MSI x800 RMA time AGAIN / NewEgg

[teddyv]

My first x800 died after 4 months, started artifacting in WoW then totally died. I RMA'd to NewEgg and the one they sent was DoA. So I RMA'd again and the third one has worked flawlessly.

Until today. Same MO as the first, screen freeze and artifacts in WoW. My case temps are reasonable (Mobo 38c/100F; CPU 37c/99F; HD 51c/125F) so I am not sure what it is, I will say I have totally lost faityh in this card and since NewEgg wants to RMA it for the third time I am planning on just buying a new card and selling the new replacement when I get it and hopefully someone else will have better luck than me.

That said - I am in the market for a new card. I have $100 to $110 to spend and want something with similiar or better performance. ATI or nVidia, no preference there.

Any ideas? Anything but MSI

Thanks folks!

(Rig below)

 

[Munky]

MSI 7600gs



















Aaaaahh, just kidding... get this evga 7600gs instead.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130020

Or the passively cooled one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130004

 

[teddyv]

LoL - is there a big difference between the active vs/ passive cooling? How about going from ATi to nVidia (just uninstall ATi, reboot, install nVidia?)

And to be fair to MSI - what about comparing to these two?

MSI RX1600PRO-TD256E Radeon X1600PRO 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16

and-

SAPPHIRE 100144L Radeon X1600PRO 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express

 

[Munky]

The 7600gs is overall faster than the x1600pro. Between the two x1600's, I'd take the Sapphire version since it has a beefier cooler. When switching drivers from Ati to Nvidia its a good idea to use Driver Cleaner to get rid of any remainig traces of the old driver after uninstalling it. I'm not sure how well the passive cooler works on the 7600gs, but I actually just ordered one for my friend a few days ago, so I'll find out soon enough.

 

[teddyv]

Thanks again for the advice - my only concern with passive is the nagging doubt that the MSI card is malfunctioning due to a temp problem. Like I posted above the temps all seem reasonable and the card is all by itself (unobstructed) so I am not sure whether it is crappy quality, a bad batch or something else.

Does a passive cooler provide enough cooling in a smaller case (SonataII) without a fan blowing on the card?

 

[hans007]

if you are ok with getting a used card, you can probably get a x800xl in fs/ft forum for $100-110

an x1600 pro is probably slower than an x800 actually unless its a newer game with a lot of pixel shading.

 

[teddyv]

The only games I play are WoW and Ultima, really WoW is about the hardest this card will be pushed and as I am happy playing it at default levels it will probably not be pushed too hard. I do want to get a new card, the RMA process with NewEgg has been relatively painless and I'd like to stick with them.

 

[teddyv]

Looks like my MSI x800 does NOT support temp monitoring, I wonder if the eVGA 7600GS does?

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: teddyv
Looks like my MSI x800 does NOT support temp monitoring, I wonder if the eVGA 7600GS does?

nvidia chips generally do have it.


some bioses disable it, but you can always enable it with nhibitor bios editor