Nvidia life span?

How long is the average video card supposed to last??
My 6800GT might as well be used as a coaster after a year and change.. Seems
like a waste of 200 bucks..

Another question.. Is anyone else in need of a card waiting to upgrade to
Vista? Or are people sticking with XP (or whatever) since most of what I
hear about Vista is bad? Any input appreciated..

"Robert McKay" wrote in message
...
How long is the average video card supposed to last??
My 6800GT might as well be used as a coaster after a year and change..
Seems like a waste of 200 bucks..

Another question.. Is anyone else in need of a card waiting to upgrade to
Vista? Or are people sticking with XP (or whatever) since most of what I
hear about Vista is bad? Any input appreciated..

Depends on the manufacturer. BFG Nvidia cards come with a lifetime
warranty. I've seen one post where they replaced the card with the next
model up for a guy after several years as his model was no longer being
manufactured.

Most of what you read on newsgroups is the bad. Your post for example. Not
often people will post positive stuff. Vista is here. DX10 is with it. In
time XP will be win2K or win98.

Nvidia makes the only DX10 card right now... the 8800. BFG site is here...
http://www.bfgtech.com/8800GTS_640_PCIe.html

"Robert McKay" wrote in
:

How long is the average video card supposed to last??
My 6800GT might as well be used as a coaster after a year and change..
Seems like a waste of 200 bucks..

Another question.. Is anyone else in need of a card waiting to upgrade
to Vista? Or are people sticking with XP (or whatever) since most of
what I hear about Vista is bad? Any input appreciated..

My last three video cards... GForce3 (or was it a 2)?, ATI 9700Pro, and ATI
X800XT-PE *all* had their fans start to go bad after about two years. The
GForce fan completely died but the card still ran without the fan without
any ill effects. I doubt I could get away with that with today's card;
especially my current 8800GTX which seems to run *very* hot, even at idle
(60C).

"Slap" wrote in message
news:gi6Oh.76539$zU1.34573@pd7urf1no
"Robert McKay" wrote in message
...
How long is the average video card supposed to last??
My 6800GT might as well be used as a coaster after a year and
change.. Seems like a waste of 200 bucks..

Another question.. Is anyone else in need of a card waiting to
upgrade to Vista? Or are people sticking with XP (or whatever) since
most of what I hear about Vista is bad? Any input appreciated..

Depends on the manufacturer. BFG Nvidia cards come with a lifetime
warranty.

Define lifetime. In my country a lifetime warranty by law is 25 years.
Funnily enough, manufacturers like BFG don't offer lifetime warranties here.

Nonymous wrote:
"Robert McKay" wrote in
:

How long is the average video card supposed to last??
My 6800GT might as well be used as a coaster after a year and change..
Seems like a waste of 200 bucks..

Another question.. Is anyone else in need of a card waiting to upgrade
to Vista? Or are people sticking with XP (or whatever) since most of
what I hear about Vista is bad? Any input appreciated..

My last three video cards... GForce3 (or was it a 2)?, ATI 9700Pro, and ATI
X800XT-PE *all* had their fans start to go bad after about two years. The
GForce fan completely died but the card still ran without the fan without
any ill effects. I doubt I could get away with that with today's card;
especially my current 8800GTX which seems to run *very* hot, even at idle
(60C).

This week, I lost a fan on what I think was an old GeForce MX400Ti. It
was probably in service for six years, four of which were in a college
student's computer (very hostile environment, lota dirt). It still
worked just fine for general use even after the fan failed.

My suggestion for any card is to get the best fanless video card
possible. If the performance level needed requires a video card for
which fanless models aren't available, get one with a LONG warranty.

"DRS" wrote in message
...
"Slap" wrote in message
news:gi6Oh.76539$zU1.34573@pd7urf1no
"Robert McKay" wrote in message
...
How long is the average video card supposed to last??
My 6800GT might as well be used as a coaster after a year and
change.. Seems like a waste of 200 bucks..

Another question.. Is anyone else in need of a card waiting to
upgrade to Vista? Or are people sticking with XP (or whatever) since
most of what I hear about Vista is bad? Any input appreciated..

Depends on the manufacturer. BFG Nvidia cards come with a lifetime
warranty.

Define lifetime. In my country a lifetime warranty by law is 25 years.
Funnily enough, manufacturers like BFG don't offer lifetime warranties
here.
Doesn't really matter. BFG has the best warranty in the business. That's
all you can do. Every benchmark test, etc. mentions BFGs warranty. Also
mention of a $40 or so extra cost when prices are compared.

"Slap" wrote in message
news:L09Oh.77406$zU1.17357@pd7urf1no
"DRS" wrote in message
...

[...]

Define lifetime. In my country a lifetime warranty by law is 25
years. Funnily enough, manufacturers like BFG don't offer lifetime
warranties here.

Doesn't really matter. BFG has the best warranty in the business. That's
all you can do. Every benchmark test, etc. mentions BFGs
warranty. Also mention of a $40 or so extra cost when prices are
compared.

I think it does matter. Can you really see BFG or any other manufacturer
agreeing to repair or upgrade my video card in 25 years time? So when you
say BFG has the "best warranty in the business" how can you be sure that's
true where I am?

I'm running a 2 year old 6600GT on Vista, and it gets the highest current
windows experience rating (5.9) for desktop graphics, and a 4.3 for gaming
graphics. I'm still quite pleased with my video card. Its only my 4 year old
P4, 2.4 GHz that is keeping me from REALLY flying.

I wont get any of the DX10 goodness with the 6600GT, but it plays all my DX9
and OpenGL games just as well if not better then it did in XP, so I'll put
off a video card purchase until I can get a new proc/mb with pcie, and a
DX10 card.

Maybe for Christmas.

Kurt

"Robert McKay" wrote in message
...
How long is the average video card supposed to last??
My 6800GT might as well be used as a coaster after a year and change..
Seems like a waste of 200 bucks..

Another question.. Is anyone else in need of a card waiting to upgrade to
Vista? Or are people sticking with XP (or whatever) since most of what I
hear about Vista is bad? Any input appreciated..

"DRS" wrote in message
...
"Slap" wrote in message
news:L09Oh.77406$zU1.17357@pd7urf1no
"DRS" wrote in message
...

[...]

Define lifetime. In my country a lifetime warranty by law is 25
years. Funnily enough, manufacturers like BFG don't offer lifetime
warranties here.

Doesn't really matter. BFG has the best warranty in the business. That's
all you can do. Every benchmark test, etc. mentions BFGs
warranty. Also mention of a $40 or so extra cost when prices are
compared.

I think it does matter. Can you really see BFG or any other manufacturer
agreeing to repair or upgrade my video card in 25 years time? So when you
say BFG has the "best warranty in the business" how can you be sure that's
true where I am?
You are probably correct. In the real world if you are into gaming or
graphics I suspect the vid card is good on for maybe 2 or 3 years anyway. I
must have 3 or 4 old cards kicking around that still work and in their time
were pretty good but by today's standards they are junk, good only for text.

It would be rare indeed for someone to claim warranty on say a 20 year old
card let alone a 25 year old card and I'm sure BFG knows that. The card
would long be retired in most cases.

Cessna 310 wrote:
Nonymous wrote:
"Robert McKay" wrote in
:
How long is the average video card supposed to last??
My 6800GT might as well be used as a coaster after a year and change..
Seems like a waste of 200 bucks..

Another question.. Is anyone else in need of a card waiting to upgrade
to Vista? Or are people sticking with XP (or whatever) since most of
what I hear about Vista is bad? Any input appreciated..

My last three video cards... GForce3 (or was it a 2)?, ATI 9700Pro,
and ATI X800XT-PE *all* had their fans start to go bad after about two
years. The GForce fan completely died but the card still ran without
the fan without any ill effects. I doubt I could get away with that
with today's card; especially my current 8800GTX which seems to run
*very* hot, even at idle (60C).

This week, I lost a fan on what I think was an old GeForce MX400Ti. It
was probably in service for six years, four of which were in a college
student's computer (very hostile environment, lota dirt). It still
worked just fine for general use even after the fan failed.

My suggestion for any card is to get the best fanless video card
possible. If the performance level needed requires a video card for
which fanless models aren't available, get one with a LONG warranty.


What, exactly is preventing you from using an after market fan as a
replacement?

I've been adding fans to "Fanless" models for years. Total cost is
about $3.00, from any number of sources.

Aftermarket models are readily available from reliable manufacturers
(especially for Nvidia), usually w/ increased cooling performance.

A $25.00 investment on a $200 Video card is worth the investment, IMHO.


--

Rev. G.G. Willikers

"Sir, I am unaware of any such activity or operation - nor would
I be disposed to discuss such an operation if it did in
fact exist, sir."