So, I have a nVidia 9600 GSO (768mb). PNY is the manu. The other day, my computer locked up, and the sound looped during playtime in Team Fortress 2. I restarted, thinking nothing of it... seemed okay. I try to play again, and within the first minute of getting into the item manager, another lockup with sound loop. I restart, but now I'm getting a BSOD if I start normally. I can start Windows in safe-mode w/ networking, but NOT normally, or I just get another BSOD after the Windows splash screen.

This is what it looks like:




I'm no *expert*, but I've tried a myriad of things to remedy this. I've replaced every part, re-formatted, and cleaned it up. Still happens. Just as I'm guessing it's the motherboard or processor, I do one more test. I bring my video card to a friend's and put it in his 'puter. SAME lines and look.... Didn't leave it in there for more than 3 minutes and put his original back in, and everything was fine again. Now that I know SOMETHING is going on with my vid card, I'm thinking of just buying a new one. But my friend didn't get the BSOD the same as I did.

Any comments?

Yes. My 8800 GT died the same way recently.

Ah, okay. Well, at least it's just the video card (I hope). I've only had this card for a year. Few weeks LESS, actually. I think I might switch it up and go with an ATi this time.

Misery loves company

I got a new card, should be here Tuesday. I took the side off my case and set a house fan to blow into it and its kept it from crashing...

Alright, from what I've gathered from reviews, and benchmarks, it seems the GeForce 9800 GT (1gb) is better than the Radeon 5670 HD.

I am looking at these cards because I only have 1 open PCI-E slot, and can't house anything bigger than a single-slot card.

I have a Pentium D, 2 gb DDR2, Win XP, and a 700w PSU.

I can't really spend over 140 bucks.

Suggestions and comments are GREATLY appreciated. I'm going to be getting the new card within the next week. Help me!!

If you have to chose from those two, I would go for the Nvidia card, just due to better drivers. Furthermore your processor sucks and WinxP doesn't have DX10 so you would be missing out on that front.

Jeez, that series wasn't made to last was it?

This definitely didn't need to be a new thread.

Edit, actually, I'll merge the two threads together.

Now it looks like I double posted, Are we still able to delete posts?
E: Nope.

i read the thread title as "Help me DEICIDE on a new vid card! pls?"

If 9800gt vs 5670 are the only options, I think in your case I would pick the 9800gt. Generally I think Nvidia gpu's are less cpu dependant, so Im guessing you will get better minimum framerates with the 9800gt.

Not sure about your shopping limits or size limitations but this 4850 might be a good choice (its single slot although the gpu cooler does look a little large)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129163

Doesn't the 9800 compare to a 4850? Hell I'm tempted to sell you my 4890 so I can get a 58xx card.

Honestly theres not a huge difference, but 4850 closer to a 9800gtx+.

DS, thanks for the merge, very true. :p

Triscuit, I'd definitely go for a nice card such as a 4850, but my PCI-e slot is the upper-most slot in my case below major connections, heatsink, etc. I can have nothing bulkier than my current 9600 GSO. I've measured a few times before, *hoping* there was just a little more room all the time.


So yeah, I need a single-slot GPU with 1GB and not bulky (eg. no protruding fan, heatsink)


I'm actually thinking the 9800 GT, for I've had good luck with nVidia ('til now) and it seems great for maintaining decent framerates.

you know that fans and heatsinks protrude below the slot not above, right? talking about no room above the card makes no sense.

Ford, so glad you know how my case and mobo was designed and put together. You should go work for one of the companies.

Don't you think I know how my own gawdamn setup looks?!

I WOULD have a better card if I COULD. I WOULD get a new mobo AND processor if I had more money. Right now, a new card will do me just fine to play my games. I'm just trying to choose one. One that will fit.

Well that stuff is pretty damn standardized, so it's a reasonable assumption to make...

i apologise. in the 10 years i've been taking apart and putting together computers i've never once seen a mobo that was arranged so that the pci slots faced towards the front of the case. or one with the processor on the bottom of the board. one of those two things is the only way what you said makes sense.

My ten years of computer maintenance and tech support has shown me some very different setups.

I'll take a pic to show you what I mean, but yes, nothing but a single-slot slim card will fit.

I DID just find an XFX 5770 single-slot that WILL fit though, so I think that's what I'm going with.

So you're one of the two people in the world who uses BTX outside of the big PC manufacturers then? (Or is it a prebuilt?)

One of junk PC's littering my area is a Gateway Athlon X2 with a BTX motherboard. It's a pain to put a decent videocard in it for a similar reason, next to the PCI-E slot there is a huge capacitor that sticks up and hits the GPU heatsink/fan on most cards. The best card I found that fits it is a 4670.

Well, ordered the 5770 last night. Wish me luck on it working, all!

Well, I got my new 5770 single-slot. It's a bit better than my 9600 GSO 768mb, but not THAT much better. I'm thinking it's because of my processor. I only have a Pentium D. I do notice better framerate in Crysis, but TF2 almost seems the same. Eh, still happy. It's a current-gen card, so I can't really ***** about it. Probably the best single-slot I can hope for before they are all double-slot standard. I found a few good mobo/processor combos on Tiger Direct for 400 or less. The fact I only have 2gb of DDR2 doesn't help either.


But anyhow, thank you for the suggestions, everyone!

Heh I noticed a huge difference in framerate (particularly in Assassin's Creed) going from an E5200 @ 3.24Ghz to a stock Core i5 750. Upgrade your motherboard/processor/etc and happiness shall ensue.

Voodoo 2

Dude you are voodoo2 obsessed. I actually have two of them sitting in my car waiting to be recycled. They are cool and everything but not that cool.