New Vid Card

[rickkipp]

Agree with the new format request. However, this is a copy and paste, should be enough info.
Old video card replacement question: I have the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series card, which causes all sorts of shutdown problems on my Win7 machine and driver errors. I’m done trying different drivers, as nothing has worked. My specs are: EVGA nForce 750 SLI board, an Intel E8400 cpu with Xigmatek 1234 cooler, 4GB DDR2 Ram and 2 regular hard drives all in the Antec P182 case. I am NOT a gamer at all, so my needs are simple. Amazon.com now has the following three deals with rebates (Newegg is similar), which look appealing, but I need help deciding:
1) Saphire Radeon HD 5770, 1GB for $115.00 delivered, after rebate.
2) HIS 5770 1GB for $110.00, delivered, after rebate.
3) EVGA GT S450 1GB for $110.00, delivered, after rebate.
This is the price range that is comfortable with, and I believe any of these would suffice, but before buying, I’d appreciate any feedback and suggestions. I’m looking for reliability and good drivers, with the ability to watch DVD’s at 1080. Power supply is somewhere around 550-600 watts, I believe Antec, but can’t remember exactly. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[wanderer27]

Are you sure the video card is the problem?

Could be a PSU issue or even the extra power cable not plugged into the card.

 

[happy medium]

Spend the extra 10$ and get a gtx460 768mb.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814500173

 

[cusideabelincoln]

First you should verify the video card is the problem. The symptoms sound like the video card is dying. However the video card could also be overheating. If it's overheating, why is it doing it? Is the fan broke? A bad power supply is also very likely. Even a bad overclock or a bad motherboard could also cause those symptoms.

Spend the extra 10$

He said he's not a gamer so why should he spend more money? He should probably be looking at an HD 5570, HD 5550, GT 220, or GT 240.

 

[rockyjohn]

Any of the cards should be fine, my preference would be for the GTS 450. But you should follow cusid's suggestion to verify the video card is the problem or you might be very disappointed.

Do you have another video card you can test in the system?
What does device manager show? Do any devices show problems indicating driver errors?
Please take a look at PSU and verify its model and make.
What were you running before the 3800 card? Did problems start when as soon as you installed the card? Any other system hardware or software changes?

 

[Cerb]

If you're not a gamer, why even get the 450? Why not make it a competition between the GT 430 and HD 5570?

Also, with an nVidia board...make sure to order from somewhere with a good return policy, and keep your receipt. It could just as well be a screwy nVidia chipset problem as a screwy AMD driver problem, as it could be a dying GPU.

 

[rockyjohn]

That's true - if not gaming you can get by - comfortably - on a smaller video card.

You can learn a lot about upgrading video cards in general and less expensive non-gaming cards in particular at [removed]

 

[Castiel]

The 5770 STILL isn't under a hundred bucks yet?

 

[Wreckage]

If you are not a gamer, you should be spending less than $50 on a video card.

Here's a nice quiet one.
http://www.amazon.com/XFX-nVidia-GeF...4891221&sr=1-2