Video Card Help

Tonight my video card had a major issue from which I didn't think it would recover. Fortunately, I was able to save it, but the thing is on it's last legs. I'm not so sure it would survive another crash.

I currently have an nVidia GeForce 8800GT, which I have been using since 2007 (I think; I'm having a hard time nailing down a date). I run Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit. The problem I had was error code 43, and the initial research that Phantom and I did on it indicated that the card was dead. However, I'm stubborn and refused to accept that, so I updated the drivers and Direct X and it's running fine now. Or seems to be.

Now, in terms of technology, it's an old card and I know that the 8X series under performs compared to others. Also, code 43 seems pretty common for the 8X series when run with Vista.

Since I'm going to HeroCon, it's not really in my budget to upgrade until probably January, but I'd really like some feedback from you guys on what a good replacement would be.

Thanks!

short version: buy a RadeonHD 5x00 series.

Long version: buy a RadeonHD 5x00 series.

Right now Nvidia's next card, Fermi, is nothing more than a paper tiger. Nvidia isn't even able to demonstrate the silicon working in IKOS boxes... and everything that can be determined from the white-paper published on Fermi's architecture... is already in the currently shipping RadeonHD 5x00 series cards.

If you are holding out until January though, you could be putting your budget in line to buy one of Intel's Larrabee cards... presuming that they (Intel) can execute on an add-in board partner strategy. Not much is known about what Larrabee will do on retail launch... but comments from Epic Software's developers peg Larrabee's performance around the mid-range $100-$150 market. That'll put Larrabee square against the RadeonHD 5750 and maybe the 5770 cards on launch... if Intel's drivers are up to scratch. What is known is that Larrabee won't be competing for top GPU honors, so if you're in the market for something like a RadeonHD 5850 or 5870 card, Larrabee probably won't be competitive.

Thank you for the suggestion Saist. I was poking around Tiger Direct, and those look like good cards. I'll keep that in mind when I am able to upgrade.

Unfortunately, about 10 minutes after I made my initial post, I went to launch CoH and the issue came back. Screen froze, blue lines, the whole bit. This time, however, I can't fix it. So, looks like I'm going to be out of game for a while.

Seconding comments for the HD5xxx series from ATI - however, there's one potentially very annoying issue you should be aware of if you've never played CoX with an ATI card before. While ATI's offerings the last few years have generally been a better value (more power for equal or less money) than nVidia's cards, there are some oddities with ATI's drivers and CoX. Most notably, you'll want to watch your water reflections settings, as some really weird-looking things can happen. The enhancement screen (when slotting enhancements or re-slotting after a respec) has a few glitches in widescreen resolutions but it's not anything you wouldn't be able to get used to.

So, really, the question is: which is more important to you, value or a seamless gaming experience? If you can learn to live with the one or two quirks of the ATI cards, it's a no-brainer.

It'll really depend on your budget. If you plan on upgrading around January, I'd recommend getting an Nvidia 295 GTX. The price should drop quite a bit by then. I can load 6 instances of City of Heroes on my comp before I get any lag with that video card.

The other thing to keep in mind when you upgrade to a new card is your Power Supply Unit (PSU). Your current PSU might not have enough juice to handle one of the newer cards.

Arwen, I know on the COH tech boards that it's helpful to the tech gurus to provide the following information when asking for hardware recommendations: system specs (in this case, power supply would be very helpful), budget (what price range are you comfortable paying) and expectations (what are the most intense programs you're going to run with system).

The graphics card performance charts on Tom's Hardware are a great resource for helping you make your decision. Keep in mind that the newer high-end cards are fantastic cards, but may be a bit overkill and you're not going to get a lot of bang for your buck if COH is the most intense thing you're going to run with your system.

I purchased a NVidia 9800GTX with my system when I bought through CyberpowerPC last year and COH runs beautifully on it. If you're like me and COH is the most intense thing you're going to be running, it's a good solid card that will run the game well. And the prices for the card have dropped significantly and quite reasonablly priced (the EVGA version on NewEgg is running about $130ish).

Ok, lots of things to respond to here. Thank you all so much for your feedback!

I have a 650 watt power supply, so I'm not too worried about that. Also, I tend to shy way from ATI for the reasons you guys posted above. I had an ATI card before I bought the nVidia that just died, which is one of the reasons I bought the nVidia.

However, all of that is moot, because a very good and generous friend surprised me today by replacing my card with a brand new GeForce 9800GT (the one Manoa posted about). I'm still in shock, and can't believe how lucky I am to have such awesome friends.

That's a good card. I gave Swansu a 9800 GT from my old PC and it fried his comp lol. his PSU couldnt handle it.

You might look at the ATI 4770. I replaced a dying 8800GT with one and am quite happy with it. It's relatively inexpensive ($100), has lower power requirements than most cards, and it runs cool. The XFX version of this is especially nice since the GPU cooler vents to the rear out a pci slot vent instead of intside the case.

I was using an 8800GTS that blew up Saturday night as well. Since I wanted to get it replaced ASAP and didn't want to spend a lot on a video card I only expected to use for another year tops, I just went out and picked up an nVidia 9500GT for under $100. It is more than enough to handle all but the newest games, and I plan on upgrading the whole system in about a year anyway, hence the decision to not pay for DDR3 onboard memory and go with the older stuff.

I recently had to replace my 8800 as well. I ran over to Best Buy and took the last 9800 GTX they had and added another 2 gigs of RAM while I had the box open.

Things run very smooth, even with two accounts running on high settings, except for last night's ship raid. Lots of lag last night.

How much RAM are you running total?

I had the exact same issue with my 8800 GTX a couple months back. It seems to be caused by microfractures forming in the electrical connections on the board do to repeated heating and cooling of the card during normal use. I was able to fix it by actually baking the card in the oven for around ten minutes, as shown here: http://www.gpureview.com/how-to-fix-...ticle-798.html

I had a backup video card to use, so I gave that a shot for the hell of it. Sometimes seemingly terrible solutions the internet can provide actually work