Another Graphics Card question....

[Tgdrysix]

As some of you may remember my post that "OfB Killed My Computer"....I have since sent off my less than year old graphics card and am awaiting ( rather impatiently) for it's replacement....my question is do graphic cards go out that easily? In other words what is it's expected lifespand?   Should I maybe upgrade to a newer version? It was a Geforce Fx 5700 ve 256 mb ddr AGP 8x.? What would be the likely hood of the new replacement doing the same thing? I know OFB has cause some issues with other graphic cards...my sister just put in a gefore 6200 not sure all the specs but I know she is having crashing issues....any feedback would be greatly appreciated....lord knows I have nothing better to do with my time, (but read forums, not that it's not entertaining or anything) since I can't play my game..... .....this is my "fix" for now.....I'm trying to resist going on a downloading spree....I've updated my hacks/fixes/mods/patches.....I'm soooo jealous of you guys getting to "play".....I have at least one more week to wait.....trying to hang on....but my fingers are slipping........tgdrysix

[LauraW]

I have a Geforce 6800 GT and I am having crashing problems as well. I get the weird blue screen with the hour glass that turns and then goes back to the game, eventually crashing. I am considering a new card as well but I don't know what to get that won't have problems. Any recommendations? Might help both of us.

[jsalemi]

This was discussed not long ago here, though the thread has probably scrolled to the next page or so by now.  The 78.01 drivers for the nvidia 6xxx series seem to be the last stable ones.  You can download them from the nvidia site. I had the same blue screen to crash problem with my 6600 -- fortunately, it was a temporary replacement for the ATI X700 I usually use that went back for warranty repair.  I'm back with the ATI card now, and haven't had the problem since.

[Simlover]

I'm using the Nvidia 6200 with the 78.1 drivers and have no problems at all. One thing you need to know about Nvidea chipsets is  that they can be incompatible with high density ram modules and were causing random crashes when playing the games like the sims.
If you scroll down the link they give you the link to a program to find out if the ram is causing problems and they also have a list of compatible modules etc.

Update: I cant find the original info on the incompatibility with HD Ram but is probably still worth checking out their ram compatibility chart

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nvidia.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=22&p_created=1096486168&p_sid=BDCBOT3i&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9OTgmcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz0wJnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9YW5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfZm5sJnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9aGlnaCBkZW5zaXR5IHJhbQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1

[Regina]

This whole driver thing is so weird, because by everyone else's experiences, my game should be crashing right and left, and it's not. *knocks wood*

I have the 6800 XT card with the new drivers and it works beautifully!  I did just buy this card not a month ago, so I'm wondering if there's something in it the others don't have.