Annoyed-As-Hell

As it is now two-years-old, my poor, venerable ATI Radeon X1900 GT is sputtering to its last days of life. I can no longer really play computer games because of this: I always get a message that the card stopped responding to commands. I've searched exhaustively on this topic, thinking it some sort of drivers issue, but I have concluded it must be that it is "dying." So, anyways, my question. What is a good new card to buy? My computer is also two-years-old, but it's still running very well, so I think it could take a new one. I'm kind of crazy (not too much so) when it comes to computer games, and I'm thinking of buying the Sims 3. However, I'm trying to not break the budget, so is there a good card that could support a Sims 3-like game in terms of graphics? A link to Amazon or something would be much appreciated.

wrench97

What power supply do you currently have?

Annoyed-As-Hell

Rosewill RP500-2 ATX 2.01 (500W)

That's what it says on the receipt, but I don't know a way to verify that on the actual computer. Although, here it does not matter. Anyways...

Tyree

Rosewill PSU's are not good. If your graphics card has failed the Rosewill PSU could have been a contributing factor.

wrench97

If you want to move up to something like the HD4850 you'll need a 650w Quality unit, Tyree is right about quality of Rosewill units, poor voltage regulation and nonexistent over voltage protection.
To run on 500w your looking at a HD4650 or 9400GT.

What kind of budget do have for the upgrade?

Annoyed-As-Hell

Thanks for the advice. As for the budget, I was simply hoping to keep it at about $100, maybe a little less or maybe a little more. I know they can get pretty expensive: I think we payed $150 or more for X1900 (it was when it first came out).

Of the two you listed for if I stayed with my current PSU, would the HD4650 cause me to risk the same problems I'm having now? I guess what I mean to ask is, do you think it's more likely that the PSU is too old or is actually the thing that's dying? Should I try changing that out instead of changing the card?

(And I know this is the video card forum, but would you mind if I asked what a good new PSU would be?)

Phædrus2401

A low-quality power supply can lead to deterioration of all your parts over time. Your graphics card VRAM and system RAM are two of the components most sensitive to voltage fluctuation and spikes. With a cheap PSU like the Rosewill and GPU will eventually fail. Four out of five of the graphics card problems we see happen on systems with either underpowered or low-quality power supplies.

$100 for a decent power supply and graphics card is a little bit tight, if you went to $120 you could get this combination:
Corsair vx450w: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Corsair%20450w
PowerColor Radeon 4650 512MB GDDR2: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131133
$119.98

Even though the Corsair has lower wattage, it's still a better unit than the Rosewill and has more *usable* wattage. A Rosewill PSU will probably have more current on its +5V and +3.3V rails, while modern computers (including ones from two years ago) draw more current from their +12V rail. Factor in higher efficiency, active PFC, better voltage regulation and protections, and higher quality internal parts, and you're looking at a far superior piece of equipment.

However, the Corsair vx450w can't take a whole lot more than the 4650--you might risk a 4670, but I would advise against it.

wrench97

Agreed it's hard to say without putting the PSU on a scope what the voltages are doing but the video card should have lasted longer then it did, from the symptoms it appears to be a Video ram issue which usually makes the PSU suspect, Rosewill's tract record isn't good, the 450w-550w units survive if being used on systems with lower power requirements because they are not being pushed.

Annoyed-As-Hell

Alright, then, I'll see what I'll look into buying a new PSU, maybe that will solve the problem...if it doesn't, I guess I'll just have to buy a new GPU, as well.

But, anyways, Thank you.