Temporary/cheap replacement for a Nvidia 7900GT?

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Pickled

My current 7900GT seems to be failing (causing intermittant
lockups/corrupt textures/blue screens, etc). So I need something I can
use as a stopgap until the 9 series appears.

I dont mind what make the GPU is but its got to perform atleast as well
as the 7900GT it replaces.

As this is an unplanned purchase it needs to be cheap as its eating into
funds I was saving for something in the midrange of the Nvidia 9xxxx
series or high end Nvidia 8xxx series (when it drops in price as the
9xxxx series is launched).

Any suggestions on what or where to look (im in the UK if that makes a
difference) for such a card?
 
I'd guess that the cheapest card that is comparable in performance to a
7900GT is one based on the Radeon X1950XT chipset. www.newegg.com lists a
model of that for $125 (there's an additional $15 rebate at the moment). I
believe that NewEgg does not serve the UK, but there is a lot of information
there and I find it convenient to sort through it using their Power Search
tool.

The only ATI card that I've had was a 9700 Pro, but I liked it well enough.
(Didn't overclock worth a damn, though.)

Return address scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.
 
Ref: said:
I'd guess that the cheapest card that is comparable in performance to a
7900GT is one based on the Radeon X1950XT chipset.
Click to expand...

Same problem, same choice :
My 7900GT began to show graphics artifacts, indicating it was slowly dying. (the
infamous vrm problem on those series of cards, as described here:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=58485)

Replaced with a generic ATI 1950 pro (noname)

Only problem so far: cooling fan *much* more noisy than 7900gt.

If you choose this option look at the noise level in the cards specs. Some 1950
models have their fan speed thermo regulated, maybe a better choice
 
Pickled said:
My current 7900GT seems to be failing (causing intermittant
lockups/corrupt textures/blue screens, etc). So I need something I can
use as a stopgap until the 9 series appears.

I dont mind what make the GPU is but its got to perform atleast as well
as the 7900GT it replaces.

As this is an unplanned purchase it needs to be cheap as its eating into
funds I was saving for something in the midrange of the Nvidia 9xxxx
series or high end Nvidia 8xxx series (when it drops in price as the
9xxxx series is launched).

Any suggestions on what or where to look (im in the UK if that makes a
difference) for such a card?
Click to expand...

8600GT. It's roughly as fast as a 7900GS. Cost is under 200.
 
I've tried underclocking it and still I get the problems, also I've
tried cleaning the fan, removing the heatsink and applying arctic
silver with zero difference.

Unless 53C (temperature while idle at stock) is a now a problem then its
not heat related as far as I can tell.
 
deimos said:
8600GT. It's roughly as fast as a 7900GS. Cost is under 200.
Click to expand...

not a response to which card to get, but I had a similar problem with a
6800, the cause of mine was a case fan was drawing air straight past the
video card and depositing that very fine dust on everything (caked aver the
legs of numerous chips) After whipping it out and giving it a nice bath in
contact cleaner and using a fine brush to dislodge the dirt, it was a goer
again. and hasn't missed a beat for the last few months. It's also
overclocked a fair way too!
 
deimos said:
Pickled said:
My current 7900GT seems to be failing (causing intermittant
lockups/corrupt textures/blue screens, etc). So I need something I
can use as a stopgap until the 9 series appears.

I dont mind what make the GPU is but its got to perform atleast as
well as the 7900GT it replaces.
Click to expand...
[...]

8600GT. It's roughly as fast as a 7900GS. Cost is under 200.
Click to expand...

The 8600GTS is roughly equivalent to a 7900GS, not the 8600GT.
 
Pickled said:
I've tried underclocking it and still I get the problems, also I've
tried cleaning the fan, removing the heatsink and applying arctic
silver with zero difference.

Unless 53C (temperature while idle at stock) is a now a problem then its
not heat related as far as I can tell.
Click to expand...

I had that happen with an ATI card I had(random lockup and artifacts. I
sent it back and got a replacement. Tech support said it had sounded
like bad memory on the card.
 
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