Need new video card for PC

[rawfuls]

You know, I'd bet I have an AGP card or two laying around here somewhere.
I'll also take a look for ya.

[Arct1k]

I might have one to - I'll look tonight or tomorrow.

[BrianG]

Thanks guys!

ATI finally came out with an actual working driver for this card 2 years after its release. I used to check every week or so but had given up about 2-3 months ago. Go figure. Anyway, I loaded it last night, but still does the sleepy thing. Problem must therefore be hardware related - probably something to do with letting it warm up before using any higher resolution than what BIOS/POST requires.

[BrianG]

Sooo, has anyone checked into their junk box yet?

[bdebde]

OOPs, sorry Brian!

Looks like I have an old 3dfx voodoo 3500... good luck with drivers for that... drivers were poor even when they were still in business

[rawfuls]

Originally Posted by BrianG

Sooo, has anyone checked into their junk box yet?

Also couldn't find one..
Guess it's in one of the computers that we gave to family...

Sorry!

[rabosi]

Brian, I have an All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro that you can have. You can also have the MB, mem and processor that matched up with it. PM if interested but I probably won't be able to ship out till Monday or Tuesday for earliest.

[Arct1k]

I have an all in wonder to if you need it

[Arct1k]

Its a Radeon 9200 256mb DDR TVO

[whitrzac]

please get out of the stone age and get a mobo with PCI-e

I pitched my AGP cards a few months ago because I couldn't sell them...

[BrianG]

I haven't been on here much at all the last few days because I've been a bit busy with computer stuff.

I got my "new" HP PC from the inlaws: core 2 duo, 2GB RAM, integrated video, single 320GB HDD, 250w PS (WTF??!!), DVD, etc. Vista gave it a base score of 1.0. Ugg. The stock HP case got wrecked during shipping, so I got a cheapie Antec 300 case and swapped everything over. I personally like the Antec case much better as it is simpler, a bit larger, and better laid out.

Then, I began doing the upgrade thing: Intel quad core (Core 2 quad) using a Coolermaster Geminii S heatsink, 8GB RAM (in dual channel mode), GF460 video card, 750w Corsair PS, 320GB system drive, 1TB storage drive (both SATA), Windows 7. I had been hunting around for these parts over the last month or so, so I was able to get it all for decent prices - mostly from ebay/craigslist from people who have to have bleeding edge stuff. The Windows 7 base score is now 5.9. only because of the drives - everything else is 7.3 or higher. All this is running on the included widescreen monitor running 1680x1050 resolution.

I did run into some issues though (aside from the wrecked case). The stock heatsink plate on the backside of the mobo would not come off, so I had to mod the Coolermaster HS so it will work with the stock backplate. Ended up using some 3mm screws from my R/C bin (R/C comes through once againan). Then, the included fan on the aftermarket heatsink, being 120mm, spun too slow for the BIOS's liking. I slapped on a faster 80mm fan for now until I get a faster 120mm fan. Then, the PC wouldn't completely shut down - the fans would continue to run forever. Turned out to be a BIOS issue that was solved with a firmware update (apparently, it was due to the BIOS not liking over 7GB of ram). Then, once I installed Win7, I had to find replacements for various software titles which were incompatible with 64 bit Win7.

I really like this Coolermaster heatsink, even though it is air cooled. It's relatively small, but I was able to keep temps under 50*C on all 4 cores when running Prime95 for a half hour. And that was with a much smaller 80mm fan.

BTW, I know the Windows scoring system is not really useful, but it gave me a relative baseline for a quick comparison.

Once my new PC was finished, I started rearranging the old one with Kubuntu for the kids. The video card I thought was having issues looks like it is working fine after all.

Upon more investigation, it was the LCD with the probleml. Apparently, if you remove the monitor from power for a few minutes, it runs fine. But if you leave it connected to power and reboot the PC, it acts weird. So, my previous testing led me to think it was the video card when it was the LCD all along. I took the monitor apart to find several puffed 470uf 25v caps in the power supply section. I ordered replacements for less than $5 shipped, so that should cure the problem (I hope).

So, long story short, I don't need a video card any longer. I appreciate everyone looking through their parts bins, and am sorry it was for nothing.

[rawfuls]

Hmm, was it a Dell monitor?
I know a lot of the Dell LCD flat's (fairly old) had that cap issue, a few puff up real big, and get all funky..

[BrianG]

Nope, it was a viewsonic VX922. I had tried googling this issue a while back but must not have been using the right terms, because I just tried Googling again and this flashing light thing seems to be fairly common, and the cause are the capacitors I already found. Seems that 99% of the time, simply replacing the caps fixes it as long as they haven't gotten so bad that they take out another part of the circuit.

[BrianG]

Status update:

I fixed my monitor! Replaced two 1000uF 10v and three 470uF 25v capacitors. Cost: $5 vs whatever it would've cost me to replace the whole monitor.

My only complaint is that my current widescreen LCD does not physically line up with the fixed LCD when using multiple monitors due to their non-adjustable stands.

[bdebde]

Originally Posted by BrianG

Status update:

I fixed my monitor! Replaced two 1000uF 10v and three 470uF 25v capacitors. Cost: $5 vs whatever it would've cost me to replace the whole monitor.

My only complaint is that my current widescreen LCD does not physically line up with the fixed LCD when using multiple monitors due to their non-adjustable stands.

you need some shims