Need new graphics card

[BlueFireZ]

I think it's time to get a new graphics card. My monitors lose the signal
when powering up: just before the Windows welcome page. As the computer is
powering up the monitors keep flashing, "signal" then "no signal" then they
power down even though the computer is still on. I've done almost everything
I was asked to do but the problem persists.

Sorry, that was long-winded. Here is my question. What card should I buy?
I have Windows XP professional on a Velocity Micro. I have two ViewSonic
monitors. My present card is ATI All-In-Wonder X600 series. I do graphics and
play 3D games.

I have been told to buy ATI or NVIDIA. I don’t have $400 to spend on a video
card.

Any suggestions?

 

[Mark Adams]

I think it's time to get a new graphics card. My monitors lose the signal
when powering up: just before the Windows welcome page. As the computer is
powering up the monitors keep flashing, "signal" then "no signal" then they
power down even though the computer is still on. I've done almost everything
I was asked to do but the problem persists.

Sorry, that was long-winded. Here is my question. What card should I buy?
I have Windows XP professional on a Velocity Micro. I have two ViewSonic
monitors. My present card is ATI All-In-Wonder X600 series. I do graphics and
play 3D games.

I have been told to buy ATI or NVIDIA. I don’t have $400 to spend on a video
card.

Any suggestions?

Not a Windows problem, but buy the most expensive one you can afford as long
as the power requirement doesn't exceed what your power supply can provide.

 

[Anna]

I think it's time to get a new graphics card. My monitors lose the signal
when powering up: just before the Windows welcome page. As the computer is
powering up the monitors keep flashing, "signal" then "no signal" then
they
power down even though the computer is still on. I've done almost
everything
I was asked to do but the problem persists.

Sorry, that was long-winded. Here is my question. What card should I buy?
I have Windows XP professional on a Velocity Micro. I have two ViewSonic
monitors. My present card is ATI All-In-Wonder X600 series. I do graphics
and
play 3D games.

I have been told to buy ATI or NVIDIA. I don't have $400 to spend on a
video
card.

Any suggestions?

Blue...
Well, if you *really* think it's your graphics card that's causing your
problem...

Take a look at...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-gtx,2270.html
Anna

 

[Randall Flagg]

I think it's time to get a new graphics card. My monitors lose the signal
when powering up: just before the Windows welcome page. As the computer is
powering up the monitors keep flashing, "signal" then "no signal" then they
power down even though the computer is still on. I've done almost everything
I was asked to do but the problem persists.

Sorry, that was long-winded. Here is my question. What card should I buy?
I have Windows XP professional on a Velocity Micro. I have two ViewSonic
monitors. My present card is ATI All-In-Wonder X600 series. I do graphics and
play 3D games.

I have been told to buy ATI or NVIDIA. I don’t have $400 to spend on a video
card.

Any suggestions?

It's simple: get the most card that you can comfortably (in your mind)
afford that can handle two monitors and that has enough dedicated
memory to handle your games.

 

[M]

I think it's time to get a new graphics card. My monitors lose the signal
when powering up: just before the Windows welcome page. As the computer is
powering up the monitors keep flashing, "signal" then "no signal" then they
power down even though the computer is still on. I've done almost everything
I was asked to do but the problem persists.

Sorry, that was long-winded. Here is my question. What card should I buy?
I have Windows XP professional on a Velocity Micro. I have two ViewSonic
monitors. My present card is ATI All-In-Wonder X600 series. I do graphics and
play 3D games.

I have been told to buy ATI or NVIDIA. I don’t have $400 to spend on a video
card.

Any suggestions?

Before you go out and buy a video card, try turning off the computer and
pulling the computer's plug so it doesn't connect to the electrical
outlet. Remove the card. Take some compressed air and blow out the video
card slot. Put the card in and then slowly put it in and out a few
times. Plug the computer back in and fire it up and see if that sorts it
out. If not, you need a new card.

M

 

[BlueFireZ]

Hmmmm. I will try that. I blew the dust out a little while ago but I did not
pay special attention to the video card. Thanks.

 

[BlueFireZ]

Will do. Thanks, Anna.

Blue...
Well, if you *really* think it's your graphics card that's causing your
problem...

Take a look at...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-gtx,2270.html
Anna

 

[JS]

Start by looking at Tom's Hardware for a review of
your existing X600 series card which appears to be
a 2004 vintage.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sli-coming,927-6.html

Now decide if you need the X600's "ATI X600 All-in-Wonder" features.
If the answer is no then the next thing to determine is your ATI X600 an
AGP or PCI slot based card.

If it's PCI then the field is wide open in the way of price and performance.
If' it's AGP then you don't have a lot of choices and may end up paying
at lot more for the few top of the line AGP models than a less costly PCI
card that will easily out perform you old X600.

Again Tom's hardware:
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/benchmarks,30.html
(located on the right side of this page are charts from earlier years)

No once you pick a card from the chart google NewEgg
for a ballpark on price and availability:
Google:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...0&ct=result&cd=1&q=ATi+HD+3870+newegg&spell=1

Results: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102719

I would suggest you buy the "Retail" version and not an "OEM" card. OEM is
cheaper but you may not have any warranty
other than with Newegg. the "Retail" version may cost a little more but you
get a valid warranty from the manufacture and a box with driver disk and
sometimes other goodies.

One final note: Most new Video cards require a separate power connector.
This may be a four pin Molex or a 6/8 pin PCI Express power connector. Check
that your power supply not only meets the minimum wattage requirements for
the card but also has the proper power connector.

Power Connector info:
http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html

 

[BlueFireZ]

Great. Thanks. I bought OEM stuff years ago. Not a good idea. I also like
NewEgg.

 

[VanguardLH]

I think it's time to get a new graphics card. My monitors lose the signal
when powering up: just before the Windows welcome page. As the computer is
powering up the monitors keep flashing, "signal" then "no signal" then they
power down even though the computer is still on. I've done almost everything
I was asked to do but the problem persists.

Sorry, that was long-winded. Here is my question. What card should I buy?
I have Windows XP professional on a Velocity Micro. I have two ViewSonic
monitors. My present card is ATI All-In-Wonder X600 series. I do graphics and
play 3D games.

I have been told to buy ATI or NVIDIA. I don¢t have $400 to spend on a video
card.

Since the ATI All-In-Wonder X600 is an AGP video card (something you did
not mention but respondents had to go lookup), you're stuck with AGP
video cards. In ATI, the best you'll find for their AGP products is the
X850 or X1950 or HD2950 or HD3850. Those are under $150. Most AGP
video cards are restricted to DX9 support (so you cannot play games that
requires DX10 on Vista), except the HD cards support DX10.

You can see some hardware specs for each of the ATI video cards at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ATI_graphics_processing_units.

You can see some hardware specs for each of the nVidia video cards at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units.
That lets you compare some specs (fillrate and bandwidth) against the
ATI products. Just be sure to check AGP video cards since that's the
slot you have in your mobo (based on the video card you now have).

 

[Unknown]

There are other items that may cause your problem.
Have you tried a different cable? Try another monitor? Do you have a good
ground? Power supply not overloaded?
What have you done to isolate the problem to the video card?

 

[Paul]

I think it's time to get a new graphics card. My monitors lose the signal
when powering up: just before the Windows welcome page. As the computer is
powering up the monitors keep flashing, "signal" then "no signal" then they
power down even though the computer is still on. I've done almost everything
I was asked to do but the problem persists.

Sorry, that was long-winded. Here is my question. What card should I buy?
I have Windows XP professional on a Velocity Micro. I have two ViewSonic
monitors. My present card is ATI All-In-Wonder X600 series. I do graphics and
play 3D games.

I have been told to buy ATI or NVIDIA. I don’t have $400 to spend on a video
card.

Any suggestions?

According to the All-In-Wonder article here, the closest card matching
that description is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-In-Wonder

All-in-Wonder X600 Pro PCI Express September 21, 2004

I'd check that the fan on the card is still spinning. Sometimes
cards fail, because the fan fails on the card, and the GPU gets
too hot. The card doesn't appear to have an auxiliary power connector,
so the connector probably isn't disconnected. (Some PCI Express cards,
have a 2x3 or 2x4 connector on the end opposite the faceplate.)

http://regmedia.co.uk/2005/05/20/aiw_1.jpg

If you enter the BIOS on the Velocity Micro machine, does the
display work then ? The BIOS usually displays in a relatively
low resolution, like 640 x 480. See if the display output
remains stable, if you just sit in the BIOS screen for a
while. The key you press, to enter the BIOS, varies from
motherboard to motherboard. For my Asus motherboards, it
would be the delete key.

The symptoms suggest the register interface looks to the software,
like it is working. Otherwise, if the BIOS was not successful at
finding a display to work with, it would have beeped an error code.
If the output is dying, it must be dying nearer to the outputs,
where the computer cannot tell there is a problem.

You could try having just one cable plugged into the faceplate
of the X600, to see if that makes a difference.

If the card was AGP, the edge connector on the board would resemble
one of these examples. If you compare these, to that PCI Express x16
connector on the X600 Pro above, the edge connector is quite different.
If the current card is PCI Express, it means you have a large set
of choices for a replacement. (There are more PCI Express models for
sale, than for the older AGP standard.)

http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/voltageslots.jpg

If the new card had only DVI connectors on the faceplate, you can
get DVI to VGA adapter dongles, to pick off the analog signals
needed for VGA. A video card with DVI-I connectors, has analog
signals on the cross shaped contact area on one end of the DVI-I
connector. That is what the DVI to VGA adapter uses for signals.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814998101

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Pinout.svg/300px-DVI_Connector_Pinout.svg.png

Paul

 

[VanguardLH]

Since the ATI All-In-Wonder X600 is an AGP video card (something you did
not mention but respondents had to go lookup), you're stuck with AGP
video cards. In ATI, the best you'll find for their AGP products is the
X850 or X1950 or HD2950 or HD3850. Those are under $150. Most AGP
video cards are restricted to DX9 support (so you cannot play games that
requires DX10 on Vista), except the HD cards support DX10.

You can see some hardware specs for each of the ATI video cards at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ATI_graphics_processing_units.

You can see some hardware specs for each of the nVidia video cards at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units.
That lets you compare some specs (fillrate and bandwidth) against the
ATI products. Just be sure to check AGP video cards since that's the
slot you have in your mobo (based on the video card you now have).

Oops, looks like the X600 AIW is a PCI-e card. Well, you can still use
the comparison tables to see how much more powerful are other PCI-e
video cards and then check Newegg to make sure they are within your
budget. You mention not wanting to pay $400 but you didn't mention what
is your upper bound for price.