Broken Graphics Card - Advice Needed

Associate
Joined
12 Jul 2017
Posts
19
Hi all,

Gaming this morning has brought an end to my long lived graphics card with a sudden pop and a blue screen of death. After messing around with my other units, I’m 99% sure it’s the graphics card, so I’m in the market for a new one.

Computer specifications are below:

Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.40GHz
4GB RAM
Windows 10
AMD Radeon HD 7700 series (the broken one)

Need some recommendations for a new graphics card. Also a couple of additional questions - I can buy an extra batch of ram if this is the limiting factor on a decent card - is this worth doing? And what’s the point at which it becomes cheaper to buy a new pc? Any recommendations? I’m looking to get a decent card so not averse to spending a few hundred, but obviously at some point it becomes more viable to just buy a new PC. Is it a worthwhile investment just buying a new machine for say £600-800? Or is it better to just continually upgrade what I have?

Computers used for gaming quite a lot but not many massive games requirement wise - EU4, CK3, World of Warcraft and Football Manager mostly. Not into the likes of COD that would be the big graphics chewers.

Thanks
 
Associate
OP
Joined
12 Jul 2017
Posts
19
You should have built in graphics on the motherboard have you tried that for the time being ?

Any life in the pc ?
I’ve got a backup, older graphics card and the PC is working fine with a different graphics card in, which is what makes me certain it’s just a broken graphics card. Unfortunately that graphics card wouldn’t be good enough to play any games long term so I’ll need a replacement. Guess my question was more around the transition point between whether I buy a graphics card or whole new PC
 
Man of Honour
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I’ve got a backup, older graphics card and the PC is working fine with a different graphics card in, which is what makes me certain it’s just a broken graphics card. Unfortunately that graphics card wouldn’t be good enough to play any games long term so I’ll need a replacement. Guess my question was more around the transition point between whether I buy a graphics card or whole new PC
At the moment there is a significant shortage of graphics cards so upgrading that may be an issuie. Could buy used something like a gtx 970 would be a good choice for your system .

How does your pc perform before the gpu failure, and do you have an ssd hard drive ?

Do you want to go the new pc route gpu availibilty still applies ?
 
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Soldato
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Aberdeen
Is that 4 GB made up of 1x4 GB stick, 2x 2 GB sticks, or 4x 1 GB sticks? I'm guessing it's one of the latter two. You don't specify the motherboard but they typically have a limit of 8 GB per stick. 8 GB of RAM (2x 4 GB), boosting you to 10 or 12 GB should cost you about £50 and will provide a significant boost. Do be aware that you need the 64 bit version of Windows 10 to use more than 4 GB and this will entail a reinstall if you have the 32 bit version.

I will echo the comment about a SSD but I will also suggest that it may be time to replace your PSU. Something made the GPU go bang and the PSU is the second culprit. Also a new GPU may require more power than your current PSU can provide.

Now is not a good time to be in the market for a high-end GPU. They are rarer than hens' teeth. GPUs are generally out of stock or silly prices or both.

Here's a basic upgrade bundle:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £329.87 (includes shipping: £9.90)​


With regards to replacing the rest of your system, right now the bang for the buck is the six-core Intel 10400f with a cheap B460 motherboard and 16 GB RAM.

 
Associate
OP
Joined
12 Jul 2017
Posts
19
At the moment there is a significant shortage of graphics cards so upgrading that may be an issuie. Could buy used something like a gtx 970 would be a good choice for your system .

How does your pc perform before the gpu failure, and do you have an ssd hard drive ?

Do you want to go the new pc route gpu availibilty still applies ?
The PC was operating fine prior to this. I have an SSD hard drive. I’m thinking a placeholder GPU might be the way to go and a new PC next year when this supply issue hopefully goes away might be my best option. Not sure exactly what that looks like atm though
 
Associate
Joined
12 Jan 2021
Posts
1,296
If you were happy with your machines performance then there is no need to change anything beyond getting a new graphics card. Yes an intel 10400, more ram etc will be a big upgrade but if you are happy with the current performance I would suggest waiting for the nvidia 3060 graphics card (due towards the end of February) if you want to try ray tracing in WoW, and keep saving for newer parts when you want to upgrade the rest of the system. If its still working the 3060 would be able to transfer to the new system when you are ready for the rest of your parts. So yes the 3060 could be seen as the first part of your next upgrade. Just make sure that your psu is capable of powering your new card. I expect the 3770k at 3.4 to bottleneck the 3060 so don't be worried if it does not give the upgrade you see in reviews etc when they come out, but it means that you will be set for the rest of your upgrade when it comes
 
Associate
OP
Joined
12 Jul 2017
Posts
19
Is that 4 GB made up of 1x4 GB stick, 2x 2 GB sticks, or 4x 1 GB sticks? I'm guessing it's one of the latter two. You don't specify the motherboard but they typically have a limit of 8 GB per stick. 8 GB of RAM (2x 4 GB), boosting you to 10 or 12 GB should cost you about £50 and will provide a significant boost. Do be aware that you need the 64 bit version of Windows 10 to use more than 4 GB and this will entail a reinstall if you have the 32 bit version.

I will echo the comment about a SSD but I will also suggest that it may be time to replace your PSU. Something made the GPU go bang and the PSU is the second culprit. Also a new GPU may require more power than your current PSU can provide.

Now is not a good time to be in the market for a high-end GPU. They are rarer than hens' teeth. GPUs are generally out of stock or silly prices or both.

Here's a basic upgrade bundle:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £329.87 (includes shipping: £9.90)


With regards to replacing the rest of your system, right now the bang for the buck is the six-core Intel 10400f with a cheap B460 motherboard and 16 GB RAM.

It’s 2x2gb. Going to upgrade that to the one you’ve suggested so thanks for that. Your GPU suggestion looks like a winner, here’s hoping delivery isn’t too long, as I’m PC-less until it arrives
 
Associate
OP
Joined
12 Jul 2017
Posts
19
If you were happy with your machines performance then there is no need to change anything beyond getting a new graphics card. Yes an intel 10400, more ram etc will be a big upgrade but if you are happy with the current performance I would suggest waiting for the nvidia 3060 graphics card (due towards the end of February) if you want to try ray tracing in WoW, and keep saving for newer parts when you want to upgrade the rest of the system. If its still working the 3060 would be able to transfer to the new system when you are ready for the rest of your parts. So yes the 3060 could be seen as the first part of your next upgrade. Just make sure that your psu is capable of powering your new card. I expect the 3770k at 3.4 to bottleneck the 3060 so don't be worried if it does not give the upgrade you see in reviews etc when they come out, but it means that you will be set for the rest of your upgrade when it comes
Spot on thanks. The RAM upgrade is only a few quid so I’ll go ahead with that now, and the GPU replacement and start saving towards other upgrades. Thanks for this
 
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