bty

I apologize ahead of time if this has been answered previously..
asking while rushing off to work, heh..

i just upgraded my 9600XT to a x1600xt
it's AGP..
450watt ps..

the new card worked fine for the first 2 or 3 days..
then yesterday my comp just froze..
restarted and it did fine for a few more hours, froze again..
then it rapidly froze sooner and sooner
until i couldn't even boot into windows

kept saying to check file consitency on my hd
popping up saying files were corrupt

no idea how that's related, but it's stopped now o_O

pulled out the new video card
popped the old one back in
all is running fine right now and has been for the past 30-45 minutes..

ah, and i'm running the Asus K8N if that's needed..

anymore information needed, please just ask
sorry for not being too thorough, rushing to work like i said..

thanks ahead of time for any help, it's much appreciated..

if it's the new card, tell me..
i can still RMA it and switch to something else..
some people have been telling me i should go for the x850xt instead

i don't know that much about the specs
i saw 512mb and drooled..
but apparently that's not so important xD
so if i need to rma it, any suggestions for a fast agp card would be helpful =)


thanks again

dai

[kept saying to check file consitency on my hd
popping up saying files were corrupt]
run
chkdsk /r

bty

k i ran it


like i said i'm not sure how it was related to the video card
but with the new one after it was freezing
it said those files were corrupted
put the old video card in
and i haven't seen any of those messages anymore..

my main question is what was going on with that video card?
is it a common problem for the x1600pro to cause freezes like that?
did i get a bad card?
should i replace it?
return it and try a different card like the x850xt?

mountcarlmore

what that sounds like is not enough power. your 450w psu is most likely generic, and if it is, it wont hold a candle to a quality even 350w psu. the freezes and the hard drive errors are signs that the power delivery to your devices isnt stable and the instability causes errors.

jnob

It does sound like a power issue but it could also be caused by poor air circulation. Heat will not only cause component problems but it will also strain the power supply especially those that are not considered high quality.

If chkdsk fixed the problem it was likely an error in the driver files on the hard drive. I would suggest removing the drivers for the old video card in safe mode before installing the new video card and drivers. If that and checkdisk don't solve the problem it's likely PSU/Heat issue.

bty

the power supply is an Austin..

i've never heard of it before this, but it came with the case, which was a present.. so i wasn't complaining at the time heh..

that's one thing i was thinking about too
since the new video card has to hook into the power supply
where my old one does not..

should i just run to best buy/circuit city, get a name brand power supply and see if i have any more problems? Any suggestions on a good brand?

Heat.. I heard the new card can run hot in the reviews, but it's pretty cold in this room, and i have like 6 fans in this case.. mb/cpu never go above 100.. usually lower 90s.. so i assumed it'd be fine..

what else could i do if it's a heat issue?
not like it's dusty, since it's brand new..
there a way to see what kind of temp the video card is running at?

i'll try putting the new one in again now i guess
since it hasn't been in there
and i'll assume that if it doesn't boot, it's not getting enough power..
but if it does, then i'd guess heat would be more likely..

because everything did run fine for like 2 days straight until the first freeze..

-edit-

ok just put the new card back in..
so far it's running fine o_O

so does this mean it got overheated?

i usually always leave my computer running for days/weeks at a time..
can the power supply be giving it enough power one hour then not the next? or does this eliminate that as a possibility?

jnob

I believe that card should have thermal sensors. If so you can check their status with programs like speedfan or everest. If your temps are in F they sound fine and I would assume it is a power issue, if they are C there is a serious heat issue, but with all the fans (and considering the motherboard hasn't melted) I assume you mean F. If it is a power issue it can still be erratic just like heat. I'd suggest replacing that PSU with a 550W or better Antec TruePower or Enermax, even if that doesn't solve the problem it will likely prevent a more serious one in the near future.

bty

It just froze up on me again
it's been running since earlier when i said i got it working
a good 5 or so hours..

haha and yes that's in F, thank god.. lol

with speedfan..
i'm only getting 3 temps..

Temp1: 34C
Temp2: 32C

i'm guessing those are my mb/cpu..

HD1: 28C

and that's obviously a harddrive..

it says Temp3: -128C..
i'm guessing that's an error
no liquid nitrogen in this comp =P

so i guess this card doesn't have it? heh

and alright, i just got my paycheck today.. so i'll go look at a new powersupply now.. thanks for the brand recommendation, too =)

oh, i also just felt the card after it froze..
it felt warm, yeah..but it didn't seem like it was just HOT or anything..

And thanks for all the help thusfar, it's much appreciated =D

Oh, and I also remember seeing video card coolers that you plug into a pci slot.. would it be worth me looking into getting one of those? Wasn't sure if they really helped much, but i figure it couldn't hurt.. if it's just not worth it i won't bother though.. Thanks again =D

bty

ok, this may not be the best place to ask..
not really tech support
just debating and looking for advice..

now that i have the x1600pro..

i'm kinda wondering if it was really worth it..
upgraded from the 9600xt..
i haven't noticed a huge performance increase, honestly..
it runs eq2 a little smoother, but not $150 smoother =P
seems like the main thing people are praising this card for is the shader3.0 support, and i don't think that really matters much to me..

so now i'm debating whether i should upgrade the psu, throw on a gpu cooler, and see if that helps perfomance a bit more to keep me happy.. or if i should do that and return this card.. then maybe go for a x800 or something along those lines.. it's like $40 more, and returning this card i would've lost like $20 after restocking and shipping it back..

so basically what i'm asking is would going through that effort and dishing out the extra money and cutting my losses be worth it?

mostly i'm looking for performance..
i usually run games on highest performance settings, but i've never had a card that could run it on max settings and still play decently, either..
so if i can have both, i wouldn't mind the extra eye candy of course..
but it seems like with all i'm doing to this, i shouldnt've even upgraded what i did in the first place, and just saved up for a pci-express mobo..
but at the time i wanted to save money but still improve my performance..
now i still want to save money of course, but i'm not getting the performance i'd like to out of this machine.. doesn't seem like this card was worth the $150..

so without repeating myself and rambling any further..
any advice on what kinda bang for my buck is out there?
should i return it and invest my money elsewhere?
or will this do fine after it's getting the power it needs?

i figure even if i get a different card, i'll still have to upgade the psu ;\

MunkyPhil

I've just bought an x1600pro and it's working fine for me. Because it requires it's own power supply it has probably just destabilised your PSU. The x1600pro is a very good card though, the x1600xt is better and the x850xt is even better. The x850xt has faster GDDR (1066MHz) and a faster GPU (525MHz) and 33% more pixel pipelines (16). If you're willing to spend the extra on x850xt then do it. If not, the x1600pro/xt are perfectly good cards and will do most of your graphics needs justice.

bty if you want to run games at their maximum performence settings with the best graphics you'd best not play any game from the past year or so. You'd need at least a Radeon x1900 with the crossfire card (about £600 in the UK, $1000) to run Quake 4 at it's best! You can't expect to have the best graphics if you haven't got money to burn, you'll have to compromise.

bty

heh yeah, of course..
just spose i didn't realize how far behind technology i am haha
i've always compromised to get the best performance out of what i can afford
if it takes $1000 worth of power to have a few nice effects i'll just stick with my performance, i prefer gameplay over eyecandy anyways ^_^

i'm just wondering if it'll perform better than what i got to see from it once i upgrade my power supply..

i'm back on my 9600xt at the moment
the x1600pro froze again and then wouldnt even post..
powered up for a second or two then just cut off =(

and i'm just not sure how much of a performance increase i'll get just by looking at the numbers..
if we're just talking a 5 extra fps, i wouldn't want to spend my money on it..
but if we're talking like a 50% increase in performance then maybe lol

so yeah, was just basically asking if i'll notice a big difference once i get this power supply in.. or if spending the extra $50 or so would make a REALLY big difference

i spose i'll just go ahead and order the psu and the gpu cooler
stick it on and see for myself
guess no two performance opinions are ever the same
just something i'll have to experience xD

Anyways
Thanks again to everyone for their advice.. was a big help!
Hopefully all will be fine after I do these upgrades =)

MunkyPhil

You will notice the difference bty, I upgraded a couple of weeks ago from a Radeon 9550 and performance tests show the x1600 is roughly twice as powerful and games (such as Quake 4 and Half Life 2) are running far smoother and at higher resolutions than they were. You wouldn't get a 50% increase upgrading from a 9600xt but it would be pretty close. I would keep hold of the x1600.

jnob

I agree with MunkyPhil, at least get the new PSU first and see how it does before making your final decision, but I think the x1600 should improve considerably with a new power supply.