dreamsINdigital Posted August 3, 2007 Share Posted August 3, 2007 My friend has this computer with the following specs: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Chaintech VNF4 Ultra motherboard 1 GB (2 x 512) Corsair ValueSelect PC3200 RAM Sapphire ATI Radeon X800GTO Maxtor SATA2 Hard Drive DVD Burner Integrated Audio Antec SmartPower 2.0 430 watt Power Supply I'm pretty certain that there is something wrong with the graphics card, because there are these odd colored lines and squares on the screen on the desktop, and in games. I've installed the latest drivers, tried on a different monitor, and even tried a clean install of Windows, but the issues still remain. For the desktop, changing to 16 bit color removes the artifacts. Does everyone else agree that it is the graphics card? It could be the motherboard, but I need to find a friend that has a computer with PCI-E to test it out. If it is the graphics card, is there anything that can be done to fix it, or is it done for? What graphics cards do you guys recommend that would go well with this system (not being a bottleneck, okay for the power supply, etc.)? Thanks Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/578551-graphics-card-broken-i-think/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 that looks like a borked video card for sure. RMA it with ATI / AMD Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/578551-graphics-card-broken-i-think/#findComment-588753603 Share on other sites More sharing options...
redeemed Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 Have you tried putting a friend's (working) card in your mobo? Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/578551-graphics-card-broken-i-think/#findComment-588753630 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre S. Veteran Posted August 4, 2007 Veteran Share Posted August 4, 2007 I'm pretty sure the memory is busted on that video card. A 7600GT would be a nice replacement. A bit faster, SM3.0 compliant and not too expensive. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/578551-graphics-card-broken-i-think/#findComment-588753697 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tao muon Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 I'm in agreement that it seems to be a video card RAM problem. The artifacts appear 'regular' in position and repetition, meaning that there is a problem that is occuring at regular intervals- so it would be a RAM chip failure or a memory controller addressing issue. It could possibly be an overheating / overclocking issue, but the problem would show more 'random' patterns on the screen, maybe even smearing (where images get stretched weirdly, etc.). Replace the card with a known good one, if possible and see what happens. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/578551-graphics-card-broken-i-think/#findComment-588753711 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamsINdigital Posted August 4, 2007 Author Share Posted August 4, 2007 Thanks for the info guys! I never would have guessed that there was something wrong with the RAM on the card. Once I find a friend that has a PCI-E graphics card, I'll test it out. How does the 7600 GT compare to the X800GTO? The 7600 GT has a 128-bit memory interface while the X800GTO has a 256-bit memory interface. I think a new card that is equal or a little better than the current would be sufficient, nothing too high end. I'd say the budget would be around $150. What about the 8600 GT/GTS? Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/578551-graphics-card-broken-i-think/#findComment-588755126 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre S. Veteran Posted August 5, 2007 Veteran Share Posted August 5, 2007 The 7600GT is quite a bit faster. The 128-bit is compensated by very high memory speed. See Tom's Hardware VGA charts for comparisons. For 150$ you could get an X1950Pro. Better gaming card than the 8600GT/GTS. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/578551-graphics-card-broken-i-think/#findComment-588755686 Share on other sites More sharing options...
jking_84 Posted August 5, 2007 Share Posted August 5, 2007 VGA Ram 4 sure. X1950Pro is your best choice. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/578551-graphics-card-broken-i-think/#findComment-588756122 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamsINdigital Posted August 5, 2007 Author Share Posted August 5, 2007 The card appears to still be under warranty, so I just emailed tech support to see what they can do. Okay well here's the thing. I don't care much about playing future games or DirectX 10 since I have a PS3 now; I'll be using that for future games. I'd still like to play current PC games though. I play mostly RTS games like Rome Total War, Rise of Nations, and Company of Heroes. I also play Battlefield 2 and Flight Simulator X. The games run well with the current setup, but for some of the RTS games, if there are a lot of units on the screen, things can get laggy. If Sapphire accepts the RMA, I guess I'll be keeping the current card or getting a replacement. However, if I need to buy a new card, would it be better to get a really strong card, a graphics card with more RAM, or more system RAM? Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/578551-graphics-card-broken-i-think/#findComment-588757018 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts