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Bought a GTX 280... but don't want it.

Electricity bill. Assuming you pay it in your house hold you'll have noticed how much it has gone up in the past year. It's an outgoing you just don't need if there is no reason for it, especially when your pc is 'idle' and there is therefore no excuse for it.

In the old days I happily had power hungry P4's, many drives and fridge cooling on my PC courtesy of a Mach II cooler, but those days have passed. You really do pay for every watt of electricity you use now.
 
An extra 50w sounds like a light bulb, how much does that cost over a year, say 8 hours a day. I just pay the bill, never tried to break it down. Just know my elecltric shower says 7KW on it and I spend a good half hour in there every day.
 
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Do you even get wet with a 7kw electric shower? ;) I used to have a 10.5kW one and that was rubbish enough. Moved to a power shower now off the combi boiler :)
 
bfar said:
Surprising tho. Didn't think the gtx280 was a massive leap over my old 8800gtx, but I'd never trade back all the same :) Power draw is high at load, but actually lower on the desktop.
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Yeah, I hear you about the move from 8800 GTX to 280. It did not feel like such a big leap - but then I downloaded the Crysis demo again and put everything on Very High :eek:

For the price, I think it offered very good value, and I am hoping to knock off a further 100 Quid at least by selling my 8800 on. All in all, nice bargain for a decent, future-proof step up :D

Also, the card downclocks at idle desktop, so you only use a lot of power in game.
 
Wise words above.....all the screeching enviro-mentalists yell at you to turn off the standby LED on your telly. What they should tell you is "skip one shower, and you can run your TV on standby for about 18 months.....AND increase the device's lifespan, reducing waste"...........proof positive it's all a scam....."keep yanking that plug in and out and putting shock loads through the system so we can sell you a replacement in 3 months".
 
I had my electric shower removed and replace with a normal mixer one that runs off the combi. Not only does it shift 3x more hot water than the 10.5kw electric, the cost is far less too.

I personally couldn't care a less about the environment, but I DO care about about my electricity bill. If you don't you're either loaded and lucky, or your parents are paying it for you.
 
Stonedofmoo said:
lol nah too late. The 8800GT is already back in my PC and the 280 GTX has been RMA'd.
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RMA'd? I assume there's nothing physically wrong with the card? You could send it back with regards to distance selling regulations, but RMA'ing the card will just incur a cost, and you'll get the card back if it's in the condition advertised - ie. working as it should.
 
Hi mate

Don't worry, OCUK RMA'd it for a full refund. They know there is nothing wrong with it, I just made use of the new customer service forum and they were quick to help! :)
 
Well i went from an 8800GT to a GTX 260 OC over christmas and GTA IV went from running at an average of 30FPS at 1680 with medium settings to 40FPS at 1920 at much higher settings... I assume the 280 was a bigger increase in performance again.

I reckon now GTA IV has set a new performance boundary, you will very quickly find that 8800GT unable to cope, even if it is well overclocked. The cards simply dont have the bandwidth or enough memory to cope.
 
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