Help with new GPU

[tophee]

Hi,

After a necessary upgrade to my OS (the end of Windows 8 beta) and the latest nvidia drivers being released I am now seeing artifacts all over the place from my nvidia 460GTX. Then freezes / reboots.

I am assuming this is a hardware failure of the gup as when I take the card out all works. I'm using the onboard intel gpu which seems to be doing an ok job for surfing the net and doing some office bits.

I would like to replace it with a midrange card with a reasonable amount of ram on it as I use my pc for photoshop a fair bit (and the very occasional game). I guess I will stick with nvidia for the photoshop acceleration it gives to PS.

I am very out of touch with current gen GPU's. What would be a good recommendation? Something quiet and reasonably energy efficient.

Many thanks

Chris

 

[Gregster]

Hi Tophee,

Artifacts are usually associated with memory being clocked too high. You could use AB and drop the memory clocks a little to see if this helps. Also you can see what the tempratures are, as this could be the reason. If the 460 is fairly old, it could be a case of de-dusting and reaplying thermal paste to get temps lower.

If you have no luck and are looking to replace:

What is the rest of your system and what resolution is your monitor? What games do you play/intend on playing and lastly, what is your budget

 

[tophee]

Hi gregster,

Thanks for your thoughts. It had crossed my mind it could be the card's memory, and yes this thing is probably 3 years old. Oh, card is at stock too.

I've now replaced the thermal compound and looked at the fan / heatsink. There did not seem to be much dust. Will plug it in again and try it again presently. Though I like a more up to date card as this rig, apart from an old Sata2 SSD I'm using as a scratch drive for photshop it's only 6mths old.

The rest of my system is this:
i7-3770K
Asus P8 Z77-V LX mobo
256Gb Samsung 830 SSD
500Gb SATA3 WD drive (I forget which one)
16Gb Samsung Green Ram
Corsair TX750 PSU
23" Dell Ultrasharp (1920x1080)

And until yesterday a Nvidia 460GTX

I was thinking somewhere £100 - £200. I see GPU's are running cooler these days and seem to be drawing less power - only 1 6pin powercable!
As for games, not so much these days (time being the major issue), but things like Skyrim, Arkhum City, and I am really looking forward to the new Simcity game...

As I said before, Photoshop is the regular thing, though I do a fair old bit of virtualisation and video editing.

 

[tophee]

Ah, after several days of not getting a chance to plug my re-greased / cleaned 460GTX into my pc... same on-screen artifacts.

I've now done some research and as I am running Photoshop 6 it seems I might make the move from green to red. However, it's not a done deal.

I am currently considering either a AMD HD 7850/70 or a Nvidia GTX660 / GTX 660Ti. In truth it is unlikely that I will play many games for the foreseeable future. However when I do I want the eyecandy.

Reading a review directly comparing the 7850 and 660 Ti it seems the Ti wins, but that is a few months old. How are things with the latest drivers?

Advice please would be welcome. And in the meantime, I'll keep reading.

Ta