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My Gfx card just died...

inverseSquare

inverseSquare

inverseSquare

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Joined
30 Aug 2007
Posts
261
So my gfx card just died, started getting errors in the bios screens, failed to make it to its normal 1600x1200 res...

Tried the monitor on a different machine - fine.
Tried using an old gfx card - fine.

So im looking to replace this dead card (nvidia 6800). But there is a 'problem', its AGP :)
I really can't replace this machine right now, so i'm looking for an AGP replacement.
I'm going to guess there isn't much choice now - I see OC has just 2 nvidia AGP cards.

Is there a best 'last of the agp' cards ?

Any help appreciated :)


Thanks.
 
Thanks for the comments guys :)


I've normally stayed with nvidia cards due to their drivers always seeming better (more stable, less issues)

So now im wondering if the difference between the:

OcUK GeForce 7300 GT 512MB DDR2 HDTV/DVI (AGP)
&
HIS ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro Turbo 512MB GDDR3

...will be big enough to justify the (admittedly small) difference in price.


Couple of other points that occured -
Will either of those cards need substantially more power than my old 6800 ? (the rest of the machine is a athlon64 3500, 1Gig ram, its pretty old..)

With the rest of the machine being so old, would it really do the HD3850 justice anyhow ?

cyborg said:
Strange, my 6800 died 2 days ago too. Its a conspiracy i tell yee.
Click to expand...

:D


Thanks.
 
Thanks again guys.


If i can get away with it, I don't really want to start upgrading other areas of the machine really. Feels like spending money on an old machine that I could save to use on a new machine :(



I'm guessing the same would be true of a 7600 GS Vs. 3850 ?

(btw, how would they compare with my old 6800 ?)


I can't imagine this machine has a PS powerful enough for a high-end 3850...


Thanks.
 
Yeah :)

I play CS:S sometimes (1600x1200 with almost everything turned down), and recently TF2 a fair bit (1280x1024 with medium settings - no aa af) on my old 6800.

Initially i was looking at taking this chance to upgrade my gfx card, but due to the need to upgrade other bits (PS, more memory, etc..) / limited choice - It looks like i may even be struggling to get a card to replicate the performance of my old 6800 ?


A 7600 GS 256MB would be crappy as well ?



Thanks.
 
It was a 6800 vanilla, yup. 128MB apparently... quite impressive considering the games I was playing :D

7600GT ? I've been struggling to find an AGP 7600 GT, only the GS 256MB...



Thanks again.
 
Thanks for the posts guys :)

Was just looking at the chart on Toms Hardware...

Looks like my old 6800 would get about 1000 in 3DMark06.
The 7600 GS looks like it might get about the same score (the GT gets about 1150)

However, the ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO 512MB gets 2218 in 3DMark06. I can get that for about the same as a 7600 GS from a local store.

How does a HD 2600 PRO 512MB sound ?



Thanks.
 
inverseSquare said:
Thanks for the posts guys :)

Was just looking at the chart on Toms Hardware...

Looks like my old 6800 would get about 1000 in 3DMark06.
The 7600 GS looks like it might get about the same score (the GT gets about 1150)

However, the ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO 512MB gets 2218 in 3DMark06. I can get that for about the same as a 7600 GS from a local store.

How does a HD 2600 PRO 512MB sound ?



Thanks.
Click to expand...

Sorry to bump this, was thinking about going to the shops tomorrow....



Thanks.
 
Does anyone know roughly how much power my old 6800 would have used ? Trying to decide if a HD 2600 will be using too much juice for my old PS.

One website said the 2600 was using about 126W on idle...


Thanks.
 
Sorry to bump this again, should be finally replacing my gfx card tomorrow :)

Thinking of going with the HD 2600 PRO 512MB..

I currently have a athlon64 355, 1Gig ram, 1 samsung HD, DVD drive, floppy drive...

According to my old receipts, i have an Akasa 460W Active 12cm Fan Ultra Quiet PSU.

This will be enough if i go for the HD 2600 PRO, right ?



Thanks guys.
 
Ezyryder said:
How much do you want to spend?

I would have said that the ATi 3650 or the 3850 are the best AGP cards there are. I would get either of them depending on your bank account :D
Click to expand...


I guess £100 is ok, so thats the 3850 :)

Anything more I should consider when using this new card with my old machine ?..
A64 3500
1Gig ram (yeah, i know :))
450W PS

I'm guessing it might output considerably more heat than my old 6800 ?

Thanks.
 
darren.head said:
Your PS wil be fine, its a quality brand.

If you can get an 'HIS' 3850, its cooler will dump the heat from the card and some from your system out the back of the case. If you cant get that paticular card, make sure you have airflow within your case.

What case and cooling do you have at present?
Click to expand...

I have a Lian Li PC 0700 just with stock cooling iirc. Just a double fan at the front grate pulling air in, and a single fan pushing air out the back. Will this be enough ?

I'm guessing from your post the 3850 will generate significantly more heat than my old 6800 ?

I see OC sell the HIS 3850, looks like its using a double-slot to dump the air from the card ?

[edit] One last thought... The machine is quite quiet at the moment, would the HIS 3850 be any louder than my old 6800 ?


Thanks for the help.
 
Last edited:
darren.head said:
That card will be fine. The chip may generate slightly more heat, not much though.

The cooler is more than capable of cooling it and as I said it should push some hot air out of the case aswell, just to give your case cooling a helping hand.

The 'HIS' fans are very quiet and the card also comes with a factory overclock, so it should be a little faster.

I used to have 6800le and a 6800GT and I upgraded to a HIS X1900XT with the same cooler, you wont be dissapointed!:D
Click to expand...

Thanks again for the reply :)

I was pretty set on ordering the HIS 3850 today but then read this (rather lengthy) thread - http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1276019

It includes a lists of problems with the AGP version of the card..

The main one seeming to be that the normal Ati Catalyst drivers don't work with the AGP version of the 3850. You need to get drivers from the card manufacturers site (these don't seem to be updated that often), or install the 'hotfix' version of the drivers from Ati -
http://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=31625

Make me wonder how much longer Ati will produce these 'hotfix' versions of the Cat drivers.... cos otherwise they would just roll this 'version' into the main driver download ?

Apparently this is the same situation as the 2600 cards, they dont have 'normal' Ati driver support.


There is also some reports of 3850's BSODing, rebooting, etc... with some VIA chipsets (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1276019&page=25 post #498). In fact, i have the exact same VIA chipset (K8T800 Pro) mentioned in that post.
They mention forcing the agp port to run 4x fixed the issue, but im guessing that would have performance implications ?


Does anyone have a similar setup ? Hard to know if I will see similar problems...


Thanks.
 
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