StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Darth Nostril wrote:Definitely sounds like overheating, check whether all the fans in your system are working.
Simply remove the side cover when it's idling and see if all the fans are spinning, especially the one on your graphics card if it's getting that hot.

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:I think my graphics card (GeForce 6600) is losing its heatsink or something, because when I use graphics-heavy applications (aka games) the whole damn comp locks up hard, requiring me to frob the power strip button; hooray for on/off button functions implemented as a SOFTWARE function! The thing is also screaming hot to the touch as well even at idle.

I'm going to update my drivers to rule that problem out, but I suspect that won't fix it. I really wish nVidia would make it easier to monitor temperatures. I also disabled automatic-reboot in order to try to get whatever error code the BSOD spits out so I can Google the bastard.

FSTargetDrone wrote:

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:I think my graphics card (GeForce 6600) is losing its heatsink or something, because when I use graphics-heavy applications (aka games) the whole damn comp locks up hard, requiring me to frob the power strip button; hooray for on/off button functions implemented as a SOFTWARE function! The thing is also screaming hot to the touch as well even at idle.

I'm going to update my drivers to rule that problem out, but I suspect that won't fix it. I really wish nVidia would make it easier to monitor temperatures. I also disabled automatic-reboot in order to try to get whatever error code the BSOD spits out so I can Google the bastard.

Does your card have a shroud around its onboard fan? In my card, the spaces between the cooling vanes inside the fan housing surrounding the fan were packed full of dust and I recently spent a good 10 minutes cleaning the thing out, removing all that infernal dust. After that, all problems went away, random lockups and heat alarms.

The 3850 trails behind sometimes, but the 3870 generally maintains a performance lead. You can now find 3870 starting at around $100 (GeForce 9600 GT also falls into this category), and we'd rather spend the extra bit of cash and get added performance. (Ed: Updated to reflect current prices.) The value is still lower at a lower price than other hardware that's more expensive. We pointed out this problem in our recent 9500 GT review as well: spending less money gets you disproportionately less performance. It's similar to how we see diminishing returns for increased spending at the very high end.

The 4670 doesn't change the game enough to say that spending more money isn't worth it, but the 4670 does lead at its price point and is good enough for anyone with a 1280x1024 monitor to have a good experience. We even see some advantages that would allow us to enable 4xAA at these low resolutions and enjoy playable performance. This card isn't going to change the world, but it fits a niche. Throw in the lower power requirements and smaller form factor and you have a great card for moderate gaming.

Unlike the 9500 GT, this card isn't an epic fail at its price point. We would still like more (we always do), but what we've got isn't bad. This is hardware based on a new architecture (meaning it has all the latest features and bug fixes like working AA hardware), unlike NVIDIA's competitive offerings. We can play most of the games we tested at 1280x1024 (a very cheap very widely used panel size) with high quality settings and some of them do well with 4xAA enabled as well.

So this (almost) rounds out a top to bottom RV7xx lineup from AMD - we're still waiting on one more part. The hardware does outperform the competition at the same price point (though that isn't saying much), and we even get playable performance at 1280x1024 (a key target resolution for budget systems). If you want gaming performance first, however, you will still need a more powerful GPU - we'd recommend spending a little bit more like the HD 3870, 9600 GT, or 8800 GT, and if you can swing it the HD 4850 and 9800 GTX+ offer excellent performance at the $180 price point. On the other hand, the 4670 works great as a Jack of all trades.

In light of all that, what's the verdict? If you just can't spend that extra ~$20, this is absolutely the card to buy right now. This might be the 4850 or 4870 of the sub $100 market, but the problem is that the sub $100 market still doesn't provide the kind of gaming performance we would like to see compared to the rest of the market. It's easy to argue that people pay a premium for the best performance out there, but it just doesn't make sense on the lower end. For the people who need a card that fits this niche and price point, the 4670 is the card to pick up unless there's a great sale or rebate offered on a higher performing part. With lower prices, small fluctuations can really stir things up. But the 4670 gets our nod when it comes to current street prices and AMD's suggested pricing.

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:One thing to consider is whether you're on PCI-E or AGP, as 6600 GT was made in both slots IIRC. Is the slot you plug your card into blue or brown colored?

Ace Pace wrote:

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:One thing to consider is whether you're on PCI-E or AGP, as 6600 GT was made in both slots IIRC. Is the slot you plug your card into blue or brown colored?

Einy said it's PCI-E over the chat.

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:One thing to consider is whether you're on PCI-E or AGP, as 6600 GT was made in both slots IIRC. Is the slot you plug your card into blue or brown colored?

Ace Pace wrote:If you have a modern nVidia driver, one that includes the nVIdia control panel, you can check the lower left corner, System Information, and see what sort of bus it is.
The same information should be in the older drivers, I just can't recall how to get at it.

Seggybop wrote:What's your CPU / RAM / etc? budget?
It's absurd to make recommendations without knowing the details of your system.

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:And I cleaned the damn thing. Two notables: I think dust bunnies are one of the most insulating substances known to man, and I NEED A NEW FUCKING FAN FOR THE CARD (which will probably devolve to 'I need a new card' because i don't feel like hunting around for a fucking fan). The stupid little shit has given up all pretense of trying to spin!

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:Athlon64 3700+ S939 (need upgrade!)|1GB PC3200|$75 +/-20