7800 GTX has died, some advive please!

[Mark_Dyer]

Hi guys, I have (had) two 256MB 7800 GTXs running in SLi in my machine. I looks like one or both have packed in as I have weird distortions all over my screen in Windows. I haven't changed any clock speeds or anything like that.

My question to you guys is this. Assuming I can't fix this problem (and I doubt I can). Will I get just as much performance out of a single more up to date card as I did out of my SLI configured cards? The 8800 GTXs are pretty damn expensive, so is there a slightly cheaper option which will still give me decent performance, but be slightly better value for money?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Grumbledook]

just use one of them, its fine

 

[gurusan]

a 8800GTS is cheaper than a GTX and will destroy 7800GTX's in SLI.

 

[Naffa]

Probably similar performance tbh.

 

[gurusan]

actually yeah it doesn't "destroy" the 7800GTXs....it is indeed faster though

 

[iGiDK]

Probably similar performance tbh.

I disagree, to a certain extent...

Generally speaking, with the 320MB 8800GTS (in real gaming terms) you will notice a huge jump in image quality and (dependant on resolution) frame rates will be noticably faster when more eye candy is applied to your game.

When it comes down to benchmarks, I'd speculate that your 3dmark06 score would increase by around 2000 points. This is based on my own experiences with 7800GTX SLI and from reports of OcUK 8800GTS owners

However I don't think you've stated what CPU you're currently running. If you have a dated CPU then this may inhibit a faster card's performance via a bottleneck and thefore you would not experience the significant potential that this card would offer.

 

[Naffa]

Maybe so, but I was commenting on the (since corrected) statement that an 8800GTS will destroy 7800GTX SLI. When it won't.

 

[Mark_Dyer]

However I don't think you've stated what CPU you're currently running. If you have a dated CPU then this may inhibit a faster card's performance via a bottleneck and thefore you would not experience the significant potential that this card would offer.

To be honest I can't actually remember exactly what the CPU is, it's an old 3.2Ghz Intel processor. Am I right in thinking that I'd need more raw CPU processing power to take advantage of an 8800 card, or is that sufficient?

 

[Dark_Angel]

Really, if it is a P4, it will probably hold it back quite a bit.

So this gives you 3 choices, see if your motherboard can fit a Conroe CPU (maybe) OR get an X1950 card, OR get a 8800 GTS and run it with stupidly high AA/AF because you will be CPU bottlenecked, you may as well make it look pretty.

Have a peak to see if you can overclock your CPU or change it. Also depends on the resolution, if you are running 1280x1024 you will be far more CPU bound than if you are say running 1600x1200.

 

[Quixote]

If you're willing to spend nearly £200, then the cheapest 8800gts 320mb is the one to go for. People worry a bit too much about bottlenecking I think. The card will still be much better & will happily transfer to your next CPU + Mobo at which point the rest of it's performance will become available.

First try the 7800GTX's one at a time & determine which is faulty. It's very unlikely they are both faulty. Then it depends on if it is still under warranty. If it is, just RMA it - you will get either the same card back or a superior replacement (probably a 7950GT or 7900GTX I guess).
If so, this will mean you can't run SLI. Then you have a choice of sell the working 7800GTX, keep the money & be satisfied with less performance on some games. Or sell the working 7800GTX, buy a card to match your RMA replacement (& add the difference from you pocket) & get better performance. Or sod it & sell both & buy the 8800GTS 320MB for great performance.

Hope this helps.