My GTX460 is dying

[GodisanAtheist]

I'm getting tearing like a bad VHS tape on anything even remotely GPU accelerated (Firefox, for example) that doesn't happen when I slap my old 8800GTS into my system. I hate it when a videocard "kinda" dies like this, feels like I could possibly keep using it for something but not for... uh... displaying images. That is neither here nor there.

So now I'm looking for a new videocard, but the prices kinda suck right now (they seem higher than I remember them being around Christmas). I was thinking HD7870 since I want to stay around ~200dollars, not really feeling the overclocking anymore, and its very roughly double the performance of my crappy old 460.

Any specific model really stand head and shoulders above the rest? I was looking at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202025
thanks to its shorter board length (which I do definitely like as my cards generally cycle down into small cases if they don't die on me). Apparently older versions of this model crap out so yeah.

Anyhow, my core system will be upgraded come Haswell so if its worth stretching to one of the crappier 7950's lemme know, but I'll probably bitch and moan about how damn long the card is.

Thanks!

 

[Face2Face]

Wait until this model is back stock if you can.

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

If you can't, then look for another 7870 LE.

It's a cut down Tahiti chip. Its almost as fast as a 660ti.


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[tweakboy]

Give her a proper burial. GB and as always gl

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Ugh, it might not actually be dying, it might be my PSU. 8800GTS is working fine in this system, but the 460 is also working fine in my wife's computer...

 

[dave_the_nerd]

It wasn't overclocked, was it? I had to back off the overclock that had been "stable" on my 6850 when I swapped cases. (I was getting weird flickering even at the desktop.)

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Its an MSI GTX460 Cyclone edition so it was stock OCed. I pushed it further on my own, but backed off the clockspeeds in my sig a while ago. I'm not certain, but I set my CPU and Ram clockspeeds back to stock and THUS FAR the problem seems to have been eliminated, so it might have just been degradation of the Northbridge.

It could also be newer NV drivers being more sensitive to my CPU OC, if such a thing could be believed.

 

[FalseChristian]

Make sure you set the Power Management to 'Adaptive'. You only want 'Prefer Maximum Performance' in brand new games like Crysis 3 and FarCry 3 etc.

 

[96Firebird]

Could have also just needed to be re-seated, or maybe there was dust buildup that got knocked off as you were swapping things around.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Thanks for the advice guys, I usually leave the power setting at prefer maximum performance because I've experienced issues with dual monitors where the card downclocks because it thinks some desktop widget is the primary program while I'm gaming. Didn't change anything regardless.

Reseated everything. I am positive its not my GPU at this point, as the 460 works just fine in my wife's PC. Eliminating my CPU overclock has almost entirely eliminated the issue, it still happens sporadically for short periods of time so now I'm thinking my Northbridge has taken the piss or some of my RAM has decided to crap out. I'm thinking NB, as the problem shows up slowly over time and the NB heatsink is piping hot.

Need to do some more granular testing but I'm virtually positive that it isn't the GPU so nothing else to see here folks!