Video card replacement

[Ait'al]

Does anyone know where to find a cheap replacement for a 9800 xt or if there is any good replacement for one on a 478 system. I have the P4C800E deluxe board from asus still. I beleive it is 8x apg. not sure. But it was starting to show problems for some time and now one of the bars that holds the screw on the Heatsink is now busted off and it doesn't have porper cooling and I think the GPU or something "may" be shot or going.(BTW If anyone has any troubleshooting tips to determine what exactly is wrong, it is absolutely welcome. If i can determine I can do something simpler I would prefer it.) I don't want to buy a new heatsink if the card is still going to be bad even though I don't think I would have much of an option otherwise. I was looking at the 45$ silver cooler named after some "pro gamer"*ack* because it was from zalman and has alot of compatibility and was the same silent mode design I have for my CPU heatsink fan. The only thing I was concerned with was that it only supported up to the 1600 something cards. So if I didn't get a new system after this that used it I would be possibly waisting it(though I don't know if I would even take it out. Or anything Else I would want to do with it in general. I'm sure having it around would be nice if I ever need it though.). Also I'm concerned about the price of a new card since I can't find another xt for less than 130 dollars. The only other thing is to find what would be a good replacement. (Better or worse card.) But I don't know much about what my option are besides what was out 4 years ago. I know I saw some stuff with DDR2 on it for AGP still but I didn't know where I saw it or if they were good or how many other options i have.

On somewhat of a sidenote. I don't know how they work out data wise with being ddr2 either. So, I was wondering if they would go over a bottleneck in the AGP design and not be worth it. I'm guessing not though since it can go up to 16 depending on I presume the connection.

any ideas any suggestions?

[ultraviolente]

Whoa, whoa, slow down a sec. Are you talking about a new graphics card, or everything at once?
First of all, i have had one of those R9800 cards before, and yes, i ahve had problems with them overheating. Best thing you can do about heat, is get a card with a normal cooler, and not a heatsink. Second, you need to secure a good airflow in your case to be sure nothing runs hot.

For AGP mobos, i'd suggest one of Club 3D's GeForce 7600GTs. Very solid GPU adapted to the AGP 8x interface. However, i don't know how much bottleneck this would cause to your CPU, wich is quite old aswell...
That RAM doesen't seem to be DDR2 either, it's just named like that.

My advice, get one of those AGP 7600GTs or even 6800GSs and save up for a completely new computer. This one may run PlanetSide, but some newer games will just utterly destroy it.
Also, use paragraphs next time please. :P

[Ait'al]

Yea, wow that is a price drop. What the heck are they doing to the prices of the ATI cards?

Which Nvidia card is equal to the 9800 xt?

[ultraviolente]

None actually. The GF 5xxx series are worse, and 6xxx are better than the 9800 in my experience.

[Ait'al]

So, do you or anyone else know what the cheapest replacement heatsink setup would be for the card? Who sells discount ones? I'm looking for anything near 5 bucks just for the chance to see if it fixes the problem first.

I just want something dirt cheap that will do atleast what the factory one would do to see if the card is still usable.

Actually, what companies specialize in cheap parts? And what sites specialize in lower prices parts that you know off. (Literally throw away.)



I need to start collecting a data base of good internet sellers and company sites. Of all qaulity ranges.

[ultraviolente]

It's fairly hard to find good heatsink mods for video cards nowadays, especially if it's one of the older ones. Even more so when looking at the price range you mentioned.

Replacing a GPU heasink is not like on a CPU, it's a whole different thing that even the most hadcore modders tend to avoid doing because of the risk of damaging the card. If you are new to hardware modding, that is something you just shouldn't consider yet.

I still strongly suggest you to get a newer card. I doesn't have to be nVidia tbh, ATi do have a lot of great cards too, and are actually a viable choice now that the prices have fallen. They are indeed slightly inferior to nVidia cards when it comes to performance and overclockabillity, but it shoudln't be a big isue for a user like yourself.

Take a look at theese two for example.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102086
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102081

[Ait'al]

Yea, sorry, I come off a little weird. I don't mind changing it if it doesn't cost much. Mine is already broken. 89 I broke it overtightening it while applying some new thermal paste after trying to stick a nice thermal sensor near it. hehe. I figure I might as well see if it will work again if I can get one for cheap. I'll buy any generic one if it fastens on properly.

I'm just asking because I'm being lazy and not looking up the right thing to find a generic cheap heatsink.