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Latest Fun With Hardware
08-26-2009, 11:59 PM
I'm sure folks remember when I lost digital signal to my desktop machine's monitor a few weeks back.
I think that I'm about to lose analog.
When I turned on my machine this morning, it suddenly lost the ability to display in the resolution that I've been using since I switched to analog. It
just doesn't appear in the properties dialog any more. I'm on a close approximation now, but while graphics are crisp, many fonts are fuzzy or
splotchy. I really think my graphics card is starting to die, but alternate diagnoses are always welcome.
As for what I've got, it's an XFX brand GeForce 8500 GT card with 512 MB onboard.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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what interface?
Does the monitor work properly plugged into Peggy's laptop?
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
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Tech
08-27-2009, 02:06 AM
Damn...
At this rate we're going to have to call you Bob 'Dresden' Schroeck.
Check the hardware on a different machine - then check to see if the latest round of non-critical patches dropped a poisoned video driver on the box - check
monitor and video card drivers.
Cheers,
Shayne
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Oh, it's a PCI card, WG -- and you know, I completely forgot that we now have a working second machine to test stuff like this with.
Won't be tonight, though -- Peggy's doing work stuff on the laptop right now.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Okay, hooked the monitor up to the laptop with the same cable and everything that I'm using for the desktop. Beautiful crisp clear image and fonts. I think
that means the card is indeed dying.
So... anyone got an Nvidia graphics card I should look at for my replacement? I'd like to budget under $200, but that's not hard and fast. What's
state of the art these days? And what's comfortably back a few feet from the bleeding edge?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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It depends on what you have available for slots in the system, actually. You said the current card is PCI? Is it PCI-Express or just plain vanilla PCI?
(Quick web search suggests PCI-e, so I'll assume that -- if I'm wrong speak up 
At any rate, I bought this back in January and have been nothing but happy with it. I note the price has come down since then.
http://www.amazon.com/SPA...id=1251415367&sr=1-1
Sticking with the same brand (because they're really Calibre, which in my experience makes Good Stuff), here's the slightly beefier cousin:
http://www.amazon.com/Spa...id=1251415233&sr=1-3
I'm not sure what all you plan on doing, but I'll note the 9500 I have can run CoX on max pretty with no chugging... and I've only got a 3ghz
single-core machine with 2gb of RAM backing it up. (Also, and this is just my personal preference, but... the one I bought is fanless, meaning it needs no
additional power supply and has one less thing to suddenly stop working on me
--sofaspud
-- "Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
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Yes, PCI Express. I should have noted that. And both of those look very good. I might go with the 9500 to save on the budget and because, yeah, I think I'm
out of power outlets in the PC. (Assuming, of course, no one challenges your recommendations.) Thanks!
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
CattyNebulart
Unregistered
Yeah in my experience Sparkle cards are good and cheap, but they tend to be loud. I have a 9800GT from them with a gig of ram and it runs well as long as my
poor outdated power supply isn't overburdened.
Here is another card by them that is a compromise between the two recommended above. It's similar to mine but it seems to be a different version.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814187086
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
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Catty: re: the loudness, note the first card I recommended is fanless... which is also soundless.  One of the reasons I like it.
With the editing and the oy: I should note I use the direct download drivers from NVidia, none of this Driver CD nonsense for me. It's been rock steady.
Long-winded way of saying I don't know what their software is like.
--sofaspud
-- "Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
HoagieOfDoom
Unregistered
I have an EVGA Nvidia 9600 GT that has run beautifully since I got it a year and a half ago. At that time, I paid around $150 for it, but NewEgg has it now for $89.99.
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Okay, now I'm confused.
08-29-2009, 09:59 PM
This morning when I turned on the system, the video reset it self spontaneously to the way it was before the weirdness started.
Go figure.
Well, whatever. I figure it's just further evidence of potentially fatal flakiness, and I still should get a new video card. If it's not this
weekend, it'll be next..
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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And this morning, it's right back to the slightly distorted screen with the fuzzy fonts. Grr.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Yep, it's time to replace. Unless you want to be stuck with the motherboard's built-in video (assuming it even has built-in video)...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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Nope, not going to settle for that. I'll probably order something tonight when we get back from a) visiting my mother, and b) going to the circus.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Okay... After looking at the recommendations, I've ordered the Sparkle 9500. I also got a great deal on it, $54.99 from Tiger Direct.
Hopefully this will be the last hardware glitch for the next couple days at least.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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The new card just arrived. I probably won't install it tonight; Peg and I are planning on crashing early.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Hooray
09-04-2009, 09:08 PM
I am back in the land of crisp, clear digital imagery. Still unemployed, but at least I can read the screen while composing my resume.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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