Which graphics card?

GolfDelta

I've got an ASRock Alive NF6G GLAN motherboard with an AMD 2 x 64 Processor and 4 gig of ram with an embedded Nvidia GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 graphics card. I'm running Win XP SP 3.

Recently I have noticed there is a hang when I'm opening anything for the first time. Even viewing pictures in an open window as thumbnails you're looking at maybe 5-10 seconds before they all appear - not the speed I associate with this well maintained setup.

Two weeks ago I installed a new HP 23' wide screen monitor. After about three days I noticed a fine green luminosity in the black areas of images, like twinkling pixels. The obvious thing to do was update the drivers before looking at any other potential causes. I did that then used available HP diagnostic software to eliminate any potential problems there. The twinkling green pixels didn't go but for some reason they have now.

I've come to the conclusion that the graphics card is either no longer up to the tasks it is being asked to perform or is on the way out. For the expected outlay I see installing an after-market device as a cheap and convenient way to cure the problems and give this 9 year old PC a new lease of life.

Before doing anything it seems like a good idea to run it past a few guys who know a lot more than me. What I'd like to know above all else is:

Do you agree with my diagnosis?

What card should I buy (I'm not a gamer)?

I should point out that I'm using Avast (free version) as antivirus and I regularly run Malware Bytes, Spybot and CCleaner. The HDD is regularly cleaned and defragged and, most importantly, only about 10% of the HDD capacity is in use.

I know there's not always an easy answer unless you're on site and can fiddle about with it yourself. I'm also aware that some will say I should upgrade to Win 10, something I have been researching and may actually do in the near future. In the interim however I have a machine which was doing everything I wanted it to do (and still does, albeit slower) and I see no reason to go through all the hassle of change unless it's a dire necessity. I know I'm kind of a stick-in-the-mud but hey, I'm old and eccentric,

Thanks in advance to any kind person who can advise.

bengalknights

First you should check if your motherboard has a spare pci e slot for a graphics card, however

I would highly suggest trying a clean windows install to see if that rectifys the issue

Code

Agree with the post above. If you do need to buy a new graphics card, check whether your monitor is gsync or freesync compatible - you should ideally get a matching graphics card, even though you don't play games it will pay dividends in other areas.

GolfDelta

bengalknights wrote: »

First you should check if your motherboard has a spare pci e slot for a graphics card, however

I would highly suggest trying a clean windows install to see if that rectifys the issue

Thank you for your reply.

I've been trying to avoid a clean install because it will mean an HDD format and I'll lose software I no longer have the discs for. MS Office 2007 for example - not cheap to replace. I have done a Chkdsk and SFC Scannow to try and ascertain of there are any bad disc sectors and to repair the current windows installation. I do still have the OEM disc which came with the machine. My preference though, if it came to it, would be to buy a new tower unit with Win 10 pre-installed and pop my current HDD in as a secondary drive.

I haven't double checked the slots inside my tower unit yet but I know there are spare slots in there, I just need to ensure that at least one of them is a PCI slot.

GolfDelta

Code wrote: »

Agree with the post above. If you do need to buy a new graphics card, check whether your monitor is gsync or freesync compatible - you should ideally get a matching graphics card, even though you don't play games it will pay dividends in other areas.

Thanks for replying. I haven't a clue whether my new monitor is gsync or freesync compatible and that information hasn't been available on the Goggle searches I did after reading your suggestions. Could you point me in the right direction to find that out please? The monitor is an [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]HP Pavilion 2309V.[/FONT]

dekaspace

As that computer is so old, anything above a graphics card that is £20 new wouldn't be recommended due to the cpu bottleneck, to explain that means the weakness of the cpu would see no performance increase between a £20 graphics card and a £400 one due to its age.

Im sure theres ways to recover the key from your current install so you can write them down (or these days add to a cloud server but I would hide the name) then make a fresh install.

It does have a pci express slot for a modern style graphics card too, just buy a cheap one, also means they are so tiny they are unnoticable and fan frere so no noise.

Also good idea to clean pc inside now and agian, had a pc a few years ago donated to me that stank like smelly feet, took 7 hours to clean but was like new after (and ran a much cooler temp and no noise due to fan not going full speed to keep it cool)

GolfDelta

dekaspace wrote: »

As that computer is so old, anything above a graphics card that is £20 new wouldn't be recommended due to the cpu bottleneck, to explain that means the weakness of the cpu would see no performance increase between a £20 graphics card and a £400 one due to its age.

Im sure theres ways to recover the key from your current install so you can write them down (or these days add to a cloud server but I would hide the name) then make a fresh install.

It does have a pci express slot for a modern style graphics card too, just buy a cheap one, also means they are so tiny they are unnoticable and fan frere so no noise.

Also good idea to clean pc inside now and agian, had a pc a few years ago donated to me that stank like smelly feet, took 7 hours to clean but was like new after (and ran a much cooler temp and no noise due to fan not going full speed to keep it cool)

Thank you so much. I appreciate everything you say and it all makes perfect sense. That's probably what I'll do. If it doesn't work I'll bite the bullet and buy a new tower with win 10.

I did clean the inside of the PC some weeks ago btw. The CPU heatsink was well clogged up with dust. I've never seen anything as bad. Unfortunately any damage that may have done cannot be undone and could well be the reason why the machine is misbehaving now but the green pixels got me thinking it was the graphics card.

Cisco001

What PSU have you got?

But as a computer of that age, you would probably better getting new one.

GolfDelta

I've no idea what PSU I've got. I could find out easy enough. Would you be kind enough to explain why that's relevant?

bsod

It isn't, same applies to the graphics card

Based on the symptom you have outlined -

GolfDelta wrote: »

Recently I have noticed there is a hang when I'm opening anything for the first time. Even viewing pictures in an open window as thumbnails you're looking at maybe 5-10 seconds before they all appear

software is where you should concentrate your effort

GolfDelta

bsod wrote: »

It isn't, same applies to the graphics card based on the symptom you have outlined

So what do you think is causing the symptoms? I realise as an amateur I could have come to the wrong diagnosis.