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Area-51 7700: Graphics card went bad and need help figuring out what to do

post #1 of 18
3/16/07 at 9:47pm
Thread Starter 
The Geforce Go 6800 Ultra in my 7700 seems to have burned out, again. Back in the summer, I sent my computer to Alienware and they fixed it up, replaceing the GPU, Motherboard, and Hard Drive.

Now it seems my card is bad again. To sum it up, when I try to play games like City of Heroes or WoW, the screen will go black and the computer locks up. I posted on the Alienware forums and they seem to think its the Graphics card. But they don't sell my card anymore. They may have the non-ultra though.

So, what should I do? I am no longer under warrenty so I would have to pay for the part. Two things about the non-ultra: I don't like having to get a not as good card and two, what happens if the motherboard is damaged too or if the GPU just bruns out again.

I was reading this board and it seems I may be able to get a newer board and therfore have access to another line of GPUs and maybe a higher quality board (IE, somehting that doesn't burn out). Is this true and if so, what boards and cards could I get?

Any help would be appreciated, thank you.
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post #2 of 18
3/16/07 at 10:12pm
RJtech.com will have what you seek.

They have the newest motherboard for $480 and the nvidia 7950 for $550. You want the d900T motherboard.
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post #3 of 18
3/18/07 at 12:32am
Do yourself a favour though and try and get either a 7800 or 7900 vid card, as opposed to the 7950. The 7950 has the same problem as the 6800 ultra, they tend to blow 'cos of heat problems. The 7800 is the most heat efficient, closely followed by the 7900 from what I have read.
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post #4 of 18
3/18/07 at 7:36pm
yes
i got the 7900 & it run cold
never reach 60C
even cooler than my 6800 ultra

i was planing to get the 7950 but i heared the same about the heat problem
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post #5 of 18
3/19/07 at 5:15pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the info. It is very helpful.

But does it seem like replacing the mobo is a good idea? Instead of just getting a 6800. Price is not a concern.
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post #6 of 18
3/20/07 at 3:39am
Absolutely, the rev 6.1 (latest) motherboard fixed a few other issues, including a power-related capacitor problem (which is what my first motherboard died due to). Also the Go 7800GTX/7900GTX modules far outperform the 6800's.

If money's not an issue, go ahead and do it. Although at the same time, with all the trouble I've had with mine, I'd say just go and buy a new M9700 or 5790 :P Especially if money's not an issue :P
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post #7 of 18
3/20/07 at 12:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Devoran
Absolutely, the rev 6.1 (latest) motherboard fixed a few other issues, including a power-related capacitor problem (which is what my first motherboard died due to). Also the Go 7800GTX/7900GTX modules far outperform the 6800's.

If money's not an issue, go ahead and do it. Although at the same time, with all the trouble I've had with mine, I'd say just go and buy a new M9700 or 5790 :P Especially if money's not an issue :P

Thats what I'm doing. I don't trust the clevos anymore, so I'm going to get a 9750.
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post #8 of 18
3/20/07 at 2:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Devoran
Absolutely, the rev 6.1 (latest) motherboard fixed a few other issues, including a power-related capacitor problem (which is what my first motherboard died due to). Also the Go 7800GTX/7900GTX modules far outperform the 6800's. If money's not an issue, go ahead and do it. Although at the same time, with all the trouble I've had with mine, I'd say just go and buy a new M9700 or 5790 :P Especially if money's not an issue :P
Actually, price is a concern, but I said it that way in order to not restrict what answers people gave. Thanks for all the help for everyone.
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post #9 of 18
4/25/07 at 9:36pm
It would be better to get an AMD board and a dual core processor or if you can get a core 2 board that will work in the d900 that would be killer. Thats a lot of money to still have a single core p4 as your cpu.

--EJM
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post #10 of 18
4/25/07 at 9:52pm
Does anyone know if a Core 2 board will work in the M7700?

--EJM
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post #11 of 18
4/26/07 at 1:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by edjahman
Does anyone know if a Core 2 board will work in the M7700? --EJM
No - the only boards available for this chassis are either the D900T motherboard, which supports Intel P4 single-core processors, or the D900K motherboard, which supports AMD single-core processors. Neither have the chipset/BIOS required to support C2D or any other newer processor.
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post #12 of 18
4/26/07 at 6:44am
What about those blue m7700's that Alienwarewas putting out about 1.5 yrs. ago?? They looked like Clevo platforms and they had dual core amd x2's in them.

--EJM
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post #13 of 18
4/26/07 at 7:07am
Here is a link

http://cgi.ebay.com/Alienware-Laptop...QQcmdZViewItem

I have an M 7700 also and I dread the day when I have to make a decision like that. I just can't see dropping a ton of money on a P4 platform. I guess I'm lucky that mine is still running.

--ejm
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post #14 of 18
4/26/07 at 10:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by edjahman
What about those blue m7700's that Alienwarewas putting out about 1.5 yrs. ago?? They looked like Clevo platforms and they had dual core amd x2's in them.

--EJM

The blue Aurora m7700 was a clevo d900k. It's the AMD version, and it uses AMD dual core desktop processors, not the turion X2. The d900t is the intel version, and it uses p4 desktop processors.
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post #15 of 18
4/26/07 at 6:39pm
So, the case must be different even though it looks the same??

--ejm
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post #16 of 18
4/26/07 at 6:54pm
No, you can use either motherboard in that case. It's a clevo case, and clevo motherboards made for the case. There are no other motherboards that'll fit in there other than the d900k and d900t though.

If you have the intel, and want to change to the AMD, you'll need the motherboard and at least a new processor.
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post #17 of 18
4/26/07 at 6:59pm
also memory since the AMD version does not supports DDR2 memory. HDD, video card, optical wireless and tv tuner should work fine
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post #18 of 18
4/26/07 at 11:08pm
What I am saying is that is I was gonna drop 1000$ on a new vid card and mobo, I would get the best option which is the AMD with the dual core since He casn't get a Core 2 one. If my M7700 ever dies then I might do just that. It's still factory after 1.5 years. Thank Goodness. Thats just my opinion. I guess a P4 platform is worth saving depending on what you do with it. I know it plays Warcraft quite well but I bet it can't play FEAR like my desktop. It sucks that they sell us a 2500$ money sucking black hole of a computer and act like it's OK. F them. I built my Desktop.

--EJM
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