Recommend a Better Graphics Card

Factual Questions
1

Hi. I have a NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT, but it suffers from the unfixable NVDDMKM.SYS failure problem. I found a thread on an NVIDIA message board that was 113 pages long where people were tweaking 20 different variables as well as over-and under- clocking their PCs, and no one found a fix. The driver update says everything is up-to-date, Windows Update says everything is up-to-date.

NVIDIA has been amazingly silent on the issue ( they closed the thread after 6 months when they noted people were getting ‘uncivil’). Their official company website blames VISTA for faulty error detection. Meh. Their company, their call. My take as a consumer is that I didn’t know NVIDIA was an inferior graphics card manufacturer that doesn’t support or stand behind their products, but now I know better.

So I am seeking a a graphics card which is better than the NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT, that is not made by NVIDIA or any of their subs, that can handle Vista-64 and an AMD Phenom processor, and can be gamed on with the typical high-graphics demanded by MMORPG games like those found on ‘STEAM’. Bonus points if it can be found / installed at a Big Box store like Best Buy.

Any suggestions for repacement cards would be greatly appreciated.

2

Depends on how much you want to spend. I would go with a Radeon 4770 for what you’re looking for. Tomhardware.com guides are usually very informative.

3

I would recommend this HIS Radeon HD 4850 1GB. The Radeon 4850 is faster than your current card. The Radeon 4770 is also a good choice, but due to supply issues tends to cost a tad bit more than the 4850, even though it is a tad bit slower than the 4850 at stock speeds - people like because if overclocks well.

Make sure to completely remove the Nvidia drivers before installing a Radeon card.