Radeon 9800 Pro died - what cause? And where to now?
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
-
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:00 am
My 9800Pro also died very recently and also very suddenly. See here:
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... highlight=
The day before it died completely it was also complaining about the power connector not being in (when it was) and also it developed some corruption on the screen (in 2d,3d,bios, everything). I put it down to heat as it had had a zalman 80D heatpipe system on it for a year in a poorly ventilated case. But maybe its the power citrcuitry is getting towards its mean time between failure?
Ive gone for a geforce 6600GT as a replacement.
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... highlight=
The day before it died completely it was also complaining about the power connector not being in (when it was) and also it developed some corruption on the screen (in 2d,3d,bios, everything). I put it down to heat as it had had a zalman 80D heatpipe system on it for a year in a poorly ventilated case. But maybe its the power citrcuitry is getting towards its mean time between failure?
Ive gone for a geforce 6600GT as a replacement.
Well, that's quite a wide range of video cards you have there so the differences in performance are not marginal, those cards doesn't play in the same league. In that listing of video cards the X700 and the X1600 Pro are in the lower performance segment and I believe the 7800GS is the top performer. As for the SM support, you are right in that those three GPUs are the only ones listed above that have SM 3.0 support.Chancellor Martok wrote:1. Can anyone explain what the performance difference between these would be? Are the 6800GS, 7800Gs and X1600 Pro the only cards that fully support SM 3.0? Any recommendations?
Yes, probably. (unless "all of these" means that you are going to run them simultaneously )Chancellor Martok wrote:2. Would my current Super Tornado 400W be able to cope with all of these cards?
There's a bunch of VGA coolers available, wich one to choose depends on compatibility and power consumption of the card you will end up with - it's a good thing to decide what VGA to get before looking at an appropriate cooling solution. However, I'd say that the VF700 from Zalman seems to have the best overall VGA compatibility.Chancellor Martok wrote:3. What options do I have for after-market coolers these days? I hear the Zalman heatpipe solutions are worth considering, but what about the ol' Arctic Cooling silencers (or whatever they're called now)?
Re: Radeon 9800 Pro died - what cause? And where to now?
replace your PSU dude, browed molex connectors make it very likely your PSU is not up to the task anymore...
Actually had same thing happened to my 9800 pro when i was using it with an old PSU with a lowly 12v rail. Over time the molex connector burnt out , fortunately i was able to solder on a new molex connector and the card is still working fine.
I never had any stabilty problems either just occasional "connect power cable message" on cold boot. When it kept doing that and i actually took a look inside my PC did i see what was happening. try boot the card without the power cable connected if there still no display then i guess its toast.
Actually had same thing happened to my 9800 pro when i was using it with an old PSU with a lowly 12v rail. Over time the molex connector burnt out , fortunately i was able to solder on a new molex connector and the card is still working fine.
I never had any stabilty problems either just occasional "connect power cable message" on cold boot. When it kept doing that and i actually took a look inside my PC did i see what was happening. try boot the card without the power cable connected if there still no display then i guess its toast.
I got oxide on the 5 V pin on my 9800 Pro once, I got the "connect power cable" message until I cleaned it.
7600 or 7900 are the only two options IMO. Since you need AGP you can't use the 7900 AFAIK, but there are 7800 AGP cards available with the 7900 core, they're not cheap but you get the fastest AGP card, you may need it for Crysis. The price difference is equal to a new PCIE mobo.... The standard 7900 GT uses just about as much power (48 W) as the 9800 Pro, although more 12 V and less 5 V.
7600 or 7900 are the only two options IMO. Since you need AGP you can't use the 7900 AFAIK, but there are 7800 AGP cards available with the 7900 core, they're not cheap but you get the fastest AGP card, you may need it for Crysis. The price difference is equal to a new PCIE mobo.... The standard 7900 GT uses just about as much power (48 W) as the 9800 Pro, although more 12 V and less 5 V.
Chancellor Martok wrote:My old HIS IceQ Radeon 9800 Pro just died without any warning......
I wouldn't call that "without any warning".Chancellor Martok wrote:It had in fact been playing up for almost a year, occasionally complaining during boot about not having a power cable connected to it even when one was.
If you plan to change system within 12 months, I think you'd better look for nVidia 6600 or 6800 - or even another 9800. Putting too much money in another AGP card is not going to worth it as it'll not survive your next upgrade.
I bought a 7800 GS - only because I'm going to keep this system for at least 2 yrs more.
I bought a 7800 GS - only because I'm going to keep this system for at least 2 yrs more.
I think that the 7800 AGP also have a bridge chip, and maybe the X1600 too, but I'm not sure.
Ideas from best to worst:
- Go cheap AGP , 6600, X1600, 9800... Save your money. Maybe buy a used card? Maybe wait for the 7600 GS.
- Or, start from the other end, buy a Conroe when it shows up together with a 7600 GT, then get a high end card next year. I don't think much will happen with Intels CPU's the next 12 months.
- Or, go expensive PCIE, including a new PCIE mobo.
- Going expensive AGP is not a good idea.
I don't think it's anything wrong with your PSU, but yeah you can never be sure.
Ideas from best to worst:
- Go cheap AGP , 6600, X1600, 9800... Save your money. Maybe buy a used card? Maybe wait for the 7600 GS.
- Or, start from the other end, buy a Conroe when it shows up together with a 7600 GT, then get a high end card next year. I don't think much will happen with Intels CPU's the next 12 months.
- Or, go expensive PCIE, including a new PCIE mobo.
- Going expensive AGP is not a good idea.
I don't think it's anything wrong with your PSU, but yeah you can never be sure.
-
- SPCR Reviewer
- Posts: 1850
- Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2003 11:23 am
- Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
There's nothing wrong with your PSU, persay, but there might be something wrong with the Molex connector and/or the recepticle on your (now dead) card. Scorching on the Molex is a sign of a loose connection, which can burn out over time. I would avoid using the scorched Molex from now on, but there is no other reason that you would need to replace your PSU.