New graphics card

[desocupado]

I had the exact same issue. Random reboots, and blank screens, and some day the PC would not show video on the offboard card.

Put it on the onboard video, and used the PC for months.

Then my PSU died, and I bought another. Thought of testing the old card.

And voila, it still works. It was the PSU. The defective PSU would not handle the charge the offboard card required, but the shitty onboard graphics were not a problem.

I'm just sad that I already spent money on a new videocard, tough. Should have tested before buying a new one. But I'm LAZY!

 

[racofer]

I'm just sad that I already spent money on a new videocard, tough. Should have tested before buying a new one. But I'm LAZY!

No. You're just a desocupado.

 

[MetalCraze]

@OP: It's either PSU or a failing power system on your videocard. Check the latter for leaking resistors - also who is the manufacturer?

GeForces have PhysX and CUDA though

They make such a small difference in the end that they certainly aren't factors that should tip the scales either way.

PhysX is pretty much in every single UE3 game and then some. Not mentioning that it adds much visually (just look at, say, Mirror's Edge or Cryostasis) - after all that's why you buy a newer videocard. Considering that PhysX makes more difference than any recent DirectHoax

Also last time I've checked CUDA was supported by more software than ATi Stream and do I enjoy encoding my shit lightningly fast.

PhysX [...] only make the game look laggier from my experience

Not if PhysX is accelerated by GeForce. I mean I have GTX260 which PhysX-wise isn't that much more powerful than 9800 and I've yet to experience PhysX lags. My nephew owns GTS250 which is like 9800 but with a better techprocess and pimped frequencies - and he too has great PhysX performance so if it lags for you then it's pretty strange.

 

[Markman]

Skyway: Its Asus card.

I hope Im right about this otherwise Ive wasted 200 euros. My guess would be that the cards cooling doesnt work as it should and overheats fast.

New one wastes about the same energy so we'll see in a few days when it arrives.

 

[MetalCraze]

Asus is notorious for putting very shitty cooling systems on their videocards that are barely enough to keep vcard in the safe zone so overheating may be a likely cause for problems.

I myself had two videocards from them and in one case the cooling system died a year later and in the other case 4850 was running at 80-90 *C so I gave it away. And that's just my vcards.
Have you checked temperatures with Everest under load?

 

[Burning Bridges]

Seems my kid likes to play Hugo and kick the PC at the same time, so Ive been getting BSODs when I try to play some games. Seems as soon theres some more work for the gfx card I get a BSOD.

My dying one is GF 9800+, and I need a better one that is faster and doesnt sound like an airplane. Up to 250 euros, Im no rich mofo.
Reccomend me one, plz.

Did you check the cooling? The PCs of both my stupid nephews broke down because of fried fans, the morons didn't notice, and my sisters 'solution' had been to already purchase a new PC for one, before I could prevent her from another such idiotic purchase and salvage both PCs. Repair cost: 12€ for two new fans which I attached with duct tape

 

[fizzelopeguss]

It's a GPU line notorious for dying by the million (bumpgate), i've had to bake mine in the oven numerous times to get it working again.

 

[Burning Bridges]

You bake it in the oven? And this really works?

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Yup, last time i did it was about 6 months ago on an artefacting and BSOD'ing 8800gt.


http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1421792

 

[MetalCraze]

Well that explains 480. Comes with the reviving system by default.

 

[racofer]

Now it makes sense that it runs so hot "by default".

 

[Multidirectional]

My nephew owns GTS250 which is like 9800 but with a better techprocess and pimped frequencies - and he too has great PhysX performance so if it lags for you then it's pretty strange.

The only game that runs good with PhysX on my GTS250 is Mirror's Edge, I have to run every other game without it. Shame, I really liked PhysX effects in Arkham Asylum, but I can live without them I guess.

Asus is notorious for putting very shitty cooling systems on their videocards that are barely enough to keep vcard in the safe zone so overheating may be a likely cause for problems.

My card is a heatpiped version from ASUS and the cooling is great so far. It's way cooler and more silent than my previous card from Club 3D (I guess it's a shitty brand though), it's about 42 degrees Celsius on idle and I've never even seen it reach 70.

 

[Markman]

Grrr, still not arrived yet, have to go to work in a few hours.

And wtf is DisplayPort? Do new screens have support for it? New TV's?
Dont remember my TV has it, and i bought it a month or two ago. 3 hdmi's but no display port i believe.

When im on TV subject, its also a piece of shit, bought it cause it could play xvid, matroska files, just plug in the USB stick and play, worked fine first week, then upgraded firmware and now its choppy as hell. Phillips
Dont know how to revert it.

 

[MicoSelva]

I hope Im right about this otherwise Ive wasted 200 euros. My guess would be that the cards cooling doesnt work as it should and overheats fast.

New one wastes about the same energy so we'll see in a few days when it arrives.

In UE You can return anything bought in in an online store without giving any reason and get Your money back, as long as You do it in no later than a week (or was it 14 days?) after buying, and the thing you bought is still full value (i.e. unpacked from original box).
Maybe You should test the old card on a different PC/PSU?

 

[MetalCraze]

And wtf is DisplayPort? Do new screens have support for it? New TV's?

Yep. Even my 19" LCD TV in the kitchen has one.

Dont remember my TV has it, and i bought it a month or two ago. 3 hdmi's but no display port i believe.

You are not buying this to use with TV anyway. Besides I'm not sure if DisplayPort supports sound transfer like HDMI does.

When im on TV subject, its also a piece of shit, bought it cause it could play xvid, matroska files, just plug in the USB stick and play, worked fine first week, then upgraded firmware and now its choppy as hell. Phillips
Dont know how to revert it.

Lesson learned: never touch shit if it works.

In UE You can return anything bought in in an online store without giving any reason and get Your money back, as long as You do it in no later than a week (or was it 14 days?) after buying, and the thing you bought is still full value (i.e. unpacked from original box).

You can do that even in Eastern European shithole like Ukraine. My RAM stick was incompatible with my another stick so I returned it and the shop even paid for delivery there and back. Thank you WTO.

 

[Markman]

Arrived. Installing drivers now

 

[Markman]

Ok, seems to be working fine, didnt crash yet and played a bit of Necrovision and Zeno Clash without any troubles. Need to play more to be sure its not PSU thats causing the trouble, but Im off to work in 15 min so it will have to wait till tommorow.
wooohooo new card!

 

[Markman]

Well, ive been gaming for 2 hours and its been rock solid. Way more quiet then the 9800 one. Good that some of you were wrong.

Not its time to backup alot of shit and get rid of my old harddrive and put in the new one as main.
Find the wakest link:

 

[Bruticis]

You aren't going to get a better WEI score for your hard drive with a mechanical drive (it might go as far as 5.9). If you want to break into the 6 or 7 range you have to get an SSD. Niether my WD Caviar Blacks or Raptors will break 5.9.

 

[Markman]

My main one is an old IDE 200gb Maxtor, and its noisy as hell and hickups alot. I partinioned it to one 50 gb(system disk) and another 150 one, plus i got 640gb new one and external 500gb drive. And now this new 500gb regular 7200rpm one that will be the new system disk.

Biggest reason Im changing it is cause Win7 is eating up the whole drive. I have 2 gigs free with almost nothing but Win7 installed on it. So instead re-partitioning Im gonna throw it the trash and install it on the new one so I wont have to it again in a close future, like 3 years from now.

If I get 5.5 Ill be happy as long its quiet and boots a bit faster.

Woo, looked at the prices for an SSD, shit a 120gb one Corsair Force is 200+ euros while theres a 2TB old school one for 80 euros. Who the fuck is buying this?

 

[Satori (original)]

Woo, looked at the prices for an SSD, shit a 120gb one Corsair Force is 200+ euros while theres a 2TB old school one for 80 euros. Who the fuck is buying this?

The same people that buy the first generation of anything new or people that just can't wait for the prices to come down to their natural level so they can feel superior.

 

[Pegultagol]

Some people do say that SSD upgrade is the one where you could see the most noticeable improvement in the overall speed for usage.

I was tempted to buy one, but decided to wait until the price comes down to around dollar to GB ratio. Some older models have already reached that level.

 

[Satori (original)]

The main problem is the significantly reduced write endurace compared to HDDs which would stop me from purchasing an SSD even if they were in the same price catagory.

 

[goatvomit]

The main problem is the significantly reduced write endurace compared to HDDs which would stop me from purchasing an SSD even if they were in the same price catagory.

You still need the up to date backups with regular disks as well so I don't really see a big issue there. The biggest problem is still the price imo but once you move your system disk to an ssd I doubt you'll be switching back soon. One of those "don't knock it before you've tried it" things. No I'm not advocating for gay sex...

 

[Admiral jimbob]

The tech forum has been whisked away, so hijacking this. Baking my 8800GTX now, just getting the heatsink off and chucking it in. This still feels like a strange thing to do.

 

[Kraszu]

You aren't going to get a better WEI score for your hard drive with a mechanical drive (it might go as far as 5.9). If you want to break into the 6 or 7 range you have to get an SSD. Niether my WD Caviar Blacks or Raptors will break 5.9.

What about RAID 0?

 

[Admiral jimbob]

The tech forum has been whisked away, so hijacking this. Baking my 8800GTX now, just getting the heatsink off and chucking it in. This still feels like a strange thing to do.

Christ, that actually worked, once I forced my computer and card to stop ignoring each other and face up to their difficulties and communication problems. They seem like they're being civil for now, but I'm still waiting for it to shit itself and break a bottle over someone's head, though, and I'm not sure if I'm being metaphorical.