Finally did it,

[shortylickens]

My EVGA 7800GT was quickly upgraded to a 7900GTX and I've been happy with it for a very long time now.

But in the last two months I've noticed serious issues with freezing and crashing. After removing the case cover and moving a Vornado fan next to it I determined it was a heat problem. Tried underclocking and forcing the card fan to full capacity, nothing else worked.

Decided I needed to replace the bad boy once and for all. Just ordered the XFX 8800GT 512 meg edition. The only negative thing I hear about it is the card seems to run the fan at full speed all day long, which is fine for me. I find the sound of a fan constantly spinning up and down to be more annoying, and putting the case back together will solve that problem anyway.

Also been hearing about backwards compatibility problems with the 8 series, but I cant get some classic games to run right now so I dont think it matters too much.

I suspect I'll be so impressed with the performance I'll wish I'd picked the thing up a year ago (or so my friends keep telling me).


EDIT:
The UPS website says its out for delivery!!!!!

 

[angry hampster]

I've never had any problems running older games on my vista rig. Good luck with the install and let us know how that cooler on the MSI is.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

The one with the big heatpipes? good choice.

 

[vanvock]

I just got one too & it really breathed new life into this ol' rig. Playin' UT3 @ 14x9 better than the 7900gt did @ 10x7.

 

[videopho]

The 7900gtx is a great card.
I believe it still can run today's game at medium setting.
eVGA has lifetime warranty on its product.
Why don't you try to rma it and who knows you may get a 8800gt card in return?

 

[Magusigne]

Let us know how you like it. I've got a BFG 7800 GT OC still runs most things at medium at 1920 resolution..

 

[shortylickens]

BUMP!
Have it installed.
Running 3Dmark06 right now.
I know everyone thinks that 3Dmark is pointless, but........
to hell with you, I like it.

Right before I swapped out my 7900GTX I was getting a total scor of about 5032. Which I thought was low.
Compared my results online and folks who had sytems almost exactly the same as mine were getting scores of 8600 to 8800. I can only assume I really did have a serious problem with the card itself.
Tried over and under clocking (just to see) scores didnt get better and often got worse. Tried a dozen different drivers, never got above a 5100.

Am running 3Dmark right now and it looks like I am getting 2-3 times the frame rates.
I'm very happy about that. Will run the FEAR demo next and see whats what.
Will probably run Test Drive Unlimited for the rest of the day. I should be able to run it at a much higher rez with everything maxed out now.
Crap, forgot about Oblivion. Will have to see if I can max out evrything on that too.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
BUMP!
Have it installed.
Running 3Dmark06 right now.
I know everyone thinks that 3Dmark is pointless, but........
to hell with you, I like it.

Right before I swapped out my 7900GTX I was getting a total scor of about 5032. Which I thought was low.
Compared my results online and folks who had sytems almost exactly the same as mine were getting scores of 8600 to 8800. I can only assume I really did have a serious problem with the card itself.
Tried over and under clocking (just to see) scores didnt get better and often got worse. Tried a dozen different drivers, never got above a 5100.

Am running 3Dmark right now and it looks like I am getting 2-3 times the frame rates.
I'm very happy about that. Will run the FEAR demo next and see whats what.
Will probably run Test Drive Unlimited for the rest of the day. I should be able to run it at a much higher rez with everything maxed out now.
Crap, forgot about Oblivion. Will have to see if I can max out evrything on that too.

congratulations! ... awesome ... and i know the feeling

Don't actually forget to *play* a game
-it's been weeks for me .. all i g-d do is benchmark and admire the pretty scenes ... over and over

 

[shortylickens]

Problems.

I only got a 3Dmark of 8802, which is much lower than other people with systems similar to mine.
Played FEAR and TDU and while I did notice an improvement, it wasnt the "OMG AWESOME!" boost for which I was hoping.

Its a shame because the 3D tests in 3Dmark06 really are running much faster. The CPU tests are the same of course. But based on comparitive systems I should be doing much better.
I dont have Call of Duty 4 or Crysis so I cant do any serious stressing of my system.

Am only running the official forceware drivers from the XFX website. Should I be using the Tweakforce drivers instead?
I was using those before and I really didnt get a noticble change in performance.
Is there some incredibly obvious setting in the Nvidia control panel thats killing my processing power and I dont know about it yet?

I will say that all of the render abnormalities are magically gone, so its a safe assumption my 7900GTX was having issues.

EDIT: Rebooted and ran again.
Score of 8750, when people with systems exactly like mine are getting 9600 or more.
Will have to try the tweakforce drivers today.

 

[s44]

Why didn't you RMA?

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
Problems.

I only got a 3Dmark of 8802, which is much lower than other people with systems similar to mine.
Played FEAR and TDU and while I did notice an improvement, it wasnt the "OMG AWESOME!" boost for which I was hoping.

Its a shame because the 3D tests in 3Dmark06 really are running much faster. The CPU tests are the same of course. But based on comparitive systems I should be doing much better.
I dont have Call of Duty 4 or Crysis so I cant do any serious stressing of my system.

Am only running the official forceware drivers from the XFX website. Should I be using the Tweakforce drivers instead?
I was using those before and I really didnt get a noticble change in performance.
Is there some incredibly obvious setting in the Nvidia control panel thats killing my processing power and I dont know about it yet?

I will say that all of the render abnormalities are magically gone, so its a safe assumption my 7900GTX was having issues.

EDIT: Rebooted and ran again.
Score of 8750, when people with systems exactly like mine are getting 9600 or more.
Will have to try the tweakforce drivers today.

are all your drivers 100% up-to-date?

it seems strange that both GPUs would give lower than usual results.

are you "forcing" AA/AF in the CP?

 

[shortylickens]

I am using the latest available drivers, I am not forcing on AA or AF. I verified that in the settings and I can see it easily in games.

I dont think the drivers matter that much. Most of the guys who are kicking my ass sent in their scores 8 months ago. I can only assume they were using older drivers than I am now.


EDIT:
I have an Athlon 64 dual core 4800+.
Thats about as good a socket 939 as you can get without going into overpriced FX chips.
I know its not the greatest CPU in the world. My problem is that even for such a CPU I should be getting better performance than I am.

 

[SniperDaws]

What cpu are u using ?

When you compare your score with somone with the same setup and they are scoring 1000 points more just check to see if there 4800+ is overclocked.

besides that just crank up the settings to take the flak off the cpu and drop it on the GPU and play your games with a big smile on your face