Anyone else smoked a video card?

[Revalos]

Man, that was such a good hit...pass the 256bit pipe.

He he...anyway, I basically torched a 64mb video card (It has burn marks on it now) playing Battlefield: Vietnam so I went off the deep end and spent $200 on a fancy hi-tech new one (Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB 256bit pipe for those who care about that kind of stuff).

Was I a moron for spending nearly half what I paid for this computer on a NES cartridge sized circuit board when I could have bought a PS2 and some games? I'm still debating it...damn peer pressure making me buy high end electronics!

[Blazing247]

Yes, and no. If the rest of your computer is shit (which, no offense, it probably is if it cost you $400), then a fancy graphics card means squat. If the rest of your computer is fast, a graphics card is one of the most important factors in determining frame rate in games. What's your setup? I just pumped in a shitload for my video card, but I run the most resource intensive games with flawless frame rates.

[Revalos]

Athlon XP 2100
1GB DDR 400 Ram
AK37 GTR Motherboard

It isn't a bad machine (at least by my reckoning), I could upgrade the Ram up to 3GB and the Processor to a AMD64 if I wanted to. I also figured that this new card would be reusable if I bought a new computer in a year or so and not be so out of date on most games except for the high end FPS. I'm just a Battlefield nut and I need my fix. It was getting old playing BFV with FPS of around 25 and all the settings on low.

Heck, it keeps me the hell away from GS4, so it can't be all bad.

[Blazing247]

I'd say you didn't waste your money, then. 3GB of RAM most certainly is a waste of money, however. You'll be hard pressed to even put 1GB of RAM to work unless you multitask large, resource intensive programs all at once (3D dithering, Photoshop, source engines, etc.)

[AnticorRifling]

You installed that video card yet? I'm curious as to the power needs of the card and the heat it generates. I can't remember which card but I know one of the new bad boys draws serious juice and can put a hurting on standard power supplies.

[Miss Jade]

Originally posted by AnticorRifling
You installed that video card yet? I'm curious as to the power needs of the card and the heat it generates. I can't remember which card but I know one of the new bad boys draws serious juice and can put a hurting on standard power supplies.
see for your self
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/
________
HEADSHOP (http://headshop.net/)

[Revalos]

That's a cool calculator. I'm at around 283 watts with a 300 watt supply even with the new video card.

Anyway, makes me feel better about the whole thing. The office thought I'd lost it spending that much on one piece of a computer.

Thanks!