Yesterday morning my wife informed me of an issue with our computer downstairs. This computer happens to run her embroidery software and all the other "critical" issues like games and applications for the home. She described the problem as the desktop has vertical lines all across it and the icons are breaking apart as is the mouse cursor. Well I was thinking RAM is going bad and didn't have time to do anything other than shut down the system and tell her not to touch it as I was leaving for work.
So I get home yesterday afternoon and start checking contacts and such while we waited to go to my son's football game. It booted fine but then after about a minute the screen went loopy once more only this time I could not get past the WinXP screen on a restart. So I shut it down and wait about 5 minutes then restart again. Same situation once more. Then we have to leave for the game. Jump forward till 9:30 last night.
I get home and try it once more. I restart the computer only this time I get about 30 seconds of WinXP desktop then black screen. Now I notice a funny smell. I shut down and pop open the case and it hits me like a farm...whew that sucker smelled worse than 3 dead mice in a box for a week....Yes I have smelled that before.
I try to pull the card and its frigginHOT!!!!! So I wait a few minutes and pull it on out. I see the back of the card and its distorted and warped just behind the chipset. My Abit Ti-4400 has finally bit the dust. The little $2 chipset fan died on the card and practically became part of the heatsink.
SO my question is should I get that BFG 6800 OC 128MB card? Is it worth it or should I go for a cheap fix (sub $100 range) as I don't have the funds for a 6800GT 256MB card and can't wait on a 6600GT in AGP and don't want to drop the money now on a 939 motherboard with a new 939 A64 chip with a PCI-E slot.
So I get home yesterday afternoon and start checking contacts and such while we waited to go to my son's football game. It booted fine but then after about a minute the screen went loopy once more only this time I could not get past the WinXP screen on a restart. So I shut it down and wait about 5 minutes then restart again. Same situation once more. Then we have to leave for the game. Jump forward till 9:30 last night.
I get home and try it once more. I restart the computer only this time I get about 30 seconds of WinXP desktop then black screen. Now I notice a funny smell. I shut down and pop open the case and it hits me like a farm...whew that sucker smelled worse than 3 dead mice in a box for a week....Yes I have smelled that before.
I try to pull the card and its frigginHOT!!!!! So I wait a few minutes and pull it on out. I see the back of the card and its distorted and warped just behind the chipset. My Abit Ti-4400 has finally bit the dust. The little $2 chipset fan died on the card and practically became part of the heatsink.
SO my question is should I get that BFG 6800 OC 128MB card? Is it worth it or should I go for a cheap fix (sub $100 range) as I don't have the funds for a 6800GT 256MB card and can't wait on a 6600GT in AGP and don't want to drop the money now on a 939 motherboard with a new 939 A64 chip with a PCI-E slot.
Gotta love it when you can finally use that giftcard your relatives got you last Christmas 
Facebook
Twitter