New Video Card needed,..Power Supply questions

[gigercom]

I have the following system:

Dell Dimension 8200
Pentium 4 Processor at 1.9 Ghz
512MB PC 800 NON-ECC RDRAM (2 DIMMS)
64MB DDR Nvidia GeForce3 Ti500 (Needs replacement)
SB Live Sound Card
1.44 MB Floppy Drive
40 GB EIDE 7200 RPM Hard Drive
30 GB EIDE 7200 Hard Drive
Adaptec 2940U2W SCSI Controller Card
External SCSI Drive Bay (With power supply)
Internal SCSI Zip Drive
Internal USB 2.0 PCI Card (4 Ports)
10/100 PCI Ethernet NIC
16X DVD ROM
TDK VeloCD CDR-RW Drive
250W MAX Power supply
Windows XP Pro
20.1" Dell Ultra sharp 2000FP LCD monitor


I need to replace my video card since the fan stopped running and it seems to have burned out. I want a card that is equal in quality to my old card (see above). After some preliminary research I think that the Nvidia GeForce4 ti family of cards are the way to go. I do extensice CAD 3d modeling and large file Photoshop editing so I believe that this is the way to go. (I do some minimal gaming,..Warcraft III from time to time)

Questions:

First,... am I correct in my decision for the ti family of Nvidia cards?

Second,... I think that either the 4600 or the 4400 would be best, depending on my budget. I think the "MX" and "Go" cards are a bit slower for my needs but im not totally sure. I also think the FX5200 card is not equal quality to the Geforce 3 ti500 card I previously had.

Third,....Which manufacturer is the best for these cards? (Evga, Gainward, PNY,..other?)

Fourth,...Is my power supply good enough for this? or should I go with a smaller video card? or should I upgrade my power supply?

Thanks so much in advance for any suggestions. Take care.

-Chris

I would say if your current PSU was working fine w/ the GF3 Ti500, just keep using it. Might wanna upgrade it if you have the extra $, or just way 'til l8r.

Are you sure your GF3 Ti500 is bad? You can get replacement HSF's from CompUSA for like $10. Mine went out on a GF3 Ti200, still works fine w/ replacement fan from CompUSA.

I would not go w/ a FX card, do the Ti4200.

Oh, and if you don't wanna mess w/ the GF3 Ti500 . . . send it to me.

[Juan Sanchez]

Just get a 9600NP, go to www.newegg.com and type 9600 in the search bar, that 1st one is the one I recomend, it's $118(FREE SHIPPING) Connect3d 9600, ATI has legendary 2D quality and there recent drivers have been better then even Nvidia's. Its better than any Geforce 4 you can buy(considering a 9600 Pro runs DX9 better then a Geforce FX 5900 ULTRA) and quite a bit cheaper to boot. Plus if you have a case that has a side fan near the vid card (like my Mom's Chengming) then you can OC the core to 400 Mhz (but the ram might max out at only 450Mhz) so with some OCing it might perform close to a Pro. Any way, hope for the best for you dood, Geforce 4 are good cards (better then the FX's thats for sure).

Peace out..........yo.........homey.........

[Prexaspes]

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...ion=14-124-107

Might be worth a look, since you use CAD programs.

My favorite nVidia card manufacturer was Visiontek, but they now produce ATI cards. If you look around you may be able to find GeForce 4 Visiontek cards. They were probably the best.

[slinky]

if the fan has died, you can get a replacement from the manufacturer free.

[gigercom]

You say i can get a free fan from the manufacturer,...do you mean Nvidia? If not them then who,...I'm not sure who made the card,...it came preinstalled OEM from Dell.

I have attached pics of the card for reference if it helps...

Thanks so much everyone for your suggestions!!!
I really appreicate it!

-Chris

[gigercom]

What is the size of the fan? I measured it to just a hair over 2 inches,....50+mm or 5+cm?

Thanks,...

I would at least like to try and fix it if I can...

-Chris

[Juan Sanchez]

My GEFORCE 3 CAME BACK TO LIFE!!!!!!! Just wanted to let everyone to know about it's resurection. I have a Visiontek, and I can tell you that up till a few months ago it was great, then it displayed only 4 colors so I had to use the onboard Video on the nForce, Well I just got this impulse and stuck it in and it came back to life!!!!!!!!! Try taking off the header for the fan and reset it, it worked for me I ran UT2K3 and it was so smooth!!!! I thought it was smoother then my 9500 Pro!!!! then I noticed that it was running 800x600 and everything was set to the lowest (on the Raddy I run Highest Rest and the HOLY SH*T settings). Anyway, for what you use it for, the card works fantasticly and unless its trully dead don't get another card

[Juan Sanchez]

BTW your card looks just like mine, and mines a Visiontek, they have lifetime warrenties, when mine died (and later came back to life) I was going to contact Visiontek and see if they can send me a Radeon 9100 as a replacement, I just never had the time but it worked out cuz it came back....woo hoo!!!!!!!!

[gigercom]

OK,...

Since I really can't use the card as it stands,....I preformed surgery on the card. I took the fan off.

Is there suppose to be a glue that adhered the metal fan enclosure (heatsink?) to the chip??? or is this damage to the card?
(See attached pics)

If not,..Then can i get a total replacement for this? or do I just replace the black plastic fan? My guess is the whole thing needs to go,...metal enclosure and all.. How can I be sure that the fan I get will fit the card? I searched around and found these,..are these correct?:

http://2cooltek.safeshopper.com/51/237.htm?768
or
http://2cooltek.safeshopper.com/51/364.htm?563

Are there others that may be better?

Thanks again for any help,..
-Chris