Koki on 1/4/2011 at 13:31
Welp, it's either the PSU or the card. If it's the card, I need a new one - but it sems silly to buy a new video card for $70. Not to mention finding what is nowodays an archeological piece in the first place. At the same time I don't want anything too shiny, as I should watch the budget and I'll stick with XP for a while longer.
So in other words, something better than 8800GTS, with the absolute maximum price of $150, preferably from nvidia. I don't think it'll matter much in this case but the rest is C2D6600(2.4) and 2GB of 800Mhz DDR2.
lost_soul on 1/4/2011 at 15:47
If it were me, I would go for a (
http://www.ascendtech.us/itemdesc.asp?ic=VC896BFGGTX260) http://www.ascendtech.us/itemdesc.asp?ic=VC896BFGGTX260gtx260 and another couple gigs of RAM to max out XP. Be warned however, that my mother had to replace a Geforce 9800GT, so she purchased one from the above company. The first one that arrived was defective, rising to 75 degrees C in a couple of minutes under little load and then hanging the machine! They shipped out a replacement promptly though, and it has worked fine. For $58, I guess it wasn't a big deal.
Ladron De La Noche on 1/4/2011 at 15:50
GeForce GTX 460 SE 256-bits 768MB/1GB GDDR5 PCI-E or GeForce GTX 550 Ti 192-bits 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E. Either should give you a good boost from previous card. Both are close to the $150 area price range. Shop for prices in your region.
As for myself, I might go the SLI route with another GeForce 9800GTX+. It might give me some extra oomph! that I'm looking for. :p
Koki on 1/4/2011 at 18:19
GTX 460 seems like a damn nice choice, but apparently I'm on the wrong side of the world again. The cheapest one here is $164. 260 is in the same range, 550 is even more expensive. What was the absolute best thing before that?
Ladron De La Noche on 1/4/2011 at 18:56
GeForce GTX 260 448-bits GDDR3 896MB PCI-E, only one that will give a boost from previous. There's a overclocked version as well, slightly better. It's the same lost_soul linked to. :)
Find some prices here. (
http://www.pricewatch.com/video_cards/) link
Koki on 2/4/2011 at 06:55
Well it must be nice to be able to get GTX 260 for $106. With free shipping :tsktsk:
Let's just hope it's the PSU then...
Ulukai on 2/4/2011 at 10:24
I thought we'd let bikerdude back in for a minute there.
I just replaced my aging 8800GTS 320MB with a 1GB GTX 560ti. But depending on what CPU you have - don't feel bad if this is outside your price range, as I'm pretty sure after running some benchmarks that my aging Core 2 Duo isn't keeping up with it and has become the bottleneck.
Koki on 2/4/2011 at 13:55
The PSU is fine.
Long story short, I walked around half the city and found a total of about ten video cards for sale in four different shops, most of which were either ATI or worse than my 8800GTS.
In the end I was pretty much forced to get the 460 GTX SE since that was literally next to nothing else to choose from.
I hate this place.
Thanks guys.
lost_soul on 2/4/2011 at 15:27
Yes, most of the video cards available at local retail stores are overpriced crap. $80 for a PCI card? I don't think so...
