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Looking for a new video card for my birthday

Discussion in 'Audio and Video' started by Just wanna play, Jan 14, 2008.

  1. Obi-Wan Jerkobi TechSpot Enthusiast Posts: 592

    I would go with the FX5500 too, my pc that has it has only a 300w psu. I wouldn't go with the 9600 pro, I bought one and it was such a pain to install(meaning I didn't successfully install it.) The FX5500 is good bang for the buck for old pcs, I could play Quake 4 on my old 1.9GHz Pentium 4 on medium.
  2. Just wanna play Banned Posts: 36

    My research told me that the FX5500 could run guild wars fairly well so i bought one.
    I just carefully cracked open my PC case and looked at the PCI and AGP slots again.
    The AGP slot was 3 inches long.

    Ok i really hope people are still lookin at this topic.
    I got the card yesterday from fedex disabled my onboard card opened my case put in the new card went to the nvidia site and got the latest driver. Installed the driver and rebooted. But i can't play games. I can watch movies and things in real player but i can't play any games. I tried to play Guild wars and i just got a screen with a bunch of colored lines moving around it and no game. I started a support ticket on the Guild wars support site and the asked me to run a DXDiag test which i did and then sent them but they haven't responded. I thought maybe it was just guild wars. So i downloaded a Call of duty demo and tried to play that. but it gave me a black screen and froze my computer so i had to turn it off with the ower button. I started another topic about this but no one has responded and i also started a topic on the Nvidia forums.

    Any suggestions/soloutions?

    I also re-ran that Cpu-z program and found that the AGP slot doesn't say its 2.0 anymore but 3.0
  3. SNGX1275 TS Special Forces Posts: 11,893   +117

    Go to guru3d.com and get an older driver. Maybe something in the 60s or 70s. Uninstall your current driver, then reboot and install the one you just downloaded, reboot. Then try and play a game, if the same stuff happens AND you passed the DirectX tests then I'd say your card is no good.
  4. Just wanna play Banned Posts: 36

    No good as in it won't work or as in it was DOA?

    Installled one in the 60s rebooted PC and got a please update drivers message. Tried to run Guild wars. Game showed for about 6 secodns then went back to the lines
  5. SNGX1275 TS Special Forces Posts: 11,893   +117

    No good as in DOA. What program gave you the update drivers message. The reason I suggested a driver that old is its still one that was made after the FX cards came out, and if there was something wrong with the new driver it would be far enough away to probably not be affected.

    You could try one of the more up to date drivers, I'd just stay away from the very new ones for this testing. The problem sounds like either corrupted video drivers or a broken card. But you still didn't mention if your dxdiag test passes or fails, that could be the key here.
  6. Just wanna play Banned Posts: 36

    Sorry i got that message before i installed the 60 then installed it and tried. Yes my DXdiag tests all passed.

    How would i go about getting a replacement card from these folks? (For free if at all possible considering THEY sent me the card that was dead)
     
  7. SNGX1275 TS Special Forces Posts: 11,893   +117

    Call them or email, most places (even ebay sellers) have a DOA guarentee. But its a pretty small window where they'll replace so do it asap.
  8. Just wanna play Banned Posts: 36

    Im still chatting with the Guild wars tech support so ill have my step-mom (cuz i just turned 15) call them and see. He said it might be a problem with system cooling and to open my case and let a fan blow in. Which im going to do in a little bit as soon as i find a fan
  9. Tmagic650 TS Ambassador Posts: 18,737   +62

    Thanks SNGX1275,
    for putting this back on track.

    Just wanna play replace the card
  10. Just wanna play Banned Posts: 36

    Alright ill have my step-mom call the place and see whats happenin
  11. Just wanna play Banned Posts: 36

    For all still looking at this thread.
    I RMA'd the card and they found it to be defective so they're sending a new one.
    Thanks for all the help everyone
  12. Tmagic650 TS Ambassador Posts: 18,737   +62

    When you get the new card, don't remove it from the static bag until you are ready to install it into the computer. Don't forget to plug in the power supply into the new video card after it is installed. Treat the video card with care and respect
  13. Just wanna play Banned Posts: 36

    For all still interested. I received my RMA back today. I laid my pc down and popped it open after removing everything that was plugged into it. Opened the graphics card box. Opened the static bag and installed it with care. Rebooted my pc installed the latest drivers that i had downloaded. Rebooted again. Tried to play Guild Wars. SAME ISSUE they sent me another defective one. So i need to RMA this one too. I know they sent me another defective one because the same issue was happening as the one i sent back. So now i need to wait another month to get this RMA'd one back if they'll even accept it.
    PS yes i treated the video card with care and respect.
  14. Rick TechSpot Staff Posts: 6,250   +38

    What leads you to believe it is the video card with absolute certainty?

    This could very easily be a software issue.

    I think you should do a fresh install of Windows on a separate hard drive (if possible) and see if you can run games on it. I bet you can.
  15. Just wanna play Banned Posts: 36

    Well the one that i sent back before was proven by the retailer that it was defective and its the same problem. I can't do a fresh windows install because i don't have the windows disks (I got this pc from my uncle a while back) and the other hard drive i have is corrupt or something ( Its currently unplugged but when i plug it back in i get a message like "Drive Yadadadada immeinent failure" and i can't acess it)
  16. Just wanna play Banned Posts: 36

    Also the card will play Civ 3 but no other games."
    Ive tested Guild wars and UT 2004 and Civ 3 and civ 3 is the only one that will play
  17. Just wanna play Banned Posts: 36

    Problem solved! I used a tool called "Rivatuner" to change the bus speed on my AGP slot. Went from 4xto 2x and now it works perfectly. Thanks for your help everyone