Originally posted by Jefferson81

Originally posted by Cleffy

I think the HD4670, HD4830, and the HD4850 are the ideal graphics cards to aim for when you are on a budget.  The problem with the 9800GT is that its tech is more dated and the HD4830 will beat it out performance wise.  I would say upgrade your ram first though since ram is cheap and upping to 3~4GB will have an impact over 2 GB.

 

Why are you giving bad advice to the poor lady?

Everyone knows about the bad quality of the ATi drivers.

So don't push a shoddy product on an unsuspecting buyer.

Just hush now, Cleffy.

And it's the 9800 GTX+ and nothing else.

 

No, the problem is people who do not know how to install drivers. They do not uninstall previous drivers correctly, thus the issues. I have had ATI for awhile now and never have I had an issue with drivers on my 4850 machine or my dual 4870 machine.

Your advice is bad, saying to get a 9800GTX+ which draws more power, has heat issues and has less tech then a GTX 260 or 280, both of which I would of recomended over a 9800GTX+ for nvidia.

ATI makes a superb graphics card in their 4000 series. The 4850 is capable of playing crysis at max settings at 1680x1050 on a 23 inch LCD in XP with no lag and in Vista all settings maxed except particles effects, around 30 FPS.

A 9800GTX+ seems to be the worst choice for choosing nvidia atm, if you did not recomend a 260 or 280 then sobeit, but I do know those choices I recomended are better then your 9800GTX+.

For a single card solution anyway. www.guru3d.com/category/vga_charts_crysis/

Originally posted by Tyres100

Originally posted by Jefferson81

Originally posted by Cleffy

I think the HD4670, HD4830, and the HD4850 are the ideal graphics cards to aim for when you are on a budget.  The problem with the 9800GT is that its tech is more dated and the HD4830 will beat it out performance wise.  I would say upgrade your ram first though since ram is cheap and upping to 3~4GB will have an impact over 2 GB.

 

Why are you giving bad advice to the poor lady?

Everyone knows about the bad quality of the ATi drivers.

So don't push a shoddy product on an unsuspecting buyer.

Just hush now, Cleffy.

And it's the 9800 GTX+ and nothing else.

 

 

No, the problem is people who do not know how to install drivers. They do not uninstall previous drivers correctly, thus the issues. I have had ATI for awhile now and never have I had an issue with drivers on my 4850 machine or my dual 4870 machine.

Your advice is bad, saying to get a 9800GTX+ which draws more power, has heat issues and has less tech then a GTX 260 or 280, both of which I would of recomended over a 9800GTX+ for nvidia.

ATI makes a superb graphics card in their 4000 series. The 4850 is capable of playing crysis at max settings at 1680x1050 on a 23 inch LCD in XP with no lag and in Vista all settings maxed except particles effects, around 30 FPS.

A 9800GTX+ seems to be the worst choice for choosing nvidia atm, if you did not recomend a 260 or 280 then sobeit, but I do know those choices I recomended are better then your 9800GTX+.

For a single card solution anyway. www.guru3d.com/category/vga_charts_crysis/

The 260 and the 280 costs too much money with too little performance gain versus the increased cost.

nVidia have superior drivers that are more optimized than ATi's drivers.

The 9800 GTX+ draws less than 180W on a full load with no overheating issues whatsoever.

But it's good that you buy ATi so that atleast nVidia gets a little bit of competition.

Wow!

Ease up guys. The OP was just looking for advice, and not  a Nvidia vs. ATI debate.

Not knowing what the OP's budget is, I tried to keep my suggestions in the $100-$150 range.

I have always used Nvidia cards, so that is what I am familiar with. That's why I didn't mention any ATI cards.

Anyway, no need to make this a debate...

Thanks guys, the debate was fun though

I dont know that much about choosing the right hardware so its enlightening for me to read these. But as I am on a budget I will have to just think about the 9800gtx+.

I would love a whole new system... but hey as long as I have a computer to use, and can hopefully keep to the same standard that I have had, and not less, then I will be happy.

The things hasnt fried just yet, so I still have a bit of time to ponder on it , but your input was valuable.

Thansk again

 Edit : Ohh and since Im not very technical in that sort of thing, maybe you can tell me this too .....

my motherboard is an ASUS P5LD2 SE with a standard 350 PSU + 80mm fan. Would the 9800 fit in there? The 7900 is pretty big too, and would the PSU be ok with that as well? If it isnt ... does anyone want to tell me the ABC's of what to do about it before I buy?

Also I have never taken the 7900 out of its slot, but I have fiddled with other cards in and out like TV cards and reseated the ethernet card. Is it just possible that I might have knocked the 7900 out of the slot a bit? Could that cause these problems, or is it just likely that the card is dying?

Thanks

Another Edit : Sorry.... just keep thinking about things.... what about BIOS? I have never updated a BIOS ... is that something I should think about? I always avoided that ... heard a few horror stories!

I just reviewed some benchmark tests showing that the 9800GTX+ performs slightly faster than the HD4850 in most cases, even at high resolutions like 1920x1200 with some AA, which is where I previously thought the ATI card pulled ahead.

Your motherboard is fine. Flashing the bios isn't that painful anymore, just follow the instructions from the manufacturers site.

As far as power supply, if you will check the specifications on some othe cards that I linked previously, it will state what requirements are needed.

Most (if not all) newer cards require at least 24-26 amps from the 12v rail(s) of a power supply.

Your current PSU should have a label on it that will tell you this information.

Whether or not the 9800 GTX+ will fit or not kind of depends on your case. Is it a custom built computer, or pre-manufactered?

If you haven't already, get some canned air, open up the case, and blow out all the dust.

Whatever you do, don't be tempted to use a vacum cleaner!

If your current card isn't overheating and you still have the problem, it probably is the card.

Go ahead and grab another 2gig of ram. It will help your system out overall.

Hope this helps.

hehe thanks, its a standard size case as far as I know, and ...oops!!! I did use the vacuum on it once a while ago ... didnt help or improve things and I was VERY careful to not get too close ... so still some dust there, but hey!!!

I have a nice mum and she has paid for me to buy a 9800gtx+

So I will get that on Monday ..........

Wish me luck guys :)

And thanks a LOT for all the info :)

might have a look at the BIOS now  (if I feel brave enough)

Mags

Your mobo is fine, and they generally suggest not to update your bios unless you're having a problem that a bios update addresses but I tend to keep mine updated and have never had any problems doing so.  Oh the bios updates for your mobo are here support.asus.com/download/download.aspx but I didn't see anything except adding supported CPU models and fixing a vista 64 bug.

A 350W power supply is supposed to be able to handle a 9800gtx but you should check your power connectors on it - some of the 9800gtx's require 2 6pin power connectors and some only require 1.  Some video cards come packaged with an adapter that combines 2 4pin connectors into 1 6pin connector to help out with making the connections easier.  The 7800gtx should have 1 6pin power connector hooked up to it already so that's the type you're looking for, if that's the only one your power supply has then make sure the video card you get only requires 1 or has an adapter packaged with it (or you could buy one for 5 bucks I'm sure).

Originally posted by noquarter

Your mobo is fine, and they generally suggest not to update your bios unless you're having a problem that a bios update addresses but I tend to keep mine updated and have never had any problems doing so.  Oh the bios updates for your mobo are here support.asus.com/download/download.aspx but I didn't see anything except adding supported CPU models and fixing a vista 64 bug.

 

A 350W power supply is supposed to be able to handle a 9800gtx but you should check your power connectors on it - some of the 9800gtx's require 2 6pin power connectors and some only require 1.  Some video cards come packaged with an adapter that combines 2 4pin connectors into 1 6pin connector to help out with making the connections easier.  The 7800gtx should have 1 6pin power connector hooked up to it already so that's the type you're looking for, if that's the only one your power supply has then make sure the video card you get only requires 1 or has an adapter packaged with it (or you could buy one for 5 bucks I'm sure).

great ...

I knew there were nice people in these forums, just keep reading all these flames in most forums... but you have all been exceptionally nice and helpful.

Originally posted by tenpigs

Originally posted by noquarter

Your mobo is fine, and they generally suggest not to update your bios unless you're having a problem that a bios update addresses but I tend to keep mine updated and have never had any problems doing so.  Oh the bios updates for your mobo are here support.asus.com/download/download.aspx but I didn't see anything except adding supported CPU models and fixing a vista 64 bug.

 

A 350W power supply is supposed to be able to handle a 9800gtx but you should check your power connectors on it - some of the 9800gtx's require 2 6pin power connectors and some only require 1.  Some video cards come packaged with an adapter that combines 2 4pin connectors into 1 6pin connector to help out with making the connections easier.  The 7800gtx should have 1 6pin power connector hooked up to it already so that's the type you're looking for, if that's the only one your power supply has then make sure the video card you get only requires 1 or has an adapter packaged with it (or you could buy one for 5 bucks I'm sure).

great ...

I knew there were nice people in these forums, just keep reading all these flames in most forums... but you have all been exceptionally nice and helpful.

I think that you should try and apply more thermal paste to your graphics card, it might solve your problem altogether.

Oh some video card manufacturers have pretty good warranties, my buddy has a lifetime warranty on his BFG card he was able to use when his died, you may look into that too.

Originally posted by noquarter

Oh some video card manufacturers have pretty good warranties, my buddy has a lifetime warranty on his BFG card he was able to use when his died, you may look into that too.

Thanks I did that, 2 years guarantee

My new one comes on monday anyway so hopefully that will fix it :)

Thanks