Need a new video card

[Academia Nut]

So for those of you who know me over MSN or AIM may have noticed that I've been missing for a few days, a strange occurance considering I'm usually on all the time. The reason for this is that rather unfortunately my video card exploded on Friday and despite having a computer expert look at it, we failed to figure out that it was the video card until today while I was draped over my box begging the Omnissiah for salvation I noticed that five of the capacitors had blown out, thus answering my question.

Now, the question for you fine lads of SDN is what should I get as a replacement. I'm looking for a decent card under $200 that can play most games from the past two years. Nothing fancy, just a good quality card that should last me. My last one was an e-GeForce 7600GS, and other than the whole exploding at the 2.5 year mark, it seemed to work pretty well for me. I forget though, which graphics card line is currently the better one for the price range I am looking.

Anyway, for all you computer experts out there, what should I be looking for?

[starslayer]

Get a GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 or a Radeon 4870 1GB. They both have about the same performance, though you can usually find the Radeon cheaper. Aside from a freak power system failure like your previous card seemed to have, they should last until the need for an upgrade rolls around.

[Haruko]

I second Starslayer's recommendation of the GTX 260. I cannot say what I think about his latter recommendation, though, because I have never used it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130370
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130434

The first URL above is of the version of the GTX 260 I got, and the second is of the version I believe Starslayer is referring to. The first seems cheaper, but the second currently has free shipping and so may end up being cheaper. Both recommend a minimum 500watt power supply unit, but the the "steam processors" are several points higher for the latter. No idea how big a difference that entails for performance, but if I had to choose right now I would probably go for the latter; when I got mine, it had free shipping and a 15$ off code.

[Haruko]

Just found out there is another GTX 260 Core 216 ("Superclocked Edition"):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130433

The difference from the one I got is more noticeable. You would certainly pay more, though.

[starslayer]

He would not need a 500W PSU for either. They will run on much less. Both cards do require dual PCI-E 6-pin or four SATA power connectors, however, which can force a PSU of that wattage anyways. The performance difference between a 196-core 260 and 216-core 260 is modest, but well worth the extra $10 (at most; many Core 216's are the same price or cheaper, and the 196-core ones are no longer made).

[Haruko]

Yeah, I was actually aware that those video cards could run on less wattage, so when I said it is recommended I meant that choice of wording to reflect my caution; in either case, I should have worded it better. What matters more, as I learned shortly before choosing a card, is the stability and quality of the power supply, so I replaced my case's default Xion 580watt psu with a Corsair 550watt VX model.

[Seggybop]

EVGA will almost definitely send you a free replacement card if you go to their site and register the card's serial number, and it'll probably be a newer, better card too. Most recently, they sent be an 8600GTS for a 7600GT. The 7600's capacitor popping problem was very common, by the way.

[phongn]

Do you have a PCI-Express or AGP video card?

[Academia Nut]

I have PCI slots. It's an ASUS motherboard, an M2N-E to be specific. So anyway, I get to the store and they don't have anything that has thus far been suggested, but looking over things I settle on a GeForce 9800 GT which was within my price range,should work with my system and seemed to have everything I needed, maybe a little more than I need. It should work in my machine, and it looks like it should serve me well for the next few years. However, I can only return it for the full price if its been unopened, and since I'm both unbelievably cheap and emotionally insecure, I figured I would ask if this was a reasonable choice or if I need to go back and look for something else. I'll let this question sit for an hour or two before opening the box up and installing.

[KlavoHunter]

The nVidia 8800 GT is fantastically cheap by now, and I can't think of anything it won't play.

[starslayer]

A 9600GT will be fine, though an 8800GT, 9800GT, or GTX 260, and the similar ATI cards, would be better. However, except for the 8800, they are all more expensive (and the 8800 is getting hard to find, seeing as it is discontinued).

[Academia Nut]

I got the new card installed. Yeah!

The computer can't seem to find the hard disk to boot from! I must have something unplugged and I have no idea what! No!

Worst yet, the people I know who could help me are out of town. Bah, this is rapidly becoming the stuff that epic bar stories are made of.

[Beowulf]

I got the new card installed. Yeah!

The computer can't seem to find the hard disk to boot from! I must have something unplugged and I have no idea what! No!

Worst yet, the people I know who could help me are out of town. Bah, this is rapidly becoming the stuff that epic bar stories are made of.

Well, you probably accidentally yanked the data cable (either end) or the power cable. Look at the back of the hard drive, and make sure both cables are plugged in, then check the other end of the data cable.

[Academia Nut]

As I figured, this was a problem I had from simply not knowing my way around the inside of a computer. But after not looking at it for a few hours I figured it out. Hooray! The power cable for the hard drive was unplugged, mostly because it used a different sort of connector from everything else so I was looking for the wrong thing.

Sigh... as they say, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

[Xon]

As I figured, this was a problem I had from simply not knowing my way around the inside of a computer. But after not looking at it for a few hours I figured it out. Hooray! The power cable for the hard drive was unplugged, mostly because it used a different sort of connector from everything else so I was looking for the wrong thing.

It gets anoying when you bump the sata power cable enough that it looks plugged in, but isn't really. Even when you know what you are doing, those things can trip you up.

Sigh... as they say, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

So is a lot

[Memnon]

As I figured, this was a problem I had from simply not knowing my way around the inside of a computer. But after not looking at it for a few hours I figured it out. Hooray! The power cable for the hard drive was unplugged, mostly because it used a different sort of connector from everything else so I was looking for the wrong thing.

It gets anoying when you bump the sata power cable enough that it looks plugged in, but isn't really. Even when you know what you are doing, those things can trip you up.

At the same time, I think the SATA interface is sooo much better than IDE just for simple ergonomics (in addition to speed) because it doesn't take 3-5 minutes just to get the damn IDE plug out.

[Uraniun235]

I love SATA most of all because the connectors are the same for 2.5" and 3.5" drives - which is extremely handy when you've got a laptop drive you want to plug into a desktop so you can pull files off of it.