So I have a MSI 670 PE that's about at the two year mark. Most of my gaming is typically WoW, but I've been pushing into a few other games out of boredom over the last few months - Titanfall, Watch Dogs, EQ Landmark, Firefall, just to name a few - and I've had massive problems with all of them.
I think I pretty well have it tracked down to the issue described here at Tom's Hardware. While the article isn't perfect (it's a bit hyperbolic, and not great on details), it fits with what I see: Anything that taxes the GPU will cause the card to crash. Titanfall usually just abused the framebuffer, and may be better now; the other three games I listed all had high GPU usage in Afterburner, and sitting at high usage for a decent period of time would cause the crash. I would be fine with low FPS or stuttering (time to turn settings down!), but that's not what I get: Full on, 'your display driver has stopped responding' crashes. Note that depending on the game, I don't need particularly high settings to get this to happen; While 2560x1440 definitely exacerbates it, even at 1080p with 4xFF and other high settings I'll get these crashes.
It's not temperature related; My temps hover between 60 and 65C, and my case has solid airflow - 4 Cougar PWM fans. My power supply is also not likely to be the issue - I have a Corsair 760AXi, so it's rock solid and sufficiently powerful. I'm running the 340.43 driver, but the issue is not unique to this driver; I've had issues with more demanding titles for some time, but I chalked them up to poorly optimized launches and seldom get back to old games. I've also updated the MSI card to the most recent BIOS, because I heard rumors that it may help offset that design flaw, but no dice.
Full System Specs:
CPU: Core i7-3770k, stock speeds and cooler
MB: Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H
RAM: 2x8GB GSkill
GPU: MSI GTX 670 PE, stock speed/volatage/power/fan
SSD: Samsung 840 Evo (x2, non-RAID)
OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit
Monitor(s): 1x Dell Ultrasharp 27" 2560x1440, 2x Samsung 23" 1080p
Basically, I need to either get this card working up to par - either near the settings that GeForce Experience or the community recommends - or get a new card.
For new cards, I'm looking at either a 4GB 770 or a 3GB 280x. I'd love to jump to the 290, but that's a surprisingly large price difference. I'm also willing to hobble until Maxwell comes out, but that might be rough...
I'm specifically looking at the following models at the moment; I've got some Best Buy RZ certificates to burn, so they come out slightly cheaper.
XFX Double Dissipation Edition Radeon R9 280X 3GB
Model: R9280XTDFD
at BestBuy via 3rd party: $275
at Newegg: $310 after rebate
I like the lifetime warranty, XFX seems to be a top-tier Radeon card manufacturer (though this is just based on forum rankings I've seen), and the price is pretty damn solid. BB also has an even cheaper VisionTek, but I'd have to buy miniDP adapters, so no real savings there. I'm also vaguely considering a Gigabyte 290 4GB at BestBuy, but at $400 that's a HUGE jump, and I almost wonder if I'd be better served with a 280x now, another 280x when prices drop for CrossFire.
Zotac GeForce GTX 770 4GB
Model: ZT-70304-10P
at BestBuy via 3rd-party: $358
at NewEgg: $357
I do like NVidia - I've not had an AMD card in a few years due to their old driver issues - and I like that 4GB framebuffer. But that's $80 more for a card at/near the same performance, which is a really bitter pill to swallow. I can get a 2GB Zotac 770 at BestBuy for $299, but at that point, I'm willing to try a 280x for the bigger framebuffer and so I can give advice on their driver settings, etc. again to WoW guildies.
So, Anandtech masses, any advice? Do I need to pony up for a bigger card to be reasonably happy? Can my 670 be saved, or at least improved until Maxwell? Do I need to shut up and just buy the 280X that's been a really strong looking card? HELP!!!!!
Thanks!
I think I pretty well have it tracked down to the issue described here at Tom's Hardware. While the article isn't perfect (it's a bit hyperbolic, and not great on details), it fits with what I see: Anything that taxes the GPU will cause the card to crash. Titanfall usually just abused the framebuffer, and may be better now; the other three games I listed all had high GPU usage in Afterburner, and sitting at high usage for a decent period of time would cause the crash. I would be fine with low FPS or stuttering (time to turn settings down!), but that's not what I get: Full on, 'your display driver has stopped responding' crashes. Note that depending on the game, I don't need particularly high settings to get this to happen; While 2560x1440 definitely exacerbates it, even at 1080p with 4xFF and other high settings I'll get these crashes.
It's not temperature related; My temps hover between 60 and 65C, and my case has solid airflow - 4 Cougar PWM fans. My power supply is also not likely to be the issue - I have a Corsair 760AXi, so it's rock solid and sufficiently powerful. I'm running the 340.43 driver, but the issue is not unique to this driver; I've had issues with more demanding titles for some time, but I chalked them up to poorly optimized launches and seldom get back to old games. I've also updated the MSI card to the most recent BIOS, because I heard rumors that it may help offset that design flaw, but no dice.
Full System Specs:
CPU: Core i7-3770k, stock speeds and cooler
MB: Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H
RAM: 2x8GB GSkill
GPU: MSI GTX 670 PE, stock speed/volatage/power/fan
SSD: Samsung 840 Evo (x2, non-RAID)
OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit
Monitor(s): 1x Dell Ultrasharp 27" 2560x1440, 2x Samsung 23" 1080p
Basically, I need to either get this card working up to par - either near the settings that GeForce Experience or the community recommends - or get a new card.
For new cards, I'm looking at either a 4GB 770 or a 3GB 280x. I'd love to jump to the 290, but that's a surprisingly large price difference. I'm also willing to hobble until Maxwell comes out, but that might be rough...
I'm specifically looking at the following models at the moment; I've got some Best Buy RZ certificates to burn, so they come out slightly cheaper.
XFX Double Dissipation Edition Radeon R9 280X 3GB
Model: R9280XTDFD
at BestBuy via 3rd party: $275
at Newegg: $310 after rebate
I like the lifetime warranty, XFX seems to be a top-tier Radeon card manufacturer (though this is just based on forum rankings I've seen), and the price is pretty damn solid. BB also has an even cheaper VisionTek, but I'd have to buy miniDP adapters, so no real savings there. I'm also vaguely considering a Gigabyte 290 4GB at BestBuy, but at $400 that's a HUGE jump, and I almost wonder if I'd be better served with a 280x now, another 280x when prices drop for CrossFire.
Zotac GeForce GTX 770 4GB
Model: ZT-70304-10P
at BestBuy via 3rd-party: $358
at NewEgg: $357
I do like NVidia - I've not had an AMD card in a few years due to their old driver issues - and I like that 4GB framebuffer. But that's $80 more for a card at/near the same performance, which is a really bitter pill to swallow. I can get a 2GB Zotac 770 at BestBuy for $299, but at that point, I'm willing to try a 280x for the bigger framebuffer and so I can give advice on their driver settings, etc. again to WoW guildies.
So, Anandtech masses, any advice? Do I need to pony up for a bigger card to be reasonably happy? Can my 670 be saved, or at least improved until Maxwell? Do I need to shut up and just buy the 280X that's been a really strong looking card? HELP!!!!!
Thanks!