Newegg RMA info & advice ....

I have had my current video card for about 7 months now. Haven't had any real problems per say, but I can never run games all that well, and cant even complete a run of 3DMark05, Got 5480 on '03. It cant handle ANYTHING intense.
It is a stock MSI 9800 Pro, never OCed it.
I got it from Newegg in Aug. for $196.00, the thing is they no longer sell this card. So I called them up, and the lady said that if a product being RMA'ed is no longer sold, a similar product of same value can be traded for it.
So, that leaves me with a 6600GT I guess.

SO:
1) Is that an acceptable reason to RMA my card, or can they refuse me or anything?
2) What would be the best choice for a 6600GT that will be kept STOCK? So things like installed cooling, company itself and other small things will make the difference.

Please give me any info that may be helpful. Thank you so much!!!

are you saying you're not satisfied with performance, or it artifacts when you play games? and why is this in the nvidia section?

Well I have to turn the game settings down a lot, or else I get almost no FPS or it would freez up. Like in FarCry, the game set it to what it thought my system could handle, butI then had to turn down every setting, because it kept locking up. In 3dmark05, it gets like 12 FPS for about 45 sec. then locks up and stops running the test.
I put it in the nvidia section because I wish to get a 6600GT now with the RMA since they no longer carry my card.

I don't understand why your RMAing it

Because its not handling games as well as you want doesn't mean you can RMA it. RMA is only for defective or broken parts. Are you even sure its the video card that is the problem? What troubleshooting have you done to come to that conclusion? Let us know, and maybe we can help you figure this out

BTW if they were to RMA it and replace it, they'll just give you another 9800pro from ati or saphire probably.

It just seems like this card is not performing as it should. Its not like I am trying to break any record scores or get 200 FPS in games, if I wanted to do that I would learn to OC and do that. I left it stock because I am fine with the level it should perform at, but it does not seem to be doing that. Would a RMA not be the correct thing to do if a piece is not producing on the manufactured level that it should? If I am wrong in this, let me know. I just want to get what I paid for.

The customer service agent from Newegg, said if it is no longer in stock, it can be swapped for another card of the same price, or a more expensive card, in which I would pay for the difference between the two.

it will run low settings fine, but not high settings (fine = displaying image, even if at low fps)? that surely is strange, but does not sound like a defective card. have you tried updating the drivers? will it play games at lower settings for long amounts of time? if no check out the heatsink/fan.

I have the latest drivers for all mt hardware, at least I do so to the best of my ability with keeping up.
If I keep the settings in games low, I can play for a long time, yes. Fan works fine and heatsink seems to be securely on.
While the card has only stock cooling, the rest of the case has a lot of air flow.
1) Exhaust vent on top of case -120mm vantec stealth
2) Side intake right onto video card -120mm vantec stealth
3) 2 intake in front of case -80mm panaflow
4) 2 exhaust in back of case -1 80mm panaflow, 1 80mm PSU fan

that is very, very weird then. if i were you i'd try and lower the cpu/ram overclock to see if that helps, and if it doesn't RMA it.

I dont have any overclock to lower! Everything is stock!!

then i would try another video card if that option is available to you, then rma.

If you go into the Display control panel, then click the settings tab, and the click advanced. What does it show under smartgart? What AGP mode is it in?

It says it is off.

i had the same setup as you, up until yesterday when i killed my video card. what settings are you running? I could do 1024x756 on far cry with settings maxed (except anti aliasing and filtering) any higher and it would crawl. no lockups though, just lower framerates than i like playing with. lets see... i could totally max call of duty, no problem. max cs source, ut2k4 settings at 1280x1024 with great fps. no qualms with brothers in arms at max settings at 1024x756. if you're expecting gaming at 1600x1200, thats your problem. if you cant do what i did, your system has a problem