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Emergency! GFX Card dead!

Knubje

Knubje

Knubje

Soldato
Joined
5 Jun 2008
Posts
6,240
Location
Portsmouth/Fareham
Hi All,

Quick question as I need to get something sorted and with the best/swiftest advice.

I currently own a near 3 year old GeForce 8800 GTS 320mb. It has been reliable as hell but has been showing signs of buckle in the past week. Tonight it has finally happened. I'm currently in safe mode with loads of sketchy lines down my screen, can't boot normally or I get a blue screen.

I need advice on what card to get as a replacement FAST! I'm a heavy gamer although have been slightly restriceted in the past year due to my older card flaking a bit due to it's age.

Few things really:

Budget is £100-150 want the best possible card for buck/bang. This means I will probably have to get an ATI card as they seem to be pwning Nvidia a bit in this department currently. This would by no means be a personal choice as I do love Nvidia cards but I'm looking for a deal now so there we go.

My PSU is 650/750w (I forget tbh) Thermaltake. I have checked and it's only got 1 6 pin GFX power connector unfortunatley. I do have a few spare cables for powering HDD/DVD and an 8pin which I have no idea what it's doing but its connected to the 4pin that powers the CPU on the mainboard.

Ideally don't want to replace PSU as this would be costly.

Card size isn't an issue I don't think, the 8800 is quite big (was in its time anyway) I can fit around 12" card with a rough measurement.

Any thoughts would be more than welcome, hopefully going to order replacement tomorrow morning.

Cheers guys!
 
A Gainward Golden sample GTX260 216 (55nm) is £130 whilst a Store branded ATI 4890 1GB is £10 more.

Either will give you levels of rape you've never seen before but teh GTX comes with Batman and Terminator as well as a sweeter retail bundle altogether. It will also be quieter under load and use less power.

I'd say go for the GTX260 :)
 
mrk said:
A Gainward Golden sample GTX260 216 (55nm) is £130 whilst a Store branded ATI 4890 1GB is £10 more.

Either will give you levels of rape you've never seen before but teh GTX comes with Batman and Terminator as well as a sweeter retail bundle altogether. It will also be quieter under load and use less power.

I'd say go for the GTX260 :)
Click to expand...

I would second the above... its a hard choice but as you have had an nVidia card previously I'd say stick with nVidia.
 
Question, what you going to do with that broken GTS ? if your going to bin it could i have it as i need the spare parts.
 
Damn this is turning into the age old ATI/Nvidia comparison. I'm inclined to agree with MRK and Rroff, although the Powercolor ATI is tempting.

I've had an ATI card back in the past but mostly stuck with Nvidia as it's what I know and like, difficult choices really.

Looks like I'm going to have to get a 6-PIN adapter cable to fire either card so that's not really an issue.

Comparitaviley like for like, the 260 against the 4890, where are you really going to notice the difference?

Sound:- Not really an issue as I don't leave PC on when I sleep.
Performance:- Important but my main tipples are TF2, L4D although I like to be able to run new games that come out. Batman and ResiEvil 5 for PC I'm looking forward to in the next few months. All in all do you notice the extra 100mhz core clock?
Heat:- My case is not great by far. During summer needs a deskfan to keep things from combusting ;) Not helped by living arrangements atm, hot room, etc.

Also I've been told that ATI drivers are a bit cumbersome in comparison to Nvidia and from my experience they are sometimes a little slower than the NVidia devs in getting their butts in gear!

Any more thoughts?

Oh and to Viruz, add me to your OcUK favourites and when I get my PC running (other than safe mode with blurred screen) we can sort something out if you want. Probably postage covered and a few quid in my direction or something?
 
You'll notice the difference most when you get above 1920x res... possibly at 1920x in some demanding games or if you really turn the AA up.

260GTX has a nice extra bundle atm which along with your being used to nVidia drivers is why I'd reccomend it... the 4890 is a powerful card tho so its not an easy choice.
 
Well, I'm also on a really old 19" TFT so I can only get 1280*1024 at best anyway. Although in future I am looking at going to 24" so will be nice to have something capable when I do upgrade.

Given that I probably won't notice the difference in performance as it stands at the moment with games I regularly play.

It is a TOUGH choice!
 
Ok, I'm finally leaning towards the 4890. Mainly due to the fact that I can get it at the same price next day delivery with the adapter cable included for the same price as going and collecting the cheapest Gainward 260 I can find.

Admitedly, I won't notice the difference in terms of the games I play now but in the future with the possibility of the 24" I'm getting the best for my money with the ATI.

As much as I love Nvidia, I can't help but feel I'll be paying slightly more for less bang. That would irk me :)

I still have until Thursday morning to finalise the decision, by which time I'll place next day delivery with OcUK and have it by Friday!
 
pick up a HD4890 about the same performance, maybe a bit higher now not sure, cheaper as well, you get version with better coolers for cheaper than the GTX275 anyways.

if you prefer Nvidia thats fine cos a GTX275 is a nice buy to
 
mrk said:
A Gainward Golden sample GTX260 216 (55nm) is £130 whilst a Store branded ATI 4890 1GB is £10 more.

Either will give you levels of rape you've never seen before but teh GTX comes with Batman and Terminator as well as a sweeter retail bundle altogether. It will also be quieter under load and use less power.

I'd say go for the GTX260 :)
Click to expand...

The 4890 is actually £120 for the power color one. You would have to be crazy to get a GTX260 over a 4890 when it's £10 cheaper.
 
Knubje said:
Ok, I'm finally leaning towards the 4890. Mainly due to the fact that I can get it at the same price next day delivery with the adapter cable included for the same price as going and collecting the cheapest Gainward 260 I can find.

Admitedly, I won't notice the difference in terms of the games I play now but in the future with the possibility of the 24" I'm getting the best for my money with the ATI.

As much as I love Nvidia, I can't help but feel I'll be paying slightly more for less bang. That would irk me :)

I still have until Thursday morning to finalise the decision, by which time I'll place next day delivery with OcUK and have it by Friday!
Click to expand...

That's most definitely true. Make sure you get the Power Color 4890 that's £120 on special offer.

£10 less for a fair amount more performance is crazy to pass up.
 
Awesome, thanks for all the replies guys.

Finalised the decision to go with the 4890 on offer with OcUK at the moment. As most of you said the performance for the price is just too good.

I have just ordered before 9am with a next day delivery, £130 all in. Should see the card arrive at my workplace by tomrorow! I just hope I don't get the one that was boxed without the 6pin adapter :D

When it's arrived and all settled in I shall look at buying a custom heatsync to put on it to reduce the noise and keep it a little cooler. They are around £10-20 quid I think aren't they?
 
you won't be disspapiointed, well you won't with ethoir, but just think of the beer money you saved :D
 
I ended up raising a customer service note after noticing one of the reviews for the card on OcUK itself stated that the particular peripheral cable I was looking for wasn't included.

Raised a customer service note to check and Slackworth kindly got back to me informing me that they do NOT have the adapter cable included and has promptly sent me one free in 1st class delivery as good will. What a guy :)

Also the site does not say it's included anymore :D

Really looking forward to tomorrow! In the meantime I have chored a Geforce 4 MX-420 64mb PCI card from work to use just to get some desktop action tonight ;)

Might try quakelive on it too if I'm bored :D
 
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