Video Card Suggestion...again

[casperinian]

I had a thread a while back asking for suggestions for a value upgrade to an 8300GS. I ended up getting the 9600GT based upon the suggestions and it's a pretty good card as far as the upgrade was concerned. My issue is the first one started to have fan issues where the fan would run at 100% speed all the time and sounded like it was attempting to take my computer airborne. The card is this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133239

So, I did some research and tried things like Riva Tuner and tried to find answers and none of them did the trick. I RMA'd it back to newegg for a replacement and then today after having it installed again for 3 weeks it freaks out and gets loud again.

At this point, I don't know that I can RMA it again and get credit or what but I don't know if getting the same card again is the solution. The computer in question is my gf's dell and the cooling is a little bit unique to anything I have seen. The cooling runs using a tubing system from directly over the CPU to the fan on the front of the case so everything else may not be getting much benefit. I can't add a fan because she doesn't want me modifying the case in anyway. I am eventually building a new budget type system in the future but can't really afford it currently.

The question is, is there any suggestion for a new card that will be better than a 8300GS but work with this cooling profile?

 

[Grizaptimus]

What I would do if you can RMA the card again but, not get a credit. When you get the RMA'd part just Ebay it so you can grab a new card.

Is it possible for you to post some pics of this cooling setup?

 

[casperinian]

Resurrecting this post.

Basically the 9600gt's problems subsided for a while and I thought I had it under control. I still don't have my own pictures of the system but Hard actually did an article on it. The internal shots look the same.

http://hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTE4MCwzLCxoY29uc3VtZXI=

I think the 9600GT is completely toast. The 8300gs is alive but it's buzzing quite a bit. I was wondering in addition to an ok replacement just to keep things stable if the power supply was having issues would it cause the video card to sounds a little like it had a stutter?(for example, the fan sounds like it's speeding up and stopping and speeding up and stopping except at very high speed so I guess it kinda reminds me of a dishwasher sound)