Search
Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Solved

EVGA GTX 280 burned out looking to replace. [200-350 budget]

Last response: in Graphics & Displays
Share

It bit the dust -- pink screen of death, and I've pretty much conceded it's fate. Anyways I'm playing RIFT and it died during the headstart :cry:  , so that was essentially wasted and now it is officially released I'm still sitting on the sidelines while everyone else enjoys the game.

PSU: 750wt Corsair TX
CPU: AMD Phenom II 720 X3
RAM: 4GB DDR3 (Corsair I think)
OS: Windows 7
I play on 1680x1050 monitor res.

Not sure on how to find out the exact model of my MOBO since I'm @ college and that box is @ my home. I do however know it was SLI ready, SATA III, and was made by ASUS. I have a huge NZXT tower. With ample fans no liquid cooling. All the parts are stock and no OC has ever been done.

I play mainly RPG games, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, The Elder Scrolls, and now the online mmo RIFT. I do however play the occasional Call of Duty, but RPG are my love. I played them all on max or near max settings(I think RIFT was on high) what would be a good upgrade to maintain that performance or increase it?

I plan on upgrading in the fall again. Mainly my CPU and Mobo -- possibly RAM/Cooling if needed. I also don't really want to SLI or XFIRE unless you highly suggest it, but from what I read the best way to do that is buy the two cards right together not wait 6-9months between which is what I would have to do probably.

I had also thought of just putting a band aid(ATI Radeon 5670)[60-75$] on the problem and having a big overhaul in the fall.

Suggestions, ideas, concerns? Also I'm not very tech savvy about the only OC I could probably ever do is with the freeware that comes with card, and I'd have to look up proper voltage and settings to tune the sliders.

tl;dr version: What would be a good card to pair with my CPU, and increase/maintain performance from my GTX 280. That fits my budget, or should I just buy a cheaper card play on low/med for a while, and then when I get a better CPU upgrade the GPU again with it to a more high end card?

More about : evga gtx 280 burned replace 200 350 budget

Register or log in to remove

Well I was thinking of getting a cheap card, so I can just play right now, and just upgrade it with newer technology in the fall for roughly the same budget area of 200-350 on a vid card. I also forgot to mention in the OP(will edit it in) I play on 1680x1050 monitor res.
Related ressources
Ask the community

That card does look good for the price, but compared to my GTX 280 how big of a performance drop would it be? Also what do you think would be wiser to do be cheap and holdout for the new technology that could come out between now and sept/oct or just start the upgrade process now and get a quality card now? If I did get some extra $$$$ when I upgrade my CPU I would certainly consider upgrading monitors to a 1900x1200 at least, so I guess that is something to consider too, but until this fall I'll be on 1680x1050 with those specs above. I do kind of want to avoid SLI/XFIRE since I think I would need to buy liquid cooling to do that, because my GTX ran in the high 70Cs/low 80Cs when gaming and idle around 55-60C. Although the fans were only on 40% or whatever stock is. GTX280 wasn't clocked @ all either. I also here one big good card is better than two medium cards from an efficiency point of view (heat/power) perspective.
Graphics card Expert

Umm...

If you registered the card, EVGA has a lifetime warranty (if you didn't, I would highly suggest registering the card next time).

I didn't register it I don't think if I did I don't remember my "Member Id", but I do have the EVGA Precision if that is any indicator on registered or non registered status. I had planned on upgrading anyways this fall, but now that the card died -- I thought hell might as well do it now, but thought I would ask if it would be better to hold out until the fall or just man up and buy now.

rolli59 said:
The HD4830 is more powerful than the HD5670 but it raises the question what are you going to do with it after you upgrade? Therefore I suggested upgrading from the GTX280, which the rest of your system can handle, and then look into a Sandy Bridge or Bulldozer setup when the time comes.
Here you can see how the HD4830 performs compared to GTX280 http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_5850_P...


I probably wouldn't do anything with the cheap card, maybe give it to a friend or something after I had bought a nicer card. I was just going to get a quick/cheap fix while I'm busy with school, so I can play my games until the fall and I would have a better handle on my finances.

The more I have thought about it though the more I think I should just man up, spend money on a good card, eat some ramen for a month, and when I upgrade in the fall look at my options again. I think the most intense game I'll be playing this year will be Mass Effect 3 maybe Dragon Age 2 -- I may also buy CoD 8? Whatever it is to get a fps fix in. Although I would like to at least retain my high settings on RIFT(MMO). http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?7166-Rift-Sys...

Although I do kind of want to stay away from the ATI series due to it being kind of bad for RIFT right now. A lot of issues with performance and drivers(basically don't want to deal with that headache), so for a NVIDIA card; I should consider a 470 or 570 with my budget. I haven't heard very much positive things about the 480, and the Gigabyte 560 Ti SOC is out of stock everywhere that I know of, and I don't want to wait around a few weeks with a lame duck pc for them to restock and/or raise the price. I probably wouldn't notice the difference between a 470 and 570 with my processor, resolution 1680x1050, and the games I play, right? Depending on how much I want to spend, but i think I should grab the 570 because the 470 would be a marginal upgrade from the gtx280 at best for 275ish $ while the 570 would begin to shine when I get a better cpu, am I thinking right? lol Sorry I'm a novice at this stuff. I hope my rambling isn't too terrible.

PS: Much thanks for the advice, thoughts, input, and ideas guys it is very much appreciated from a noobie computer user like me.

Okay well I found my mobo model: ASUS M3N72-D Motherboard

Is that thing okay for the newer cards? It is about 1 1/2 - 2 years old now. Would my mobo cause any problems? Would if be ok for SLI down the road or a quad core? (I know there is a mobo forum, but this sorta relates to my gpu since I need to know if it will fit/work/whatever). If I have to upgrade it to get a 470 or 570 I would have to buy a new windows 7 since mine is currently OEM.

Assuming the mobo works out and everything.. I looked @ some 560 Ti models which have gotten some great reviews the one I really wanted the Gigabyte SOC 560 Ti is out of stock everywhere though, so I don't know if it would be worth it to buy the other 560 Ti models. There is a Gigabyte 560 Ti, but it isn't the factory Super Overclock.

My big concern with 470 and 570 is the heat they put out(why I liked the 560 got good reviews on the heat/efficiency), my GTX 280 would be in the 65-80 range always when gaming, idle around 50-45, and they say those 2 cards are very strong on heat, do you think that would be dangerous, since I ran the 280 kind of hot(I think). I have 2 fans on the side, 1 on top and 1 on bottomish front of the tower, plus one on the processor(i guess?).

Any thoughts, ideas, input, or whatever?

Basically what I'm trying to figure out is would I be better off starting my upgrade process now and getting a 560/70 or 470, or just band aid the problem with a cheap card that can run things like (MW2, RIFT, Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 2), and see what happens over the next 6 months before I can upgrade. When I upgrade -- I plan on doing a big overhaul this fall (new cpu, mobo, memory).

Going to order this afternoon for sure (before 5pm) --

Basically after a long night of research. I've decided to go with either gtx 570 or gtx 560 ti.

GTX 570
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=E...

I've pretty much narrowed it down to either the EVGA or MSI gtx 570 are they the same, and I should just factor in who I like more?

GTX 560 Ti
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=E...

I would love to get the Gigabyte version.. but I've waited a few days for it to come in stock, and I'm really wanting to play on my pc lol. Although the Twin Frozr from MSI looks appealing to me as well.

I don't think heat will be as big a factor as I thought since the GTX280 is a pretty hot card. Neither will power.

I plan on dumping in at least (500$) into my computer this coming fall. new cpu, new mobo, and maybe 2gb more memory. If things went well I would up my monitor size too(currently 1680x1050).

TL'DR

Basically which of these cards would be optimal for a 1680x1050 monitor, with a planned (500$ min 700$ max) upgrade to cpu, mobo, and memory in the fall.

MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card [250$]

EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1573-AR GeForce GTX 570 HD w/Display-Port (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card [365$]

MSI N570GTX Twin Frozr II OC GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card [360$]

edit; Just a refresher the games I will be playing this year will be, Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age 2, RIFT, and possibly Call of Duty if they make one this year, if not I might get Black Ops for zombies. If Elder Scrolls V comes out that would deff be on my list too.
Graphics card Expert

Why not try to fix the 280. Most likely the oven trick and some new thermal paste and she ill be like new. I just fixed a 8800GT with the oven trick and its running as good as ever.

daship said:
Why not try to fix the 280. Most likely the oven trick and some new thermal paste and she ill be like new. I just fixed a 8800GT with the oven trick and its running as good as ever.



confirmed - i've fixed my evga gtx280 ssc this way :) 

Well I'm in a dorm, and we're not allowed grills, ovens, etc. I have a microwave but that would be a bad idea LOL.

Plus like rolli said -- I might as well upgrade the gpu if I plan to later. Just trying to find a good buy now.


PS: Also many thanks for the replies, sorry for the long posts, just trying to be as detailed as possible, so I can get the best responses.
Graphics card Authority

the gtx 570 has better cooling and puts out less heat, than the previous 400 series,

the 560 ti is a great choice but if u can afford it go for the 570 for a little more buckaroos, the performance pay off is slim but every bit helps, all in all id go with the 570 if u want it , and have the money or stick with the ti 560 :) 

Best solution

Graphics card Master

For 1680 x 1050 the GTX560 would be enough, if you are planning monitor upgrade in the lifetime of the card then GTX570 would be the better option.

I'm personally fine with 1680x1050 res, so a monitor upgrade is like my last on the list of "I want/need this" when it comes to computers. The only way I'd consider upgrading it over the next few years is if it burns out (knock on wood).

I went ahead and bought me a GTX 560 Ti http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

The other day before I went to class, mainly because the 570 I wanted was out of stock EVGA Superclocked AR, wasn't going to pay the same price for the 3 year warranty when a lifetime had just gone out of stock. I also would of preferred a Gigabyte 560 Ti SOC, but those are not in stock in any website I knew of.

I looked @ this http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/330?vs=306 chart, and came to the conclusion that extra 100$ or so wouldn't be that big of a benefit to me on 1680x1050 performance wise, plus I would be slightly cooler/quieter on a 560 Ti. I'd say I'm a medium gamer -- I want the eye candy, but I'm not going to shell out 100$ extra for about 10-15fps increase not that hardcore which was mainly on higher resoultions, so for me I figured the 560 was the best bang for buck on a 1680x1050 monitor plus I'd rather have a cooler card with less performance than a hotter more powerful card. I also think if I needed a bit of a performance boost, I could do a slight OC on that Twin Frozr to reach a stock 570.

My only concern now is getting a DOA/faulty card, or getting into a drivers mess, but you take those chances on almost every order. Overall I'm happy at the moment -- I get a quality card for 250$, although it wasn't my first or second choice, but it saved me some money 25-100$ and should be a great fit for my gaming needs even though it is probably a lateral or slight upgrade from my previous card in performance it is a huge upgrade in efficiency, noise, and heat which I do value.

You guys have been an awesome help thank you very much. One last question though how is the future SLI ability of this card and my rig? I think if I upgraded my PC[cpu, mobo, memory, liquid cooling] I plan on going Intel CPU (Sandy Bridge) at least when I do upgrade my CPU, but this card has very good cooling/noise reviews, which has why I been kind of cautious of SLI. If I did SLI it later on I'd have to upgrade my monitor for it to be worth my while. My PSU is a Corsair 750 Tx SLI ready, so would SLI two 560 Ti be a valid upgrade path in the future?
Register or log in to remove
 
Ask the community
Read discussions in other Graphics & Displays categories
!