HD 7950 Blew up after 1.5 yrs, Confused between 770 & 280X

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illuminatuz

illuminatuz

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Hey gurus,

I'm in a sticky situation here, My HD 7950 blew up, basically I was playing CS:GO and suddenly I had only white and black vertical lines on the screen, did some guerrilla testing and isolated my darling 7950 (MSI - the one with the single fan in the middle.. almost reference..)..

The reason I conclude such is because the system won't boot (no initial beep sound, no BIOS nothing..) with it connected, and it just works like nothing ever happened when I remove her..

Now, the question remains, what's my next GPU..

I don't want to spend much (Need something reliable and not break-up with me in 1.5 years) and finally shortlisted and stuck between GTX 770 2Gigs and R9 280X 3 Gigs. Read at a lot of places that games will now occupy more than 2Gigs of Vram, especially with mods and all.. well, is it true?? I'm looking at at least 2-3 years of reliability and ultra settings gaming at playable levels (30 fps)..

I run a 965BE, 8gigs of RAM and a corsair GS700 PSU..

My friend is a good guy Greg to lend me his intel board and i7 processor (first gen - something like 960 I guess) so I'll test the 7950 on it and meanwhile, assuming it's fully blown, I am looking for a nice GPU..

GTX770 - Rebranded and overclocked GTX680
R9280X - Rebranded HD7970

I live in India so the prices are tad high here!!

I am somehow more inclined towards the GTX770 as nVidia has my points towards it as reliable. I had a GTS450 and I thrashed it like hell and heat, it just wouldn't give up on me. So did my old 8400M processor till it gave it's life out on me.

My uses are just core gaming.. BF, COD, FC, WD, etc etc. on a 1080p Display. I play all types of games (Not arcade like Shogun or Dota type).. and light photoshopping and video editing (a la, Sony Vegas Pro.. ) and yes, I need to upgrade the processor.. so waiting for a decent i7 with broadwell refresh and the new thermal compound (it's ddr4 proof as well)

So the point here is that the 770 costs more than the 280X. and seen that reviews in newegg mention the 770 being more reliable (happy customers) than the 280X..

What do you guys say?

P.S. spotted rumors about a potential GTX870 by this year end, so my best guess is, next year feb, I can take a look at the 870 if it's launched..
 
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coozie7
Thanks for the heads up on the MSI cards, Ingtar33, I'll keep that in mind.
And no, I'm using a XFX HD7950 DD card, modded with a Gelid Icy Vision cooler, hey, it was on offer and my HD7770 was getting on. ;)

@ illuminatuz: No, don't take too much notice of those numbers, they DO have some importance but it is better to compare overall gaming performance by reading reviews.
That said, the GTX770 is a little faster overall than the R9 280X, as has already been said.
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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the 770 is about 5% faster then the r9-280x at stock. when both are overclocked to their max they're basically equal. so take that for what it's worth. It seems 2gb of vram is starting to become a bottleneck for the 770 in some newer games... so there is that to consider as well.

i'd say get whichever one you can get cheaper. in the r9-280x case get a high quality one like an Asus Direct CUII , Gigabyte Windforce or MSI Gaming; and you don't have to worry about quality. If getting a random 770 is cheaper then one of those, go with the 770.
 
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illuminatuz

illuminatuz

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Any idea about the sapphire vapour x..?

Is this the right time to buy a GPU..? Just asking..
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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For you, sadly, now may be the right time to buy a GPU.
The new Maxwell cored Nvidia cards won't be around for some months and I suspect India will not be getting them early so you could be in for a very long wait.
Both cards you have in mind are small upgrades from a HD7950 but I'd probably go for Nvidia just because they tend to run a little cooler and quieter but there's not much between them TBH.
I'd stay away from MSI and XFX you're after reliability, both makers tend to undercool their VRMs or use less capable VRM designs which can lead to problems, particularly in hot climates (India is a BIG place and you don't say where you live exactly but I'll assume its hot there).
If you're looking for a more direct replacement the GTX760 or R9 280 are cheaper: http://www.flipkart.com/sapphire-amd-ati-r9-280-overclock-3-gb-ddr5-graphics-card/p/itmduxmhruhhewrg?pid=GRCDUXMHBHTJ3AAH&srno=b_9&ref=df409ef7-5a51-4dfd-8210-370297896016
And one from the Green Team: http://www.flipkart.com/asus-nvidia-gtx-760-direct-cuii-oc-2gb-gddr5-graphics-card/p/itmdw75ztnuefcaf?pid=GRCDW75MBHFQMS3J&srno=b_23&ref=5b725c7d-4432-47b5-bba6-6bb2e6d4d2d0
 
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illuminatuz

illuminatuz

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Yes, it's not much of an upgrade. But my current GPU is dead.. so I am as good as back to square one.. no GPU.. I don't want the same one.. I just want a reliable one this time.. better than the 7950..

and "sadly" the right time to buy?? I'm confused..
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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Check some reviews before making the decision to move up to a R9 280X or GTX770, they're a lot more expensive in India than the R9 280 or GTX760 and if the HD7950 was giving you enough performance I think you may find a direct replacement a better option.
I mean it's sad you need to buy a new GPU because yours may be dead.
 
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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Obviously you've not actually used an asus direct CUII or MSI gaming r9-280x. no difference in noise from the quietest of the gtx770s...

as for reliability... yes... msi in some models does a poor job cooling vrms... but again, not the MSI gaming... which is simply a top shelf gpu cooler no matter what card you're getting it for.

As to the op's question about sapphire... sapphire has a well deserved reputation for iffy quality. i would avoid them if longevity is your concern.
 
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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:\ i sorta don't read newegg reviews.

a lot of bad reviews are from people who don't know what they're doing. a chunk are fanboys, the rest are people with price remorse. Thats not to say there isn't some value to them. for example if you look at the power color 7990 reviews, you'll see endless complaints about loud buzzing or coil whine. which is a legit problem with power color gpus... especially their 79xx series cards.

 
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coozie7

coozie7

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Thanks for the heads up on the MSI cards, Ingtar33, I'll keep that in mind.
And no, I'm using a XFX HD7950 DD card, modded with a Gelid Icy Vision cooler, hey, it was on offer and my HD7770 was getting on. ;)

@ illuminatuz: No, don't take too much notice of those numbers, they DO have some importance but it is better to compare overall gaming performance by reading reviews.
That said, the GTX770 is a little faster overall than the R9 280X, as has already been said.
 
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