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Please help guys, sli setup has died on me

Darkmistress

Darkmistress

Darkmistress

Associate
Joined
24 Nov 2008
Posts
43
Hi,
I've lost touch with the market these days but have been building my own setups for over 12 years. My rig is getting on somewhat and I'm in a bit on a dilemma right now as to what to do.
My problem is that it looks like both my graphics cards have died on me, I'm up and running with onboard graphics right now :o My dated setup:

AMD Athlon X2 64 6000
Asus M3N72-T Deluxe
1000 Watt Sli PSU (I forget my make)
2x Palit Geforce 8600 GT (512MB) - both appear dead
4 GB of DDR 2 Ram (2 chips) - I can't remember my make but I can do a quick strip down to check, I know it's decent though
19'' Widescreen LCD
Running on Windows 7 64 bit

Any other specs I need to tell you guys?

The problem is I can't afford a complete rebuild right now, so I'm thinking a stopgap GPU might be my best bet for now. The problem is what to fit?
I'm looking at the HD5770's right now and they look a good replacement at a price I'd be happy to pay but will one be compatible with my hardware or do I have to get an older geforce card?

I do game on my PC and until yesterday it ran everything fine, ever new games like Dragon Age (not with all the bells and whistles obviously).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated guys,
Thanks
 
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I think a single 5850 would be a great stop gap as in the future when you do upgarde you can add a second.

Single 5770 would also be a good more budget concious choice.

Also you say both cards have died, that sounds unlikely, have you tried each one individually in both your pcie slots? Could be just a single pcie slot has failed.
 
Thanks for the advice, I hadn't considered the 5850 but I think it's a little out of my price range right now.
I'm not convinced both have died but I've tried both cards seperately in both slots and can't get a signal out of either. Unfortunately I don't have another board I can test them on. I just hope my PCie slots haven't died on me. I did notice one was very noisy when I was testing them and I had a fair bit of dust in the fans.
 
Thanks for replying,
I'm going to give a friend of mine a ring this evening when he gets home from work, fairly sure his board is PCIe. So hopefully be able to test them later to be sure one way or the other.

Update:
Turns out his PC is warrantee sealed so that's not an option. But he's going to take them into work and test them for me tomorrow (he works for a PC components repair business). So I guess I'm stuck waiting for now until I know for sure :(
 
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Thanks for the replies guys,
I wasn't planning on running crossfire or another sli setup. Just looking for a single GPU to last me a couple of months. Glad to hear I can run a single ATI card in my mobo, I wasn't sure. Still leaning towards a 5770 right now, but obviously I won't be deciding until tomorrow when I know for sure about my 8600's. Thanks again guys, your advice is really appreciated.
 
Darkmistress said:
I'm up and running with onboard graphics right now :o My dated setup:

AMD Athlon X2 64 6000
Asus M2N-SLi Deluxe
1000 Watt Sli PSU (I forget my make)
2x Palit Geforce 8600 GT (512MB) - both appear dead
4 GB of DDR 2 Ram (2 chips) - I can't remember my make but I can do a quick strip down to check, I know it's decent though
19'' Widescreen LCD
Running on Windows 7 64 bit
Click to expand...

the asus dont have any IGP built-in so what motherboard you using at the moment? Funny how both GFX cards go dead. I test the motherboard before you start going out spending on a new GFX card and it wont work.
 
You're quite right, I am sorry. My board is the Asus M3N72-T Deluxe. I'll edit my original post. Sorry about that just dug my mobo box out and checked.
I'm not sure how to test my mobo without getting another PCie graphics card to test in it.
 
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give your friend a call, and give him your cards to test or pop to your local pc shop and ask them to give the 8600gt's a look over.
 
He's testing for me in work today so I'll know in a few hours. I'll let you guys know. If they're ok then I'm guessing the PCie slots on my board are shot? I only bought it in January.
 
Sorry to revive this thread guys, but it seems I have a more serious problem and need some advice.
It turned out both my graphics cards would no longer display a signal when tested, but he couldn't find any fault with them. TBH he was baffled. So he borrowed me a spare XFX 8800 GS he had lying around and I figured i'd use that for a few months then get a new card...
Well it just blew :(
It seems something in my setup is blowing anything put into my PCie slots :(
What could be causing this? What's really odd is my system is fine otherwise. As soon as I empty my PCIe slots and use onboard graphics my system is stable and running again.
Please help
 
that is defo a concerning one, did you buy that board new or used if you dont mind me asking, as if it was new I would go give the shop a slapping and get a warranty replacement, if they turn you down then contact ASUS direct.

It seems that you are now left in a bit of an expensive situ :(....really feel for you, out of curiousity is your chip an AM2 yeah?
 
oh right, i would give one of the team at OCuk a call then, and see what they say with regards to a replacement as its under 12 months old. they should be able to sort something i would think.

still leaves in a position on the GFX card front, but at your resolution you play at, a 5770 is going to be a real power house, but then again the 9800GT Synergy will take your old 8600GT SLI setup to the cleaners, and they are £69.99 and will give you the future prospect of another later on for SLI again.

9800GT - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-022-ZT&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1009
 
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