Gts 8800 replacement

[swtorange]

I know this question gets ask everyday but I haven't seen the answer I need. I am not a computer geek but this is driving me nutz. I have an alien area-51-7500 with a nivida 8800 gts. I started having graphics issues with colors all screwed up and finally went to black screen with 8 vertical lines. I can boot up in vga mode and type this question. In device mngr, there are two adaptors...one is okay and the other says it cannot start (10) I have redone drivers..rolled back..etc but nothing works. So, I need to replace the cards but with what? Also, is this pci or pci express or what? I have an SLI connector. Sorry to be so dumb about stuff. I moved and cannot find all the books it came with. Its about three years old. It has intel 2core and 1k watt power.

 

[insaneclowngod]

A 9800gt will preform on par with the 8800gts (i'm assuming its the first release of the 8800GTS) And it is pci express.

 

[brockh]

Hey swtorange,

How much are you looking to spend? What resolution do you play at, as in 1280x1024, 1680x1050 or 1920x1080? What games do you primarily play? This'll help me decide what you should replace it with.

Also, is it possible for you to tell me the exact model of your Core 2 Duo? The clock speed would be fine, like 2.4 GHz or 3.0 GHz.

 

[swtorange]

I have an intel 6700@2.66 GHz
I usually run at 1280/1024
I don't play really graphic heavy games..Mostly mmorgs like wow and warhammer
Sims3 did give me probs tho and I've been told it won't use amd at present
I have 1k watts

 

[brockh]

I think a 512MB NVidia GTS 250 would be great for you. It provides roughly HD 4850 performance at a lower price as the HD 4850 stock is running low. It will run World of Warcraft and Warhammer very well at your resolution and will allow you to play a large amount of new games at very acceptable settings at your native resolution.

ECS NGTS250-512MX-F GeForce GTS 250 512MB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

The version I've chosen here is cheap ($119 or $109 w/ mail-in rebate) and factory overclocked for better performance.

HotHardware: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 Mainstream GPU

 

[Mousemonkey]

@ OP, have you tried running with just one card?, by the sound of it you may not need two cards. What GTS's are they 640's or 320's?

 

[swtorange]

I'm certainly no expert on the two card, SLI connector setup but a friend suggested I take one out also. On the device mngr, one card stated it could not start so we figured out which one and removed it. Bingo...all works. no black screen, no blue lines. But having used this combo for almost three years straight, it doesn't seem quite right to me. I wasn't using two monitors, nothing to stretch the system....so maybe its my imagination now. But I really thank you guys for all the replys I got...it all really helped alot and as i probably won't find another 8800, I will look into the "new card" suggestions made. Thanks again.

 

[atk0309]

Just to share my experience i changed my 8800 GTS for a 9800 GTX and i am qutie happy with it
And 9800 GTX nowadays is cheap and also it can run pretty much anything quite good. No complains.