Fry's VGA return policy. Help me choose new gfx card. 7950

lilvaratep

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Nov 19, 2012
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Card just began artifacting.

Skyrim is NOT okay. I was playing diablo 3 and I kept getting artifacts/black flickers and I thought it was just the game. On Skyrim now and It's done it a few times as well, but with gray/black flickers and little white specks. Also got a few flickers on guild wars. Card also heats up to 80c very quickly on MSI combustor and Diablo 3 as well as other games unless vsync is on. Return the card to Fry's and get a new one?

Anyone know the return policy on fry's graphics cards? I read up on the hd 7950 series, particularly the msi tf3 oc 7950 (which I have) ones and that basically they're hit or miss. I'm wondering if I should replace it for another MSI tf3 oc 7950 OR replace with nvidia.

Please give me information on why I should go with either. This is my first built PC and just when I thought everything would go smoothly =\.

If I were to switch, which Nvidia card should I get that is equivalent or better than the 7950 for around the same price range (314 usd after rebate from fry's)?
 

tweakboy

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Jan 3, 2010
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Fry's has a 30 day return policy. If its passed that then you need to contact the maker of your video card and RMA thru them. Just buy a card from frys as temporary but you must do RMA and stuff before 30 days... gl
 

raghu78

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2012
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Get the Gigabyte HD 7950 OC card. excellent windforce3x cooler. reliable brand with 3 yr warranty.
 

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
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Just return/even exchange it :D

Also, any plans on OCing?
 

lilvaratep

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Nov 19, 2012
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Well I was actually thinking of getting the gtx 670 ftw edition. How does that compare with the 7950? Hows the overclocking abilities?

how about 660ti vs 670? Is the $100 price increase justifiable?
How's the 660ti fare vs 7950?
 

Rikard

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Apr 25, 2012
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Well I was actually thinking of getting the gtx 670 ftw edition. How does that compare with the 7950? Hows the overclocking abilities?

how about 660ti vs 670? Is the $100 price increase justifiable?
How's the 660ti fare vs 7950?
Look, if your most demanding game is Skyrim and your resolution is not more than 1080p, a 7950 is overkill. With the latest drivers 7950 and 670 have almost the same performance, but the 7950 has more memory, so yeah if you are into texture modding Skyrim a 7950 is the best option. But otherwise I think you would be just as happy with a 7850, 7870 or a 660 (non-Ti), and spend the money where you need it more.

(I was running Skyrim in Ultra with a 9800GT at ~30 FPS, now with a 7950 I still have not been able to find a mod that takes my FPS below 60... But that day will come.)
 

lilvaratep

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Nov 19, 2012
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Well, I'm getting artifacts definitely. Especially in unigine heaven.

I've also been getting a video/audio stutter. Could the graphics card be causing this as well?
 

tweakboy

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This can happen when switching from ATI to nvidia or nvidia to ATI ,

then you need a clean OS install.

You shouldn't get video stutter. Get latest beta driver and let us know. gl
 

lilvaratep

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Nov 19, 2012
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Here's update:


I just realized the SSD is open box - could the ssd be causing the stutter? How would I separate what's causing the stutter? I took out the ssd as well as the secondary(1tb) and I put in my old 320GB from my old comp. I had to boot into ubuntu because trying to boot into w7 kept bsoding me. As of now, I have had no stutters whatsoever. Is this an indicator that my ssd is messed up?

But does being on Linux make the "test" inaccurate? Or would it not matter. I THINK i remember seeing the HDD light on my case light up when I had the stutter.

just started noticing it when I played diablo 3. Then I started noticing it in other games. Then I started noticing it in desktop environment. LOL...


Ok well, I went back to the ssd to try it again, but this time, I'm NOT using the 1tb hdd. So far, no stutters. If I don't get any stutters after an hour or so, I'll try the 1tb again. If stutter occurs, I'll come back to you. If it happens to be on the 1tb, could it be that there's a software causing the issue? can hdd's cause stutters or is that just on ssd's?

on the ssd, I have crysis, diablo 3, java, w7, realtek.
on the hdd, planetside 2, video drivers which I just uniinstalled, but never rebooted to check if it fixed the stutter, all the other drivers i need, skyrim, and a few more stuff.


Also: I had 12.11beta drivers and that was causing a bunch of instability and artifacts.
 

Rikard

Senior member
Apr 25, 2012
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Temporarily replace the graphics card with a spare card or use the integrated graphics of your processor and see if the problem is gone or not. That way you can exclude the graphics card as the source of your problems.
 

tweakboy

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Jan 3, 2010
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Here's update:


I just realized the SSD is open box - could the ssd be causing the stutter? How would I separate what's causing the stutter? I took out the ssd as well as the secondary(1tb) and I put in my old 320GB from my old comp. I had to boot into ubuntu because trying to boot into w7 kept bsoding me. As of now, I have had no stutters whatsoever. Is this an indicator that my ssd is messed up?

But does being on Linux make the "test" inaccurate? Or would it not matter. I THINK i remember seeing the HDD light on my case light up when I had the stutter.

just started noticing it when I played diablo 3. Then I started noticing it in other games. Then I started noticing it in desktop environment. LOL...


Ok well, I went back to the ssd to try it again, but this time, I'm NOT using the 1tb hdd. So far, no stutters. If I don't get any stutters after an hour or so, I'll try the 1tb again. If stutter occurs, I'll come back to you. If it happens to be on the 1tb, could it be that there's a software causing the issue? can hdd's cause stutters or is that just on ssd's?

on the ssd, I have crysis, diablo 3, java, w7, realtek.
on the hdd, planetside 2, video drivers which I just uniinstalled, but never rebooted to check if it fixed the stutter, all the other drivers i need, skyrim, and a few more stuff.


Also: I had 12.11beta drivers and that was causing a bunch of instability and artifacts.



Open box OMG where did you buy it from ? let me guess NEWEGG.com ?
 

tweakboy

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Jan 3, 2010
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Man that's interesting, but Im not shure if its the SSD causing your stutter...

I blame it on either drivers or video card is bunk or Mobo settings.

Try just for the heck of it, to go to BIOS and load defaults,, no OC and try it,

Lets make sure its the card before you send it back RMA. gl