I think I need a new graphics card - recommendations?

[britgliderpilot]

(cue Last Post in the background . . . . )

 

My 9700 Pro went haywire this morning while I was playing Silent Hunter III - weird colours, weird patterns.

 

Shut the PC down, left it to cool off - booted it up again, problem still there.

After several driver swaps (including returning to my 4.11s and upgrading to the 5.5s), I get a perfect 700x400 display (only used for some startup functions), corrupted 800x600 display, and I can't get a 1024x768 display at all.

 

Swapped the monitor with my housemates, and it confirmed that the problem is in the graphics card.

 

 

Now this card has given sterling service, I'm still happy with the performance, and I'll be unhappy to see it go . . . . so if you have any recommendations for getting it to work again, please, please let me know.

 

 

Otherwise - I'm looking for a new card, to run things faster without too much expense. Open to input and recommendations . . . . but it can only be an AGP card. I just can't afford any other new bits right now.

 

Suggestions for a £100, £200, and £300 price bracket will be accepted - go work on that for a challenge ;)

 

 

Main games are Lomac, Pacific Fighters, SWAT 4, Half-Life 2, and Silent Hunter III.

 

 

Thanks for your input.

[ssgatbliss]

I went from a 9700 pro to the 9800XT but soon switched to the NVIDIA 6800GT. The 6800GT smoked everything out there for the same price and it gives me the ability to keep the card for SLI later on. I use dual displays for work and the NVIDIA support for that is much better than ATIs.

[rekoal]

if you have the money GE6800Ul 512mb..........;)

 

rekoal

[TBT_Piper]

Go Radeon x800 and when the Cat 5.6 comes out you will be smoking.

 

I must say something very similar happened to Silent Eagle a few weeks ago.

 

Did your screen happen to look like this?

 

 

He got lucky, Dell sent him a new Video card :) SIlentEagle said something about a capacitor being blown.

[rekoal]

lol i 2 also have vegas 6!

 

rekoal

[ThirdELTPoznan]

I would choose X800Pro/XT or X850XT PE and wait for CrossFire (if I won the lottery... :icon_roll )

[britgliderpilot]

Go Radeon x800 and when the Cat 5.6 comes out you will be smoking.

 

I must say something very similar happened to Silent Eagle a few weeks ago.

 

Did your screen happen to look like this?

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/TBT_Piper/ohsnap.jpg

 

He got lucky, Dell sent him a new Video card :) SIlentEagle said something about a capacitor being blown.

 

 

YES!

 

Almost exactly like that!

 

 

Anyway, due to the wonders of the intarweb, I am now the proud owner of an X800XL . . . . midway between an X800 Pro and an X800XT.

 

Very nice, very shiny, some FPS improvement but I think I'm still CPU limited . . . . no complaints, this is only a replacement card ;)

 

 

Will send my card back to Powercolor and see if they'll give me any money back for it. Better check the warranty for that . . . .

 

Oh, and it's running hot. I'm still using the same case I had for my PII 350 when that was fast . . . . and even with a couple of big holes in the back, the card seems to be heating up in a hurry.

Hmmn . . . . need to try and do something about that, I think.

 

 

Anyway, thanks for the advice guys :)

[Ayane]

AGP, get a 6800GT or X800XL they are fairly cheap, tho the XL would be a better choice, as they are overclockable to X850XT speeds..

[britgliderpilot]

AGP, get a 6800GT or X800XL they are fairly cheap, tho the XL would be a better choice, as they are overclockable to X850XT speeds..

 

Given it arrived this morning and is currently sitting in my machine, I'm quite glad about that ;)

 

 

Now if I ever upgrade my CPU, then I'll be able to OC the board and make use of it - the CPU is holding me back, from my experimentation so far.