Replacement card for the obsolete 8800 GTX?

[2xslick]

Howdy folks,

Nothing like a computer problem to make me feel dumb. I think my Geforce 8800 GTX has died on me. Whenever I boot up my computer, the bios screen has whitish yellow lines all over the place and if I start up Vista64 in safe mode, I end up staring at a black background with hundreds of red wavy lines and my mouse pointer. System hangs here. If I start my comp normally, I get a BSOD loop as soon as window loads.

Neither the PC vendor nor the card's manufacturer will give me any advice. The most I've gotten out of them is that the warranty has expired and they no longer carry the card. So now I find myself trying to find a replacement card. Problem is, I haven't looked at video cards in two years and apparently video cards now use PCI-Express X 16 2.0 while my Asus P5n-E SLI motherboard simply uses X 16 1.0. I've heard that not all 2.0 cards will work with the 1.0. Would a 2.0 card struggle in a 1.0 slot or would I not notice a difference if I was, say, using a Geforce 9800?

I'm also concerned if I can physically fit a card into my computer. When a card is listed as taking up 2 slots, are they just referring to the slots on the back of the computer case or is the card so big it blocks access to an adjacent PCI-Express slot?

I need help trying to find a card that offers similar performance to my 8800 GTX that will fit into a single PCI-Express X 16 1.0 slot (audio card in the other X16) and doesn't use more than 2 6-pin aux connectors. ATI cards are also welcome.

I appreciate any help, comments, questions, etc. I'd be happy to clarify anything.

Thanks for reading.

 

[gomi]

I think pci e 2 cards are backwards compatible with pci e 1 if I recall correctly.
a dual slot card will block access to the adjacent slot because the fan or heatsink will extend beyond the first slot.

 

[OvrClkr]

Well first of all now you know that when you buy a video card, you buy it from a company that will give you a lifetime warranty and nothing less. This way in the future if ANYTHING happens to the card you are fully covered and you wont have to deal with this headache....

1) You need a budget... How much are you willing to spend?

2) Yes, a PCI-Express 2.0 card will work with your mobo (1.0) you have nothing to worry about....

3) Buy from XFX, EVGA or BFG....

4) Start looking here : http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=38&name=Video-Cards-Video-Devices

5) Let me know if you have any questions.....

 

[2xslick]

Wow, quick responses. I'm glad hardware hasn't changed too much. $200 is what I'm willing to spend but if I can find a replacement for less then I'm happy.
So, has one of the Big 2 one out or is it still about even in the ATI VS NVidia fight?

Again thanks for the help. You guys are awesome. Looks like I'm going to be newegging it up after dinner.

 

[OvrClkr]

Get this and save for future upgrades :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150394

 

[2xslick]

Well I took your advice, OvrClkr. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

 

[OvrClkr]

Well you made a wise decision.....

Please give us an update once you install the card....

 

[2xslick]

Well the card arrived Monday. After installing it, bios booted up normally but I could not get windows to load. Booting in safe mode caused it to hang while it was loading system drivers. I ended up just reformating and reinstalling Vista. Computer works fine now. Thanks again for everyone's help.

 

[OvrClkr]

Make sure you remove any unwanted GPU drivers before you install anything.... That's has happend to me in the past as well and removing all the old drivers and related files would result in a flawless new install.....