New system which video card to get?

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Hi all,I know this may be a subjective question, but I am going to buy a new system. $$$ not really a factor.Dell XPS 730 Intel® Core2 Extreme Processor QX6850, (3 GHz, 8MB L2 Cache, 1333Mhz FSB) 4GB (4X1GB) Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz My query is, what video card.Choice is either.Single or duelNVidia® GeForce® 9800GT 512MB GDDR3 orSingle or Duel1024MB PCIe(TM ) x16 ATI® Radeon HD 3870X2I've mainly been a Nvidia consumer for years now, but the latest system which had a 8800 GTS in it, really has caused me grief, FSX locks up after 1/2 an of flight, system crash dumpsNow whether this is the video card's fault or drivers, I cannot really tell. Although I know the 8800GTS would not work with latest Certifed drivers form Nvidia, 175.19, they would just stop responding. I went back to the 8600 card that came with system and yes the 175.19 drivers sem okay with it, I am still getting lock ups.MB was replaced by Dell a few months ago, as CPU fan got stuck on high revs, Tech guy could not work out why.System is running Vista 32bit sp1, before cpu fan issue it never caused a problem.This errors does appear to happen later in the day, so over heating may be a issue. not sure.System will be soley for gaming and mutilmedia stuff like converting movies etc to HDef. Current XPS I use for work and pleasure.Anyway replies welcome.ThanksPhil

[Guest jimcooper1]

Your problem may not be over-heating but Out-of-Memory errors.My advice is don't worry so much about which video card but go for Vista64 so that your system can easily address all that RAM and VRAM and if FSX is your main 'game' then a single Video card (rather than dual) will be fine.RegardsJim

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Thanks for reply and info JimYes agree could be out of memory issue, I've had the Vista temp gadget running this evening, doesn't seem to be showing anything noticable.CheersPhil

[Guest Nick_N]

JeffDo not choose the 3000 series ATi card over Nvidia. That card suffers from a serious lack of TMU's (Texture Mapping Units) in which ATi goofed then fixed with the 4000 series.The 8800GTS 640 is a better card than the 3000 series ATi so you would be going backwardsAs for your crashes, I suspect somthing else is wrongTry the 174.74 beta drivershttp://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x86_174.74.htmland also get the OS marked for >2GB use in Vista for OOM errorsFor Vista:WINDOWS VISTA ONLY: 1. Open a command prompt with Administration rights. You find the command prompt box under "Programs-Accessories-Command prompt" 2. Right Click the command prompt and select "run as administrator". 3. Enter in the box at the prompt: (copy/paste if you wish) bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVA 2560 and press enter 4. Reboot TO set that back to default in VISTA just start the command line prompt with Admin right again and type: bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVA 2048 Hit enter and reboot Make sure you have the VISTA updates from Windows Update installed that address out of memory errors too. http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/Ya...?num=1188591122 As long as you have Vista up to date with Windows update... or SP1 for Vista installed, you should already have those patchesFSX RTM or SP1 requres the user mark the exe file manually using special software for 2GB+ use. FSX SP2 needs no manual edit.See if that helps

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Hi Nick, thanks for reply and info,I'll look into it and let you know how I go.CheersPhil

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Hi NickI tried the bcdedit and got this replyNote I am logged on as administator in Vista sp2."The boot configuration store could not be openedAccess denied"I tried exactly how you typed it and then I tired where you have user, my user name on Vista.Any ideas why it will not open?thanksPhil

[jdk2 1]

Phil,Did you right-click the shortcut to the command prompt and choose "Run as administrator"? You have to do so in order to give it administrative rights.Then type: bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVA 2560Regards,Jim Karn

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Hi JimOkay yes I forgot that one had to right click on command prompt shortcut to run as admin.Okay done that and it worked.However not sure if it's helped at all.In fact, I just had Vista SP1 freeze on me and I was not even running FSX, was a minute or 2 earlier though.This appears to be happening while I have a IE pop running playing radio, it's actually a media player pop up that allows one to listen to horse racing here in Australia ( well anywhere with an internet conenction)http://www.tab.com.au/Racing/Default.aspx?State=1then click on live audio.If that Media player / radio program is the problem, then it would be a sound card or driver issue. Although it is the first time the freeze has happened without FSX running.A few months ago, Dell had to replace my MB and CPU fan, as the CPU fan, got stuck on high, anyone who has a Dell, espeiclaly the XPS ones, wil know when you first turn them on or off at the power button the fan makes a high rev noise.I did notice the other day the reapir order receipt had on it to replace the Heat sink, I was quite busy with work at the time, (work from home) I'm sure tech guy said he'd be back with one, hmm, looks like I know who I'll be ringing tomrorow. System has not been the same since.CheersPhil