Hey
 
I have a fairly old computer now, but i still do a fair bit of gaming, trying to make my rig last for as long as i can
I have just formatted it and games have begun to lag, alot, on old games aswell, like counter strike source
In the past couple of weeks i also noticed a weird noise coming from my graphics card, i cleaned of the fan( got the dust out) but its
still there, one of my friends said that it could be a problem with my gaphics card, that it could be burning up slowly
is this possible?? the card is about 4 years old now, i ran GPU-Z and it says its only running at 44degrees celcius which i
think is fine?? but from what he said it would explain the weird noise and slow performance?
Is this possible or is there another reason
 
my specs are
3.2 ghz P4
2gb ddr ram
6600gt 169.21 drivers
200gb hdd
etc
 
thanks for any help in advance
 
Ryan

What brand is your 6600GT? The only reason I ask is because my brother had a Gigabyte 6600GT in his computer until recently and it was making a growling noise too. I think the fan was dying. The card still ran fine, but it sounded like it was on its last days.
 
I wouldn't replace it yet, but maybe start a "graphics emergency fund" for when the inevitable happens.  
 
Is 44*C your idle or load temp? If thats your idle temp, what's your load temp?

Is it running at 44 degrees right after gaming? GPU temps drop fast so you would need to check quickly after you exit a game.

You said you just reformatted it; have you used the same settings in the nVidia panel to what you had them before?  Your slider might be at a higher position than it was (full quality instead of maybe performance or balanced).
 
Since you've already checked your card "health", the sound is probably just the bearings getting old, it's happened to my 9800Pro a while back, and aside from being annoying as hell, it didn't hurt the card (I was monitoring temperature with ATI tool back then)

The bearing on the fan could be going out.
 
Unfortunately, that card is really not well suited for todays games, even on the lowest specs. It may be time to start saving those pennies.

Thanks for the quick replys
 
umm 44*c is idle temp, hvnt tested load yet
Ok yeh, im starting to realise my computer is getting a bit old   which sucks but looks like im gonna have to start saving, could be a while yet though    
is there anything i can do in the meantime? like will the bearing actually break, or will it be fine for a while yet?
 
thanks
 
Ryan

You still have a while. It could last another year, or it could go tomorrow. Just keep an eye on it, and watch for artifacts when gaming. That will be your first indication that it's getting too warm.