Hi - I'd like some advice please, on replacing a dead graphics card on a 4-year old pc, but find the range of (low-spec) alternatives quite overwhelming.
In the last 6 months, I have had 2 graphics cards fail on me (the original card was replaced with an identical, used version) - in both instances the fan failed.
The first time the pins securing the heat sink had melted, lifting it off the chip!
Second time, I noticed something was amiss when strange patterns appeared on the monitor - the fan was barely spinning - it was on it's way out too.
So, I cleaned and oiled the fan (using a drop of light watch oil) but I guessed the damage to the card was already done, as the image it produced was overlaid with checkerboard-like patterns.
I tested it with both another DVI and a VGA cable, but same thing. The pc is not in a dusty or hot environment.
I cannot afford to replace/upgrade any other bits on the pc (spec follows), but I urgently need the pc back in action.
I'd like to replace the GPU with a newer model, preferably with better performance and reliability, and that costs no more than £50 UK sterling.
I'm not after eye-popping gaming performance, with bells and whistles, as I mainly use it for Office, browsing, viewing DVD's and a few graphics-light games, so a better version of the old card would be fine.
But no more second-hand ones for me!
It must be a PCIe card with DVI & VGA outputs - anything above that is a bonus.
PC spec:
Model: Evesham Axis 64 MKR, running XP SP3, Avira, Comodo etc, etc
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 2.0Ghz
Mobo: eveshamvale MS-7125 1.0
RAM: 2GB (up from 512MB)
HDD: 250GB
GPU: ATi RADEON X700 256MB PCIe
PSU: 300W
Hope that's enough info for someone to list some affordable alternatives.
Thanks.
In the last 6 months, I have had 2 graphics cards fail on me (the original card was replaced with an identical, used version) - in both instances the fan failed.
The first time the pins securing the heat sink had melted, lifting it off the chip!
Second time, I noticed something was amiss when strange patterns appeared on the monitor - the fan was barely spinning - it was on it's way out too.
So, I cleaned and oiled the fan (using a drop of light watch oil) but I guessed the damage to the card was already done, as the image it produced was overlaid with checkerboard-like patterns.
I tested it with both another DVI and a VGA cable, but same thing. The pc is not in a dusty or hot environment.
I cannot afford to replace/upgrade any other bits on the pc (spec follows), but I urgently need the pc back in action.
I'd like to replace the GPU with a newer model, preferably with better performance and reliability, and that costs no more than £50 UK sterling.
I'm not after eye-popping gaming performance, with bells and whistles, as I mainly use it for Office, browsing, viewing DVD's and a few graphics-light games, so a better version of the old card would be fine.
But no more second-hand ones for me!
It must be a PCIe card with DVI & VGA outputs - anything above that is a bonus.
PC spec:
Model: Evesham Axis 64 MKR, running XP SP3, Avira, Comodo etc, etc
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 2.0Ghz
Mobo: eveshamvale MS-7125 1.0
RAM: 2GB (up from 512MB)
HDD: 250GB
GPU: ATi RADEON X700 256MB PCIe
PSU: 300W
Hope that's enough info for someone to list some affordable alternatives.
Thanks.
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