most reliable video card?

[nyrang]

Hi all, my configuration is as follows:

athlon 64 x2 6000+
m/b asrock alivenf7g-hdready
windows xp pro sp2

Now, as I need to change my video card, I was going to opt for a 9800GT.
Problem is: I've read of many users having the same issue with this card (or its sibling, the 8800GT), i.e. artifacts and BSOD claiming a failure in nv4_disp.dll. After some research, I've found that most of these people seem to have something in common: a PCI-E 1.0 motherboard. Since my m/b is PCI-E 1.0 as well, that concerns me although, to tell the truth, the problem seems to be most common with Vista.

The best alternative would be an HD4850 (namely, a gainward hd4850 512MB golden sample), but I've also found an unexpected number of users complaining about failures with this card, regardless of their configuration.

Overall, I'm having a bit of an headache. I don't need a fancy performance or anything, just a mid-range card with a reasonable power cosumption / heat dissipation, but most of all a high reliability to avoid regretting my x1950pro that has served me well since the first day.

So, any opinion on the issues I've read about, or any other option I may go for, would be much, much appreciated.

Thank you in advance for any advice!

 

[rolli59]

I have a 8800GT on an pci-e 1.0 board and no issues for the past 8 months.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

All cards have issues.

The most reliable cards are those built for workstation style work, where they are declocked and built to be rock-solid.

The thing is gaming cards are hit and miss.

Even if they were better than workstation cards for QC, and 99.999% of X card may be awesome and be the most reliable card ever made, however you may get that 1 in 100,000 that's wonky.

Both options you've listed are fine with both having good/bad, the main thing to focus on is a good warranty and customer support, and also look for the best cooling you can find, the two cards you listed are single slot cooling as the norm so they get warm which hurts reliability.

I'd say look for the dual slot versions of them which some OEMs provide.

 

[nyrang]

Well in truth the gw HD4850 GS is a dual slot solution, with a non-reference design and apparently very solid in terms of power consumption and heat dissipation.

Of course I've already bought video cards in my life and I know they can be a little hit and miss, but my point is that the current generation of mid-level cards seems to be much more miss than hit, really.
Moreover, I have the impression that the transition form pci-e 1.0 to 2.0 hasn't been as smooth as it is believed. After so many issues reported by users who upgraded to a pci-e 2.0 video card on a pci-e 1.0 motherboard, I would like to know if anyone can confirm this is a known problem. Also, if anyone has a system based on my same m/b and one of the cards I've listed, I woud really appreciate some feedback.

 

[nyrang]

oops sorry rolli59, I have seen your reply only now, thank you very much for your feedback.
btw, would you mind telling me your exact card and m/b model?

 

[rolli59]

I have a socket 939 MSI nforce 4ultra (fujitsu/siemens oem) with a dual core opteron and my GPU IS MSI NX8800 GT OC, link below.
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=NX8800GT_512M_OC&class=vga

 

[sentenced83]

i have the nearly the same rig as you , and am using 8800 gt superclocked and its amazing , so if you want go for the 9800 gtx

 

[nyrang]

Great! That is good news because I have a motherboard based on an nforce chipset as well; most problems I've heard about were reported on a different chipset.
I should probably stop worrying and get a good 9800gt card, then.
Thank you rolli59 and sentenced83.