No, it can’t happen on a weekday morning, but always on a Friday evening after tech support has gone home for the weekend-extra props for a Thursday night before a major holiday.
Anyhoo, I now have wavy green lines on my display (which will only work in safe mode)-I was playing a game for several hours when the problem hit. Yes, I shut things down, took the machine outside and hosed down the fans with compressed air, let her sit & cool for 30 minutes, still got the wavy lines. I’m going to try the latest Nvidia driver, but I’m not hopeful.
Specs:
Windows Vista 32 bit
Quad core Q6600 @ 2.40 GHz
Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT
4 megs RAM
What new video card would you recommend in the Nvidia line (had the machine for 14 months now, may be time for an upgrade anyway)? Doubt Comp USA is open tomorrow-and if someone comes along and says not to go to them I won’t really argue. Open to ideas.
The GTX 260 is a great realtively low-priced semi-high end card. I have one in my second rig and it runs things like a champ. Even plays Crysis at max detail as long as you’re okay with 20-30FPS frame rates. Lower the detail and you can bump it higher.
Stay away from BFG though. I’ve owned four of them in my lifetime (two GTX 7800s, a GTX 7950 and my current 295 GTX) and and three of the four have crapped out in some way. My current 295 GTX overheats like Rush Limbaugh on his second flight of stairs, and then starts randomly blanking out the screen like a really slow strobelight. One of my previous 7800s just died. The 7950 lasted until I sold it to upgrade, but apparently died out on the buyer some few months afterward. I’ve had good luck with eVGA though.
Have you tried removing the card, then replacing it? Sometimes it is just a badly seated card, which has vibrated loose. Don’t just push on it; remove it completely, then reseat it.