obsolete hardware let me know.

 

[unsmart]

I would'nt go for a high end AGP card. the price is to high when you'll probably want to move to pcie in the next six months or so. The x1600's are good at low rez and do all the eye candy and at a good price right now.

 

[lol4fun]

x1600's are easilly the best cheap option, they are about £70 and thats with 256megs of 1.6ghz memory, enough for doom 3 at ultra high on the highest res your monitor will do (about 1200x1600 probably)

 

[jeremy_pro]

No thanks. Just last week I sold my Pentium II 400mhz,32mb gf2,64mb ram,2gb hdd,15" monitor for like 80$. I'm thinking about selling this one too.

 

[kickbutt]

Ehhm 1.6GHz memory???

I think u missed somthing and is thinking about the x1800 or x1900

the x1600 might be ok for 1024* but 1280 is a little high...
...and 1600*1200? yeeh if u got the time to wait for the frames to drop in from time to time in a 3d chess game parhaps...

the x1600 is comparable with the 6600-6600GT in performance
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2552&p=9

 

[unsmart]

For pure fps the x1600 gets beat by the x700pro[all so a good card] in some games. When it comes to features the x1600 is on top in it's price range. Newegg does list it with gddr2 at 800mhz[ 1.6gh effective ]. If your looking for something fast it's not the best, like I said good for lowwer rez.

 

[trenchtoaster]

here are some screenshots of what my 9600XT card looks like, hopefully you guys can tell what is wrong.

This is in guild wars
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i311/Trenchtoaster/Gw2006-03-2521-20-50-29.jpg

Oblivion (same in wow)
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i311/Trenchtoaster/Oblivion2006-03-2521-18-48-50.jpg

Windows media player video of oblivion
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i311/Trenchtoaster/wmplayer2006-03-2521-16-53-45.jpg

Is the speed right? It seems weird, I am used to core being lower, memory being higher, did it get screwed up somehow? Can I fix it by over clocking or something.
500mhz core
300mhz memory

Catalyst 6.3 Windows XP - Driver Download