Upgrade from Ti 4200?

[WW2Planes1]

I've got a PNY GeForce4 Ti 4200 (64MB) with a slight overheating issue, and i'm not sure if I should bother upgrading the card or just trying to fix the problem. The thing is that I want to build a whole new system in about a year (an Athlon 64), and i'm not sure if its worth upgrading to a Radeon 9600Pro now for about $150 or waiting the year and buying a cheap (sub $100) to replace the PNY at the same time i build the Athlon 64. If i do buy the Radeon, I'd probably use it in the Athlon64 system, despite being less than up to date.



The PNY problem started as just a few artifacts in some games, but its moved to a point where even when i'm surfing the net the image on the screen would freeze, with the exception of the mouse. The only way to get it unlocked was by forcing the whole screen to refresh, either by opening a new IE window, or by showing the desktop, or equivalent action. When i took a box fan and put it next to my open case the problem pretty much vanished. The back of the PCB (near the GPU) was hot to the touch, although i could hold my finger there for a few seconds without getting burned (afterwhich i almost got some nice solder point burns on my finger).

Pretty much, My options are a) upgrade to the Radeon, b) try and fix or RMA the PNY, c) just leave the fan, although that is the least desirable of those options.

Rest of the specs are
AthlonXP 1800+ (no OC)
3x WD Caviar 7200RPM hard drives,
Game Theater XP
etc...

Advice welcome.

 

[WW2Planes1]

One more thing, if i upgrade, should i go to a branded ATI Radeon, or an off-brand (i.e. Power Color or something)?

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: WW2Planes1
One more thing, if i upgrade, should i go to a branded ATI Radeon, or an off-brand (i.e. Power Color or something)?

Sapphire or ati or hercules would be my top choices

 

[cockeyed]

re: Radeon choice. I would go with any of these: Sapphire, ATI, Powercolor, Connect 3D

re: Ti4200 overheating. I had a Ti4200 and the back of the board did get pretty hot to the touch in normal operation. The fan on mine got stiff, causing it to slow down resulting in less cooling. You might remove the heatsink/fan and oil the fan. Just remove the round sticker on the back of the fan and put a drop or two of oil there. Also, clean the old compound from the GPU and re-apply a thin layer. I think the overheating is just a symptom that the HSF needs some maintenance.

 

[WW2Planes1]

Originally posted by: cockeyed
re: Ti4200 overheating. I had a Ti4200 and the back of the board did get pretty hot to the touch in normal operation. The fan on mine got stiff, causing it to slow down resulting in less cooling. You might remove the heatsink/fan and oil the fan. Just remove the round sticker on the back of the fan and put a drop or two of oil there. Also, clean the old compound from the GPU and re-apply a thin layer. I think the overheating is just a symptom that the HSF needs some maintenance.

Thats good to hear, I was afraid the whole fan was shot and that i was going to have to buy a new HSF. I've got some ASII that should help, at least. Is the overheating likely to have permanently damaged the chip in anyway? or is that the kinda of thing that i would know for certain if it had?