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What should I do with my 2900XT?

Fire Wizard said:
Hello Dougiebabe2003, what other components have you got in your system? Unless you are using quite a few hard drives, expansion cards, your Enermax should be absolutely fine.

Have you tried taking the CMOS battery and restoring the BIOS to default settings? :)
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Unless it is dying...
 
Fire Wizard said:
Hello HeX, hehe, indeed, I completely forgot to mention that, sorry. :p Unless the actual power supply is faulty, it should be perfectly capable. :)
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Cheers guys!

Basicly I was thinking of getting rid of the 2900xt for a 3870 due to the lower power usage and that I might be able to upgrade.

I have had the PSU for nearly three years so it could be on the way out.

Like someone else said it's like it's 'Charging' something up. Leave it for 20 mins, switch it off and back on and it works fine.

I think I may just keep the 2900 and get a better PSU so I can O/C it... but then would a 3870 O/C further...?

Mobo is a Asus P5B but going to a P5K today:D

Cheers for your help guys, Doug.
 
A 3870 wouldn't really overclock noticeably faster then a 2900XT. You're talking around 5% faster in real life terms from what I've seen.

Personally I would keep your 2900XT and don't let anyone make you lose pride in it.

I'll love mine until I get rid of it and even then I'll make sure it goes to a good home.
 
Dougiebabe2003 said:
What would other people do?
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What we did was to sell our old HD2900XT and earmuffs for as much money as possible and buy either a HD3850, HD3870 or 8800GT.

My main reason for selling that card was its power req and the noise the fan made when playing games, apart from that it was a pretty good card.
 
the enemax is probably producing at least 420-40w and i doubt your rig is requiring 420w considering sli gtx will run on a corsair 520w which is probably kicking out around 480w

O and secret_window the GTS 640mb and 2900xt are pritty much on par and i beleive the GTS to be faster actually.

:EDIT:

Didn't mean to say 450w
 
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Waste of time getting a 3870 as you already have one, your 2900 is a 3870, just has a louder cooler, and uses more power as its process is bigger.

Probably be cheaper just to get a new PSU that can handle the 2900. :)
 
8igdave said:
the enemax is probably producing at least 420-40w and i doubt your rig is requiring 420w considering sli gtx will run on a corsair 450w which is probably kicking out around 400-420w as well
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Hello 8igdave, a dual 8800GTX setup along with your other system components will not run on a Corsair VX 450W, certainly not under load anyway. At full load, a single 8800GTX will pull around 170 watts which equates to around 14a. Now if you have two 8800GTX's in your system, you are already at 28a and the Corsair VX 450W is stated as having 33a on the 12V rail (which is very respectable to say the least). Once you have added your CPU and Hard Drive power requirements, it will all most certainly exceed that of the Corsair VX 450W ratting. :)
 
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My etasis is in another case at moment and i am using a 485W Enermax with my 8800 320 and 5 hd/s and 2 dvd drives and it is fine both my x2 and 8800 are oc so if your's is not faulty it should be fine
 
to the OP if your happy with the performance of the 2900 just get a new psu... you'll be wasteing money buying a 3870 because it as the same performance, also a new pu is much cheaper than a new gpu....
 
Sounds like a PSU problem to me, may be not because of the 2900 drawing too much power but because it's on its way out. If you're happy with the card, I don't see the point of swapping it for another one, just get a good PSU for around 80 or 90.
My 250th post, wee !
 
Cheers for all your replies.

I think I am going to upgrade my PSU when the funds are avalible although having changed my RAM the PC is no longer needing to 'charge'

I think I can sell my current 2900XT and 485W Enermax for around £130 in around a month or two so a 3870 would only set me back a little. Should I think about this or wait for the next gen cards?

Cheers again, Doug.
 
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Personally would be thinking of a min.of a 600w quality psu - leave gpu till laterwhen funds are available.
Generally power needs seem to be increasing so to solve problem you have today and future proof the psu a little more power will not go amiss.
n.b. read your comment on the ram change - never heard of this type of thing before.May not be psu? Hopefully someone can provide the answer
 
Dougiebabe2003 said:
Cheers for all your replies.

I think I am going to upgrade my PSU when the funds are avalible although having changed my RAM the PC is no longer needing to 'charge'

I think I can sell my current 2900XT and 485W Enermax for around £130 in around a month or two so a 3870 would only set me back a little. Should I think about this or wait for the next gen cards?

Cheers again, Doug.
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a 3870 won't give anymore performance over your 2900xt. it just uses less power and heat. personly it'll be waste of money. as said above buying a psu would future proof yoiu... but if you have your heart set on getting a 3870 then go for it.
 
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