Dead Graphics card/New recommended one

[feck]

Hi all,
My PC has been playing up lately,switching off with no warning,and monitor going to sleep.
Found out my Asus 4870 512 M PCI Express cards fan was no longer spinning.Cleaned it out and checked fan settings to no avail.My old 8800GTS is now in and no problems so far.
Can anyone recommend an Nvidia card that would be equal to or slightly better than my 4870,please?
I realise I may be held back by Motherboard/power supply etc but have a budget of around £200.
Thanks in advance.

****.

Windows Vista 32 SP 2
550 W power
Asus P5NE-SLI
Intel Core 2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13 GHz
4GB DDR2
P.S Am no expert on PC's but can fit it myself.

 

[daveyg]

Check your PSU first!!!!

My instant Nvidia recommendation for about £200 would be a GTX460 1GB, they range from about £175-£200 - The MSI one OCUK have gets very good reviews as it has a nice custom heatsink fan.

Not sure how it directly compares to a 4870. It beats a 5830 and gives a 5850 a good run for its money, so do a check of a 4870 against a 5830 on Tom's or another benchmark site.

If you are willing to sacrifice some perfomance its little brother (the GTX460 768MB) starts at about £150 and goes up to about £180.

You pay more depending on whether you get factory OC or not.

Both these cards are supposed to be very quiet and quite low power and would be fine with your 550W PSU.

The 470 would be your next option (skip the 465) but I think it takes quite a bit more power and starts at about £230. Depends how you define 'about £200'.

It also depends what screen res you play in. Toms Hardware suggests that for 1680*1050 a 460 should be more than enough. Not sure how much actual difference there is between the the 460s, but my gut feeling is get the 1gb version for the little bit extra it costs as it (should) last longer as games get better, and will help if you upgrade screen res (as this drives how much memory you need).

I currently have a 8800 GTS 512 and know I need to upgrade soon and the GTX 460 is top of my list. I was looking at ATI, but you get CUDA and Phyx with Nvidia. I know this is not that big a deal, but for a more or less equivalent price I'd take the extras and enjoy them in games that support them. I'm sure the ATI fans would recommend a 5850 as the price is dropping to about £200 to match the GTX 460, but they are still hovering above it.

My health warning to all this is check you power supply first. From recent bitter experience I mis-diognosed a faulty power supply and bought a whole new mobo/processor/ram to find I still then had to buy a new PSU. Experience says majority of faults are power supply.

Still if you are sure it is your GFX card, and you want NVIDIA a GTX460 should serve you well.

 

[Orcvader]

The 460 1gb is the card to go then if you want nvidia. It performs better then the 4870 512mb. Although I might suggest a 5770 (performs about the same as a 4870) seeing as your CPU is running on stock, don't want any major bottlenecking. What resolution do you play on?

 

[Sean_UK]

Found out my Asus 4870 512 M PCI Express cards fan was no longer spinning.Cleaned it out and checked fan settings to no avail.

So if I'm reading your post correctly; GFX cards works except fan wont spin up, end result been it soon reaches silly temps and only then freaks out? If the 4870's reference design why not just buy a aftermarket cooler to salvage the card, or buy an el-cheapo used stock heatsink from faulty 4870 via certain auction site.

Both far cheaper options

 

[pastymuncher]

^ This to be honest. A better cooler for £30-35 seems a good way to go.

 

[feck]

Wow,
Many thanks for your kind replies guys.I think I may go for a 460 TBH.I had my eye on that one but didn't know if I had the power to run it.
This is my third 4870 as the first 2 arrived and were totally dead,so not having much luck so time to move on I think.
Cheers again

****

 

[kylew]

I don't think there's any point in getting a 460 when you can get a 5850 for £5 more. £205 here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-148-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411 and it comes with 2 games as well, Stalker 3 and Stormrise which are probably worth around £30 together.

 

[Iniar]

repalced my 8800gtx with a zotac 470gtx. Very happy with it.