GW blew up my videocard, need a new one.

hello everybody,

Two days ago my videocard got overheated while playing GW, it was probably a combination of high settings, hot weather and bad ventilation.

So now I'm looking for a new one, the problem is is that I'm not so good with computers and here I need some help.

My old videocard was a Medion Radeon 9800XL. There was also a small intergrated one on my motherboard which was 98 MB I think. My motherboard is an Asrock P4I65G, with AGP 8x videocard thingy. There aren't to many shops nearby who are good with computer electronics, and I hate to order online, creditcard issues and stuff.

Now all i need is a card good enough to play GW with on medium/high settings, and ofcours,e which isent to expensive, but atleast just as good as my old card, and a bit better would always be nice.

At the moment Im looking at three diffrent cards that they have.
- Sapphire ATi 1650Pro 512mb AGP TV-out/DVI +-130 euros
- Sapphire ATi 1950Pro 512mb AGP TV-out/2xDVI +- 220 euros
- Asus GeForce N7600GS/Silent/HTD 256mb AGP +- 110 euros

Now, at the moment im thinking of getting the sapphire ati 1650pro, as it looks like a good card and not so uber expensive. But I dont know if this would run good with my GW, so could someone give me a little advice maybe?
I'd really appreciate it.

thanks DvM

sorry that it blow up, but i think all 3 cards are a good choice and will be able to play gw good

the 7600GS and x1650pro are both pretty good cards, it's hard to say which one will give you better performance in Guild Wars. With your motherboard and AGP, I would probably go with the x1650 pro, but it's really up to you. Just make sure your PSU can handle it.

I wouldn't sink too much into AGP at this day and age since it's the interface of the past (but how I loved thee back in the day). Get the best you can afford that will hold you over until another upgrade.

i run the saphire 1950 but its not agp...its the other thing something PCIEx 16 or something like that....its runs the game beautifully. I would suggest buying a new MB that can support PCIEx 16 and lower end Video card. Then wait for the prices to drop on the ATI 2950's or whatever the new cards taht were released this month to drop.

one important thing for video cards is a good VGA Cooler ! my previous video card ATI X700 Pro blew up playing GW with his default cooler, so I highly recommend always to buy a good cooler.

cheers.

Out of the cards listed, the 1650 pro and the 1950 pro are the two you should consider, since if your last card overheated, you likely do NOT want a card that has no fan.

Out of the two, the 1950 pro is obviously the more powerful card, and will last you longer as better games come out. However, considering how your motherboard is equipped with an AGP slot, I can't imagine your system being anything less then a year and a half old, if not older. In this case, I would recommend buying the 1650 pro and saving up money to purchase a new computer sometime soon.

i would stick to GeForce / N-Videa if i was you. There generaly pretty good and all games have a recomendation of N-Videa graphics cards (Even it ATi are just as good) Ive not had 2 much trouble with N-Videa (Sept the fan sounded like a tractor after 3 years of overplaying) lol.

Realy its up 2 u but AGP is getting old now and anything above 128mb play's well. Currectly im using 64MB but thats cos the 128MB sounded like a tractor, and the 64 still plays it ok, i have all the messings on minimum sept for charecter detail which is Max.

Just get a cheap 1 thats 128MB or more You will have no problems if all u do is play GW and surf the net

i would stick to GeForce / N-Videa if i was you. There generaly pretty good and all games have a recomendation of N-Videa graphics cards (Even it ATi are just as good) Ive not had 2 much trouble with N-Videa (Sept the fan sounded like a tractor after 3 years of overplaying) lol.

Realy its up 2 u but AGP is getting old now and anything above 128mb play's well. Currectly im using 64MB but thats cos the 128MB sounded like a tractor, and the 64 still plays it ok, i have all the settings on minimum sept for charecter detail which is Max.

Just get a cheap 1 thats 128MB or more You will have no problems if all u do is play GW and surf the net

Sorry, Guru so slow it decided to post 3 times. and i cant edit the above 1 cos nothing loads

The X1650 Pro is slightly faster than the 7600GS; a combination of higher clock speeds and more memory. As long as your CPU is fast enough, with a X1650 you should be able to pretty much max out Guild Wars. An X1950 Pro is pretty much overkill .

And if you are having cooling problems, try vacuuming/blowing out all the dust from your pc; dust blocks airflow; just remove the case and clean it out without breaking anything. If you are still having problems make sure the case fans have room to blow in/out; make sure the vents are open. Try not to stick your PC in a corner in a very hot room.

Look at reviews for individual cards, not the brand of the GPU. Both ATI and nVidia make good products and some that aren't so good. Going by brand name is a mistake. The GPU branding on games is 99% of the time simply a result of a marketing relationship and has nothing to do with the technology. In the OP's case, I would look at the ATI x1650s and the nVidia 7600s. I wouldn't spend any more than that on an AGP card. Both will run GW very well. If you want more power for around the same money (and you can find one) the ATI x800/x850 GPUs are very powerful (although they lack some modern shader features).

Never, NEVER judge a video card by the amount of video memory it has. First and foremost make sure you're getting a good GPU, then choose an amount of video memory that's appropriate for the GPU. For example, a high-end GPU can handle 512MB+ of video memory. However, getting any more than 256MB on a x1650 or 7600 isn't worth it. In fact, most benches I've seen show the x1650 running slower with 512MB than with 256MB. Trying to keep that memory filled with data brings some overhead with it, and getting more memory than your GPU can use effectively can result in a net loss of performance. There are plenty of 256MB video cards out there that are faster than some of the 512MB cards. The amount of memory is only a small part of what makes a video card fast.