GPU dying. Need replacement.

Rizzi

Hey guys. So uh, my 9600GT is starting to do the "refuse to run 3D applications, and show green dots all over the monitor thing" that my last GPU did right before it died, So I guess I need a new one.
My motherboard is a M61PME-S2. So I really don't know what will work with this model. Any advice you can provide would be much appreciated.

Varinn

I'm not up to date with the newer hardware, BUT, I know the usual questions

CPU? Power supply? RAM? And most importantly budget and desired usage

Dehumanized

Looks like your Motherboard has a PCI Express x16 slot, so you should be okay on that front. We'll need to know what sort of power supply you've got; the 9600GT came in two different variants (96 watt usage and 59 watt usage) -- and could have required anything from a 300-400W power supply minimum -- with the 96W card requiring a single 6-pin connector, and the 59W card requiring no additional power connector. That doesn't really give much room to assume that your current power will support any card on the market. I doubt you're running at the bare minimum requirements, so let us know what power supply you've got.

Rizzi

I've got a 500W psu. My gpu had a connector on the end of it leading to the psu.
My friend told me I should get a GTS 250. Is this a good card?

Dehumanized

Yeah, either the Nvidia GTS 250 or the Radeon HD 4850 1GB would serve you very well and are in the same price range. They'd be pretty decent upgrades over your current card, and are in the $100-125 range (USD, don't know about Australian pricing).

Alternatively, you could go slightly higher up the price ladder and look at the Radeon HD 5750. It doesn't always come out on top of the GTS 250 or the 4850 on pure performance, but it offers a lot of other nice features like DX11 support. I think beyond that point you'd probably put yourself in a position where your CPU is bottlenecking further performance gains in the GPU.

Rizzi

Is there a huge leap in quality from the 250 and the 5750? Always good to have options.

Dehumanized

The 5750 will provide slightly better performance than the 4850 and GTS 250. It's pretty comparable to the 4870 in overall performance, but has DX11 support, as well as some other neat new features like EyeFinity and bitstreaming.

Rizzi

Is the 5750 going to fit on my motherboard? From what I remember of ATI cards (Little) they were.. kinda hulking monstrosities.

Dehumanized

They can come in pretty small sizes. For example, this one:

http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/graphiccards/hd%205000series/5750.aspx#2

Dimensions (Imperial)
7.25 X 4.376 X 1.5
Dimensions (Metric)
18.4 X 11 X 3.8

Rizzi

I've found a PowerColor 1GB 5750 for $144. Gonna head down and grab that when the store opens.

Rizzi

Holy crap the ATI Catalyst takes a long time to install.

Rohan

Sorry to hijack the thread, but has anyone noticed increasing temperatures on their Radeon with the last few Catalyst releases? I used to keep my 4870's fan at 39% which kept the card running at around 47c idle, and about 60c under load. Now I have to keep the fan at 65% which is considerably louder, while the card idles at 59c, while under load I've seen it move from around 70c to even 89c once.

I know the 4870 can take a lot of heat, but I've definitely noticed a heavy increase in temperature...

GnomeTank

You already bought the card Rizzi, but for future reference, almost all cards these days are hulking monstrosities.