I need a new video card.

I built this computer about 2 1/2 years ago


CPU: AMD Opteron 170 2.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939
Mother Bored: MSI K8N Diamond Plus
Video card:7900 GTX
Memory: OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) Timing 2-3-2-5
Power: OCZ PowerStream 520
OS: Windows XP Pro

About 1 year ago i was playing Guild wars and it crashed my computer. i didint think anything of it, but every since that crash my video card has been getting more and more unstable. now i cant even get on GW at all. the second i try to load it up it crashes my computer. i have reformat my computer 2 times since that first crash, so i know its not a software problem, and sometimes my computer will crash while watching a movie. some times i see dead pixels over the screen but i know its not my monitor cause the second i minimize that page it goes away. I have run many computer stability test and im 90% sure it is my video card.

Well now im thinking i need to get a new vid card but im real broke. the only game i play now is GW so i need a cheap card that will run GW on medium-high settings with a decent frame rate.

My price range is around 50 bucks.
im looking at this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814129093
anyone else have any suggestions?

Only $50? For that price you'll get nothing but a BIG downgrade from what you currently have.

yeah but right now i cant play any games and can hardly even watch videos.

Problem is, you wouldn't even get a 7900 GTX for $50...

You could get an 8600GT for not too much more than your budget ($80+)

Maybe we should be looking at why your system suffers from instability. The Oppy 170 is ok, the MSI board was a great, final attempt at a 939 board, and the memory is superb - as far as DDR2 400 can go.

Give us error reports, blue-screen codes, EVEREST stats, CPU-Z logs - anything to see where the problem is.

If your graphics card HAS gone tits-up, then you're going to need to splash more than $50 - scrimp for that 8600 or mug someone for an 8800

Well when i try to play guild wars the screen freezes, for sometimes up to 1 min, then the computer just restarts, so no error log, blue screen or anything.

I dont know how to see error logs when this happens. i have run stability test and it allways fails on the graphics and crashes my computer.

My computer temps are fine.

Yuck. Doesn't sound promising. Look in your Guild Wars folder and see if there's an ArenaNet.txt.

I guess you're running proper WHQL ForceWare drivers - currently 169.21 on XP - here http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_169.21_whql.html

Yeah theres a ArenaNet.txt file there but i dont know how to read that crap lol do you want to take a look at it?

I don't know about the actual quality of the card itself, but here is an 8600gt for $50 after mail in rebate:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125070

Yeah, it's a long shot, but there MIGHT be something useful in there. Sadly this forum has a bizarre limit on attaching .txt files, so you need to either make it into a .zip or just copy-and-paste the contents into a post. Second way is easier, as long as it's not too big

[Edit] The limit is 19.5KB for .txt files, and 95KB for .zip. However, I just realised that if you have Word or anything that can output in .doc format, that can be as large as 488KB. Odd.

here it is......

Edit--heres a pic of the dead pixel stuff i was telling you about lol

That lists every crash going back to January. They are nearly all One of those errors that has a billion different causes :/

Graphics card drivers - update as before.

Chipset drivers - go to MSI's site and search for your mobo.

Most likely causes from where I'm standing.

When you DO get it running again (touch wood) - I'd delete your gw.dat and run an -image. Lot of missing textures in there

[edit] just saw your jpg - yuck. Graphics drivers is STILL my best guess - just hoping it is that and not new-card-time.

well all my drivers are up to date. and I still cant play. i just really want to play guild wars with my friends. i am very broke at the moment and im disabled so i cant go out and make the money. so 50 bucks to me is alot of money. if it were up to me i would buy a new system.

Even if it was only 15 fps and no eye candy at all, i would be happy just to be playing with my friends.


BTW thanks for all the help...

Have you tried opening it up and using compressed air to clean it out?

Yep my computer is always clean and has very nice airflow.

If your temperatures are fine, then I'd check whether the graphics card is still under warranty and have the manufacturer replace it.

Damn, it sucks when you can't help someone. I hope if you do buy that 8600 that it DOES cure the problem.

I'm sorry if this has already been mentioned, but you might want to check your RAM with memtest86+ before you go off buying stuff that you might not need.

that pixel problem looks suspiciously like my fx5500 PCI, when i try to install the 169.21 omega drivers. black zebra stripes (pattern similiar to yours) will start running down my screen and the computer freezes.

i'm betting it's some sort of driver issue, since i was able to cure the problem by running a different driver. for example, my card can handle the official 169.21 drivers with no problems.

I'd run a memtest too. Ram is ALOT cheaper to replace than a video card.

That looks like a memory error. Try pulling out one stick or the other. I bet you 50 gold that you'll isolate a bad stick!

And yeah run memtest and you'll see what's up too...