Video Card Overpowering PC - Need Help

Wh1te Out

Wh1te Out

New Member
I have Dell Dimension PC that is a couple of years old, specs are Pentium 4, 2.8 Ghz, with 1 GB of RAM. Awhile back I put a NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT video card in it and have experienced gaming problems ever since. The best way I can describe it is texture popping or energy spiking. The screen will constantly be covered in flittering lines, making playing anything almost impossible. Sims 2 simply will not run, it's too laggy and the spiking is too severe. The issue is that World of Warcraft becomes very annoying when the background terrain is flashing at you constantly.

What I believe (guessing) is that the video card is overpowered for the CPU. I could be totally wrong, but before I put this card in the computer I believe I had a 6000 series and never experienced any problems. What I need to do is make the popping go away so that games will run correctly visually. So, if I need to go back and buy an older video card, which one is right for this PC? If anyone knows of this problem and a way to fix it, feel free to share that too... as always, thanks in advance.

Merry Christmas, everyone.
 
What size power supply is in your machine(both of you). Also have grab the latest drivers for your motherboard, directx, and your video card. For the motherboard, figure out the chipset and get it directly from intel. For the video card goto nvidia's site. If you want me to be the most effective pm me your system serial numbers and i can get better information directly from dell..:)
 
Hescominsoon said:
What size power supply is in your machine(both of you). Also have grab the latest drivers for your motherboard, directx, and your video card. For the motherboard, figure out the chipset and get it directly from intel. For the video card goto nvidia's site. If you want me to be the most effective pm me your system serial numbers and i can get better information directly from dell..:)
Click to expand...

I'll have to open up the case to get the power supply info so I'll try to get that done later this evening. I can go ahead and pm you the serial number though. Thanks for the help!

~ Taigris
 
Mine used to do this alot:

messedupcard..png


When it did artifact, it would usually crash soon after.

But it has not done that in a while...

Weird...
 
ooooh... pretty colors. I read that some graphics glitching can be caused by overheating problems. have you checked the vents to make sure they're free of lint?
 
ick..you don't have any real video upgrade options as most modern video card use a minimum of 50W. You'll need to upgrade your psu first..to at least 350 W
 
Hescominsoon said:
ick..you don't have any real video upgrade options as most modern video card use a minimum of 50W. You'll need to upgrade your psu first..to at least 350 W
Click to expand...

Just remember that dell loves to use power supplies with the pins switched around but still uses the standard ATX connector. So you can plug it in and enjoy your motherboard getting fried.
 
vibrokatana said:
Just remember that dell loves to use power supplies with the pins switched around but still uses the standard ATX connector. So you can plug it in and enjoy your motherboard getting fried.
Click to expand...
My brother had an old Dell and when we tried to power it up with a different PSU it would not crank... their motherboards are wack.
 
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Okay, so I opened up the old lady and I am feeling much less knowledgeable by the second. The power supply has both 305 W and 150 W listed as "max" in different places. NPS-305BB C is the model number (Dell) if that helps any.

There's a LOT of serial numbers on my machine. I took one off the back: HC4R881

Also, here's a picture of subject video card (eVGA NVIDIA 7600GT). You probably can't see it but there are four cracked transistors (?), the silver thimble sized components. I can't see that helping my situation any.

3149196632
3149196632_65fbca498e.jpg


So for the time being I've gone back to onboard graphics. I have 1 GB of total RAM (DDR 2). What kind of card can I get to make this not be overpowered but still be top of the line for what it can handle? Thanks in advance.
 
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those cracks are most likely just pressing marks..the issue is your psu. the 7600gt requires at least a 350W psu. you have two choices now..upgrade the psu to 400 or get a 6600 gt.
 
Sad thing is I have a 6600 sitting in my other PC. But it's the opposite format of this one. One of them is PCI and the other is whatever the other format is. (LOL) So basically square peg doesn't fit in round hole.

What is my CHEAPEST option?
 
Wh1te Out said:
Crap... already closed it up. Pretty sure the one I need is AGP. It's the longer of the two.
Click to expand...

The card pictured above is PCI-e, AGP has a sorta stepped look, while PCI-E is straight pins similar to regular PCI. Also it wouldn't have the SLI/crossfire bridge connector if it was AGP..
 
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