Sparks flying

M

MrNah

New Member
Holy balls. This has never happened to me before so just have to throw a few questions out there. Have two desktop computers in my office, made them both. My secondary computer which was behind me was running fine just downloading some games when there was a flash and the lights flickered and the computer was off. Smell of burning something was everywhere so I tried to start the computer (stupid I know but first time) it flashed from inside and wouldn't start. Opened it up and couldn't find where the smell was coming from and there was no visible black. So I tried to start it again and holy crap. Crazy sparks coming off the video card on the bottom right. The video card is a Asus en8500GT 256mb. I started the computer up when the video card was out and it ran without sparking but obviously couldn't plug in the monitor. Before I plug in a different video card could it be my mobo? Also I'm thinking of just putting my good computers video card in there and buying a beter one for my secondary computer. Whats a great new video card. The newer computer is a quad core 2.5 with 8 gigs of ram. What will work best for me. Thanks a lot, MrNah.

This is the video card burn is on the 1R1.
photo.jpg
 
That is a bad VRM... same thing can happen to motherboards too, it is a bit rare though. If the 8500gt is new or has warranty i would suggest returning it for a replacement or get an RMA
 
Personally I am replacing my old nVidia Geforce GTX275 for an ATI Radeon 5850. Whilst the nVidia card is still middle range these days, I read that the ARI cards at the moment are much cheaper for what you get than the nVidia cards. The nVidia cards are more expensive, but after a while they will get good at writing drivers for the cards which will dramatically increase the speed and performance of the nVidia cards. So if you are looking for a good long term I would go for an nVidia, but if you just looking for a good card at the moment I would go ATI and there somewhere close to the 5850 even trough that isn't the cheapest one they sell.

What specific model to go for depends on what you want to do with the desktop.
 
my motherboard is asus m3a. anything i need to know before getting a card? I wouldnt mind a card that will run any new games with all graphics up no problem. like Star craft 2 and diablo 3 when they come out. Something I wont have to replace or chang up for a long time. Suggestions?

full specs below
 
Last edited:
For endurance go for nVidia... The GTX275 will be able to handle everything just fine for a while, but I would say for long term you should go higher. Any specific budget? Because the high end nVidia can get very pricy...
 
davidandersson said:
The nVidia cards are more expensive, but after a while they will get good at writing drivers for the cards which will dramatically increase the speed and performance of the nVidia cards. So if you are looking for a good long term I would go for an nVidia, but if you just looking for a good card at the moment I would go ATI and there somewhere close to the 5850 even trough that isn't the cheapest one they sell.
Click to expand...

davidandersson said:
For endurance go for nVidia...
Click to expand...

Care to explain that in alittle better detail? And how ATI doesnt do the same thing?

MrNah said:
my motherboard is asus m3a. anything i need to know before getting a card? I wouldnt mind a card that will run any new games with all graphics up no problem. like Star craft 2 and diablo 3 when they come out. Something I wont have to replace or chang up for a long time. Suggestions?

full specs below
Click to expand...

What kind of Power Supply do you have and what price range card are you looking for?
 
Last edited:
The reason I think that is because the nVidia cards are always a new whole chipset, whereas the ATI cards will be improved versions of the old chipset, which means that the ATI will have its performance from when you buy it and it won't change, but the nVidia cards, which are competition for the ATI cards when they come out, will get better and better over time when nVidias drivers improve. So the high end stuff of the two companies are similar but the nVidia card may seem a little more expensive, in the long run the nVidia will beat the ATI because of improved drivers.

So if you are looking at a card that you will replace in a year anyway, it's better to go for ATI because it will have the performance from scratch, the nVidia cards will just get nice once you reach about half a year or later from the time of purchase and will continues to get better as the drivers improve, so in the long run the nVidia will be worth it.
 
Last edited:
davidandersson said:
The reason I think that is because the nVidia cards are always a new whole chipset, whereas the ATI cards will be improved versions of the old chipset, which means that the ATI will have its performance from when you buy it and it won't change, but the nVidia cards, which are competition for the ATI cards when they come out, will get better and better over time when nVidias drivers improve. So the high end stuff of the two companies are similar but the nVidia card may seem a little more expensive, in the long run the nVidia will beat the ATI because of improved drivers.
Click to expand...

I just give up with the place. Where did you learn this stuff. Most is completely wrong. Nvidia is notorious for reusing/renaming chips. Not going to argue, its pointless.

This is one reason I dont post much anymore. By the time you read a thread, there is so much misinformation that its impossible to get it correct.
 
I'm sorry if I'm wrong but it's not something to get mad about... I like to be corrected because that means that a misconception is gone in my life which is a good thing, for me and for others because clearing it up will mean that other people, that may or may not believe the same thing, will now that they were wrong.

When I got my nVidia GTX275 the rendering was very slow. now, after almost a whole year, the drivers are starting to get really good and I can see a dramatic increase in speed of rendering frames. I think that this isn't the case with ATI cards from which I interpret that at the start the nVidia cards won't be able to run at their full potential but nVidia will put drivers out there that will improve those cards.
 
jeez, my post turned into a soap opera. I'm looking to spend between 100-200 dollars. Looking for a good long term video card so when Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 come out I'm not springing for the game ($60) and a new video card 100-200$. And this way I can replace the fried video card from my secondary computer.

So please what do you think is a good card for my current system?
COOLER MASTER eXtreme RP-500-PCAR 500W ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply
Rest of my computer information is listed below.
 
MrNah said:
I'm looking to spend between 100-200 dollars.

So please what do you think is a good card for my current system?
COOLER MASTER eXtreme RP-500-PCAR 500W ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply
.
Click to expand...

4870 DirectX 10
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...iption=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

5770 DirectX 11 Overall pretty close to a 4870 in performance.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...iption=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

Want to spend alittle more.
4890
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150438

GTX 260
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...iption=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
 
Of that bunch I'd personally go with the 4870. Its well within your budget and will run anything you throw at it. Won't necessarily run them all at full settings, but you won't be hard pressed to run anything with respectable eye candy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top