Graphics card is dead :-(

[monty28428]

Well my NVIDIA Geforce 9800 GT has bit the dust..

I'm not sure if it was even a year old and I'm looking for my reciepts now.. however I figured I would ask you guru's out there for a replacement recommendation.

Only requirement on my end is GL support. Any ideas?

[focus.pocus]

seems to be a recurring problem these days... I only used Nvidia for years but now Radeon has surpassed them in quality since AMD bought them out...

[monty28428]

Thanks focus.pocus -- Any specific card you would recommend?

[Moppie]

Why not get another 9800GT?

It's still a very good card unless your a hard core gamer, and you know it works well with your current system.

[Faolan]

ATI/AMD 4800 series has dropped in price and is worth considering, better still would be the 4700 variants which are cheaper to run but slightly slower performance. AMD just released the 5800 series and that's forcing prices down so bargains are to be had. It's a shame it's died now rather in a few months as you could have gotten the newer 5700 series due out which would have future proofed the card (DX11 for Windows 7).

[ChasP505]

Whatever card you replace it with, find one with dual display and DDC capabilities.

[mellowd]

4870's and 4850's are very nice. As is ATI's new card the 5800 series. These will be expensive though. Nice thing about these it the idle temps and watt usage, very low.

If my 8800GT died I'd get a 5800 series card

[monty28428]

Thanks for all the replies everybody!

Moppie when something goes belly up after 1 year and 1 month I really don't feel like investing in the same thing to replace it - you are right though it worked well.

Been looking around today and although those 5800 series are very nice, price wise I think I'll be going with a 4870.

Thanks again for the response everyone - much appreciated.

[OdiN1701]

Monty - It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Nvidia. Nvidia just makes the chipsets. What brand is your card? That company is who put the card together, not Nvidia. There is nothing wrong with Nvidia cards.

What are your symptoms? How did you determine that your video cards is toast?

[basroil]

Monty - It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Nvidia. Nvidia just makes the chipsets. What brand is your card? That company is who put the card together, not Nvidia. There is nothing wrong with Nvidia cards.

What are your symptoms? How did you determine that your video cards is toast?

Not entirely true, especially when you look at the 8000 series screwup... and 9000 series cards have some 8000 series ones just renamed (like the geforce 100 series cards as well). Likely OP's card just bit the dust after choking on dust, happens all the time especially when people don't clean their computers properly.

[Moppie]

Things break. It happens.

It can happen for lots of different reasons, not all of them are discoverable.


A newer card is not going to be any more or less reliable.
But, it will cost more and it might use more power, which since we don't know anything about the rest of your system might also mean you need to get a new power supply as well.

[HyperYagami]

its useful to find out what bites the dust.

memory? fan? fried GPU? faulty port? etc etc.

faulty PSU can fry the card for example, and that would fry any card you put in.

[Badger49456]

its useful to find out what bites the dust.

memory? fan? fried GPU? faulty port? etc etc.

faulty PSU can fry the card for example, and that would fry any card you put in.

Agreed, it might just take a simple solution. It could also be some bad solder joints; since you really have nothing to lose, you might want to look at this thread: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1421792

Who manufactured your 9800? XFX, BFG, EVGA? Some of them have lifetime warranties.

[basroil]

Agreed, it might just take a simple solution. It could also be some bad solder joints; since you really have nothing to lose, you might want to look at this thread: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1421792

Who manufactured your 9800? XFX, BFG, EVGA? Some of them have lifetime warranties.

Just a word of caution on reflowing solder... lead free solders currently used require higher temperatures which can really screw up the plastic and fans, especially if you bake too long... If you can get a heatgun instead, it's a better idea.

[Badger49456]

Just a word of caution on reflowing solder... lead free solders currently used require higher temperatures which can really screw up the plastic and fans, especially if you bake too long... If you can get a heatgun instead, it's a better idea.

Agreed, I would definitely remove the plastic shrouds and fan first!

[basroil]

Agreed, I would definitely remove the plastic shrouds and fan first!

some plastic you can't get rid of though, like power connectors, those will still be in danger (though the type of plastic is different.

[monty28428]

Thanks for the replies everybody.

Anyway new card is in place and working perfectly :-)

I may just have to try that "reflowing" trick and try it out on my linux box. My symptoms were a bit different (just blue and white squares) but it's worth a try. Just FYI basroil I vacuum all my sytems on a monthly basis -- probably much more often than a normal user.

[Zepher]

My old eVGA GTX 260SSC started to hard lock and have a pattern on the screen.
Did it look like this?
http://www.transamws6.com/pics/pc/2009/gtx-2.jpg
http://www.transamws6.com/pics/pc/2009/gtx-3.jpg

[monty28428]

Not like that Zepher -- just huge blue and white squares and nothing else; kind of like a crooked chess board.

Just popped in to update that the "reflowing" trick worked and my linux box now has a "like new" video card! Thanks for all the help guys -- You all ROCK!

[basroil]

Not like that Zepher -- just huge blue and white squares and nothing else; kind of like a crooked chess board.

Just popped in to update that the "reflowing" trick worked and my linux box now has a "like new" video card! Thanks for all the help guys -- You all ROCK!

Glad to hear that a bit of baking worked well. Now you should go off and bake a cake to celebrate (after cleaning the oven) :D

[monty28428]

:lol: Well I was just surprised it worked at all and think crab cakes and beer are in order!