Looking for new GPU

[Fishead]

I'm looking for a new video card as my old one(Geforce 8800 GTS 320MB DDR3 Memory)Is biting the dust.I'm looking to spend about $250.I don't need the latest greatest because I just can't afford it.I'm looking for something with good price to performance.
My LCD is a a DELL 2405FPW with native resolution of 1920x1200 but I play a lot of games at resolutions below that.I play mostly RPGs like Diablo 3,Path of Exile.Borderlands 1 and 2 at times,Fallout series.I don't need to play the latest greatest games at high resolutions.

My system specs are;
CPU=Phenom II X 4 955 3.2GHz
Motherboard= ASUS M4A79T Deluxe
RAM= 6GB of Micron 1300 DDR3
Power supply=450 Watt PC POWER & COOLING
Hard Drives;
2- 75 Gig WD VelociRaptors
1-500 Gig WD Black

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I would also like to post about my problems with the current video card I'm having.Would this forum be the appropriate place or is there another forum that I should post that in?

 

[raghu78]

what is the amps on +12v rail on your psu ? Sapphire HD 7870 XT (Tahiti LE) is a good option if your psu has around 36A on +12v rail.

 

[tarmc]

660 or 660ti id suggest. especially for borderlands. physx eyecandy.


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[Fishead]

I'm not really sure but I'm trying to look for the specs.It has served me well so far.I do have a brand new 750 Watt PC Power & Cooling PSU with 60 amps on the 12v Rail.If need be I could always swap that in .

 

[tarmc]

how much are you looking to spend? and what kind of problems are you having with your current card?


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[Fishead]

Ok the power supply is a 510 ATX PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool PSU.
The specs on the PSU are
12V rail =34 amps
5V rail =40 amps

tarmc the prices on the 660 or 660ti are more in the $300 to 350 range.

 

[Fishead]

The 660 looks like a good fit .Its about $200 to 250 range.

 

[raghu78]

I'm not really sure but I'm trying to look for the specs.It has served me well so far.I do have a brand new 750 Watt PC Power & Cooling PSU with 60 amps on the 12v Rail.If need be I could always swap that in .

fine. if you can use the 750w then any card should work fine. so go with a Sapphire HD 7870 XT . currently out of stock at newegg. grab it when its back in stock.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202024

at stock speeds matches HD 7950(800 Mhz) and GTX 660 TI. when overclocked to 1.2 Ghz matches HD 7970(925 Mhz)

you can find a lot of info on ocn

http://www.overclock.net/t/1373543/official-7870-tahiti-le-xt-owners-club

overclock your CPU to 4 Ghz if you want to avoid bottlenecking this graphics card. use a good cooler like coolermaster hyper 212 evo.

 

[3DVagabond]

Ok the power supply is a 510 ATX PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool PSU.
The specs on the PSU are
12V rail =34 amps
5V rail =40 amps

tarmc the prices on the 660 or 660ti are more in the $300 to 350 range.

That PSU must be older than dirt with the 5v rail being more powerful than the 12v.

I'd put the shiny new one in.

 

[Fishead]

how much are you looking to spend? and what kind of problems are you having with your current card?


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what kind of problems are you having with your current card?
I'm looking to spend about $200 to 250.
The problem I'm having with the current card I have is I started locking up in one particular game "Path of Exile" and could not bring up Task Manager to shut it down.Had to cold boot and restart and when I logged in again to Windows XP 64 bit it would start acting funny.Start getting unresponsive and lock up again very fast.Also was getting lots of artifacts accross the screen(If I could post a picture you could see what I'm talking about).
I tired to roll back the drivers to an earlier version but couldn't get into Windows before it locked up again.It got to the point where I got an error message"NTLDR is missing" which could mean several things.So I decided to do a repair install.After I finished and booted up and before going to videocard makers site to get drivers I used the basic driver supplied by Windows XP and could log onto Windows and it would be stable but with lots of lines going thru screen.But when ever I installed the manufacturers Drivers and rebooted it would get to the log on screen which looked like all splotches of color with nothing readable and no mouse icon that I could see and nothing I could do.
I tried several reinstalls with older drivers but got the same thing so for now I'm just using the basic drivers from Windows XP install which means I can't play any games with most of the DirectX extensions.The games will refuse to start.
I think its the video card memory.I don't have another card to try that is PCI.Have a few AGP that are old and are of no use to me.So i figure I need a new card.

 

[tarmc]

odd, i had simular problems with path of exile, randoms crashing, or bsod. im figuring it was just a bug with the game. but artifacting is no good at all. card going to die. do you have it overclocked?


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[Fishead]

No I have never really been onto overclocking so I don't over clock anything on my PC.

 

[Fishead]

Is there a way to post a picture so I could show the lines I'm seeing on screen?

 

[MeldarthX]

Print screen then save in paint or something like that......

also; 7870 TX would also be a very good fit; still running with game bundle....and faster than 660

But either card would be a massive upgrade to what you have now....

 

[Fishead]

MeldarthX I have a few pictures saved on my PC but How do I post them in a post?In a few of the other Forums on other sites it has a button to add attachment.How do I add it in my post/

 

[MeldarthX]

in the quick reply box there is insert box.....

I think there is a limit up to 5 pics? Not exactly sure

 

[kingkung]

7870 and 660 are both great cards would be major upgrades coming from your current gpu, I hear that ati works well with amd cpu's, and invidia works best with intel CPUs, if you plan on upgrading the CPU to an intel then I would personally go with invidia, but just my opinion.

 

[MeldarthX]

That's false King - either works well with either CPU....

Honestly - right now there AMD's side got better bang for buck on cards in all the price ranges with deals on games with them.......

Nvidia's line until the 7790 are slightly better on power.....get yourself which ever card is cheaper......OC it and enjoy.....

Honestly for budget - 7870 TX/LE would be the best bang for the buck

 

[Fishead]

Ok here are a few pictures of what I'm seeing now.This is with basic VGA drivers that Windows provides when you do a fresh install.The PC is stable with these drivers but when I install the the Manufacturers drivers and reboot it comes up to a screen of garbage.

Sorry can't get picture to post .Have up loaded to Drop box.

 

[andylau09]

I think you should upgrade your PSU first, otherwise you can't get a high-end card or overclock your card.

 

[Fishead]

I have a better power supply.750 Watt with 60 Amps on 12 volt rail.

 

[Fishead]

If you follow this link and scroll down in the thread you'll see 2 pictures of what I see with the current card and standard Driver From Windows XP installation CD.Any manufacturers driver with result in a screen of garbage of blocks of color with nothing readable. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r28104171-Video-card-Problem

 

[tarmc]

ewww thats kinda ugly lol that vidcard is gonna die. could it be a prob with the monitor? just a thought

 

[Fishead]

No tarmc .I have an old PC (Gateway Pentium III 450 with an AGP video card in it ) and when I run the LCD monitor from that its clear as a bell.

 

[Obie327]

Nvidia's new 650 ti or gtx 660 (non ti) would work for ya. The 650ti has performance similar to the previous generation 550 ti(dx11) and even gtx 260(dx10). Will be a performance bump from that 8800 gts 320. Less juice needed and will give that tired old psu a break from working so hard. Also knowing what res you play at can make a difference when using certain video cards. I had a 550 ti on a 1680-1050 res and it was very good. 1080p (1920-1080) you would be better served with the gtx660. Amd side a 7850 or even the new 7790 would do. Your power supply might only have one pci-e power lead so that is also the reason for these ideas. Not sure if the amd 7850 needs two power leads though... Good luck