TO panic or not to panic? that is the question...Graphics card issue

[Kurtiskain]

Okay so I had my machine on overnight crunching through processing RAW video for my school project...and woke up in the night to a loud fan grinding. (my old but faithful) Radeon 9700 Pro fan was churning away making alot of noise...anyway i shut it off and when I got home I took my card out and placed on it a Iceberg VGA cooler i had lying around.

Putting it back in the case...all happy until my finger slips and *snap* off comes a little silver cap.

OH NOES goes through my head and I immediately panic...I have no replacement if it doesnt work and I'm a student so cant afford a new card (I want a x1550

Anyway I put it in and power up and the system seems to be stable and all...but i want to know is it safe to run it like this??

The details from what I can read on the cap are:

47
j PK
2BN

Is it even needed?

My card still benchmarks just fine

any details would be helpful,
Kurtis

P.S I have noticed in some games a slight performance decrease...*gulp*

Would anyone reccommend replacing with a 7300GT? (DDR3 edition)

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

What silver cap would this be?

On the video card itself?
http://techreport.com/r.x/radeon-9700pro/r9700pro2.jpg

[Kurtiskain]

Quite small, perhaps 5mm by 5mm

I believe it is the one circled in the picture...if it isn't its the same size/near same area.
I was panicking at the time of course

and also it was near the top of course because that's where im applying pressure to get the *censored* thing in...
Thing is...It is running fine still it hasn't rebooted since iv'e put it back in and no complaints for anything...was playing WoW for a hour and a half no probs just a few fps slower, eg 30-40 compared to 35-45 before

[Saving space - attachment deleted by admin]

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

It's pretty hard to tell exactly what that is in the picture.
If the video card is working, it seems like it's not important for the video card to run.

Does this piece have anything on it that suggests it was connected to something? (like a circuit or another component)

[Siscorskiy]

There is a circled object in the picture?
And the 7300gt is a very nice card for the money. ive got one (ddr2, i think( might only be ddr) runs pretty well

[Kurtiskain]

That's good to hear and yeah i made it quite think and red which now i think bout it i shuda made it blue haha

(you might have to click the image to see it )

Well it is running and all so yeah hope it doenst die!!

Kurtis

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

So there are no connectors on the cap?

If not, good.

[iamyourmom]

Maybe its just a diode cover, but if it works, then its ok. but next time don't push your graphic through the night, its dangerous!

[iamyourmom]

Maybe its just a diode cover, but if it works, then its ok. but next time don't push your graphic through the night, its dangerous!

[mcxeb52!]

I'm wondering, what windows version do you use, what's your computer specs and what's your expected budget for a new graphics card?

If you have PCI-E slot, 8600GT is pretty good. You can get a model of 8600GT for about same price as the 7300GT from newegg (with rebate coming with the 8600GT and both cards have ddr3 memory)

[Kurtiskain]

No PCI-e slot :p my specs r in my sig by the way

And no it was soldered to the board with two pins and these pins lead off somewhere else...and do not know enough about cards to know exactly where they head

anyways go figure i haven't got any error with it in fact sometimes it seems to run better...accidental voltage mod?? lol

[mcxeb52!]

I guess all is well then. 

I still suggest you upgrade your graphics card now and then so that your computer's a little more updated, so more happiness 

[BC_Programmer]

but next time don't push your graphic through the night, its dangerous!

... processing video doesn't even use the graphics card- it uses the processor. the graphics card just displays video...

[mcxeb52!]

well, in any case, don't push your graphics card too much regardless.

For say, You wouldn't want 20 videos playing at the same time (provided your processor handles the playback processes effortlessly)

[Kurtiskain]

Haha yeah my cpu 2.5ghz Celeron...couldn't handle crap all...i havnt mentioned this but i run dual vga monitors,
and i manage to run mplayer2.exe at fullscreen on one t above normal process time to keep the video playoing, and Wo on the other at a constant 30+ FPS

is tht pushing it too far??