I think my ancient video card died

[/-/OtterSR]

Long story short... My pc which I bought new quite a few years ago began life as a Dell XPS700. A few years ago the motherboard died. So, I bought a new case, mobo, psu, memory, and a few other do-dads for it. I re-used the harddrives, video card and whatever else I could to save a few bucks. Oh and I installed Win7 Pro 64 bit on it.

It's been running well for me and what I do; mostly photo work and 1 game - COD UO.

So the other night I turned it on and got nothing on the monitor. It sounds like its booting fine. HDD lights blink, keyboard lights up and so on. But the little yellow light on the monitor never goes green. Don't see bios, Win logo or anything. I tried a different monitor and nothing. So I am thinking it's the video card. Btw, the video cards' fan turns on so it is getting power.

I have two things to check yet. 1., try another monitor cable just in case its bad, and 2., make sure I hear the BIOS beep. Not sure it is.

Here's the question, if the last 2 things above check ok, I am going to get a new video card. Something under $100. Suggestions?

The mobo's slot for the video card (no on board video btw) is PCIE x16 2.0. Current cards are 3.0 but I don't think that matters.

Open to suggestions. Thanks in advance.
Otter Senior.

Some boring specs:
CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 @ 2.66GHz
8 gb ram
Motherboard Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. EP45-UD3L
Graphics 256MB GeForce 8600 GTS
Monitor DELL E207WFP
Corsair 750 PSU
Big ugly black case with a few big fans.

[Deleted]

Consider these few things:

1. You could be experiencing something as simple as "creeping". It's a loose IT term to describe when an internal card's connection is interrupted by the contact moving as a result of contraction between when the card is "hot" (in use) and "cold" (when dormant). Simply remove and then reseat the card.
2. It's possible it's a bad cable; perhaps the "data" line got twisted and separated within the twisted-pair connection. You'd have to test this with another HDMI, DVI or AGP (analog) interface cable
3. You should be able to find a replacement VC (video card) for this motherboard since it's PCIE-x16. Newegg has several to choose from in your price range: www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=pcie-x16+video+cards&N=-1&isNodeId=1
4. VCs can fail, so it's not uncommon to seen this occur, but the BIOS may also be a good start (provided you can view this on the monitor). There is usually a setting in the BIO's for AGP or PCI. It may also be that simple a fix.

[Deleted]

if u absolutely cant go over 100 at all www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA30R2C17680

pros : 2 GB and 384 bit interface, cheap, new
cons : not the best quality of cards, and its GDDR 3 ( if u are spending under 100 u proly wont play the latest games, think it will do for u )

Not many 2 GB and 256+ bit intercae cards below 100. If you go on new egg there are a TON of 1 GB cards and 2-4 GB cards but the interface is kind of low... u can take a look at those if u want, but i dont recommend them.



If u can spare just a bit more i highly double recommend : www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814105029 ( AMD card )
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202113 <---- go for this one!!! and feel the butter smooth game play on cod

both will give u flawless FPS on Call of duty UO


And finaly if you want the best penny pinching deal possible, you will have to take a look around for at least 1 week, ebay, tigerdirect, other sides like that, sometimes u can manage to get a card like the above 2 for maybe 10 -20 bucks cheaper ( maybe used ).

[/-/OtterSR]

Thanks guys for taking the time to respond. It's appreciated.

Last night I made sure everything was seated properly on the board and restarted. No BIOS beep. Nothing on screen. I believe I should get a beep indicating the board passed POST. Since it didn't, I kinda figured the board was dead. As a last resort I tried an old vga card that was in a drawer. Put it in, booted, and I get my desktop and everything. So, it looks like the VC. Kinda curious though as to why I am not getting the POST beep...

Friction, I like your suggestions. They are pretty much in line with some things I've read at tomshardware.com reviews/buyers guides. I like the SAPPHIRE DUAL-X you suggested. I am leaning towards that one.

Two questions though, is that VC more than my mobo/cpu can handle? In other words, would the cpu just bottleneck this VC? And, would it work ok with my PCI Express x16 2.0?

I was trying to pinch pennies for one reason to add in a Samsung EVO ssd. I'd like to put the OS and Adobe software on it. But maybe I'll hold off for now on that.

Thanks again.

[Deleted]

It will not bottle neck your Video card, take a look at performance gains from PCI express 2.0 over 3.0. There are a lot of reviews on that and gains are extremely minimal. I dont think you would see serious gains from PCI express 3.0 until you use one of the high end cards out there , and the future cards that will be coming out.

just google PCI express 2.0 vs 3.0

here is 3 quick examples i.imgur.com/4sYbB.jpg

www.overclock.net/t/1188376/hardwarecanucks-hd-7970-pci-e-3-0-vs-pci-e-2-0-comparison

images.pugetsystems.com/images/pic_disp.php?id=25617&width=601



if you were guna go for a card like this www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121904 then the gains will become more clear.

[Deleted]

Dec 11, 2014 8:57:12 GMT -5 /-/OtterSR said:

...Two questions though, is that VC more than my mobo/cpu can handle? In other words, would the cpu just bottleneck this VC? And, would it work ok with my PCI Express x16 2.0?

is that VC more than my mobo/cpu can handle?
No, your system will run at the maximum capability without having to overclock the CPU. The VC will run independent of the CPU for COD:UO without the need for property changes to the game or configuration changes to the system. In addition, whatever the transfer rate of the mobo; the VC will default to that pipeline.

And, would it work ok with my PCI Express x16 2.0?
Yes, it will work with your PCI Express x16 2.0. Even if your mobo doesn't "support" PCI Express 2.1 x 16 or PCI Express 3.0 x 16 (for example), the BI (Bus Interface) will use the default capability. The different PCI Express x16 versions are all backwards compatible, so you can use a v3.0 graphic card on a v2.0 compliant mobo and v1.0. The same applies to the graphic cards; so if you have a v3.0 compliant mobo and a v1.0 or v2.0 compliant graphic card you can use those cards with the v3.0 mobo.

The link to your EP45-UD3L motherboard is below:

www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3285&kw=GA-EP45-UD3L1.1#ov

[/-/OtterSR]

I'm still leaning towards Friction's recommendations, but do either of you have an opinion of this card: www.microcenter.com/product/429330/AMD_Radeon_R7_260X_Overclocked_2048MB_DDR5_PCIe_30x16_Video_Card

I can pick this up at the local MicroCenter.

Thanks!

[Deleted]

here is a benchmark that compares the HD 6970 vs the R7 260x
gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R7-260X-vs-Radeon-HD-6970

the HD 6970 is the clear winner, it will provide significantly higher FPS.


also the card u were lookin at sells for 100 bucks on newegg with free shipping. www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202081&cm_re=radeon_R7_260-_-14-202-081-_-Product

i suggest u just go for the one I posted unless like i said, if you look around long enough, u may be able to find a better deal and save maybe 10-20 bucks or so.

[/-/OtterSR]

Ok Friction. Sapphire dual-x it is. Plus a Samsung Evo 250 gb ssd drive. Maybe I'll have things working again by the weekend and be in game.
Thanks a ton for the help and suggestions.

[Deleted]

Good luck bud and hope to see you soon!

[Deleted]

Dec 14, 2014 18:48:26 GMT -5 /-/OtterSR said:

Maybe I'll have things working again by the weekend and be in game.

Take your time. Make sure everything is perfect....no rush no hurry

[/-/OtterSR]

So UPS knocked at the door last night and delivered my new Video Card and Samsung EVO 840 120BG SSD drive.

I installed the VC, no problems. Had to rearrange things in the case for it to fit (it's much bigger than my old VC). Booted, nothing. No screen. I thought great, it's my mobo after all. Then I realized there are two power connectors on the VC. Hooked up the second power connector. Booted. Windows! Joy.

I jumped on the server quickly to see what it looked liked. The first thing I noticed was lag. Never had that before. I figured I'll look at that later.... Since it was early, I decided to install the SSD.

Installed it. Ran the Samsung Migration software making triple sure I selected my current c: drive as the source and the new SSD drive as the destination. Half hour later it got to 100% and gave me an error: Cloning Failed Error 400110[061aee]. Great. I read someplace to 'Initialize' the SSD drive in Windows. I did that. Also read to enable ACHI in BIOS. I did that. Rebooted. Did the Migration again. Same Error. Crap.

Shut down. Removed the SSD. Changed BIOS back to where it was. Tried to reboot. Now I get NTLDR Is Missing.

Great. Now what? Any suggestions?

I am guessing my MBR is damaged? Although I don't have a clue about that stuff or how to fix it.

OtterSr
(I hate computers)

[Deleted]

I use Total Recovery software from FarStone to clone drives at work and home Otter..It has never let me down yet.
Using Drive Pro Ver 9.0 at the moment.. Lip

[Deleted]

Well, you must be running Windows XP then (NTLDR Is Missing error) and most likely you can't get to the System recovery screen and run a System Restore. If not, you can always make a bootable USB Windows drive and then run the recovery from there.

If you have the CD:

1. Locate your Windows XP/2000 installation disc and place it in your CD/DVD ROM drive.

2. Restart your computer.

3. When the computer restarts press any key on your keyboard when you are prompted, "Press any key to enter setup." Most computers are configured to boot to another device other than a hard drive. Since the Windows XP/2000 installation disk is bootable, you should see the prompt. However, if you don't see the prompt you may need to change your boot priority in your BIOS. To do so, enter the system BIOS by following the onscreen instructions upon startup. Then navigate to the Boot Priority menu and modify another device, such as a CD-ROM to boot prior to the hard drive. Then reboot your computer.

4. After you have pressed any key, the Windows XP/2000 setup screen will appear. After loading, press the "R" key to repair the Windows installation. The screen will appear black. The computer requests which installation you would like to log in. Generally speaking, press "1" and "Enter." If you have more than one hard drive or more than one partition, the procedure may be different. You must know which hard drive or partition your Windows operating system is installed in. You are subsequently prompted for a password. If you haven't set up one up, you can just leave the query blank and press "Enter." The phrase "c:\WINDOWS>" and a blinking cursor subsequently appear.

5. Type "copy d:\i386\ntldr c:\windows" (without quotes), where "D" is the letter of your CD/DVD ROM drive (your optical drive may be different, especially if you have more than one). Eject the CD from the drive and type "Exit" (without quotes) to restart your computer. The NTLDR file will be copied from the installation disc to your hard drive.


If you don't have the CD, then make a bootable USB drive:

1. Download the latest boot image from UltimateBootCD.com. The file is downloaded in the ISO format and can be mounted to a USB flash drive.
www.ultimatebootcd.com/

2. Download and install the WinToFlash utility from WinToFlash.com. This free application easily copies the downloaded bootable image file (.iso) to the USB drive.
wintoflash.com/home/en/

3. Insert the USB flash drive into an open USB port on your computer.

4. Open the WinToFlash application.

5. Select the "Basic Parameters" tab. Set the USB Drive Type to "Flash Stick." Set the File System to "Fat32," and set the Format to "USB-HDD."

6. Select "Windows Source Path" and select the downloaded boot image (ISO).

7. Select "USB Drive" and select the inserted USB drive.

8. Click "Run" to begin the process. After the process is complete, the USB drive will be capable of booting your Windows system.

[/-/OtterSR]

Dec 19, 2014 12:39:46 GMT -5 @moon said:

Well, you must be running Windows XP then (NTLDR Is Missing error)

This machine started life 7 or 8 years ago as a Dell XPS with WinXP. It has since been upgraded to Win7 Pro 64bit (using a legal Win7 upgrade). I think I did that about 2 years ago.

I don't know what's going on.

Thank you.