Video Cards

Well, it seems like I'm gonna be out for a little while. It looks like both of my video cards went KABOOM.

Actually, they just kinda snuck away in the night after I turned the pc off. When my wife went to turn on the computer this morning, they would not cooperate and lite up the screen.

Right now, I'm running hardware tests to make sure that there are no problems involving the motherboard and other hardware before I lay out the funds to buy new ones.

Good part is: I may be able to upgrade to a pair of 8800GTs!!

Bad part is: The 8600GTs are still under warranty and I may end up with a new set that I won't need if I upgrade.

sell? I may be looking to upgrade and may build my own this time (have ordered the last four PCs from Dell after a long time of building/overclocking my own)

Spike wrote:

sell? I may be looking to upgrade and may build my own this time (have ordered the last four PCs from Dell after a long time of building/overclocking my own)

Hang on and let me see what happens..........

no problem - I'm not in a hurry as I have to decide what to build.

sad to hear it demon , but upgrade is always good
the good part is it'll give me more time to finish your barbarian

RoadKill v3.4 wrote:

the good part is it'll give me more time to finish your barbarian

LOL.

I'm having a hard time deciding which card to get. I'm looking at these right now:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130337

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133219

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150267

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125079R

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130335

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130317

As far as brands go, I'd stick with EVGA... Lifetime guarantee and all that goodness, plus killer reviews. Check www.tomshardware.com for a good overall review. They do a best-card-for-the-money article every month or so. I would say run with 2 8800GTs in SLI but thats just me

cheers.
t.

Titanium.wombaT wrote:

As far as brands go, I'd stick with EVGA...
I would say run with 2 8800GTs in SLI but thats just me

cheers.
t.

I am planning to run 2 8800GTs in SLI mode. My problem is making sure that there are no heat problems from the cards since the CPU currently is running around 48 C when playing on the server and the current v-cards are passive air-cooled. Thus the cards with fan cooling.

My inclinations right now are to go with the EVGA 512-P3-N845-AR GeForce 8800GTS KO, the EVGA 512-P3-N808-AR GeForce 8800GT AKIMBO SuperClocked 512MB (worried about room on this one since it uses 2 slots!!!!!), or the EVGA 640-P2-N829-AR GeForce 8800GTS SSC 640MB.

I've looked at both the 8800GTX and the 9800s but they are a little too pricey for my budget.

The 8800 GT will outperform the 8800 GTS in most cases since it uses a new architecture that wasn't available when the 8800 GTS and 8800 GTX came out.

Not sure you'll actually need SLI either, I'm running a single 8800 GT on a Athelon X2 5000 and have almost everything maxed out without an issue. Also Ive heard rumors about UT3 not liking SLI much.

OK, still without my pc, looks like it may be this time next week before I get it back..........they are still running tests on the hardware.

Bad new thus far.....1GB stick of RAM is bad and the 750w power supply has insufficient power to run 8600GTs in SLI mode.

I've bought an Antec True Power Quattro 1000W Power Supply (waiting for it to be delivered) and the Corsair RAM has a lifetime warranty so the RMA has been approved and sent for the matching pair.

Got a pair of these:

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=512-P3-N802-AR

Now, the wait................I miss my friends

Update time.

The power supply, video cards, and new 80mm case fans (exhaust) are in the hands of the Geek Squad for installation. They estimate that it may be the 18th or 19th before it's ready for me to pick up.

Then I have to drill 3 80mm holes in the case window and mount 4 new intake fans before I can fire it up again.

I might have the replacement RAM by next week also.

If anyone wants/needs a power supply, I have a used Powertek F5 series ATX12V-SLI ready 750w power supply. If interested, please pm me.

Since I'm building my next system (currently using a Dell 8300 with 2GB mem and an ATI X800GTO AGP card) - what is your current config (before the upgrade)? I may be interested in the PSU as well (I'm buying D's video cards).

Spike wrote:

Since I'm building my next system (currently using a Dell 8300 with 2GB mem and an ATI X800GTO AGP card) - what is your current config (before the upgrade)? I may be interested in the PSU as well (I'm buying D's video cards).

Original Configuration:

THERMALTAKE Xaser II A6000C PC Case
POWERTEK 750W F5-Series ATX12V 750W Power Supply
GIGABYTE GA-N680SLI-DQ6
INTEL CORE 2 EXTREME QUAD CORE QX6700
ZALMAN CNPS 9500
WESTERN DIGITAL WD740GD (2)
SAMSUNG 18X SATA DUAL LAYER DVD+/-RW DRIVE, *
LIGHTSCRIBE (2)
MITSUMI FA404M COMBO FLOPPY
Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5D (4GB)
XFX 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
Fatal1ty (2 in SLI)
CREATIVE S/B S/B X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro 7.1
CREATIVE S/B INSPIRE P7800 7.1
MICROSOFT BV3-00003
VIEWSONIC VX2235WM

New Configuration:

THERMALTAKE Xaser II A6000C PC Case
ANTEC 1000W TruePower Quattro Modular Power Supply
GIGABYTE GA-N680SLI-DQ6
INTEL CORE 2 EXTREME QUAD CORE QX6700
ZALMAN CNPS 9500
WESTERN DIGITAL WD740GD (2)
SAMSUNG 18X SATA DUAL LAYER DVD+/-RW DRIVE, *
LIGHTSCRIBE (2)
MITSUMI FA404M COMBO FLOPPY
Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5D (4GB)
EVGA e-GeForce 8800GT 512MB Superclocked Edition
(2 in SLI)
CREATIVE S/B S/B X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro 7.1
CREATIVE S/B INSPIRE P7800 7.1
MICROSOFT Wireless Comfort 4000 set
VIEWSONIC VX2235WM