Hi Andy,

> The video card I currently have is an ATI HD4850 with 512mb.

Hmm, I would have thought that card would have been fine...

That's kind of odd that it gave you problems right from the start, maybe there's some problem with your particular card, or some kind of issue with your computer's motherboard and that particular card or something like that.


> and I have been terrified to touch it ever since, for
> fear of messing it up. :)

You could make a complete low-level disk image backup using something like Acronis, that way you would be able to restore everything (including the OS, drivers, etc...) back to its current state. It's a good idea to do this from time to time anyway.

But yeah if you're afraid to upgrade the drivers, that does sound like a good reason to go for a new card anyway...

- Michael