video card died - suggestion for replacement?

exoplasm

So in 2007 I bought an eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 320mb for like $300. Not since the original GeForce 256 have I spent so much money on a video card, or had a "top tier" video card. Even in 2009 I could run any game at max settings (without AA on, though). It succumbed to heat death, I think. Or perhaps the flaw the nVidia CEO guy said they knew about from the beginning. (If the latter, anyone know if it's replaceable for free? out of warranty now)

So right now I'm running on a 8400GS which I have not tried any games on yet because it will just make me cry, I'm sure of it. I don't want to spend $300 on another video card and I heard ATI is rocking the price:performance ratio right now. What's a good card that will not cost me an arm or leg, but can run everything on high(est) settings?

Indica1

I just got this for my new rig:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161268

but it was $30 cheaper 4 days ago. Try to find the best deal you can on a HD 4870 with good reviews.

This one, perhaps?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102810

tsmvengy

HD 4870 is where it's at these days.

Don't get the Sapphire one - it only has 512MB of RAM on it.

Other than that just go for whatever's cheapest with 1GB.

Indica1

512 aint enough?

psychotix

exoplasm wrote: »

So in 2007 I bought an eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 320mb for like $300. Not since the original GeForce 256 have I spent so much money on a video card, or had a "top tier" video card. Even in 2009 I could run any game at max settings (without AA on, though). It succumbed to heat death, I think. Or perhaps the flaw the nVidia CEO guy said they knew about from the beginning. (If the latter, anyone know if it's replaceable for free? out of warranty now)

So right now I'm running on a 8400GS which I have not tried any games on yet because it will just make me cry, I'm sure of it. I don't want to spend $300 on another video card and I heard ATI is rocking the price:performance ratio right now. What's a good card that will not cost me an arm or leg, but can run everything on high(est) settings?

nvidia, which flaw, there have been a ton lately

The flaw which sparked the recall had to do with all G92 cards being defective (8800gt, all 9800s, and now the G92's they are rebranding as 250 cards), and the flaw on laptop chipsets.

The G80 cards were not flawed.

512 aint enough?

Depending on the game and resolution it's not.

GrimReaper

psychotix wrote: »

exoplasm wrote: »

So in 2007 I bought an eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 320mb for like $300. Not since the original GeForce 256 have I spent so much money on a video card, or had a "top tier" video card. Even in 2009 I could run any game at max settings (without AA on, though). It succumbed to heat death, I think. Or perhaps the flaw the nVidia CEO guy said they knew about from the beginning. (If the latter, anyone know if it's replaceable for free? out of warranty now)

So right now I'm running on a 8400GS which I have not tried any games on yet because it will just make me cry, I'm sure of it. I don't want to spend $300 on another video card and I heard ATI is rocking the price:performance ratio right now. What's a good card that will not cost me an arm or leg, but can run everything on high(est) settings?

nvidia, which flaw, there have been a ton lately

The flaw which sparked the recall had to do with all G92 cards being defective (8800gt, all 9800s, and now the G92's they are rebranding as 250 cards), and the flaw on laptop chipsets.

The G80 cards were not flawed.

512 aint enough?

Depending on the game and resolution it's not.

I'm tending to avoid nvidia cards nowadays, i've had a total of 4 hardware failures. So nowadays i'm pretty hesitant on buying them. (3 7800GTX's and the 8600M GT chipset on my Macbook Pro)

As to the 4870, I've got a 512MB 4870 here and it plays everything fantastically. For example it gets 9528 3dmarks in 3dmark 2006. Texture heavy games like Fallout 3 it runs without a problem at 1680x1050.

Only get a 1GB card if you're worried about future games, and even then the 512MB 4870 should be mostly fine for a fair while yet.

Macro9

exoplasm wrote: »

So in 2007 I bought an eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 320mb for like $300. Not since the original GeForce 256 have I spent so much money on a video card, or had a "top tier" video card. Even in 2009 I could run any game at max settings (without AA on, though). It succumbed to heat death, I think. Or perhaps the flaw the nVidia CEO guy said they knew about from the beginning. (If the latter, anyone know if it's replaceable for free? out of warranty now)

So right now I'm running on a 8400GS which I have not tried any games on yet because it will just make me cry, I'm sure of it. I don't want to spend $300 on another video card and I heard ATI is rocking the price:performance ratio right now. What's a good card that will not cost me an arm or leg, but can run everything on high(est) settings?

Did you register your card with Evga? If so it has a lifetime warranty.

This 4870 is priced low and comes with with Stalker Clear Skies.

This GTX260-216 is slightly better and comes with COD5. It is $10 more than the 4870.

If it was me I would go for the GTX260 but the 4870 is still a good choice.

Macro9

GrimReaper wrote:

I'm tending to avoid nvidia cards nowadays, i've had a total of 4 hardware failures. So nowadays i'm pretty hesitant on buying them. (3 7800GTX's and the 8600M GT chipset on my Macbook Pro)

As to the 4870, I've got a 512MB 4870 here and it plays everything fantastically. For example it gets 9528 3dmarks in 3dmark 2006. Texture heavy games like Fallout 3 it runs without a problem at 1680x1050.

Only get a 1GB card if you're worried about future games, and even then the 512MB 4870 should be mostly fine for a fair while yet.

I wouldn't use 06 as a comparison these days. Vantage is a better platform for that.

Compare yours to mine. Your CPU is a clear bottleneck but that 4870 should still be walking all over my 8800GTS. 3DMark 06 is CPU limited as all hell.

GrimReaper

Macro9 wrote: »

GrimReaper wrote:

I'm tending to avoid nvidia cards nowadays, i've had a total of 4 hardware failures. So nowadays i'm pretty hesitant on buying them. (3 7800GTX's and the 8600M GT chipset on my Macbook Pro)

As to the 4870, I've got a 512MB 4870 here and it plays everything fantastically. For example it gets 9528 3dmarks in 3dmark 2006. Texture heavy games like Fallout 3 it runs without a problem at 1680x1050.

Only get a 1GB card if you're worried about future games, and even then the 512MB 4870 should be mostly fine for a fair while yet.

I wouldn't use 06 as a comparison these days. Vantage is a better platform for that.

Compare yours to mine. Your CPU is a clear bottleneck but that 4870 should still be walking all over my 8800GTS. 3DMark 06 is CPU limited as all hell.

I think not just the cpu, remember core2 uses ddr 2. I suppose I could OC at some point, I've had this machine since the middle of 2006 (except the graphics card which is a few months old now)

My Athlon is the socket 939 variety which uses DDR, I've got some OCZ PC4000 mem in there which i've kept up until recently clocked at PC3200 speeds (DDR 400), I have now set the clock speed of the memory to its intended spec of 500 (250MHz)

Looking back on ebuyer the cpu cost me (excluding VAT) £370.47, it was pretty much the most powerful processor at the time. I think in general it has lasted pretty well.

Isn't there a problem with vantage being limited in that you can only run it once?

Ego

1gb 4870's test better at high resolutions with higher settings (like AA) than 512mb 4870's, even in current games (going off hardocp benchmarking.) So I'd also say skip the 512mb models since a 1gb won't be much more (and the card should last you a while.)

Synthesis

'nother vote for an HD 4870. The general feedback from the consumer base (they are fairly popular) has been very positive.

Me, I'm still using a pair of 8800GTs, from EVGA....they're still holding on (in all fairness, EVGA's are probably better than a lot out there, and they were clocked higher by default), but if I had to switch....

Macro9

GrimReaper wrote: »

Macro9 wrote: »

GrimReaper wrote:

I'm tending to avoid nvidia cards nowadays, i've had a total of 4 hardware failures. So nowadays i'm pretty hesitant on buying them. (3 7800GTX's and the 8600M GT chipset on my Macbook Pro)

As to the 4870, I've got a 512MB 4870 here and it plays everything fantastically. For example it gets 9528 3dmarks in 3dmark 2006. Texture heavy games like Fallout 3 it runs without a problem at 1680x1050.

Only get a 1GB card if you're worried about future games, and even then the 512MB 4870 should be mostly fine for a fair while yet.

I wouldn't use 06 as a comparison these days. Vantage is a better platform for that.

Compare yours to mine. Your CPU is a clear bottleneck but that 4870 should still be walking all over my 8800GTS. 3DMark 06 is CPU limited as all hell.

I think not just the cpu, remember core2 uses ddr 2. I suppose I could OC at some point, I've had this machine since the middle of 2006 (except the graphics card which is a few months old now)

My Athlon is the socket 939 variety which uses DDR, I've got some OCZ PC4000 mem in there which i've kept up until recently clocked at PC3200 speeds (DDR 400), I have now set the clock speed of the memory to its intended spec of 500 (250MHz)

Looking back on ebuyer the cpu cost me (excluding VAT) £370.47, it was pretty much the most powerful processor at the time. I think in general it has lasted pretty well.

Isn't there a problem with vantage being limited in that you can only run it once?

Yeah the free version of Vantage is a one time use.

exoplasm

I had assumed I would be using ATI for my replacement and the 4870 sounds just fine. Now I just need to get the money to buy it...

I wonder if its too late to register my card at evga and get the lifetime warranty? Hmm...

Edit: LOL!

Oh man I forgot I had registered it and submitted an RMA for it last year because I had thought it died when it turned out to be my memory. The RMA is still open, meaning I can still send it in. Amazing.

GrimReaper

Macro9 wrote: »

GrimReaper wrote: »

Macro9 wrote: »

GrimReaper wrote:

I'm tending to avoid nvidia cards nowadays, i've had a total of 4 hardware failures. So nowadays i'm pretty hesitant on buying them. (3 7800GTX's and the 8600M GT chipset on my Macbook Pro)

As to the 4870, I've got a 512MB 4870 here and it plays everything fantastically. For example it gets 9528 3dmarks in 3dmark 2006. Texture heavy games like Fallout 3 it runs without a problem at 1680x1050.

Only get a 1GB card if you're worried about future games, and even then the 512MB 4870 should be mostly fine for a fair while yet.

I wouldn't use 06 as a comparison these days. Vantage is a better platform for that.

Compare yours to mine. Your CPU is a clear bottleneck but that 4870 should still be walking all over my 8800GTS. 3DMark 06 is CPU limited as all hell.

I think not just the cpu, remember core2 uses ddr 2. I suppose I could OC at some point, I've had this machine since the middle of 2006 (except the graphics card which is a few months old now)

My Athlon is the socket 939 variety which uses DDR, I've got some OCZ PC4000 mem in there which i've kept up until recently clocked at PC3200 speeds (DDR 400), I have now set the clock speed of the memory to its intended spec of 500 (250MHz)

Looking back on ebuyer the cpu cost me (excluding VAT) £370.47, it was pretty much the most powerful processor at the time. I think in general it has lasted pretty well.

Isn't there a problem with vantage being limited in that you can only run it once?

Yeah the free version of Vantage is a one time use.

Also, whilst I have Vista I don't use it. (not got Vista installed on the in-use main hard drive) Got XP installed on this machine to squeeze out every last frame I can. When I go quad core i'll go over to Vista x64 (or Windows 7 x64 if it's out by that time)

MagicPrime

I am on a nVidia swing right now. I was running 2x 8600GTS cards. But I sold them to two of my friends and bought a 9800 GTX +, which is running beautifully and has given me no problems.

By the next time I do a complete from scratch build (probably 2 or 3 years) I might think about going back to ATI. But the performance differences have to be a little more significant then two or three frames here, texture pop there.

Both my motherboard and video card are XFX.

Cabezone

Get any 1GB, it's shown to outperform the 512 in today's games.