hd 4850 problems and replacement

[keldarin]

Hello,

Recently(about 2 weeks ago) i got a bluescreen related to the video driver. After restart i noticed weird numbers, sort of a matrix, and about three sets of red/blue vertical lines on the screen even before windows was loaded. I had to deactivate the video driver in safe mode and was able to load windows, the numbers are gone and the lines are still there. They seem to change color, it depends on the background of the screen. I did some reading and it seems to be a video memory problem. Anyway i have two questions:

1) Can a bad gfx card ruin system ram? After a few days from said incident my computer wouldn't boot(restart after a few seconds from turning on) and i had to replace my 2gb ram with a spare 1gb i had.

2) I was thinking of a replacement card. Would the 5750 be good for 1280x1024 or should i push for the 5770?

The rest of my system is Q6600, ep43-ds3 MB, 1gb ram kingston, 500w psu from antec case

 

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Although unlikely I think it is possible for a video card to ruin system RAM.
RAM does just die on its own though so it's hard to blame the video card for killing your RAM, but the 4850 probably did hasten the demise since it can get pretty hot and it does sit near the RAM in most MOBOs.

I personally don't see why you would ever consider the 5750 since the 5770 often is sold for around $140 which is like $15 more than a cheap 5750. The 5750 would definitely be enough though for 1280 x 1024 and 500W is plenty for either card.