NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra (help please)

[doylebob 0]

Hi guys,I'm a newbie on this forum.I have a question and I'm looking for some help please. I've recently had some FS9 problems and I think it may be the video card, but I'm not sure. I think there may be a built-in fan in my video card (NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra) but I can't see it and it doesn't seem to be working at all. I cleaned out the dust from inside my PC last weekend. When cleaning around the video card, the cooling vent openings in the back of the card were filthy. Now that I've cleaned them out, I can't feel any air blowing from it! Does anybody know if it's supposed to blow air through these vents?Thanks for your helpBob.

[Guest firehawk44]

It doesn't look like it's supposed to blow air through the vents. The fan shroud is enclosed in plastic and should be blowing air on the NV38 chip. I got my info from the following website: http://techreport.com/articles.x/5797/1. If it's not working at all, then you won't be seeing any video or the video on your computer screen will be corrupted. It might be time you started thinking about replacing this pretty old card. You can get a much better card, albeit not a brand new one, for a very cheap price on the Internet (http://www.newegg.com/product/ProductList.aspx?N=2000380048+1069609642&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=48&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA).Jim

[Guest harleyman52]

No...The vents are for air intake which you will not feel......

[january 19]

"-----RE: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra (help please)" ------"It might be time you started thinking about replacing this pretty old card. You can get a much better card, albeit not a brand new one----"-------------Jim- But "old" can also be beautiful! Espec with dual GeForceFX5200 cards and a triple wide horizon!Alex ReidBeech Bonanza near Port Orchard WA in misty rain, enroute CYYJ-KSEA. http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/191738.jpg

[Guest firehawk44]

"Jim- But "old" can also be beautiful! Espec with dual GeForceFX5200 cards and a triple wide horizon!"Hi Alex,You're right! That is nice! I have Dual 768MB 8800 GTX's so guess I'm a little spoiled with the newer technology. I apologize if I offended you or anyone else with my "old card" comment. Jim

[doylebob 0]

Thank you very much indeed Jim, Alex and Harleyman for your responses. They were very helpful. At least now I know I don't "need" to change my video card urgently.I've pondered the comment about upgrading to a newer/better video card. The problem I see with that is, if I do change it, the rest of the components on my machine (a Compaq X, purchased in '04) would still be 4 or 5 year old technology. Unless the card fails, it's probably better for me to buy a new PC when the time comes!Again, thank you for your help.Bob.