Which $200+ card shall i upgrade to?

[angrydolphin]

my beloved black edition xfx 5850 has just up and died on me after three good years (vertical line crashes etc.)

forgot to extend to a lifetime warranty, thinking i may as well get a new card.

been looking over these..

xfx/HIS iceq 7950
xfx 7970
gigabyte/galaxy gtx 670


..though it seems the 670 is the best 'bang for the buck'?


bit reluctant to go with radeon again, so frustrated with how shite the catalyst drivers have been. i suspect theyre mostly to blame for my old card dying.

specs:

i5 3570k
asrock z77 extreme4
corsair gs800
windows 7 64bit

 

[slicedtoad]

the drivers are not to blame, lol. Just crappy parts (could be xfx or amd at fault). Honestly 3 years isn't too bad though.

If the 670 hadn't come out I'd recommend a Radeon card but... until AMD adjusts prices again, the 670 is by far the best "bang for you buck".

So yeah, get it.

 

[angrydolphin]

eh.

i was scouring the net for ages, and most of the 'megathreads' regarding vertical line/GSOD crashes blame the w7/catalyst drivers. (odd?)

some of the solutions suggest messing with clocks/voltage, but apparently it's only a temporary fix..!

 

[slicedtoad]

if the problem is with drivers it's fixable. You just use driversweep and then reinstall. Also try some older drivers if problems persist.

If playing with clocks helps, the hardware has a fault. Do the lines appear only when gaming? or do they appear at idle too? If they appear at idle as well, I might be able to explain a decent fix that should work for a few months at least. But if it's mostly at load that it has problems then it's just a dying card.

The 670 will provide a huge performance boost anyway. I'd upgrade regardless if you have the money.

 

[homiezheadsup]

agreed. my 670 is coming tomorrow.... i have been waiting for this for awhile and couldn't help but jump at the price/performance of the 670.

 

[angrydolphin]

if the problem is with drivers it's fixable. You just use driversweep and then reinstall. Also try some older drivers if problems persist.

If playing with clocks helps, the hardware has a fault. Do the lines appear only when gaming? or do they appear at idle too? If they appear at idle as well, I might be able to explain a decent fix that should work for a few months at least. But if it's mostly at load that it has problems then it's just a dying card.

The 670 will provide a huge performance boost anyway. I'd upgrade regardless if you have the money.

i tried everything related to drivers already. didn't do a thing.

oh yeah i should've mentioned, it only crashes when i'm in a 3d game/application. i can get past the menu screen on ME3 to the character select on multiplayer, then the dreaded lines appear. maybe it's overheating too much so it crashes the system. msi afterburner indicates 46C idle after all.

pc can stay on 24/7 otherwise, so....dying card? =l

agreed. my 670 is coming tomorrow....

yay! which one did you go for?

 

[homiezheadsup]

i got the reference eVGA card. i think it looks the best out of the lineup that's out now, and their customer service is great. i didn't go for the SC because reviews say they share the same cooling system, except for a minor increase in the exhaust holes.

 

[slicedtoad]

yeah, it's just a dying card. 46C is not overheating in the least though.

For the brand, EVGA has a nice warranty. I'd get whatever is cheapest though unless you can get a non-reference cooler model with some decent reviews,

 

[angrydolphin]

i'm jealous. they don't sell eVGA cards around here for some reason.

did you consider galaxy and gigabyte? the former is slightly cheaper but there's no reviews i can find on it yet. so many fans on the latter, everyone seems to love it too. hrm.

 

[slicedtoad]

gigabyte has pretty crap support but they make good products. Galaxy is somewhat of a budget brand but still decent.

 

[angrydolphin]

yeah, i've just been looking around and there's nothing on gigabyte for international warranty. their site says to liaise with your seller, but the vendors around here only give about a week or so for warranty and then you're on your own. so i might not go with gigabyte based on that. eck.

 

[sunnk]

go with asus dc ii top then.