Graphics card death

[Tricky]

After 2 & a half years loyal service, my 8800GTX graphics card died yesterday, no gaming for me for a while then! I think Arma 2 will have done it, its a very demanding game & I play it all the time so I reckon its finally given in to the heat. So where to go now! Im thinking of the new ATI HD5850, but I dont know if it will fit in my case, and also its £220, ouch! But I dont want to buy a cheap card thats already obsolete anyway. i'd been thinking about upgrading for a while but didnt have the money, but im pretty much forced to now as my PC will only boot up in safe mode :rolleyes:

[Danny]

inb4 snarky buy a console comment.

[Tricky]

Ha ha no chance! Arma 2 aint around on consoles & its unlikely it ever will be, plus the current gen of consoles probably only have another year or so left before they are outdated ;) I dont have a problem with consoles as such but ive been a dedicated PC gamer since around 2004 so I feel like ive outgrown them

[3pidemiC]

Who was the manufacterer of the card?

[Tricky]

Its an official Nvidia one chief, I bought the whole PC as a package from a UK company that builds custom gaming PC's back in August '07. To be fair its had a lot of use & I run some pretty demanding games through it,especially over the last year where games that started to challenge it came out, but I didnt expect it would die on me! £220 is a fair bit of coin & would pay for a holiday somewhere, but like I say Im going to have to get one or my PC wont work so may as well get a decent one. What are credit cards for eh!

[AcesandEights]

Wow, how often does this happen, I wonder? I've never had an issue with Graphics Cards giving up the ghost.

Cooling fans, now that's a different story...

[Eyebiter]

If it's no longer in warranty try baking the video card in the oven.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=606658

[3pidemiC]

Its an official Nvidia one chief, I bought the whole PC as a package from a UK company that builds custom gaming PC's back in August '07. To be fair its had a lot of use & I run some pretty demanding games through it,especially over the last year where games that started to challenge it came out, but I didnt expect it would die on me! £220 is a fair bit of coin & would pay for a holiday somewhere, but like I say Im going to have to get one or my PC wont work so may as well get a decent one. What are credit cards for eh!

Are you sure that it's not an nvidia card that was manufactered by another company such as Asus, MSI, XFX, etc? Normally, graphics card developers do not manufacter their own cards? The reason why I ask is because a lot of companies have 3+ year warranties on their cards. If you are unsure, just look a the front of the card and it should have some brand name on it.

[krakenslayer]

Are you sure that it's not an nvidia card that was manufactered by another company such as Asus, MSI, XFX, etc? Normally, graphics card developers do not manufacter their own cards? The reason why I ask is because a lot of companies have 3+ year warranties on their cards. If you are unsure, just look a the front of the card and it should have some brand name on it.

It must be a third party card. Like you said, I don't think NVidia or ATI actually manufacture their own cards apart from prototypes, etc. Usually they just licence the chipset to other companies to produce and compete amongst themselves. I could be wrong on this, but I've never come across an Nvidia Nvidia card.

Unfortunately, a lot of PC builders only state the chipset and the memory in the specifications, so it might be difficult to tell who made it, although usually the card itself is branded...

[Tricky]

I'll have to take the thing out & have a look at the brand. Its definitely dead though, the PC wont start up in normal mode, loads of artifacts start appearing all over the screen if it tries to get past the vista login screen, as well as wiggly blue or yellow lines all over everything, then it blue screens, reboots in safe mode & an error message appears relating to Nvidia. Ive run a virus check, hard disk check, tried updating the gfx drivers, checked everything was connected properly inside, blown the entire rig out with compressed air to make sure dust isnt causing overheating, all the cooling fans are working :( Ive been thinking about upgrading the gfx card for a few months,but im going to have to now! The PC was bought as a package from Novatech who are usually pretty good, so ive emailed them about whats happened & hopefully they will contact me tomorrow with some advice. The 8800GTX was the best card around at the time I bought it, guess I've just played the hell out of it. My mate who works with computers said that time span is about right for them to wear out with heavy use

[Tricky]

Well, im gonna bite the bullet & order myself a GTX 275 this week, its not the fastest out there anymore but its far better than the one that just died & should see me right with my limited budget! Im just hoping it will fit my case, the card is 10.5" long but my 8800 is about the same so hopefully it will just squeeze in! Otherwise il be getting the grinder out at the inside of the case!:eek:

[MinionZombie]

Had a feeling you might go with a GTX.

I personally have a GTX 260 896mb.

[3pidemiC]

Did you ever find out who manufactered your old card?

Oh, and the Radeon HD 5770 is the best card for the money right now.

[Tricky]

Yeah, to be fair the card I really wanted was the new ATI HD5850 which is also DirectX 11 capable, but I know the Nvidia one will slot into my PC relatively easily & I know I have all the right power cables etc so I shouldnt have any trouble installing it, whereas the 5850 would need me to buy a new case & probably different power supply which at present I really cant afford. I'd rather not have upgraded at all at the moment due to lack of money, but my PC wont even boot up past the bios since my card died! :dead:

[Tricky]

Well it was definitely graphics card failure. I plugged my new GTX 275 in yesterday (thank fook it actually fit in my case, I was worried it wouldnt!!) & my PC started up fine! Noticable performance boost in games like far cry 2 & Arma 2, although I think a bit more RAM may improve things even further!my processor could probably do with changing too but that probably involves a new main board & power supply which I really cant afford at the moment! Anyway providing this card doesnt die on me it should last me a good while. The game "grid" came boxed with the card too, I dont normally play racers but the graphics are top & you can trash the cars good :p

[3pidemiC]

so, did you ever figure out the MFG of your old card?

[Tricky]

Im not sure to be honest, theres nothing on it other than the Nvidia GeForce logos, I bought the PC from a supplier called Novatech who supply any component you can think of as well as building custom gaming PC's, they also manufacture their own graphics cards so its possibly one of theirs

Edit* - this is the one I took out chap
http://www2.prnewswire.com/mnr/nvidia/25921/images/25921-hi-GeForce_8800_GTX_board.jpg

[Eyebiter]

Did you try the oven trick to fix it?