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Why it's good to have spares...new video card time :(

Gamefreak501

Gamefreak501

Gamefreak501

Soldato
Joined
7 Aug 2003
Posts
8,030
Location
Bedfordshire
Hey everyone,

I spent yesterday and the day before patching up WoW, Guild Wars and downloading LOTRO.

Within 15 minutes of playing LOTRO, my display driver crashed twice. Thinking it was just the game, I quit it in annoyance and went back to surfing the web.

Today, I started up my PC, played some New Vegas and within 4 minutes my video card crashed again, this time, I was getting purple pixels all over the screen and hallucinogenic swirls.

So, at this point, I yanked my 640mb 8800 GTS out in sheer annoyance and rebooted. I got a beep code and switched everything off and again tried to boot up.

Whilst I did get to the Windows screen, I got the same swirlie patterns and my PC wasn't responding to any keyboard presses.

Fast forward a few moments and I put in my spare fanless 7950GT 512mb and Windows plays silly beggars for a short time before giving me full access to my PC.

After doing the Auto-detect; New Vegas sets everything to 'Medium' and I get on my merry way to playing New Vegas..only to find it doesn't look as good and is slower (figures, I suppose, going from an 8-series to a 7-series).

I don't overclock my stuff either, so this was a bit sudden and unexpected!

Could anyone point me in the right direction for a video card? I don't want to spend more than £200 but came across these:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-128-GW&tool=3

and this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-088-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1810

Anything faster than the 8800gts would be good; but I don't think I'll have problems there!

I have a Lian-li PC60 case and the 6 pin connector was a bit of a squeeze on the 8800 gts because of my hard drive cage, but it fitted at least.

I will be using the video card with the following:

945 x4 Phenom II @stock speeds; 8gb DDR2 1066mhz @stock; 600w OCZ Stealth Stream.

Any help greatly appreciated.
 
Yeah get the pre-order 5870 for £200,such a cheap price for a quality card

For the Nvdia equivalent a GTX 470 would also be a decent choice,the 470 can be oveclocked to 800mhz on the core which most 470s will do and then you will have near 480 performance

The other 5870 you have linked has better cooling on but that card is out of stock here,you would also struggle to find this card at £200 elsewhere i think
 
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Gamefreak501 said:
Hmm, does the performance increase between the 480 and the 5870 still ring true?

Actually, it's a lot more money for little gain!
Click to expand...

ive owned both cards and the 480 was better,but it runs very very hot and use lots of power compared to the 5870.

The 480 is a bit faster compared to the 5870,and when overclocked to 800mz+ it leaves the 5870 behind a fair bit,i think thats a fair comment?,im also far from biased before i get slated:D as ive owned both the 5870 and 480 so i can speak from my experience.

Dont get me wrong the 5870 is a superb card and for £200 this is a steal.
 
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I'd err more towards the ATI because of the heat/power issues on the Nvidia - and I only have a 600w PSU.

Still be faster than what I have anyway :)
 
Get that 5870! It beats both the 470 and 460! But seeing as the hard drive cage might be on the way, unless you can move it perhaps the 460 1gb is the way to go.
 
Orcvader said:
Get that 5870! It beats both the 470 and 460! But seeing as the hard drive cage might be on the way, unless you can move it perhaps the 460 1gb is the way to go.
Click to expand...

I might persuade the Hard Drive Cage with a big hammer...or move it up to my 3.5mm cage hehe..that 5870 is very, very tempting :) top of my budget, but tempting :D
 
The 5870 is already end of line hence the pricing to shift old stock.

I would have gone for the 6870 personally. running 1000/1150 will be faster than 5870 but still be cooler and use less power and have improved scaling in Xfire than the 5 series.

Not only that but its bound to increase in performance with new drivers etc..

I run mine @ 975/1150 and its offers the same performance as the 5870.
 
easyrider said:
The 5870 is already end of line hence the pricing to shift old stock.

I would have gone for the 6870 personally. running 1000/1150 will be faster than 5870 but still be cooler and use less power and have improved scaling in Xfire than the 5 series.

Not only that but its bound to increase in performance with new drivers etc..

I run mine @ 975/1150 and its offers the same performance as the 5870.
Click to expand...

Oh dear, I don't feel too good about the 5870 now :(

Ah well!
 
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