I'm in need of an upgrade for my computer. A few weeks ago I noticed that the fan on my old graphics card (GeForce 5500) stopped working which caused my computer to overheat and switch off a lot. This means for now that I have to play SD.

 

I was wondering if anyone could give me a name of a good cheapish graphic card to play games such as RuneScape, The Sims 2/3 etc

 

Also, when I play RuneScape my computer temperature raises from 66 to around 85 C... I've cleaned my computer and my other fans seem to be working. Would there be any equipment I could buy to keep my computer cooler (a website stated that an intel computer is safe until around 95 C). But I don't believe that.

 

Temperatures are based on CPU figures.

You might get better advice on the Tech Forum.

 

But damn, 85, that's hot :x

Could you move my topic over?

Moved it :)

If you're talking about 85 deg c for CPU, that really is not good. 66 is not good for idle either, for CPU or any other part of the computer. Intels can be safe until 95 deg I guess, but lower temperature is always better. 85/66 is simply wayyy too high.

 

A picture would be useful, to see wire management etc etc.

My graphics card is an Asus EAH4830 (linky) which cost me $130. It is considered good quality for its price. You could try that.

 

 

Feel free to pm me if you have more questions

I'm going to assume that your computer is AGP, in which case, you are limited as to what you can buy. You said that you wanted a cheap card, so a GeForce 6200 AGP will probably be your best bet. The best AGP card would be the Sapphire Radeon 3850 AGP (around £80). Anyway:

 

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?client=opera&q=GeForce+6200+AGP&oe=utf-8&hl=en&cid=6887904189880195111&ei=tPUhTN7UOqLU2wTv_vzsCw&sa=title&ved=0CA0Q8wIwATgA#p

 

If you can determine whether your card is AGP or PCI, then it will be easier to recommend a graphics card (The 5500 was released in both AGP and PCI versions).

66 Idle DANG. That's Very very very very very very wrong

 

It hottest day of year so far in uk and my system is idling at 32, creeping up to 38 for full on graphics intensive gaming

just letting you know that i hear a lot of people complain about the stock fan's on intel chips. people say that they are very cheap and that $30 replacement fans can cool by an extra 7-15 degrees. so, if you have a small budget i'd recommend getting the replacement fan. there are plenty of 1gb HD graphics cards out there for only 100 dollars. if you have more money to spend, think about getting an antec 900 case

just letting you know that i hear a lot of people complain about the stock fan's on intel chips. people say that they are very cheap and that $30 replacement fans can cool by an extra 7-15 degrees. so, if you have a small budget i'd recommend getting the replacement fan. there are plenty of 1gb HD graphics cards out there for only 100 dollars. if you have more money to spend, think about getting an antec 900 case

Good case, lots of fans :P

 

Fairly cheap too.

just letting you know that i hear a lot of people complain about the stock fan's on intel chips. people say that they are very cheap and that $30 replacement fans can cool by an extra 7-15 degrees. so, if you have a small budget i'd recommend getting the replacement fan. there are plenty of 1gb HD graphics cards out there for only 100 dollars. if you have more money to spend, think about getting an antec 900 case

Good case, lots of fans :P

 

Fairly cheap too.

 

Antec 300 is pretty decent too

If you really want to be cheap about it put a box fan next to your computer, hell take the case side off. I did that for years.

If you really want to be cheap about it put a box fan next to your computer, hell take the case side off. I did that for years.

Dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty&dusty! :thumbup:

You could get a Nvidia 8600 for about 200 bucks... Its a little pricey but if they ever upgrade the graphics in RS again it would be able to handle it

You could get a Nvidia 8600 for about 200 bucks... Its a little pricey but if they ever upgrade the graphics in RS again it would be able to handle it

 

Wow that's pretty expensive O.o considering I paid $130 for my 9800GT a little more than a year ago.

I got an 8600GT for my old computer back in summer 2008 for £40 ish, which would have been $70 back then, so no idea where you've got that $200 price from now :P

 

Methinks you guys are missing something obvious here anyway. How old is your computer and what are the rest of the specs (Processor and RAM/memory)? No point in getting a graphics card with 1GB of memory if your computer only has that much RAM anyways. If it's quite old and you only want it for HD, you may aswell save a bit and get something like a 4650, that will do HD just fine, even on high settings with anti-aliasing.

8600gt is out of the question. Since his card was released in agp and pci.

.

Wow, that's HOT.

 

And yes, I's say a Geforce 5500 suggests AGP, and quite likely not enough power supply to run medium-high cards.

 

The Geforce 6200 can be found pretty cheap in AGP, is considerably superior to the 5500 and does not have huge power requirements.

 

Fitting fans in spare case fan positions would be a good idea, many cases have a spare postion at the back (extract) and a postion in the front panel assembly (intake). Poor case cooling means high CPU temperature, especially if the heatsink is not the best.

 

Also, replacing the CPU heatsink, taking care to clean off the old paste and apploy new if the heatsink does not have pre-applied paste or thermal interface.

 

The Arctic Freezer 7 Pro is a popular "workhorse" heatsink, and supports most modern sockets, though if your Intel is the older Socket 478, you'll need something that supports that.