The next day I booted it up, or tried to, but again it would shut itself down within seconds. I cracked the case, pulled the video card, and immediately noticed that the card's fan was stuck and would not turn. Yep, that'll cause excess heat and kill a card real quick.
Fortunately my motherboard has an on-board GPU so I can still use my computer until I get a new video card. Liz has also ok'd the purchase of an NVidia 8800GT which would have smoked my 7300GT, if it hadn't already cooked itself. ATI are releasing a new video card in a few weeks time, and that should rattle prices a little bit so I'm holding off on the 8800 for now. I can wait a few weeks if it means saving $20 or more. And I can still play WoW, so I'm good there.
The one downer is the on-board GPU is the equivalent of a 6150 LE, and in order to play WoW I had to turn all the graphics down, and even then the FPS rate still sucks, or at least it sucks considering what I'm used to.
Here's a picture of how WoW used to look. It's big, 1024x768 big, so it might take a few seconds to load if you click it and blow it up, but it really shows the detail.
Then there's this screenshot. This is about what I'm looking at now with the graphics turned down. Just a little bit different.
Don't believe the 109.5 FPS figure on the second pic; those are both screen caps using the 7300GT. I'm lucky to get 30FPS with the 6150 with everything turned down.
Come on, ATI. Push that 4150 out the door and let's see some prices drop! The Cap'n wants a new card!
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4 comments:
Sorry for your loss John. I'm having a similar issue with my comp atm, and while I can still run games like WOW, my display looks like a giant spider has made a web over my monitor. :(
Hey guys I think all the graphich problems are over now. Few days back I was at http://fxvideocards.com and there I founr a new video card with the following features:
1GB GDDR3 frame buffer per GPU (2GB total)
256-bit memory interface
51.2 GB/sec memory bandwidth
Quad dual-link DVI-I display connectors
3-pin mini-DIN stereo connector
Two 6-pin PCI Express auxiliary power connectors
PCI Express x16 bus interface
226W maximum power consumption
ATX form factor, 4.36” (H) x 10.5” (L)
Number of slots, 2
I think you are supposed to preorder this but the price is pretty good at $350.00 and with shipping charges of only $8.99. I have preodered it for my self. If you have any question do let me know.
Wow! That appears to be a spam comment, but it's actually relevant to the content of this thread, so I'm going to let it stay :)
$350 is a little out of my price range, usually I go for 2nd to 3rd gen cards for around $120-$150 or so.
Mike, I appreciate the plug, but I'm going to wait for the price on the 8800GT to come down a bit.
ROFL the spammers actually posted something other than Viagra!! Does Pfizer know about this? ;)
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