System specs:
a1720n HP
processor: Intel core2 6300@1.86GHz 1.87 GHz
ram: 3070 MB
system: 32-bit OS
computer has original power supply.
first card to go in was PCI-E radeon x1600pro 512MB D/D/VO. this card worked great handling dual instances of EQ for about a yr. Have seen no glitches in graphics during play time. Logged in one afternoon and had 2 instances running when I suddenly had no video at all. no lead up to destruction..no sounds, no lines, nothing
Bought a replacement card Ge Force 8400GS 512MB DDR2 b/c it was recommended due to PS but I find that this card seems slow on the refresh rate and less "sharp"
Questions are:
1. is the original card toast?
2. should I being seeing such a significant difference between the two cards?
3. can anyone recommend a decent card that can effectively handle dual instances of gaming that isn't outrageously priced?
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the fact that the new card gave you video where the old card gave nothing at all does seem to indicate that your problem was the card.
in my experience, intell and g-force are quick to toss out the latest and greatest then spend the next several upgrades fixing all the bugs the first card or chip had. if you buy a g-force, you need to get the last card in that series. it will be the one that actually does what the box says it should do. the rest will all be in various states of bugs the later cards will fix.
g-force and intell always have the latest and greatest. but they also have the largest number of bugged products because of their rush to market to be number one.
radeon on the other hand, while ALWAYS a step or two behind g-force almost always puts out a finnished product with few or no bugs. it is true plug and play, has been for me anyway. same with AMD chips over intell.
look for updates for your card. firm wear or drivers. find the latest and see if it clears up your problem.
if not, give radeon another shot. the new HD series cards have a better refresh rate than the "x" series. there is a noticible differance between my x1600 pro i have on one computer and the newer HD series i have on my recent rebuild. they both have the same ram too, 512.
personally, i would regift the g-force and buy a radeon. but thats just me. i got sick of installing updated firm wear and drivers after my first two builds with g-force and intell. tried AMD and radeon on a budget box for a friend and was so impressed with the lack of updating and the plug and play without adjusting or tweaking i never looked back.
when i was into EQ1, my bro was still updating his drivers and firm wear for his g-forces every time they had a patch or launched a new expansion. it rarely affected my box.
the geeks love g-force and intell because they do have the latest and greatest. you know, like rambus that flopped after a year, or SLI that no one is really using yet in games. that and they love "tweaking". but for true plug and play, its AMD and radeon.
in my experience, intell and g-force are quick to toss out the latest and greatest then spend the next several upgrades fixing all the bugs the first card or chip had. if you buy a g-force, you need to get the last card in that series. it will be the one that actually does what the box says it should do. the rest will all be in various states of bugs the later cards will fix.
g-force and intell always have the latest and greatest. but they also have the largest number of bugged products because of their rush to market to be number one.
radeon on the other hand, while ALWAYS a step or two behind g-force almost always puts out a finnished product with few or no bugs. it is true plug and play, has been for me anyway. same with AMD chips over intell.
look for updates for your card. firm wear or drivers. find the latest and see if it clears up your problem.
if not, give radeon another shot. the new HD series cards have a better refresh rate than the "x" series. there is a noticible differance between my x1600 pro i have on one computer and the newer HD series i have on my recent rebuild. they both have the same ram too, 512.
personally, i would regift the g-force and buy a radeon. but thats just me. i got sick of installing updated firm wear and drivers after my first two builds with g-force and intell. tried AMD and radeon on a budget box for a friend and was so impressed with the lack of updating and the plug and play without adjusting or tweaking i never looked back.
when i was into EQ1, my bro was still updating his drivers and firm wear for his g-forces every time they had a patch or launched a new expansion. it rarely affected my box.
the geeks love g-force and intell because they do have the latest and greatest. you know, like rambus that flopped after a year, or SLI that no one is really using yet in games. that and they love "tweaking". but for true plug and play, its AMD and radeon.
vanlen wrote:
Questions are:
1. is the original card toast?
Likely yes
vanlen wrote:
2. should I being seeing such a significant difference between the two cards?
Yes. The equivelent card to that ATI 1600pro would have been a a geforce 8800 gtx, not an 8400. Card naming convention in nvidia cards goes x400 - low end, slow processor, x600 - mid range card, x800 -high performance. X= the card generation, and then CT being the base model, Gtx being the performance model, and ultra cards being the rare super performance models.
They recently chaged this naming scheme with the nvidia 260 and 280 gtx cards. THose cards would have been the 10600 gt and 10800 gtx respectivly under the old scheme
vanlen wrote:
3. can anyone recommend a decent card that can effectively handle dual instances of gaming that isn't outrageously priced?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339
Get that one. 9800 gtx down to $150. Can't beat that.
also, ATI cards are quite often buggy crap due to bad drivers and hardware. And SLI doesn't require any support in games to work. But yeah. if you wanted to get somethign equivelent in ATI you could go with one of the newer 4870 cards. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339
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Thank you for the responses. I have another concern that I failed to mention in the OP.
If my PS is only 250w, will this Nvidia card be able to survive? It's specs call for min 450w PS.
Can I effectively upgrade the card without upgrading the PS?
If my PS is only 250w, will this Nvidia card be able to survive? It's specs call for min 450w PS.
Can I effectively upgrade the card without upgrading the PS?
No. you will need a better power supply period for any card you are considering. 250 is inadequate and obsolete.
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figures. Computer was only bought 18 months ago.
I just love technology
Thank you again for the input
I just love technology
Thank you again for the input
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