69 replies to this topic

[mechnut450]

ok my graphic card seems to have some issues recently., I looking to replace it with new cards this time. I am looking at either a pair of amd r7 360 or higher cards or a single r9 380 card. which would work better and last longer in the long run. my current specs are
amd phenom 2 970 cpu
asus [color=#333333]M4A89GTD PRO/USB3[/color]
[color=#333333]8 gig ddr3 ram ( 1600 but wont got over 1333)[/color]
[color=#333333]120 ssd and a 1tb secondary drive.[/color]
[color=#333333]current video card is a r7260x with 2 gig ram [/color]

[xWiredx]

Crossfire isn't officially supported and there isn't a lot of recent information showing how well it is working for people. I myself tried SLI about a year ago and had mixed success, but it always found a way to break or become unsatisfactory even after SLI became 'officially supported'.

Go with the strong single GPU solution.

[Finring]

I would recommend buying the best single card in your price range as not all games support CROSSFIRE / SLI. Then later down the road, when the price of said card has come down, you can add a 2nd one. I think this will give you the best shot of getting the longevity you are looking for.

Now I don't know much about AMD CPUs, so I'm not sure if you will run into any bottlenecking issues but i'm sure someone reading this thread can enlighten us on that.

[xWiredx]

With a Phenom II? Yeah, the CPU is going to be a huge issue, but let's not stray off topic eh? I'm sure OP knows that his CPU is half a decade old and is going to bottleneck anything that's brand new (especially with MWO since the game is CPU-limited).

[mechnut450]

sadly I know my cpu is old but it not got a lot of funds to rebuild my pc from scratch. I just know that this current card seems to work good some games ( in the 40+ fps) then other times out of the blue ( even in desktop ) I get a video card error and the system crashes to desktop log in screen and I have to restart the computer to get the video card back up.

[PhoenixGWR]

Your Phenom II is your bottle neck, its still a decent processor, just dated. you always want to upgrade your bottleneck first. A full list of your rig loadout and i can tell you what to upgrade first. CrossFire has its bonuses, just make sure you use ATI Radeon with AMD And Intel with Nvidia, you get a minor performance boost by using them when paired.

[xWiredx]

Looks like OP is looking to fix a video output issue, not just upgrade, so I guess the GPU needs to be the first thing to go for sure.

OP - before making any purchases, have you made absolutely sure its the GPU and not the motherboard? Ideally, you would test with a second videocard of any kind to see if output issues were still present. Also might want to make sure its not a heat issue with the GPU/VRAM, too.

[mechnut450]

well i have a older geforce 275 oc card that might fit in my case ( it a tight spot ) I can try but the memory has a fan pushing cold air on it and my cpu is water cooled.heat wise i leave the side of the case off to allow cool air in and I blow the dust ( if any) out every few weeks.
I can't test the other card until weekend. I just hope windows 10 dont become a pain with it .

[Ace Selin]

single r9 380 card

[Golrar]

Sounds like an overheat issue is very plausible. Do you use MSI afterburner? You can use it to log your card so you can go back after crash and see what the final temperature was. Worth checking out.

http://gaming.msi.co...res/afterburner

[mechnut450]

sadly when I get a a crash I can't run anything ( I have to reboot the entire computer after I let it sit for about 20 minutes to cool off. cause it crashes to log in screen for windows itself., and I can't run anything with out it giving me issues untiI do ( even chrome will send computer back to log in screen after a crash.) I went though my game library and I have nothing that would stress the card in a offline mode to check for heating issues ( i have a temp gun I can shoot the card with to get a rough temp reading)
I did run a game of MWO and with the driver control software I saw a 43-46C temp reported and that was with the fan at 100% during the game. outside the game and just on forums and basic web I getting about a 30-34 C temp and I have the fans locked at a 61% speed ( all the time)

[Golrar]

If you set afterburner to log events, you can check the logs after you reboot. It should save the log file if you set it correctly.

Are those GPU temps or CPU temps? Which driver software? Catalyst?

Edit#2: If Chrome crashes, what are your CPU temps at? is your fan CPU fan spinning? Is it clogged with dust?

Edited by Golrar, 09 January 2016 - 06:57 PM.

[mechnut450]

those are GPU temps by the Radeon program that reports. it. the chrome crash is if MWO crashes and I try to use chrome ( with out restarting first) I can set the Gpu fan controls to a higher rpm but it don't help the temps any. I will see if MSi afterburner will run on my pc.

[mechnut450]

well if MSi afterburners working right my gpu is running about 110(F) with simple web browsing and video play back. but my cpu is running at 430 (f) while at the same time. I do know my motherboard never ready the cpu temps right( not sure if cause I got a water cooler cpu or a faulty temp monitoring hardware lol. Gpus during a single game so far up to about 140(F)

[Golrar]

I about lost it until I saw the (F) on the CPU temp! I'm used to everyone posting temps in Celcius, even in the US.

My MB reports CPU temp ok even with the water block.

If by chance that 430 F is correct, your CPU is now slag. lol

It does seem the GPU is becoming wonky since your temps aren't too bad.

If you want a cheap GPU that will pair well with the Phenom II, then I would recommend the GTX960 or maybe get a R9 280X for cheap. You can still find them occasionally new. Anything larger would be wasted, and were you to upgrade your CPU to an Intel i5 or i7 later down the road, they would perform well at 1080p. I wouldn't sink anything more into the system until you upgrade the Mobo/CPU as it would be a waste.

[mechnut450]

well the cpu not slag cause I am still using it. I know the gpu fan is failing I have one that won't spin up all the time( or it suddenly start spinning after a few minutes once the system is running) I am hopping to build a better system later in the spring/fall. as I lack $1000 to start right now I might have to get piece by piece over the summer. depending on how my funding goes. I figure if i get a better gpu now, and put it into the new system later as i don't always get the top of the line on anything ( or the newest) lol

what the possible lost in quality and fps if i have to step down to my old oc275 ( geforce) card.

[xWiredx]

mechnut450, on 12 January 2016 - 06:34 AM, said:

well the cpu not slag cause I am still using it. I know the gpu fan is failing I have one that won't spin up all the time( or it suddenly start spinning after a few minutes once the system is running) I am hopping to build a better system later in the spring/fall. as I lack $1000 to start right now I might have to get piece by piece over the summer. depending on how my funding goes. I figure if i get a better gpu now, and put it into the new system later as i don't always get the top of the line on anything ( or the newest) lol

what the possible lost in quality and fps if i have to step down to my old oc275 ( geforce) card.

You don't really want to know. You should replace the GPU fan instead. If you're thinking "but where can I find a replacement fan that fits" and haven't thought "why don't I contact the manufacturer" then start thinking that. It might be $20 or something but that would keep you going. Hell, you could even just remove it and strap a bigger fan to the heatsink with some zip ties or something if you had to for cheap. If the fan is the issue, it's a small issue that's easy to fix as a stop-gap.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Sadly the G10 bracket isn't compatible for the 260 cards.

[mechnut450]

sadly I don't want a stop gap measure I want ot go ahead and replace the card. I moved a case fan to blow air across the card and it not helping a lot, I have the side of the case open too as a stop gap measure. I need ot just start working on a new computer cause I pulled parts from it to fix others pcs and order the replacement part ( sometimes downgrade for me ) so they could keep working from home or do work at home over weekends. lol

[xWiredx]

Amen to that. Hopefully you acquire that new card pretty quick eh?