Graphic card problem..which one to buy

sam1970

I am not very technical so please excuse my question. My two years old Dell desktop (Quad core, windows7) started playing up today with the screen going off randomly and freezing when playing videos. I phoned a friend who knows about computers and he thinks the graphic card has gone (warning sign next to it in device manager-error code 43). He suggested I buy anther one and he will fit it for me. there are many in the market and i don't know which one to go for. my current card is Nvidia 9800 GT 512 MB and i don't think it is on sale now (I do not want to use ebay). Which one will be compatible with my system (computer has bluray player)? is it alright to buy 1GB card?

macman

I would try updating or reinstalling the drivers before you change the card.
Also check the cabling, and try the output to another monitor to rule out a monitor issue.

sam1970

thanks for that. I tried the driver, updating and reinstalling but did not work. i have no other monitor but what are the chances it is the monitor? the computer freezes when playing any video and with the warning in device manager about the Nvidia card makes me think more of a card problem!!

m5rcc

Depends what you want from the card? Do you game alot? Graphical/Design work?

A good value card is a AMD Radeon HD 6850
A good enthusiast card is a Nvidia GeForce GTX 570

sam1970

I am not into gaming at all but i am not sure if i will need a good card for the blurry player or does not matter?

tweeter

Sometimes it pays to delete the drivers in the device manager without reinstalling drivers and without closing the device manager and then restart the pooter. HTH

spannerzone

A quick google shows others with this problem, some say the card has or is failing, some temporarily solve it with reinstalling drivers. I suppose it's worth checking the fan on the card is still spinning to prevent it overheating and failing.

If you're not into gaming at all then and a replacement is required then a basic card should suffice and still cope with blu ray and HD content.

sam1970

what is confusing me is the fact that even when i uninstall the card from device manager, when i reboot, windows identifies the card and download its software...surly if it was faulty, windows will not recognise it!!

spannerzone

sam1970 wrote: »

what is confusing me is the fact that even when i uninstall the card from device manager, when i reboot, windows identifies the card and download its software...surly if it was faulty, windows will not recognise it!!

I don't know, but a quick look online makes me wonder if the card overheats then goes faulty, once cooled down and reboots it works again for a while?

Google "nvidia 9800 gt overheating" and I think you'll see what I mean

new2012

I have a nvidia 9800 gt and one day it decided to stop working so I connected my monitor to the internal graphics card to get my computer working.

I took the graphics card out but after a couple of days I put it back in and it is working OK so it might have been overheating.

I've never got round to buying a new one yet as my PS is 400 watts and what I want would need a bigger PS.

sam1970

thank you guys for all the ideas..i think i have sorted it..it is overheating..I downloaded EVGA precision software which lets youu control fan speed..I found that the fan was working at 30% of its power and on automatic..I changed it to 45% continous and the computer has been working normally for the last two hours (Internet, video and documents all at the same time). Should I worry about the fan working continously? will that shorten its life?