Curse

Sora267 · Feb 14, 2010, 11:32 PM // 23:32

Hey guys,

I tried to play GW today on my GeForce 8500 GT (which I got almost 2 and a half years ago.) The fans flared up and it started flickering, and outright froze a little while later. I rebooted, and I was only getting basic VGA at a small resolution. I checked device manager and it said Windows had stopped my card since it detected a problem. It's been overheating occasionally for a while now (around 80-85 C, but stopped once I cleaned my computer) and I've been having the flickering issue with GW for a few months now. I tried uninstalling/reinstalling the drivers and the card, and I opened up the computer to see if anything was visibly out of place.

Is there any way to fix this, or should I just go and upgrade my card? If the latter, are there any cards in the $100 range I could get? I'm not going to spend more than that since I'm going to college in a little over a year and won't be taking my desktop with me. I'm looking at the 9500 GT right now.

Elder III · Feb 15, 2010, 01:33 AM // 01:33

do you have integrated video that you can test to make sure that your 9500 is indeed fried?

In any case, you can do quite abit better than a 9500 gt for $100 right now, NVIDIA 9800 or ATI 4850 can be found for as low as $100 if you are lucky and the ATI 4670 or NVIDIA 9600 can be found for as low as $70 (check your Power SUpply before buying a new video card).

Sora267 · Feb 15, 2010, 03:15 AM // 03:15

I don't think I have integrated video; the 8500 GT is the only thing that shows up under display adapters within the device manager, and it says that Windows has completely shut off the card. All of the colors are messed up and the resolution is set to 640 x 800 and I can't change it. Edit: Just wanted to add that when I opened my computer, there was a really bad smell (possibly something burning mixed with compressed air.) I'm pretty sure the card's fried. <endedit>

Thanks for the card suggestions. Do you happen to know how much power is required for each?

Elder III · Feb 15, 2010, 11:51 AM // 11:51

the 4670 can run on a good 3-400watt power supply while I would suggest a quality 450-500watt power supply for any of the others. Look at the sticker on your PSU that you have now (should be box in the top left corenr once you open the side of the case) and post what it says here.

Sora267 · Feb 15, 2010, 11:19 PM // 23:19

My PSU says it's 300W. This is from a custom build I got from HP a while back; should I upgrade the PSU too? I don't want to spend too much since Ill be getting a new computer in a year or so.

EDIT:http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html?a=B002LEVQ24
Would that one suffice?