gfx card on its way out

Catsmokinpot

Radeon HD3870 started crashing every few mins on games, now games are prettymuch unplayable, tried all the normal things reinstalling drivers cleaning the dust away etc. but nothing fixing it.

Can anyone suggest a good bang for bucks gfx card? no Nvidia pls i don't like em.

ps. I'm as poor as a church mouse atm so can't afford much.

Solitaire

But how much is much?

The cheapest AMD card that can plays games to any degree is the HD4670, which can be had for €60-70, although the superior HD5570 is nearly as cheap in some places. Both are about as good or better than the HD3870. The real cards start with the HD5750, at €90+

Double C

Rather than starting a new thread I thought I'd post (hijack:pac:) here. My GeForce 8600 GT is on the blink. Ive been connecting my HD TV via a DVI to HDMI cable to it for the past year or so and have had no problems until last nite, its crashed, BSOD etc. It is absolutely manky with dust so I'll try cleaning it, reinstalling drivers and will throw it back in but I'm not sure if it'd do anything. Could the problem be that it just needs a cleaning or is it more serious than that?

marco_polo

Double C wrote: »

Rather than starting a new thread I thought I'd post (hijack:pac:) here. My GeForce 8600 GT is on the blink. Ive been connecting my HD TV via a DVI to HDMI cable to it for the past year or so and have had no problems until last nite, its crashed, BSOD etc. It is absolutely manky with dust so I'll try cleaning it, reinstalling drivers and will throw it back in but I'm not sure if it'd do anything. Could the problem be that it just needs a cleaning or is it more serious than that?

If cleaning dosn't work you may have to bake that sucker :pac:

Double C

Haha worth a go I guess, Im sticking on a few chips now anyway so might lob it in with them :pac:

I cleaned it up and put it back in but even on startup the display was all grainy and its didnt even get to the "Starting Windows" page, it just came up saying there was no signal. Guess I'll have to pick up a new one so. I saw you mentioned the ATI HD5450 in different thread, it would be handy having sound through the tv too. I dont really play games but tend to go for the Call of Duty franchise, would this support Black Ops and the like? The main use for it will be hooking it up to the tv for HD films, streaming matches etc.

On a side note, I have a Compaq 615 laptop, it only has a VGA port but I have a VGA to HDMI cable and i hooked it up to the TV but its not picking up TV whatsoever. Would it be possible at all for this to work or am I completely out of luck?

Thanks for the help!

Spunge

Definitely put that bad-boy in the oven. Worked for my 4850, it was completely dead.

ED E

Spunge wrote: »

Definitely put that bad-boy in the oven. Worked for my 4850, it was completely dead.

Its normally a trick used on shoddy nVidias that burn themselves out. Interesting that it would work on a 4850, though electronically there's no reason why it wouldn't.

Double C

Yeah think I'll try it. Have to find a shop in Mullingar selling the thermal compound tomorrow so Ive a feeling thats gonna be the biggest problem Ill encounter! Ill come back on here tomorrow, hopefully with some good news!

Spunge

Slightly off-topic, but upon re-cooking my card i lost the heatsinks screws. I have one, and i tried it with one but clearly a terrible idea as the card went over 100C in a matter of seconds. Asked in maplins but they didnt have any, will i have to buy a new cooler just to get new screws ? They are those really small ones

ED E

You may have done damage booting it like that:(

I dunno if anywhere sells just the screws, but you could try asking your local repair shop if they had any broken cards.

Double C

No joy with this unfortunately. I baked it and everything seemed to be going swimmingly until I brought it into the shop to get the thermal compound and the guy in the shop ruined me by pointing out the capacitors were shot. Oh well, fun while it lasted. Now to buy a new graphics card. Ive a budget of about 70 to 80 euro max, any recommendations?

Solitaire

What will you need it for?

Gaming-wise you're a bit stuck - HD5750s start north of €90 and anything cheaper is a big step down, albeit still superior to your old 8600GT

Catsmokinpot

Solitaire wrote: »

But how much is much?

The cheapest AMD card that can plays games to any degree is the HD4670, which can be had for €60-70, although the superior HD5570 is nearly as cheap in some places. Both are about as good or better than the HD3870. The real cards start with the HD5750, at €90+

i can probably pay about 100 maybe not even that because i need new shoes now might just wait it out and not play any games until i have money to burn.

Solitaire

€90-100 will get you a perfectly good gaming card

Double C

Saw this bad boy for €110 on Amazon, feck it, I guess its worth paying extra for a decent one. As I say it'l be used for minor gaming, I'll be playing Black Ops every now and again and thats it. Would there be any compatibility issues with this card and my 3 or so year old motherboard? Sorry about the questions, I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to all this!

Solitaire

If you can afford €110 (or €114 including shipping in this case) then this is a better deal

It should be cheaper but Pixmania's shipping rates have gone through the roof this year

Double C

Nice one Solitaire, thanks for the help, think I'll go with that one so.

Catsmokinpot

wow good deal, thanks.

dubtom

Rather than starting a new thread, my ATI hd2600 has started to act up recently just while browsing or normal computing,the display goes wonky or goes blank completely, but comes back a few seconds later,or if pc is on standby it goes completely, have to restart the pc. I'm not a big gamer, so can anyone recommend a cheapish card of similar performance that will keep me going until the pc dies,it's 5 years old at this stage. It's a dell 8300 dimension.

dubtom

Picked up a Geforce 6200, 512 mb DDR2 in elara for €39. Slotted in no bother, didn't need a power supply. Hopefully it will outlast the pc.:D

Monotype

o.O 6200? I hope you don't intend to run any games on that. That's so old that they're nearly up to 6xx series again!

dubtom

Is it as old as my ati 2600,it's yards times better anyway.

Monotype

Yeah it's older. A good bit older. Two series earlier, I think. Slower too.
But maybe it runs the games that you play better than the general performance.