my GPU died :(

[modyobwoc]

Hey everyone.

So I believe my graphics card has died. I was having issues playing WoW for a little while with things like NPCs not loading and parts of my UI going missing and wasn't able to exit the game without turning the power off. Then after a few instances of this happening I started getting artifacts (so Google tells me ) showing up even in the BIOS screens when booting and red vertical lines on my monitor when in Windows. I seem to remember a couple of Windows notifications about the driver having stopped working after getting black screens during gaming and then reappearing on the desktop.

I tried dusting the GPU off and uninstalling/re-installing drivers etc. and at times it would appear to work fine allowing me to play LoL without any trouble but then the artifacts/red lines started appearing more often and I spent one evening without being able to do anything at all.

My spec is below (copied out of my order history so apologies for any useless info and if you need more let me know):

Asus P5K Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Corsair HX 520W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-520HXUK)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency Dual Channel (GX22GB6400UDC)
Leadtek GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

I have a Viewsonic monitor running at 1680 x 1050 (can't remember model as I'm at work)

I really just want to know if it's worth getting a cheap GPU and making do for a while (I'm pretty much just playing LoL at the moment) while saving to replace the whole lot or if it's likely something else could be causing problems.

I also have another PC (slightly older) with an ATI Sapphire 4670 which I am planning on putting in for the meantime as that pc is currently unused. If that's a bad idea please say.

Any advice will be much appreciated thanks

[chazus]

Whoa.. 8800 GTS. 2006 says hello!

Seriously though, the 4670 isn't any better.. But if it works, it works. You might want to consider spending $100 and getting a cheapie card though (7770, 650ti) to get you through... It would be loads better than uhh.... that.

[Deleted]

Frankly, I'd seriously consider a full upgrade, because DDR2 RAM is ludicrously expensive, this is what I'd suggest using to upgrad eif you need it now:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G41MT-S2PT Micro ATX LGA775 Motherboard ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1066 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB Video Card ($175.38 @ Newegg)
Total: $290.36
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-18 13:18 EDT-0400)

But at that point, I'd consider fully upgrading as an $800 computer would be better. The reason I've changed the mobo is because the motherboard already in doesn't support DDR3 RAM. So, for the price of 4GB of DDR2 RAM you can get a 4GB DDR3 stick AND an LGA775 mobo that does support that kind of RAM.

[modyobwoc]

Haha yeah, pretty old setup right! Hey, it's done the job until now as I don't play anything too system intensive. Pretty sure the only thing I've upgraded since getting it is a case fan.

tenangrychickens if I was to save and replace anything more than just the GPU I would definitely look at spending more money and doing it properly, I just can't justify doing that right now with car insurance, bike insurance, tax, etc. all due in the next couple months. That's the only reason I was considering a cheap card to get me through. Pretty sure the other pc has 2x512mb DDR2 in it also so I could put that in the free slots along with the 4760 and just wait til I have more money to spend before actually buying anything.

Thanks for the input guys