Re: Blown Video Card

Hi!

One or two year life is one explanation. Here is another.

Respectable motherboard manufacturers

When I've been buying video cards, I've stayed away from most of the "cheap"
third-party assembled units for that reason. The cards I've been buying are
retail boxed ATI and nVidia boards.

In addition to the ATI X1600 that I recently purchased, I also bought a
nVidia 6200 (?) based card sold/assembled by EVGA. It is so far the coolest
running card I've ever seen. The heatsink on the graphics processor does get
hot when the card is really working, but most of the time it is very cool to
the touch. The ATI board runs hot and at least one capacitor is near the fan
exhaust. (Why is this considered acceptable?)

I'm going to go way out on a limb here and say the EVGA card will last
longer. I'd hope to be wrong, as it is definitely the "cheap" card by at
least $60.

I would leave the slot next to the video card empty if I could, but that's
not usually an option in my systems. I tend to use my expansion slots rather
heavily.

I do clean my systems out with compressed air, usually about four times per
year. There's something very satisfying about taking them outside and
watching the built up dust go flying! I also make sure to do laptop fans and
heatsinks as well.

William


.

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