Maximum PC

I'm not too happy with this.

Last night, I bought a GIGABYTE GV-R465D2-1GI Radeon HD 4650 1GB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 8X HDCP Ready Video Card from NewEgg. The fan bearings are going out on an existing GeForce something or other (5600?) and it's making a terrible racket, about to die at any moment.

My choice was to drop $80 on a new AGP card, or several hundred on new PC guts to put in the existing case.

Don't you just hate when this happens?

But that's it. Anything else craps out in this machine, and I scrap it for a new one.

I sure do hate stuff like that.

I'm at the point now where it's $60 here, maybe $30 there, just enough to be affordable and keep my own older rig ticking, but never having enough cash in my wallet for a new mobo/cpu/RAM/videocard build. Nickeling and dimeing me to death.

An HDCP-ready AGP card, eh?...

was there no way to add an aftermarket hsf? one for cards that old can be pretty cheap, like 10 - 15 bucks IIRC.

but Ive done the same thing, have an ATI 3650 in AGP flavor on a P4 rig, needed it for a game at the time. was worth it to me as it extended the useful life of the rig for a year or so for cheap.

I don't feel you need the fan perhaps. I have had a HIS 4650 that wouldn't fit in a Dell workstation, so I yanked the IceQ contraption off, ran it passively, and it's been more than fine without it. It may not sound optimal, but if it works...it works.

When you're talking about AGP in 2011 and just dealing with a sleeved-fan failure, it's time to think about that build and not just tossing money at pieces and parts. I'd treat this like a car: $80 for a new carb to keep it running or $300 for a better and up to date car that's much better off the floor than what you have now, and can build upon?

I've been mildly impressed with Intel's HD3000 and just getting started with AMD's Llano platform. The later is comparable to an X4 635 + a Radeon HD 6550 all in one package. It doesn't compute as well as, say, an Intel 2100...but does well enough if DX11 graphics are a must. Just think of all the upgrades you get with one $300 order (board, CPU, memory, and use existing other parts) vs adding a cooler to a well aged part. PCIe, S/ATA 6, USB3.0, and can more than likely shove it all in an iTX form factor (mATX at least). It's more than likely just time to stop putting money in old standards. Tough to chew on, but makes more sense.

Or, just try running with out the fan for free.

Well, this card has two fans on it. I seem to remember that no one made an aftermarket fan assembly for it, just models before and after.

It actually shut itself off when one of the fans stopped turning. I assumed it overheated; maybe it does that by design?