First "Mod"

[Bajawoojie]

I know my web cam is horrible =(

But yeah, its a heat sink with a fan. Both the heat sink, and the card itself are very hot, I wouldn't hold my finger on the heat sink for more then a few seconds right after I turn the comp off..

But I just swiped the graphic card (Raedon 9250 256mb I think) out of my bros computer and put it in here for now.. My Radeon 9800 pro was only 128 mb of memory, so does that mean his will work better then mine? Even though its an older version? (Completely disregarding the problems I'm having with mine)

[Bucko]

I'm not sure on cards performance, but is it doing the same thing in your Brothers computer? It could be a good way to see if there is a problem with the card if you haven't tried it on his.

Also, is the fan actually working on the video card?

[Bajawoojie]

I didn't actually finish the swipe yet, I'm going to tomorrow. But his card is working fine in my comp now.. And yeah, the fan works.

[Bucko]

Let us know after you have tried the card in his PC, as if your PC is fine with his, it really is seeming like a borked video card.

[Bajawoojie]

Alright, but either way i'm getting a new video card. After a round of Counterstrike Source, I learned that his card is pretty bad compared to mine(And his doesn't support dual monitors) - and mine was bad enough. Does anyone have any suggestions on which card to get? I heard that the Geforce 8600GT is pretty good (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16814150229), and it has a nice price.

[Bucko]

Does your MoBo have a PCiE x16 port for the video card, or is it AGP? That will be the biggest influence for you decision.

[Bajawoojie]

AGP, but I'm really debating on weather or not I want to just start fresh with a new mobo and case. I really don't want to go and buy a new graphic card, having my computer itself being about 6 years old. I was browsing around new egg at mobo's, and I was seeing alot of atx motherboards with 939 sockets and I'm fairly sure thats what mine currently is. That way I could buy a new mobo for now, and just get the case later.

**Edit** Wouldn't it make a lot more sense for us to talk on Yahoo?

[Bucko]

Think about your budget and what you may want to spend. Buying a new motherboard for no real reason seems a waste of money if yours is still working.

Either buy a decent AGP card for what you have, or save your pennies and upgrade the whole machine.

PS, what specs is you current PC if it's 6 years old?

[Spawn-Inc]

if you upgrade motherboard your undoubtedly going to have to upgrade ram as well. my old Gefocre 4 MX 400 on my old pc is friggen hot, right at the core. the heatsink if you want to call it that is completely useless so i lapped it and snaded the core a bit, only took the lettering off. i'm not sure if it helped since i have no temp probe on it.

[Bajawoojie]

6 Years old is an estimate, though it may be off by up to a year either way. But me not being the hardware type as you can obviously tell by now, all I can tell you is that its an
Intel Pentium 4 2.66 Ghz processor,
1 gig ram (2x 256mb, 1x 512mb) PC2700 DDR2
What seems to be micro BTX motherboard:

 BTX (Balanced Technology Extended)
2004 BTX 12.8 - 10.5
2004 microBTX 10.4 - 10.5
2004 picoBTX 8 - 10.5

,
4 PCI Express slots,
1 AGP slot
A pretty low voltage power supply (I get a low power voltage message every time I boot),
2 2.5"*5.5" front bays
2 2.5"*3.5" front bays
(I think I got those bays dimensions right)
And one fan.

My reasoning to get a new motherboard was simply because this one is old. My explanation of that reason:
If I were to go out and buy a new graphic card meant specifically for an AGP slot (Is that what its called, AGP slot?), then later on once my motherboard actually does die - motherboards with an AGP slot wont be very popular/efficient if I'm told correctly by someone who says they are old as itis. Therefore causing me to have to get a new motherboard, AND a graphic card, and possibly any other things I get in the time in between.