nVidia 8600 GT blew some caps again, need advice for an upgrade

[Hop]

Use the code EMCZZYR24 for another 13$ off the gtx 460. sorry I forgot!

I already pulled the trigger and I think it is too late to get that discount. If I like it though and I'm sure I will, I'll get another one for my new build. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Hop]

Arkadrel if the OP spends a lot of time in Linux, Nvidia is more linux friendly. Thats a incredible deal for that gtx 460~768.
Enjoy OP, you probably paid about the same for that 8600gt

Almost exactly! $130 in November of 2007. Ah depreciation. hehehe

 

[Zap]

That's what I get for not researching the guts of the card. I saw the 4x increase in memory and figured it would blow away my 8600 GT which is very dated. I was wrong.

Let me give you some advice on graphics memory that has been true since time began, is true today and will remain true forever in the future so you can file this away in your memory.

All else being equal*, as long as there is enough** graphics memory, the amount of graphics memory has absolutely nothing to do with performance. Nada. Zip.

*Equal meaning comparing same core, clocks and bit width.

**What is "enough" will change depending on what game you are running, so "enough" is a moving target. For modern (AKA those published in the last year) I would think that most people/benchmarks will roughly agree that 512MB is no longer sufficient and 1GB is sufficient. If you have insufficient graphics memory excess textures will be stored in your system memory, thus impacting performance. However, extra graphics memory will stay unused and thus have no impact on performance. What can impact performance with graphics memory of sufficient capacity is overall bandwidth. This is calculated using the clock speed, a data rate multiplier (2x for most, except 4x for GDDR5) and the bit width of the memory bus (AKA 128-bit, 256-bit, etc.).

I went to newegg looking again and all I find in the 8000 series is 8400 cards. I don't know why there isn't any 8600 GT or 8800 GT cards to be found. The funny thing is; I went with an 8600 GT because when I built this rig a few years ago, 8800 GT cards were in the $300-$500 range. Now that I am ready to move up to the 8800GT, it's nowhere to be found.

Were you not aware that products change over time? You can no longer buy new Ford Probe or Toyota Supra cars in the USA, nor can you buy new computers with Windows 3.1 or socket 370 Celerons. Sadly nobody sells those sweet Voodoo 3 video cards anymore, and hardcore Counterstrike 1.6 players everywhere are mourning the lack of quality new CRT monitors.

Sorry, I was teasing you. ()

Here's another bit of info for your long-term memory: "Nvidia also adopted the goal of an internal six-month product cycle." It isn't a hard truth, but more like a guideline. Both AMD and Nvidia come out with new products very rapidly, usually anywhere from 6-12 months. Older products get discontinued once they have a direct replacement, and eventually the remaining stock sells out.

There are a couple of special cases where products remain for a long time. One of them is the GeForce 6200 and another is the GeForce 8400 GS. The reason for these two products to have a super long product life is because the 6200 is the most recent and cheapest GPU that still natively supports older interfaces such as PCI without the added expense of a bridge chip. The 8400 is the cheapest PCIe GPU that uses the current shader system which can support CUDA/OpenCL. These are great for, basically, replacement parts for older computers that just need a simple video output.

 

[Net]

I'll sell you my EVGA 8600 GT 256MB.

send me a PM if interested.

 

[betasub]

There are a couple of special cases where products remain for a long time.....

Nice explanation. Do you know why so many stores still stock FX5200 cards? Do they fall under the same legacy reason you've given for 6200?

 

[Zap]

Probably for AGP.

 

[timma]

if you don't want change power supply.
buy gigabyte's GT 240 OC edition is good.

 

[RussianSensation]

XFX will not take care of me, I registered after the 30 day, fine lawyer print.

That's generally the case. If you don't register within 30 days of warranty with EVGA, you only get a 1-2 year warranty Smart on their part. Bad for the consumer.

 

[Hop]

@happy medium
Got the card via UPS at my work and after rerouting power from my PSU to all my components, and tearing apart my office for the extra power cables that were included with my Enermax, AND dusting out my rig after only a month and a half hiatus, I installed my new GTX 460 and...

WOW!!!!

Everything is much faster! World of Warcraft, StarCraft 2, Company of Heroes, and the included free game Hawx2 is amazing! I set the display options in WoW to ultra and in Dalaran, I was mildly disappointed to only get 25fps, but outside dalaran, flying around, the FPS breached 50 and the video was stunning. I realize that 50fps @ 1680x1050 isn't worthy of gasping in this forum, but for me being hindered so long with my hardware, it was a nice breath of hope for my aging system.

There wasn't any stuttering until I moved radically right or left. CPU and RAM related I'm sure. All things I can improve on with mild upgrades.

Anyway, I wanted to say thanks big time happy medium (and others that agreed) for the heads up on the NewEgg price and your recommendations on this wonderful piece of hardware. I am a very happy camper!

NOW for that CPU/RAM (and most likely HSF) upgrade and over-clocking so I can get this IP35 Pro where it always wanted to be, and then it's on to the next level.

OH NO! My wallet just found out and ran under the bed!

Thank you for your time!

Hop

Additional: I just realized my sig is now seriously outdated. I'll have to correct...

 

[Powermoloch]

You can't go wrong with a beefy 460GTX at that price

if 5770 is in the <100$ range, then it'll be a steal as well. But them being at the same price range...I would go for the GTX460

 

[notty22]

Its nice to hear a happy ending.
And with a e4500. 2.2ghz
Definitely do some o/c and enjoy more.

 

[toyota]

wow with that current cpu you are only getting about half of what a gtx460 can do in some games. you will see a massive improvement once you upgrade that.

 

[happy medium]

Glad to here it, and your very welcome.

 

[Hop]

wow with that current cpu you are only getting about half of what a gtx460 can do in some games. you will see a massive improvement once you upgrade that.

It's comments like that one that I live for! It lets me know that my new card will grow with my upgrades. Thank you!

 

[orchard1956]

Hop
Hope you can do some neat and very small soldering.
If you can then go to badcaps.net (check out forum on this Badcap site - see picture of XFX8600GT) http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/2056/gtcard.png
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=11013
I bought several Rubycon brand 1500,470 and one 1000 caps. I replaced 9 total on the exact same card. It was working with 7 blown caps and is still working after replacing the 7 plus similar ones that were probably gonna blow. Good luck, parts were $3.00 shipping extra. I did the repair on Nov 20 2010.

 

[orchard1956]

Hop
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/2056/gtcard.png
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=11013


Do not use the same original low quality brand caps, use Rubycon or recommended ones from www.badcaps.net or www.thecapking.com

 

[tweakboy]

Your funny lol, why do you keep blowing up caps man... lol good luck on your next blow up my friend...

 

[Rifter]

Arkadrel if the OP spends a lot of time in Linux, Nvidia is more linux friendly. Thats a incredible deal for that gtx 460~768.
Enjoy OP, you probably paid about the same for that 8600gt

I was going to say the same thing, i cant reccomend a ATI card to someone who uses linux on a regular basis.

glad you grabbed the 460.

 

[Hop]

Your funny lol, why do you keep blowing up caps man... lol good luck on your next blow up my friend...

The reason the caps blew, and they were not the same replaced ones, is because they were bad caps in the first place. When I searched about the problem, I found quite a few people that had the same issue with the same card. I have heard about (but haven't seen) this bad capacitor issue with other hardware including motherboards, power supplies, power inverter modules for cold cathode back lighting in LCD displays, and other hardware.

The soldering isn't too difficult with a decent soldering iron and a steady hand. For my initial fix, I used electrolytic caps of the same ratings from my bench and they worked fine and never failed. My second cap failure was another stock cap and I suspect the other caps on that card would also fail eventually. Now I know the capacitor count to be 7. Thanks orchard1956!

And also thank you orchard1956 for the links! Especially the direction towards quality replacement caps. The card is on my bench to be fixed and possibly affixed with a better after-market cooling solution. For a smaller system, the 8600GT I have is more than enough and is worthy of the bench work. When I replaced the first batch of failed caps and got up and running again, I felt a large level of satisfaction that instead of just junking the card, I did a little work and had success. Not without a large level of nervousness when I powered up again though. This was my first video card repair after all. D: