Video Card Crisis

[Cody_7]

Hey all,

Everyone here has always been very helpful with my PC problems. But, i'm getting so fed up with buying video cards i could scream.

About a year ago, i bought an HP Pavillion a650e with an AMD 3400+ processor, and i also ordered a Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB with the computer (It was at least $250). Well, a couple weeks ago my card literally melted. Two little plastic things partly melted to the heatsink, and the fan stop spinning.

I convinced them to send me a new card, and they send me a Nvidia GeForce FX 5700 256 MB. I am extremely dissapointed because my FPS is not even half in most of the games i played with my old Radeon. I used the AquaMark default test (1024x768, high details, etc) with my Radeon that came with the PC, i got a GFX score of 4,758. But with the nvidia, i'm getting a score of 2,772. Both with default clock speeds. It's pretty obvious they sent me a piece of crap.

I'm going to convince them to send me a different card - my Radeon isn't listed on thier site anymore, so i assume they don't manafacture that card anymore. But, i need your help so i can decide what kind of card i should buy MYSELF, because i'm sick and tired of ordering video cards manafactured by someone other than ATI because they always have problems.

I'm planning on buying a video card from a STORE like Circuit City or Best Buy, MADE 100% by ATI. Every card i have bought from newegg, HP, or anywhere else has either been a huge piece of crap or melted itself. What are some good choices? Are there any other places i can buy a card that's 100% ATI and NOT modified by sapphire or any other company?

Take a look: http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/catOid/-13011/Ntk/All/Ntt/radeon/rpem/ccd/categorylist.do

I was thinking about the ATI X700. What do you guys think?

-Cody

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Cody_7 on 07/24/05 06:12 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[KCjoker]

If you're only willing to look at ATI(which is fine) then get nothing less than a X800pro IMO.

 

[Cody_7]

I went looking around a little, and i found this X800 at a pretty cheap price. Take a look:

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?SCriteria=3673245

 

[Rugger]

Good price for an AGP version of the X800<b>XL</b>.

Personally, I'd nag HP until they gave me a good, COMPARABLE replacement card! You paid good money for that card (too much for a 9800Pro at that time) and HP should replace it with a comparable card.

Any idea why the card melted? That's the firs thing I'd try to resolve while waiting on the new card...

__________________________________________________
<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[Cody_7]

Yeah, it was a little pricy for the 9800 Pro - Although it performed very good. While playing Swat 4 (a very new game) with Full details, 1280x1024 with High bump-mapping (used everywhere in this game, looks beautiful) i could play running about 40-50 FPS.

And about the fact it melted... My PC has an AMD 64-bit processor, so i know it generates ALOT of heat. But, it has a massive cooling fan on it and circulates air out of the computer pretty well. But my AGP slot is right next to the heatsink on my CPU, and it looks like HP is using a custom cooling fan on the video card =/ I'm definentally getting liquid cooling sometime in the future.

I'm a pretty extreme gamer, so i'll have my PC on all day which doesn't help the heat issue...

-Cody

 

[scottchen]

Actually Athlon64 generates very little heat, in fact less than AthlonXP's or any P4. Melting could be caused by the motherboard or the PSU, you should determine it before plugging in a new precious video card.

 

[Rugger]

Bingo! And the winner is...Scottchen!

__________________________________________________
<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[Guest]

/me claps

Asus P4P800DX, P4C 2.6ghz@3.25ghz, 2X512 OCZ PC4000 3-4-4-8, MSI 6800Ultra stock, 2X30gig Raid0

 

[scottchen]

I'm confused...

[cries in a corner]

 

[Rugger]

*consoles little Scotty*
It's OK little fella. I was just saying that you were right and won the door prize!

__________________________________________________
<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[Guest]

claps like in clap clap clap
no slaps as in slap slap slap the bitch!



Asus P4P800DX, P4C 2.6ghz@3.25ghz, 2X512 OCZ PC4000 3-4-4-8, MSI 6800Ultra stock, 2X30gig Raid0

 

[Rugger]

All door prizes can be claimed from Wingding in the Other Forum....

__________________________________________________
<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[Cody_7]

Well guys, it looks like HP puts thier own cooling fan + heatsink on the card - wouldn't that more likeley be the problem? Because if my CPU isn't generating the heat, then i think the problem would be with the card...

-Cody

 

[Cody_7]

Oh, and another thing guys - While using the Nvidia FX 5700 HP sent me i noticed my PC cooling fan isn't turning on as often.

Interesting...

 

[RandalFlagg]

Well guys, it looks like HP puts thier own cooling fan + heatsink on the card

No they dont.

 

[Cody_7]

Want a bet? The nvida card they send me has the EXACT same heatsink and cooling fan as my ATI card did.

I know for a fact that nvida's fan would look different. It is the same fan.

 

[Cody_7]

Well, i think i'll get that X800XL sometime soon ... But what's the difference between the XL, and say regular? Or the pro version?

And one more thing. I believe that X800 i was looking at above is AGP (<A HREF="http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?SCriteria=3673245" target="_new">http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?SCriteria=3673245</A>). How do i found out if my motherboard has PCI-Express slots? Does a PCI-E card plugin to a normal PCI slot?

-Thanks.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Cody_7 on 08/01/05 01:31 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[theholylancer]

er PCI-E do nto plug into PCI slots... new PCI vid cards are rare nowdays and well i guess ya can crack open your case and if the video card slot is short (compaired to the PCI slots) then its a AGP if its longer then its PCIE, here is a <A HREF="http://www.viaarena.com/images/articles/pcie 002.jpg" target="_new">pic</A> of the PCIE slot (16x for video cards, can't figure what the 1x PCIE slots are for, someone help me?) and its usually buddy the PCIE 1x slot. and <A HREF="http://koti.mbnet.fi/talggari/Harrastenurkka/12.AGP Paikka näytönohjaimelle.jpg" target="_new">here</A> is the AGP slot, its the black one among the PCI slots. this is the most rudementary way of finding out which is whcih, there are many tools to tell ya what they re (your mobo manual for example, it is a tool ya know, or just check with the windows device manager and check what ya current vid card is, it migh tell ya what interface it has (hard ware manager can be found under administrative tools --> computer mangement --> device manager

hope this can help

 

[theholylancer]

smack head..... ya got a 3400+ and i'm pretty sure that they only come in S939 and if so then it usully uses NF4 chipset (if not its the VIA stuff, dunno howw good they are i know they are good in the past cuz my dad still thinks they are good......), which means that it got PCIE slots

 

[emogoch]

He had a Radeon 9800 Pro in it originally. I'm quite sure that those only come in an AGP version, so unless there was a mobo change in there at some point, AGP would be the safest bet. Wouldn't hurt to verify however.

Just my $0.02 though...

 

[Cody_7]

Nope, i don't have any PCI-E slots =(. I just wanted to make sure in case i wanted to buy a PCI-E card sometime in the future.

But i heard that we really haven't really reached the AGP's limit yet, so the PCI-E is still kind of in "tommorow land" if you will.

 

[emogoch]

AGP was released purely to combat PCI's waining speeds when it came to high-end GPUs (as is denoted by the name Accelerated Graphics Port).

However, PCI-E is not just meant to replace AGP, but the entire PCI bus itself. This is why mobo's that have PCI-E slots for graphics cards (16x) generally also have a 1x slot for future PCI-E devices as well (and even a 4x slot in some cases). Is PCI-E being used to it's full potential? Not even close. Will you need it soon (in relative computer terms)? Probably not. Just think about how long it took USB to become the standard connection medium and you'll get and idea of how long PCI-E is going to take to become fully used beyond a graphics point.

This is not meant to change any of your views, as you seem to be on the right path. Just wanted to give you some knowledge on where things are going so you can plan future upgrades accordingly