8800gtx dead, which replacment card recomended

[Rolly1988]

Hi,

I'm quite out of touch with a lot of components these days as I'm not so heavily into gaming on my PC so was looking for some advice from people who were. Basically I accidently fried my Nvidia 8800GTX, was completely avoidable and am quite pissed at myself really. Anyway, I currently have an old ATI card borrowed from a friend in there for the time being, it does the job but it very noisy which gets annoying and performance wise is far from my gtx. I have the choice of keeping it for £30, but may consider getting something else, problem being is that I don't really need anything fancy these days so can't decided whether its worth it. My choices are:

1. Stick with ATI card for £30
2. Buy used 8800gtx (price around £60)
3. Buy brand new card, prob 440 gt or 450gts (not sure which would be suited for me though)
4. Sell PC completely although not sure what I would get, guessing around £100, my setup is on my sig or profile I forget which (would need to invest in external storage up to 1.5TB)

I don't really play games on my PC these days although it is nice to be have the option to play them from time to time (incl. Crysis, Civ IV, Flight Sim X as example), could live without them though. Mainly my PC is used for storage, music and watching videos, some work and internet also but I tend to use my macbook for these two generally. What are people's thoughts on which option would be best, if I am to buy a new card which would people recommend (prefer nvidia as was made to be based around this), if I am to sell where is best to do this and how much would I get with out a working graphics card?

Any advice welcome
Thanks

 

[purple stain]

I would buy a brand new card.Theirs no sense in investing money in old technology.
I would reccomend a 5770 or a GTX460.You might not need that much power but it will last you quite a long time.But if it's a choice to go with either the GTS450 or the 5770 pick the 5770.The 5770 is much better at the same price(in US).

Whats your resoultion you play at?

 

[Rolly1988]

Here in the UK those ATI cards are worth around £100, as much as the rest of my PC together and the 460GTX starts at £120. Bit of a dilema really as can't decide whether to invest in a new card that's worth as much or more than PC, especially as I am meant to be saving at the minute.

 

[purple stain]

If thats the case then i guess you should hold off on the new GPU purchase until you get a new PC.
Go with a temperary card just to get by until you have even money for a new build.

 

[nforce4max]

A GTS 450 is a very minimum replacement and same for a 5770.

GTX 460 or 68x0

 

[Rolly1988]

Thanks for the replies. If I decide to replace the card then I'll probably look at the GTS 450 or the ATI 5770 then unless I feel the next cards up (460gtx and 68x0) are going to be worth it and utilised properly.

On the subject of selling my PC where would people recommend selling it, eBay, Gumtree or anywhere else? Also I'm guessing without a graphics card inside it will be hard to sell, is it still worth selling it without?

Thanks

 

[slo]

Can you tell me the symptoms of yout dead 8800gtx. Mine "died" aswell and i was able to revive it by putting it in the oven. If it appears completely dead and shows aritfacts in bios and booting sequence and only boots in 640x480, i might be able to help you.

 

[Rolly1988]

Mine died as I had let a lot of dust in the computer though and had never cleared it out, one day I was watching a video and it just overheated and died. If anyone knows a way of reviving it from this then I would be very grateful. With it in I can boot in safe mode with min res yea. I'm not sure about the bios and boot sequence but if I can try and put it back in if you think it can be done.

On the subject of new cards, how does the new 550 GTX stack up against the GTS 450, GTX 460 and ATI HD5750 as it's similarly priced to these.

 

[Rolly1988]

Also on new cards, does the card maker make much difference still? For example, would Palit, PNY, Gainward etc. be just as good as EVGA, XFX etc.?

 

[nforce4max]

gtx 550 really isn't worth it due to it's cost, I would only consider it if budget is limited and limited psu. Look up the oven bake trick used to revive G80 based cards with the 8800gtx being the most common. I got a evga 8800gtx that I bought two years ago for next to nothing but still had to fix.

 

[Rolly1988]

I meant the GTX 550 Ti if that makes any difference. I only ask as the cards are price just under GTX 460 and a bit above the GTS 450.

I've heard of the oven bake trick but wouldn't know how to take off the stuff I need to and then put it back on and what I need to take off? Also would it even work after what I did to mine?

 

[Rolly1988]

Oh I forgot to answer purple stank earlier, it's running through a 32" Panasonic LCD TV at 1280x720. With old card used to be able to customise display settings more through nvidia software and was slightly different due to matching native res exactly, but was pretty much the same.

 

[coozie7]

The ovenbake does work and is a useful last resort, although results vary in your case you have nothing to loose.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1421792.

If you try it you'll need a good quality phillips screwdriver, thermal grease and some cleaning material to remove the original thermal compound ( I use surgical spirit but Iospropyl alcohol is also good as neither leaves a residue).

Have a read here as well:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-gaming-graphics-card-geforce-gtx-590-radeon-hd-6990,review-32134.html

For very light/no gaming or at lower settings you could drop a tier in the graphics hierachy chart, for no gaming, drop two.

At the lower end of the performance scale, AMD offer better value.

A few places to check: Scan, CCL, Misco, Pixmania, Overclockers, Dabs, Microdirect and Ebuyer.

If you buy online, pay by credit card and remember: You can return any item within 7 days for a full refund without giving a reason under the Distance Selling Regulations.

If you were heavily into gaming, then perhaps a new Quad might be in order, but that C2D is plenty for medium/light gaming and more than enough for music/video uses, keep it and add the extra storage (and a little extra RAM might be helpful as well) .

 

[purple stain]

Heres the exact same thing.8800GT that is oven baked.

http://www.youtube.com/user/LavcoPriceTech#p/u/0/Q89gvSr0SxY

350f for 10mins.

 

[slo]

I have to vouch for the method. It works on cases of overheating which cracks the solder on the pcb. What baking does is re-melt the solder (which has the property to keep it self in spheres) in order to fill the cracks.
If you have the card and its dead then you have nothing to lose. Just try it.

 

[purple stain]

^agree

 

[Rolly1988]

Ok, will get someone I know to give me a hand with trying that sometime over the weekend then.

If I get a new card, which I am slightly leaning towards if the oven bake doesn't work, then is the feeling that the HD 5770 1GB is a better buy than the GTS 450 1GB? Compared to my 8800 GTX is there a big drop down to this card? Or would it be worth spending the extra £30/£40 for the GTX 460 1GB, is the performance noticeable and is it a better long term solution? I know I don't need as much performance as I once did and I definitely won't be spending big on components again like I did in the past and unlikely I will buy anymore new release games but still want a reasonable solution, when I do occasionally play some games I wan't to be able to enjoy them at a decent level. I will look to keep this setup now until it really dies and becomes useless.

 

[purple stain]

The 5770 is sort of a large step up from the 8800GTX all while using a lot less power.And the 5770 is better than the GTS450 at roughly the same price.

8800GTX vs 5770 REVIEW
http://www.hwcompare.com/1202/geforce-8800-gtx-vs-radeon-hd-5770/

5770 vs GTS450 REVIEW
http://www.hwcompare.com/7765/geforce-gts-450-1gb-vs-radeon-hd-5770/

 

[purple stain]

Just realized what resoultion your playing at 1280x720?

If you plan on playing at that resoultion for a long time then I don't think you need anything like the GTS450 or the 5770.You could go smaller and save some money if you wanted to but the 5770 is futureproof.If you upgrade to a higher resoultion the 5770 will still be able to provide good FPS.

 

[Rolly1988]

I know all the cards mentioned above will work on mobo despite them being PCIe 2.0, but will the fact that my mobo isn't PCIe 2.0 make a difference, I would imagine that they wouldn't be able to run at their fastest speeds? I may be wrong though, tell me if I am?

If the oven bake doesn't work this weekend then I will probably decide between the HD5770 and GTX 460, found some decent prices for both

XFX HD 5700 £90 + P&P

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/XFX+ATI+Radeon+HD+5770+Single+Slot+%2B+IP-5X+Fan+1024MB+GDDR5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+%2B+Eyefinity+?productId=44243&source=googleps

or the GTX 460 (if I decide to spend the extra)

MSI £136 + P&P
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-msi-gtx-460-cyclone-3600mhz-gddr5-gpu-725mhz-shader-clock-1350mhz-336-cores-2x-dvi-i-mhdmi

PNY £140 incl. P&P
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/233611?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products

 

[Rolly1988]

One thing which may sway me is the drivers. I always use to go for nvidia as their driver support was better as well as the cards being superior most of time. How are the drivers like for ATI these days? My mobo is nvidia based and I know ATI cards will work on it but are there likely to be any issues with it that I should be aware of and will I gain much if anything from having an nvidia card matched with it?

Sorry for all the questions, as you can probably tell I am not half as clued up these days and just want to make sure I'm not making any silly errors.

 

[purple stain]

You shouldn't see any decrease in performance just because your board is 1.0 and the cards are 2.0.Just be sure to stay away from the 2.1 cards because those are known to cause issues with the 1.0 boards.

I don't own the 5770 but i'm sure the drivers are good and won't cause any problems because it's at least over a year old .Usually you will run into problems with new cards as the drivers don't have all the kinks worked out.The longer the card has been on the market the more likely that the drivers will be stable.

I've seen that question about nvidia boards and nvidia cards asked often but i haven't found any proof that nvidia cards will run better with the nvidia chip in the mobo.From my standpoint it's the exact same performance for both ATI and Nvidia with or without the Nvidia chip in the mobo.

What is the price for the 6850 in your region?
I've seen the prices go up for the GTX460 making the 6850 cheaper.The 6850 is a better card than the GTX460.The 6850 use's less power and conducts less heat while still being faster.

Here's a review of the GTX460 vs 6850

http://www.hwcompare.com/8241/geforce-gtx-460-1gb-vs-radeon-hd-6850/

 

[Rolly1988]

Ok thanks for clearing that all up for me. Glad I asked as I hadn't realised 2.1 was about, haven't followed the area of tech for well over 18 months now. So if I stick to 2.0 I should be ok then and performance will be ok. After what you said and a bit more digging around and from what I understand with 2.0 cards on 1.0 mobo then it won't be able to run a x16 and will run at x8 but there shouldn't be noticeable loss in performance.

The 6850 looks quite good, better choice than GTX 460 potentially. Prices here roughly the same as the GTX 460 although there are a few of them which can be picked up for around £10-£15 less (around the £125-£130 mark). Only problem being that they are showing as being 2.1?

 

[purple stain]

I was unaware that they would run at x8 speed.Even so their is little performance impact from running at x8.

The 6850 is defnitly the better card but i forgot that they are new cards so their mostly all 2.1.

I have found 1 6850 thats 2.0
Try looking for this model in your region.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131374&Tpk=6850

 

[Rolly1988]

Had a little look for that and found it but it showed up as being 2.1 at a number of different places. Everytime I think I have found one being 2.0 it turns out they are 2.1. I have a feeling that I won't find a 2.0 version of the 6850 which is a shame as it looks good.

Found this though?
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-msi-gtx-460-oc-3600mhz-gddr5-gpu-725mhz-shader-clock-1450mhz-336-cores-dldvi-i-hdmi-d-sub