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Knackered Graphics card?



Clart

ClioSport Club Member
  E92 M3
Every so often my graphics card would have a fit, the screen would go all pixelated, multicoloured and just generally screw up. I have been able to fix it normally by taking the card out, cleaning everything and reseating. Yesterday it went good and proper, when windows is about to load I get "no signal" displayed on the screen.

Any ideas? Card is a dodgy 6800GT bought from Griff :rasp:
 
  1995 Mondeo Speed Machine
Could be the VGA slot in the board? You got another machine you can try it in just to be sure its the card?
 
  1995 Mondeo Speed Machine
Yeh I meant AGP! You not got an old card lying around? Not sure how you can be certain its the card and not the board. Theres a chance it could be either, probably just have to try it and see with a replacement card I guess.
 

Clart

ClioSport Club Member
  E92 M3
thing is, its been fine for about 6 months, why would it suddenly just go? Its done it before and has always sorted itself out, but this time it seems to be a bit more serious.
 

Clart

ClioSport Club Member
  E92 M3
Right lets say the card is fooked - theres no point me buying another AGP card is there? Current system is 1gb RAM + 3200+

How much would I have to spend to get a new system PCI-E graphics card, 64bit processor etc that would last me a couple of years of gaming?
 
  Revels Mum & Sister
YOu done any driver updates Ian

Try Safe Mode first. If it boots completely into safe mode. You have a resolution or driver issue.

Usually they will display no signal all the time. When its about to load windows I believe it switches over the correct res and nvidia drivers.
 
  Clio V6 MK I, Megane DCi
Sounds like it's overheating/overheated (if dead).

Have you tried blowing any dust trapped in the card's heatsink out with a straw?

If windows boots, take a look at the card's temperature in display options. If the card is getting hot in Windows > 65c for a 6800, I'd get a hold of RivaTuner http://www.guru3d.com/rivatuner/ to set the card's fan to run faster than the default.

You can still buy very good AGP video cards, whether it's a waste of time buying on pretty much depends on what you do with the PC now IMO.
 
Last edited:
Its a tricky one. I would be tempted to just upgrade and get a medium Conroe setup with an ATI x1900xt. I think with £600 you could easily build a 3-piece-suit around Conroe including that video card. However it's your cash, and I would defo rule out the PSU first; although it doesnt really sound like a power problem, you never know. Some daft issues have been attribited to poor power.

EDIT: Actually you'd probably need closer to £700 indlcuding DDR2
 
  Revels Mum & Sister
Gigabyte GS3 Mobo, Geil 2GB Low Latency ram (2X1gb), Core Duo E6300, XT1900XT. That little lot for

You can overclock the tits out of the CPU as well if you wish! Shopping list from OCUK

MY-058-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL) 1
£124.95 £124.95
GX-112-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-112-SP) 1
£178.95 £178.95
CP-126-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-126-IN) 1
£115.99 £115.99
MB-061-GI Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI) 1
£91.99 £91.99
Subtotal £511.88
VAT £89.58
Total £601.46
 

Clart

ClioSport Club Member
  E92 M3
took the pc apart, hoovered, blew dust out, works fine now. until next time grrrrr
 
Looks like my Geek Instinct £600 was on the button :cool:

But I might price a new PSU into that budget for future upgrades, even if the current one isnt fooked. OCZ GameXStream 700w is the daddy, so thats £700 :D
 
  Revels Mum & Sister
Or if you wanna go AMD

REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
MY-058-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL)
£124.95 £124.95
GX-112-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-112-SP)
£178.95 £178.95
MB-142-AS Asus M2N32-SLi-DLX nForce 590 SLi (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-142-AS)
£114.99 £114.99
CP-166-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM)
£89.99 £89.99
Subtotal £508.88
VAT £89.06
Total £597.94
 
Clart said:
took the pc apart, hoovered, blew dust out, works fine now. until next time grrrrr

Dude you're sitting on a time bomb there. Dust is not your issue. You just have a seriously flakey component in your PC. It WILL break very soon, so plan an upgrade path or at least a fix.
 
That might be why I suggested Conroe you homo? But you're going to need more than a Conroe and a single X1900 to beat my 8514 so I'm happy with my AM2 for now :cool:
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
For the money, you can't beat AM2 at the moment. If you've got sh1tloads of money, then the Intel route is more powerful. Still, I haven't owned an Intel system since my P133 system years ago. AMD all the way.... ;)

D.
 


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