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Swapping out cards today. Need some advice

D

Doggiedog

Lifer
Hi All,

I'm swapping out my old GF 8800GTS for a Radeon 5870.

Could someone give me some advice as to what I should do to prep my PC for it?

I know I should uninstall the nVidia drivers before putting the new card in but is there anything else I should do?

Thanks,

DD
 
people will recommend all sorts of reformats, reinstall windows, driver sweeper, etc etc etc, but all I've ever done when going from one camp to the other is uninstall the old video driver in safe mode, reboot into safe mode, install new driver.
 
Uninstall physx drivers first, then everything else other than the video driver, then the video driver. You don't even have to be in safe mode for this, at least not in Win 7.

Then shut down, swap cards, and boot back up.

Again, no need for safe mode in Win 7, AFAIK.

Install Catalyst 10.10d.

You're done.

It's what I did when I took out my failing GTX460-768 and exchanged it for a 6850.
 
Driver Sweeper and reboot. driver sweeper and reboot. driver sweeper and reboot one more time and install driver.

ref: saving private nemo movie.
 
Something isn't going right.

The PC won't post. All I get are one long beep and three short beeps.

The box looked opened. I wonder if this was a return that they just restocked and shipped back out. When I saw this, I had a bad feeling the card would not work.

There are two PCI-E connectors on the side of the card. I hooked one then both up to my PSU but no change. Could it be that my PSU is not strong enough?

When I have one PCI-E connector installed, the fan on the GPU sounds like a blow dryer. When I put two in, it isn't very loud.

I have a 3YO Corsair HX520. I'm not sure how to proceed from here. I don't have another PSU or know anyone who would have a more powerful one.
 
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Your power supply is plenty for a 5870. You definitely need both power connectors plugged into the GPU for it to work right. If you're sure you've done all of the obvious stuff like making sure it's seated right and everything, I'd just exchange it for another one.
 
Thanks for the help. I unplugged everything except the MB and the 5870 power plugs and it still beeps. I'm going to RMA it and see what happens.

I was so excited to try this new card out but when I saw an opened looking box I knew something might go wrong. Figures...
 
Just to pre-empt the fanboy responses, here they are:

AMD Zoner: "I can't believe the 5870 is bad, are you sure it isn't the rest of the system? It's really rare for a 5870 to be bad...."

NV: "That's what you get for purchasing a AMD card. I would stick with NV for their quality."

😉

Back on-topic OP: Good luck with the RMA - I have loved my 5870 and it has been a fantastic card.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
blastingcap said:
I hate it when an etailer sells something as new, when it's actually a refurb.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%.

I have sent back MBs to Newegg for this very reason (even if they work) because I bought a NEW product, not a return/refurb.

That's why I don't get MBs from Newegg anymore...
 
I don't have another machine to test it on. Found out the beeps mean there is no graphics card present. My MB has a light that indicates that a PCI-E 16X card is installed so I'm just going to RMA it. I wonder if I should try the same card again. I snagged a Sapphire Radeon 5870 for $240AR from Newegg when it was on sale.
 
blastingcap said:
I hate it when an etailer sells something as new, when it's actually a refurb.
Click to expand...


I once got 2 DOA motherboards (one after another)... after I RMAed the 2nd one Id got, the 3rd one worked. By then boy was I p***ed off... I remember I vowed never to buy from there again... today I cant even remember the name of the store so..

Nothing like haveing a fully new pc put together... only its not working, and you have to RMA a motherboard. Esp bad if you sold off your old stuff.
 
When you turn the machine on... does the fan on the video begin to spin?
It should.
Also if you haven't done so.. completely remove the card.. remove the power connectors.. then completely reseat the card and replug the power connectors.
 
Xarick said:
When you turn the machine on... does the fan on the video begin to spin?
It should.
Also if you haven't done so.. completely remove the card.. remove the power connectors.. then completely reseat the card and replug the power connectors.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Yes. I first plugged in only on six pin power plug and the fan was really loud. Like a blow dryer. When I connected a second six pin power plug, the fan was running but not as noisily. I've tried everything with the card. I removed all the plugs except for the card and the MB and it still didn't work. I think it was a return that they restocked and sold back to me as new. I have a feeling someone OCed it and burned it out. When I put my old 8800 back in, it started up without an issue on first try.
 
How old is your MB? Sometimes a bios update is necessariy for older boards to recognize newer generation of Video cards.
 
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