Videocard overheating and a question about PCI-E

lizdin

Chieftain
Joined
Nov 10, 2005
Messages
6
Location
Gothenburg, Sweden
Hello all, I'm a bit concerned about my videocard.

When playing Civ4 after a while my screen is freezing and I have to restart my computer, i've encountered this before with an older computer when my cpu was overheating.

I have a Radeon 9500pro with fanless cooling solution called ZM80A-HP (check thier site here and here's a review).

The issue that i'm concerned about is the temperature of my videocard, I don't know how to check it and I believe it's hot ass hell.(if I touch the heatsink I get burned almost :D)...

I've been thinking about buying a new card though, i've looked at the geforce 6600 and 6800, but I'm unsure. I'm angry at Ati right now because of the incompability with civ4 but that might just be temporary, It might not even be thier fault.. or?

And I'm also wondering about PCI-E, is it worth a motherboard switch? And how do I know if the one I have now might support PCI-E? And how much better is PCI-E vs AGP anyway? Or is it just a better visual experience?

A reply to all of these questions would be awsome, might be in the wrong forum but u never know ;)
 
Remember the 9500 is pretty much minimum spec for Civ 4 - it will certainly test the card.

The cooler on your gfx card is called a heatpipe design. While excellent at moving heat around, they don't actually get rid of heat. It's more the sort of thing on a media player PC than a game playing PC (because games will make it very hot).

In the short term, a new cooler or maybe just a fan blowing across the current cooler should sort the problem. Although as a lot of people have had problems with ATI cards and that cooler is supposed to run at about 60 degrees Centigrade, it may not be a heat issue at all.

Now, as for PCI-E, it depends what sort of system you've got. There's currently a big shortage of AGP cards, so a lot of people are getting forced to buy a PCI-E motherboard just so they can obtain a GFX card to go with it. X800GT, for instance, outperforms a 6600GT on nearly every game, but it's not available in AGP.

As for what card to go for, you pay for what you get pretty much.

As to whether or not your computer has a PCI-Express slot, it's pretty much a certainty it doesn't if it currently has a 9500 Pro plugged into it. That's an AGP only card. Unless you have the old PCI version? Does it plug into one of a few similar slots (old PCI, not PCI-E) or one slot on it's own (AGP)?
 
thank you for your reply CruddyLeper.

So it seems that I have to make a complete upgrade if my system then?

That creates a few more questions :D

1. If I go for an upgrade, then I belive a new motherboard is needed, if I want so save some cash, is it possible to save my processor and just move it from my old motherboard to the new one? and put some more cash into the videocard perhaps?

2. I checked around a little and it seems that I want a motherboard with socket 775(if I want to save my old cpu, dunno why though). Then the choice of processor becomes difficult, what's the differance between a Intel Pentium IV 640 3.2GHz and a Intel Pentium IV 840 3.2GHz? Other than the 640 is about twice as expensive?
Or if I go for amd, which I checked preforms better in games(doom3), AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+ with a ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe nForce4 SLI Socket 939? and then go for the Geforce 6800 and when I get cash and need more power, I can buy another 6800(or something) and get loads of power :D

Comments?

Damn, I might have to stick around with my 9500 a little while longer... Dunno if I'm in the mood for buying new stuff now anyway, but I want to be updated .
 
It MIGHT be possible to save the processor. Intel isn't really my thing, I must admit. It MIGHT be possible to use the same memory (although how you then sell the old computer is a bit tricky).

I can't tell because I don't know what sort of computer you currently have.

Either post your specs if you know them, or run Everest Home Edition and post a link to a logfile.

AMD socket 939 fitted with Opteron 144 server chips is currently giving best bang per buck, but I'll wait for you to post back.
 
here's a short version:

Pentium 4 3.28GHz (Zalman CNPS7000-Cu cooler)
Motherboard IS7-E2(Intel i865-ICH5)
1024mb Ram (PC3200) (+3gig virtual)
200Gb Seagate HD
I think I have a 350W power supply, does that have to be upgraded aswell if I go for a better videocard?

Used SiSoftware Sandra:

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz
Speed : 3.28GHz
Performance Rating : PR4358 (estimated)
Number of CPU Cores : 1 Unit(s)
CPUs per Core : 1 Unit(s)
SMT Support : 2 Unit(s)
Type : Standard
L2 On-board Cache : 1MB ECC Synchronous, ATC, 8-way set, 64 byte line size, 2 lines per sector, 2 threads sharing

Mainboard
Bus(es) : ISA AGP PCI IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
MP Support : 1 CPU(s)
MP APIC : Yes
System BIOS : Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG
Mainboard : http://www.abit.com.tw/ IS7-E2(Intel i865-ICH5)
Total Memory : 1GB DDR-SDRAM

Chipset 1
Model : Abit Computer Corp 82865G/PE/P, 82848P DRAM Controller / Host-Hub Interface
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 205MHz (820MHz data rate)
Total Memory : 1GB DDR-SDRAM
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 205MHz (410MHz data rate)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Standardbildskärm
Monitor/Panel : SAMTRON 96P/97P(T)
Adapter : RADEON 9500 PRO / 9700
Adapter : RADEON 9500 PRO / 9700 - Secondary

Physical Storage Devices
Removable Drive : Diskettenhet
Hard Disk : ST3200822A (186GB)
Hard Disk : Generic STORAGE DEVICE USB Device
Hard Disk : Generic STORAGE DEVICE USB Device
Hard Disk : Generic STORAGE DEVICE USB Device
Hard Disk : Generic STORAGE DEVICE USB Device
CD-ROM/DVD : _NEC DVD_RW ND-3500AG (CD 48X Rd, 48X Wr) (DVD 6X Rd, 6X Wr)
CD-ROM/DVD : Generic DVD-ROM SCSI CdRom Device (CD 32X Rd) (DVD 4X Rd)
CD-ROM/DVD : Generic DVD-ROM SCSI CdRom Device (CD 32X Rd) (DVD 4X Rd)
CD-ROM/DVD : Generic DVD-ROM SCSI CdRom Device (CD 32X Rd) (DVD 4X Rd)

Logical Storage Devices
Main frame (C:) : 9.9GB (965MB, 9% Free Space) (NTFS)
Breakz (D:) : 176GB (607MB, 0% Free Space) (NTFS)
Civilization4 (E:) : 1.3GB (UDF)
CD-ROM/DVD (F:) : N/A
Removable Drive (G:) : 243MB (228MB, 94% Free Space) (FAT32)
Removable Drive (H:) : N/A
Removable Drive (I:) : N/A
Bw2_disc1 (J:) : 655MB (CDFS)
Cod2dvd (K:) : 3.5GB (CDFS)
Removable Drive (L:) : N/A

Peripherals
Serial/Parallel Port(s) : 1 COM / 1 LPT
USB Controller/Hub : Standard Universal PCI to USB Host Controller
USB Controller/Hub : Standard Universal PCI to USB Host Controller
USB Controller/Hub : Standard Universal PCI to USB Host Controller
USB Controller/Hub : Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
USB Controller/Hub : Standard Universal PCI to USB Host Controller
USB Controller/Hub : USB-rotnav (hub)
USB Controller/Hub : USB-rotnav (hub)
USB Controller/Hub : USB-rotnav (hub)
USB Controller/Hub : USB-rotnav (hub)
USB Controller/Hub : USB-rotnav (hub)
USB Controller/Hub : USB-masslagringsenhet
FireWire/1394 Controller/Hub : OHCI-kompatibel IEEE 1394-värdstyrenhet
Keyboard : Easy Internet Keyboard
Mouse : HID-compliant MX510 Optical Mouse
Human Interface : Logitech USB MX510 Optical Mouse

MultiMedia Device(s)
Device : Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM)
Device : Creative Game Port

Printers and Faxes
Model : OKIPAGE 6e

Power Management
AC Line Status : On-Line

Operating System(s)
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP/2002 Professional (Win32 x86) 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 2)

Network Services
Adapter : D-Link DFE-530TX PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter (rev.A)

That should cover most of it right?
 
I'm not that familiar with intel, but since the system is old enough to be using DDR memory, I'm guessing that you'll have to buy a new PCU and everything if you upgrade. You'll also have to buy DDR2 memory for a newer intel system.

If you went with AMD though (which I would advise if you're building a new comp) you could save the memory unless you want to upgrade to higher performance stuff.
 
Hum, well, I don't know If I can afford a new computer at the moment... So I might have to live with what I have for now. Thanx anyway guys :D

Gonna see if I can fix that restarting problem now by doing that radeon fix and everything else that is in this forum :D
 
Hey... good news. There IS a board with PCI-E that can take your old processor;-

http://www.asrock.com/product/product_P4Dual-880Pro.htm

And it can take AGP or PCI-E cards, so you wouldn't have to get a new card straight away!

DO check your CPU is on the compatible list though;-

http://www.asrock.com/product/product_P4Dual-880Pro.htm

I haven't found any reviews of it though. A bit ominous.

EDIT: As for a new power supply, it should be OK with your current card. If you fit a power hungry card like a 6800 or higher it probably will be necessary to fit a new power supply.
 
Hum, it's worth a thought actually, it's rather cheap also like $60.

But wouldn't it be cheaper if I waited a while and bought a new computer instead and just got plain new stuff?

Although, which is smarter really? Buy all new stuff(if you can afford it, and if you don't, just wait a while longer) or upgrade as it comes part by part getting quite nice stuff? Though that might end up with having some old some new parts...

And, let's say that I buy this card and new memory and a 6800gt. That could work! :D

Btw, I think i've solved the civ4 freezing and shutting down now by lowering the antialising to 0, seems to do the trick for others aswell! :D
 
Yeah, AA does slow down games a lot. Makes them look better but there is a performance hit.

As for which is best, buy all at same time or gradually - if you buy a complete system, it works out cheaper. But you need all the cash together at the same time.

If you buy a bit here and a bit there, it works out a little more expensive (because of each extra postal charge) BUT you can do it gradually, you don't need a big lump sum of cash. That's the way I go.

Before you buy a new motherboard, check compatibility with your RAM. Before you buy new RAM, check compatibility with the motherboard.
 
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