Just killed 9700 pro (artifacts everywhere) - need new gfx card

[DIGITALrain™]

While playing the game F.e.a.r ...I all of a sudden got massive screen corruption, artifacts all over the shop and is not limited to the game, its in windows!!.....reinstalling drivers didnt help, nothing seems to get rid of it...I can even see this screen distortion upon bootup ...so I think a new Gfx card is in order....so any help in deciding which one to get would be of real help.

Must work well with A7N8X mobo and a puny 350 watt power supply .....around the 50 - 60 quid ..ish mark and be equal to or better than the 9700 pro that i just fracked up

...so any help on this would be much appreciated

[this_is_gav]

By "puny 350 watt power supply" do you mean a generic budget one, because we're going to be struggling to recommend anything worth keeping if it is?

If it's something solid (perhaps something like Antec) then we'll get somewhere.

[Nick Smith]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=540214


comes to £60.12 inc delivery, though you can get free scan delivery if you reach 50 posts i think...

then it would be £53.10

[DIGITALrain™]

By "puny 350 watt power supply" do you mean a generic budget one, because we're going to be struggling to recommend anything worth keeping if it is?

If it's something solid (perhaps something like Antec) then we'll get somewhere.

Thankz for responding...

The power supply is one that came with my Mesh Computers pre built machine, its actually a 360 watt supply ...dunno the actual make, but does have the word Magic written on a sticker threw the fan grill..........i did have this peice of software that could tell all about my power supply ...but i cant remember what it was - i tried the Everest software, but that doesn't seem to wanna tell me...

...really hard to see what i'm writing, cus of the distortion :-|

img152.imageshack.us/img152/2308/screenshot001qa8.jpg
...heheheh

scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=540214


comes to £60.12 inc delivery, though you can get free scan delivery if you reach 50 posts i think...

then it would be £53.10

...and yeah that card at scan - 256MB Sapphire Radeon X1550 AGP ....does look quite good, thanks .....or theres this one at..

techstore.co.uk/detail.php?prodLineID=104493&detailPage=rev#det
- Sapphire Video Card Radeon X1300pro Ddr2 256mb Agp

....dunno yet


Thankz for helping...

(sorry cant do linkz properly yet, cus i'm under 5 posts)

[Nick Smith]

woah....you really do need a new card!
that hurts my eyes just looking at it

hmm....i dont know whats the better choice between the x1300 and the x1550

both around the same perfomance and price.

[DIGITALrain™]

woah....you really do need a new card!
that hurts my eyes just looking at it

hmm....i dont know whats the better choice between the x1300 and the x1550

both around the same perfomance and price.

yep ...I certainly do ... ...just figuring out what the best one for my setup is, and even trying to see the info about it when I find one ... is a bit tricky...

I'm just guessing the the X1550 is slightly better, but its a close calll because the X1300 is a pro card.

[Nick Smith]

the x1300 has a higher core speed, only by 50mhz,
same memory speed, same amount of memory

so...the x1300 just beats it...

[this_is_gav]

I'll go as far as saying neither are as good as your current card... apart from the fact that they'll work.

The Radeon 9800 Pro here is what I'd go for, even with it being refurbished. £30+delivery.

//edit: you really don't want to be running any PC with an elcheapo PSU though. Mesh have been a bit naughty there IMO.

[DIGITALrain™]

the x1300 has a higher core speed, only by 50mhz,
same memory speed, same amount of memory

so...the x1300 just beats it...

...ahhh I see ..maybe i'll go for a pro or XT card then... =)

The Radeon 9800 Pro here is what I'd go for, even with it being refurbished. £30+delivery.

//edit: you really don't want to be running any PC with an elcheapo PSU though. Mesh have been a bit naughty there IMO.

Thankz for that link... theres a few there that look good ....was prepared to spend about 80 in the end lol ...but there well cheap seconds at that site!....checking it now =)

Just posted a thread in mesh section - found my order number (phew) ......they may still have me listed on their database and be able to give a little extra advice and a deffinate OK on certain cards...
http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=105281



I appreciate you help Nick and Gav...thankz

[redddraggon]

Have you tried another cable between the monitor and the GFX card? I had gfx problems once and it was a problem with the cable.

[DIGITALrain™]

Thankz redddraggon....but I decided to replace the gfx card as I tried all other options.......it did the trick anyway =) ...artifacts gone :-] ...........went for this_is_gav's recommendation (thx m8!).....new card didn't need to be anything bleeding edge ...it just needed to be something to get this pc back to being usable, so I can research parts for prince of darkness rig i'm gonna build... ...................good forum this...

[Biscuit]

Im impressed by the use of smiling faces

[Queelis]

Umm, we here in Lithuania have 8500GT for 58 pounds (roughly), it shouldn't be a lot more expensive in the UK. Maybe worth considering?

[this_is_gav]

He's already got a card now, and frankly the 9800Pro (and 9700Pro) wipes the floor with the 8500

[Smudger]

DigiRain, if you've got the right series of 9800 Pro, you can flash it to an XT spec quite easily, seeing as late ones in the series had the R360 chip from the 9800XT, downgraded.

Let me know if you want more info. I flashed mine in about 5 mins, and it's been going for about 8 months at XT speeds with no bother.

[DIGITALrain™]

...mostly concentrating more on my next system... ...but thankz for that ...... dunno if mine (128mb version) has Hynix memory and the R360 core on it tho.
...maybe Flash it to the Sapphire 128 XT bios ?

Think I would definitely need to get rid of the stock fan for something better if i go ahead with it.... think i'll do that anyway.

I've noticed all the cards (bar one) from gav's re-tekdirect link above, have all been nabbed up... =)
...can't remember if there was an XT there or not...prolly would've grabbed one if there was tho... but nvm...
...i'm happy...