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I'm an engineer but not a techie and need video card suggestions

B

beer

Lifer
I go to the gym. Come back. Blue screen and I'm like....wtf?

So I reboot, and when I get back into Windows, I have lots of video glitches - pixel lag when I maximize or minimize windows, move a cursor, etc. Plus there's input lag when there shouldn't be. Within 15 minutes I BSOD again.

Since I'm a software engineer I load windbg and take a look at the dumpfile, and it's a double-fault unexpected kernel mode trap. Yet my nvidia drivers are WHQLed, so there's slim to zero percent chance that the nvidia drivers themselves are to blame, and the stack trace shows only windows code, nothing from any driver, even the nvidia driver.

So I assume that I have some sort of hardware defect, either bad memory on the card or a programmable state machine glitch or something.

So I went and got a friend's extra AGP card, popped it in, and it works, no more BSODs ro Windows glitches.

So I need a new video adapter. My PC is a 2.5 year old P4 (yay) and I want to keep it to about $100.

I can get an ATI 9600XT for $100 at Fry's. Is this a good adapter? How much better is this than a 9550 for $30 less (both after MIR) or a 6200-series nvidia adapter.

I don't play games....
 
Howdy, if you don't play games, go for the cheapest of the cards you mentioned. I think the 9600XT is a pretty decent card for the money. 🙂
 
Yeah, buy the cheapest AGP card you can find. Unless you want this computer to be able to run Vista. In that case, a 9600XT sounds good.
 
It's more painless to go from one nvidia card to another than switching "families" to ATI, so I'd get a fanless nv 6200 card in your shoes.

The Newegg site is flaky today, but go there pick video cards then choose AGP and nvidia 6200 for the GPU, there should be a bunch under $50 with user reviews to help you pick.

I bought an EVGA brand 6200 there for $40 last month to replace a noisy ti 4200 but haven't gotten around to installing it yet.
 
EVGA GeForce 6200 AGP 128MB $40+5 6/24/06
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130008

EVGA GeForce 6200 AGP 256MB $56+5-$10rebate 6/24/06
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130278

I put the 256MB version in my wife's P4 system 2 months ago. The picture quality is truly outstanding, and with no GPU fan the system is now quieter. It is also usable for Vista in 3d mode. For a non-gamer it's hard to beat. Install nVidia's latest drivers- don't use the ones that come with the card.
 
Go to a second hand comp shop and get a chepo card for peanuts. I got a 9600xt for 50 bucks AU, just to keep in comparison a new 6200 here costs 99 dollard. (the worst heap of sh!t card the 6200 turbo cache 16meg costs 69 bucks so do the fx5200's, but the 9600xt is hell of a lot better 😛)
 
Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer
Howdy, if you don't play games, go for the cheapest of the cards you mentioned. I think the 9600XT is a pretty decent card for the money. 🙂
Click to expand...


Trident maybe?
Seriously though any card will do fine if you aren't gaming. Not sure why you would need a 9600xt, just pickup a cheap nvidia or ati card.
 
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