[Webslinger64]

So I believe the video card on my PC is going bad. Symptoms are:

>Monitor goes black occasionally and I sometimes get a blue screen
>If it just goes black, I have to reboot the PC myself
>If there is a blue screen, the PC will reboot itself
>If I play basic games like FreeCell on the PC, I can see what looks like an invisible wave washing over portions of the game

This is an old PC, but I it's all I have for now. Specs are:
Pentium 4 CPU 3.06GHz, 3.07 GHz, 2.00 GB of RAM, Microsoft XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 3
Motherboard is: Intel D845GEBv2

The video card that's going bad is a Nvidia GeForce 6600. I believe I only have AGPx1 and PCIx6 slots, no PCIe.

So with that said, I have looked through local online classifieds and craigslist for a compatible video card. Seems like the only cards I'm finding used are PCIe. Are PCI/AGP video cards so archaic now that they are no longer available new or used?
Any video card suggestions you have would be great, as would sources to buy them (online??).

Thanks!

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Hi,

It seems the Intel D845GEBv2 board have a VGA port, you can remove the Nvidia card and use the on-board to confirm if the problem is the video card or Windows...
You probably already have the latest drivers for your card but you should confirm and also remove the driver for the GeForce 6600 and reinstall.

[SleepyDude]

Hi,

It seems the Intel D845GEBv2 board have a VGA port, you can remove the Nvidia card and use the on-board to confirm if the problem is the video card or Windows...
You probably already have the latest drivers for your card but you should confirm and also remove the driver for the GeForce 6600 and reinstall.

[Webslinger64]

Hi,

It seems the Intel D845GEBv2 board have a VGA port, you can remove the Nvidia card and use the on-board to confirm if the problem is the video card or Windows...
You probably already have the latest drivers for your card but you should confirm and also remove the driver for the GeForce 6600 and reinstall.

Your right, the board does have a VGA port. I had thought about doing that first, but was jumping the gun I guess assuming it was the GeForce 6600. I will remove and uninstall the GeForce 6600 and driver, and reboot/reinstall the on-board display. If that works fine, are you saying I should reinstall the GeForce 6600 and its driver, or would the fact that the on-board display works fine indicate the video card is bad?

[SleepyDude]

Hi,

It seems the Intel D845GEBv2 board have a VGA port, you can remove the Nvidia card and use the on-board to confirm if the problem is the video card or Windows...
You probably already have the latest drivers for your card but you should confirm and also remove the driver for the GeForce 6600 and reinstall.

Your right, the board does have a VGA port. I had thought about doing that first, but was jumping the gun I guess assuming it was the GeForce 6600. I will remove and uninstall the GeForce 6600 and driver, and reboot/reinstall the on-board display. If that works fine, are you saying I should reinstall the GeForce 6600 and its driver, or would the fact that the on-board display works fine indicate the video card is bad?

Hi,

Do like you said, remove and uninstall the GeForce 6600 and driver, if the computer works fine with the on-board vga then most likely the GeForce is bad but to make sure try with a fresh install of the driver, if the problem reapers then for sure you have a bad card.

[Webslinger64]

Hi,

It seems the Intel D845GEBv2 board have a VGA port, you can remove the Nvidia card and use the on-board to confirm if the problem is the video card or Windows...
You probably already have the latest drivers for your card but you should confirm and also remove the driver for the GeForce 6600 and reinstall.

Your right, the board does have a VGA port. I had thought about doing that first, but was jumping the gun I guess assuming it was the GeForce 6600. I will remove and uninstall the GeForce 6600 and driver, and reboot/reinstall the on-board display. If that works fine, are you saying I should reinstall the GeForce 6600 and its driver, or would the fact that the on-board display works fine indicate the video card is bad?

Hi,

Do like you said, remove and uninstall the GeForce 6600 and driver, if the computer works fine with the on-board vga then most likely the GeForce is bad but to make sure try with a fresh install of the driver, if the problem reapers then for sure you have a bad card.

Removed GeForce 6600 and driver. PC seems to be working fine. I'll give it a few hours to see if the same symptoms occur, if not, I will reinstall GeForce 660 and driver, and see if the fresh install makes the difference. If not, I sure would appreciate some advice on getting another video card. Like I said, it seems the PCI or AGP video cards have gone the way of the dinosaur.

[iammykyl]

Gday.
The 6600 is almost impossible to find, so I suggest an alternative, a HD 4350, > http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161318
Specs > http://www.hisdigita...duct2-498.shtml
Can't see any valid reason why it would not work. Your MB manual, > https://docs.google....ide_English.pdf
Site to make comparisons, > http://www.gpureview...1=191&card2=665

Discuss?

[Webslinger64]

Gday.
The 6600 is almost impossible to find, so I suggest an alternative, a HD 4350, > http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161318
Specs > http://www.hisdigita...duct2-498.shtml
Can't see any valid reason why it would not work. Your MB manual, > https://docs.google....ide_English.pdf
Site to make comparisons, > http://www.gpureview...1=191&card2=665

Discuss?

I appreciate the recommendation. Will look at the HD 4350 for sure. Would you mind giving your opinion about an Radeon HD 4670 750MHz? I ask that because there is a used one for sale in my local classified. My knowledge regarding video cards is limited, but it seems like this should work, maybe?

[iammykyl]

Gday.
Click on the card you are going to buy, on the next page, click on Intel, look for your MB.
From this chart I looked at all the 4670s listed, they show as all compatible with your MB. some give better performance than others, score is on the right.
> http://www.pc-specs..../HD_4000_Series

Ensure that you get the original driver installation disk otherwise there may be a lot of work involved with the install.

[Webslinger64]

Gday.
Click on the card you are going to buy, on the next page, click on Intel, look for your MB.
From this chart I looked at all the 4670s listed, they show as all compatible with your MB. some give better performance than others, score is on the right.
> http://www.pc-specs..../HD_4000_Series

Ensure that you get the original driver installation disk otherwise there may be a lot of work involved with the install.

Turns out the GeForce N6600 is bad. Using on-board display now. The link you provided is an excellent resource. Thanks for doing that. I am curious about the speeds of some of these video cards vs. the speed of my CPU (I hope I'm saying this right). Example: The Radeon HD 4670 I found for sale has a speed of 750MHz, but I believe the CPU, or clock speed??, on my PC is less then that. Does that matter?

[nic777]

Your CPU speed is 3,000MHz actually.

Your faulty GeForce 6600 is likely around 500MHz at most, so that card you found at 750MHz should be an increase in performance. It will also depend on the memory size of each card. I usually tell people to look at pixel shaders in the card when comparing. More the merrier with them. Snatch that 4670 if you can, assuming it works.

[iammykyl]

Gday.

You can't really compare speeds between CPU and GPU as they perform different functions.
Several reasons for that:
1. Those 750 Mhz are dedicated to doing one thing only - 3D processing.
2. They have their own dedicated memory which is on the same PCB (printed circuit board) as the GPU, therefore it has direct access to the memory. Compared to the distance between the RAM slots which your CPU uses, the distance between the GPU and its RAM is much smaller which makes a lot of difference when it comes down to access time.
3. Interrupts are another reason why GPUs don't need speeds that great. The CPU does, it is interrupted by lots of things - every keystroke on your keyboard, your audio card if it is integrated in your motherboard, etc. In comparison, the GPU is not, so it does not have to share its computing power with anything else.


Your CPU is the fastest of the Pentium 4s, 3067 MHz ^speed^> http://www.cpu-world...532PE3066D).htm
It has 1 real core + 1 virtual core and as most games are single threaded it is unlikely to hold back the performance (bottleneck) the 4670.

Some of these articles are a bit old but still play today. about balance.
> http://www.enthusias...es/00001/1.aspx
> http://www.tomshardw...eneck,2737.html
> http://www.tomshardw...ck,2738-16.html
> http://abundantcores...-in-gaming.html

nic777

Thanks for coming in, I posted without looking first.

[nic777]

@iammykyl - Sure

@konakula29er


Perhaps you would be interested in running a newer system, such as a Phenom II Build? They run on AM3 Socket boards, and are relatively inexpensive builds. There is a nice increase in performance including PCI-e running at x16 mode versus the bus speed of AGP x4 or x8.

You could re-use your HDD, CD Drive, and maybe even Power Supply depending on what it is.

This all depends on the cost of that GPU. There may be more return on investment with a newer build versus a hardware upgrade.

If money is a tight subject like it is in so many homes these days, ignore the suggestion.

Edited by nic777, 14 September 2013 - 02:39 PM.

[Webslinger64]

@iammykyl - Sure

@konakula29er


Perhaps you would be interested in running a newer system, such as a Phenom II Build? They run on AM3 Socket boards, and are relatively inexpensive builds. There is a nice increase in performance including PCI-e running at x16 mode versus the bus speed of AGP x4 or x8.

You could re-use your HDD, CD Drive, and maybe even Power Supply depending on what it is.

This all depends on the cost of that GPU. There may be more return on investment with a newer build versus a hardware upgrade.

If money is a tight subject like it is in so many homes these days, ignore the suggestion.

I agree with you and was actually kicking around the idea of attempting a new system build. I know there is a thread on GTG that walks you through the process step by step. Upgrading to a newer Pentium generation from the Pentium 4 I have now would be great. I don't need to have the latest and greatest and I surely don't need to replace everything. Honestly, I haven't looked at a new PC in several years, so not sure what Pentium upgrade would work best for the money. My wife has a Pentium D that works better than what I have now. If I were to do a an upgrade of some sort, I would like to move beyond the Pentium D into a generation that is more recent. I have not heard of a Phenom II build, but it's something worth looking into. Other upgrade suggestions would be great as well depending on cost. Seems to me the upgrade would just involve a new motherboard, CPU and RAM. I may or may not be able to use the same HD. Other than that, I could continue using all the hardware I already have. My power supply is Thermaltake 430W.

[phillpower2]

Hello konakula29er

Just a FYI while iammykyl and nic777 are offline;

Something that may have a bearing on what you decide with the upgrading etc;

Just a cautionary note, unless your OS disk is the full retail edition you cannot use it with a new MB as an OEM disk is tied to the original MB it was paired with, to use an OEM disk with a new MB is software piracy and therefore illegal.
Exceptions to the above are 1: If your MB is replaced under warranty and 2: If your MB is replaced out of warranty with an alternative type but same brand due to the original model no longer being available, an upgraded MB however will require the purchase of a new OS licence.
If you have a full retail disk and a product key that is not in use on another computer the OEM restriction/s is/are not the same.

[nic777]

Okay. Well if you want to throw the idea around I'll give it a go.

For starters, Intel (the maker of your Pentium) has a higher cost to yield performance. They do run more efficient, and cooler than AMD - but for what you're doing I would say that is no problem.

An upgrade from your current generation of Pentium would be the Socket LGA 775 motherboard and processor system. However, since the 775 there has been LGA 1150, LGA 1155, LGA 1156, LGA 2011, LGA 1356, and LGA 1366. (if anyone knows ones I missed do chime in...I am not too much of an Intel guy)

So technically speaking, you are... 8 generations behind, realistically 4 generations behind since their are minor differences with a few of them.

I would not suggest building a LGA 775 build. If you want intel, go with LGA 1155 or newer.
----

Now on the other side of the fence, with AMD there are just as many options.

I suggested the Phenom II build because that is what my current system is. I just put together an Intel LGA 1155 build and will be migrating over.

My current system runs just fine. AMD offers more clock per dollar, meaning more performance per dollar. This is for gaming in general, when you want to get technical it's not always that way.


To keep this post simple, you could look into an AM3 Combo build on NewEgg or Amazon. That would include the motherboard, processor, and RAM. Alternatively you can pick each one separately and check to see if they are compatible.

You could also look into newer generations of AMD. The AM3 build would offer the use of the Phenom II x4 965 quad core processor. It will run laps around your current Pentium 4.

Alternative options for AMD would be the Socket AM3+, Socket FM1, and Socket FM2. If you would not consider yourself to be any form of hardcore gamer, or one who likes to play games with full detail you can look into Socket FM1 or FM2 APU (Accelerated Processing Unit, instead of Central Processing Unit) which coincides with the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) that you pair with that system. These offer mid-range graphics for a lesser price.

Do you want to give a price range?

The Thermaltake 430W is an okay unit. Do you hear any high pitched noise when it's off or on? I have had many Thermaltake PSU's slowly die out and produce Coil whine from almost the first year of use.