Good Video Card?

TiaxTiax Join Date: 2003-05-28 Member: 16802Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Nvidia Geforce4 ti4200</div> Im looking to buy a new video card of the same type I have. My current one is made by Palit and is a GeForce 4, Ti4200 128 meg AGP 8x card.

However im fed up with Palit. 5-6 months after buying my video card from them it went 'bad' and my screen showed distortions and such. I contacted them and got a new card. Now this new card (abuot 3 months later) has decided to do about the same thing.

Enoughs enough, I have no plans to spend 30 bucks on shipping every 4 months to get the card replaced. So...does anyone have any experience with video cards? What company makes reliable ones?

Im not interested in overclocking or anything like that, but I do need something that can keep itself cool. I initially thought my problem was heat but im not sure sure anymore because a heat problem wouldn't just 'happen' one day.

Comments

  • SemperFi1SemperFi1 Join Date: 2003-02-14 Member: 13559Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--Tiax-+Jun 24 2003, 04:36 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Tiax- @ Jun 24 2003, 04:36 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> However im fed up with Palit. 5-6 months after buying my video card from them it went 'bad' and my screen showed distortions and such. I contacted them and got a new card. Now this new card (abuot 3 months later) has decided to do about the same thing. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Sounds more like a cooling problem to me.
  • Iced_EagleIced_Eagle Borg Engineer Join Date: 2003-03-02 Member: 14218Members
    if your case is too congested and doesnt cool good enough then that does happen
  • SentrySteveSentrySteve .txt Join Date: 2002-03-09 Member: 290Members, Constellation
    *Shouldnt this be in off topic?* If you are looking for a good video card - without the price *I assume its a lot cheaper now* I recommond a GeForce 3 Ti 500. Great card, it is!
  • bon_Hommebon_Homme Join Date: 2003-06-20 Member: 17543Members
    I'm Running the MSI Ti4200-VTD8X (MS-8894-060) . Great card. Good value too.

    Not into overclocking or anything, so I couldn't tell you how hot the thing runs, or whether it's uber hardware. Runs every game I throw at it smoothly. Run NS at 1024x768 as smooth as 320x128. I imagine it could go up to 1600x1200 without a problem.

    $30 for shipping?? Dunno where you're shopping but check out Newegg. Best reseller online you'll find anywhere.

    <a href='http://www.newegg.com/' target='_blank'>http://www.newegg.com/</a>

    also, check out tom's hardware for reviews. Most comprehensive review site out there, to my knowledge.
  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    Save your money and get a nice, dependable Radeon 9500.
  • PseudoKnightPseudoKnight Join Date: 2002-06-18 Member: 791Members
    If you're not into modding your video card, the 9500 <b>Pro</b> would be better.
  • ApeApe Join Date: 2003-06-17 Member: 17448Members, Constellation
    edited June 2003
    I used to be on the nVidia bandwagon, but I have to admit the 9500 (whether its a pro or not) seems to be a very impressive card for its price ($300aud). Personally I'd recommend the non-pro, as its quite simple (if you're comfortable with fooling around with the guts of your machine) to mod it to a pro which is worth what, an extra $100 or so? Not sure, too lazy to check out prices atm.

    Mind you, my Asus Ti4600 does me just fine <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->


    PS. All of the Radeon cards seem to run MUCH cooler their than nVidia counterparts, so perhaps an ATI solution would be more suited to your situation.
  • V_MANV_MAN V-MAN Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 6217Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin--CForrester+Jun 24 2003, 10:27 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (CForrester @ Jun 24 2003, 10:27 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Save your money and get a nice, dependable Radeon 9500. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Gotta love the "dependable" driver support you get from radeon not to mention the issues their cards have with every new game that comes out.
  • MrMoFoMrMoFo Join Date: 2003-05-10 Member: 16193Members
    i have a radeon and havent had a single problem with it yet, very dependable
  • TiaxTiax Join Date: 2003-05-28 Member: 16802Members
    I do not believe its a cooling problem anymore. I do not see how a card can run fine for 3+ months and then suddenly have a problem with cooling, unless its a faulty card.

    My GeForce 2 I had (which I think was MSI) ran fine and still does run fine, ive sense upgraded. While having it my computer would erstart but I found out that was my old computer, not the card (which I initially thought it was).

    Maybe ill buy an MSI geforce.

    As for radeon...I prefer not to go that route. Some of the games I play and radeon do not mix real well.
  • ApeApe Join Date: 2003-06-17 Member: 17448Members, Constellation
    ATI's drivers have improved immensley in the last six months or so. They used to be shocking, but now they have very decent stability and compatibility with most mainstream games/apps. This was one of the main reasons I stuck to nVidia, as their Detonator drivers were miles ahead of ATI's catalysts.. but ATI is gaining ground.
  • airyKairyK Join Date: 2002-12-19 Member: 11126Members
    a friend of mine has a 9700 pro, he has some problems w/drivers and new games---
  • ApeApe Join Date: 2003-06-17 Member: 17448Members, Constellation
    While I can't vouch for MSI video cards, I have an MSI systemboard which rocks hard (KT333 Ultra 2). I love this board (cool looking red PCB, RAID, more extra options than you could poke a stick at). MSI seems to be a brand focused on quality, and they cater for the overclocker too. I have no gripes whatsoever with this board. I'd dare say your new MSI video card (whatever chipset it may be) would be very overclocker-friendly and it would be very unlikely to overheat at stock speeds.
  • bLuIShbLuISh Join Date: 2003-05-21 Member: 16559Members
    hey i got a geforce 4 ti 4200 128mb,it USED to run crappy,lagged,and glitchy,but after i updated the drivers, it ran smooth and never failed me..EVER. I love this vid card.

    The built-In win xp drivers blow, always go wit the newest driver from teh official website
  • PseudoKnightPseudoKnight Join Date: 2002-06-18 Member: 791Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I do not believe its a cooling problem anymore. I do not see how a card can run fine for 3+ months and then suddenly have a problem with cooling, unless its a faulty card.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Because it can slowly damage the card.
  • p4lp4l Join Date: 2003-06-18 Member: 17461Members
    Tiax: My g4 same model different company also had cooling problems initially, but I added 2 more case fans and it went away. I never experienced what you have, and I overclocked... so it does sound like the particular manufacturer of your card isn't so good. Then again, have you checked online forums? If no one else has been having this problem, then it is very likely a fault of your setup. It can be anything really, and 4/5 times it's something stupid like how your case is arranged or something.



    Oh, and like someone said: www.newegg.com BINGO
    I built my computer from scratch, and everything monitor speakers keyboard mouse etc etc. all together, I spent about 1600$ for what was at the time one of the most high end machines possible on consumer available parts. I also enjoy my 19" viewsonic monitor, yes I do. When i was doing it, I compared prices... to build what I had at alienware would've cost 3000. To do it at dell, 2780$ ( and that is with dell parts which I simply don't want when I can have the real parts!). Putting it together from the local PC megastores? Couldn't. They didn't even have the latest video cards when I got mine. But judging by their prices... 3500-4000$. And I still would have had to put it together myself. That 1600$ was with shipping, too, so they come highly recommended from me.
  • SDJasonSDJason Join Date: 2003-05-29 Member: 16841Members
    Hmmm........ Well Nvidia cards do run hott.... but...

    3 months... that sounds like it could be a hard disk fragment, or scandisk problem... u should do those at least every week to keep comp in working order

    Not every problem is related to the vid card u know.... <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • ApeApe Join Date: 2003-06-17 Member: 17448Members, Constellation
    edited June 2003
    What he explained the problem to be sounded to me like artifacts on the screen. I'll have another read to confirm this though. I highly doubt this is going to be a file system issue which scandisk could fix. Possibly corrupt video drivers, a registry problem or an issue with the card itself. I doubt it's anything hard-drive/file system related. If so, he'd be having issues that aren't display-related.

    And no, of course not every problem is related to the video card.

    [Edit]
    Quickest and easiest way to narrow down whether the problem is video card related or not, is to simply test it in another machine using the latest Det drivers. If it works fine in another persons machine, its either going to be some sort of software corruption/conflict issue, or a compatibility problem with another piece of hardware in your machine.
    [/Edit]
  • TiaxTiax Join Date: 2003-05-28 Member: 16802Members
    definently NOT drivers because my bios has strange color blocks and such in it.

    Heat is a likly problem since the computer sat under a desk in a corner of my room with low airflow. Im not sure what else I can do heat wise short of leaving my computer open with a desk fan blowing into it.

    My CPU fan is to large to allow a case fan to fit. The computer is not really crowded, in fact when my first card went poof I got a new case that was bigger. It has only the video card slotted. The CPU is about 3-4 inches away from the video card. Then the power supply is about 1 and a half to 2 inches above my CPU. The harddrives and other disk drivers/CDrom/etc are about 1-2 inches from all of the above.

    So...can heat slowly damage card over 3-4 months with no visual effect until one day POOF, you got artifacts all over the screen?
  • ApeApe Join Date: 2003-06-17 Member: 17448Members, Constellation
    edited June 2003
    Definately, the condition of the card will slowly deteriorate until you have various symptoms. The fact that you're getting that sort of thing in BIOS means one of two things. Your video card is indeed fried, or you have a problem with your monitor. As I said above, quickest way to determine which is at fault is to plug one or the other into another machine.

    [Edit]
    Often, simply removing the case can lower your ambient case temp quite a bit. I suggest doing this and monitoring the temperature difference by using a hardware temp monitoring program such as motherboard monitor. Most systemboards are shipped with this sort of software these days, so if your board is recent just look on the sw cd that came with it.
    [/Edit]
  • TalesinTalesin Our own little well of hate Join Date: 2002-11-08 Member: 7710NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators
    Oh, are you using one of those Shuttle mini-cases, or the like? As much as I like ATI, I'd definitely go with a Radeon. Runs cooler, gives higher performance, and is a lot more dependable so long as you know which Catalyst drivers to use (3.1 preferred, or 3.2 at MOST.. 3.4 are a POS). Seems intelligent to use in that tight of a space. And I'd go for the 9500 Pro if you can find one. Best bang-for-buck card out there at the moment, given that the Kyro3 was canned.. even though its design and testing were finished. The R9500 Pro prices are going down as well (from their $200 tag) along with usually getting a $20-40 mail-in rebate from ATI.
    Or if you have a dead card (or even just a throwaway from a dumpster) you can ship that back if ordering direct from ATI to get about $50 off the standard retail price.

    And I'd suggest looking somewhere besides Tom's (*coughselloutcough*) Hardware for your benchmarking needs.
  • Siberian_DingoSiberian_Dingo Join Date: 2003-01-15 Member: 12326Members
    i had the same problem with my Geforce3 Ti 500. it took me 2 weeks to find out what was wrong but i saved it in time.

    the puny little fan they gave the card got some dust inside of the motor and it would spin too slow, causing all sorts of wierd stuff to happen. to fix it, i just replaced it with a nice cpu fan and every thing works fine now

    btw, my card run for a good 2 months before any thing happed.
  • Jabba_The_HuntJabba_The_Hunt Join Date: 2003-01-05 Member: 11850Members
    I've had my geforce ti4200 for about 3 weeks now and no problems so far, i got my from maplins (xfx is the manufacturing), always buy your card from reputable high street dealer that provides a warranty on the card, this way its their problem.
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