Hardware lurkers - help me find a new video card!

[DeeBye]

I think my video card is dying. The fan is making funny noises, the temps get way out of hand, and my machine is starting to randomly reboot under heavy load while gaming. My other fans are all fine (case fans/heatsink fan/psu fan) and free of dust, so I'm pretty sure it's the GPU fan that is starting to die.

The dying card is a Powercolor Radeon 4890.

I don't want to spend a heck of a lot of money to replace it because my system isn't that great (Core2Duo e8400, 4GB ram), but I figure there must be a decent value video card that at least matches or exceeds the performance of the 4890. Ideally I'd like something really quiet and low-power. I've looked into the 6770, but I really think it's overkill for the rest of my system.

[kandrathe]

I think my video card is dying. The fan is making funny noises, the temps get way out of hand, and my machine is starting to randomly reboot under heavy load while gaming. My other fans are all fine (case fans/heatsink fan/psu fan) and free of dust, so I'm pretty sure it's the GPU fan that is starting to die.

The dying card is a Powercolor Radeon 4890.

I don't want to spend a heck of a lot of money to replace it because my system isn't that great (Core2Duo e8400, 4GB ram), but I figure there must be a decent value video card that at least matches or exceeds the performance of the 4890. Ideally I'd like something really quiet and low-power. I've looked into the 6770, but I really think it's overkill for the rest of my system.

How about something like;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814150515

[DeeBye]

How about something like;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814150515

Well, the 6850 is more expensive than the 6770 I already looked into. I was sort of hoping there is a sub-$100 card with equal or greater performance of my current 4890.

[LochnarITB]

How about something like;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814150515

Well, the 6850 is more expensive than the 6770 I already looked into. I was sort of hoping there is a sub-$100 card with equal or greater performance of my current 4890.

Maybe I'm being a bit of a simpleton for asking, but have you tried looking through tom's hardware's or Newegg's listings? Both allow choosing a price range and show a huge number of what look decent (to these untrained eyes) and are still under $100. If you do go with something you consider overkill, you could then later transplant it into a stronger box when that becomes a necessity.

[Concillian]

I don't want to spend a heck of a lot of money to replace it because my system isn't that great (Core2Duo e8400, 4GB ram), but I figure there must be a decent value video card that at least matches or exceeds the performance of the 4890. Ideally I'd like something really quiet and low-power. I've looked into the 6770, but I really think it's overkill for the rest of my system.

6770 is a little slower than the 4890... it's pretty close. If you're looking at reviews to compare, look at the 5770, since it's the same card as the 6770. There should be plenty of reviews that have a 5770 head to head with a 4870 and some with a 4890.

6850 is the definitely faster, 7770 is kinda in-between 6850 and 6770, but uses less power. 7750 is about the same as the 6770, but uses less power. A 6770 alone is a very significant power consumption difference. 5 series had much better idle power consumption than 4 series. 7 series is again better, but not as significant as 4 --> 5/6. 6850 should still use significantly less power than a 4890.

There's basically no nVidia cards worth looking at in that price category. Unless there's still 460s leftover, they overclock well, but do consume a fair bit of power doing it. If staying at stock speed, just forget about nVidia in this price range.

[Chesspiece_face]

I'm going to piggy-back off this thread a bit as long as there is video card advice floating around. I've been looking into upgrading my card in the near future but would really like to avoid having to upgrade my power supply with it. I don't specifically recall off-hand what the Wattage on my current supply is, but I do know that when I got my current card (nVidia 9800 gt) an nVidia guy I talked to said that it was on the low end of the recommended power for that card.

Optimally I would like to upgrade to a newer nVidia card while staying within or below the power requirements that my current card has. Unfortunately I've been unable to find any decent information regarding comparisons for the power consumption.

[MonTy]

I'm going to piggy-back off this thread a bit as long as there is video card advice floating around.

The NVIDIA EVGA GTX 650 seems to be a good fit for you. Friend bought the slightly better GTX 660 and he's loving the upgrade from an older Radeon card. It has a minimum power supply wattage of 400 which is exactly the same as your previous card, the (9800 GT).

I have an EVGA and their recent cards seem really great. I'm very happy with my GTX 580 from them.

[Mavfin]

If your 4890 isn't cutting it, a newer card may not help you. Core2Duo will probably not feed a better card very well.

I'm still using a 4870 just fine, but with a much beefier processor.

It's your money, but be aware. For any game that a 4890 isn't doing well, a Core2Duo probably isn't either. So, yeah, don't buy anything 'great'.

[DeeBye]

6770 is a little slower than the 4890... it's pretty close. If you're looking at reviews to compare, look at the 5770, since it's the same card as the 6770. There should be plenty of reviews that have a 5770 head to head with a 4870 and some with a 4890.

6850 is the definitely faster, 7770 is kinda in-between 6850 and 6770, but uses less power. 7750 is about the same as the 6770, but uses less power. A 6770 alone is a very significant power consumption difference. 5 series had much better idle power consumption than 4 series. 7 series is again better, but not as significant as 4 --> 5/6. 6850 should still use significantly less power than a 4890.

Thanks for this. I used to keep up with video card hardware and how certain series stack up against others, but I've not been in the loop for a long time. Checking around various online vendors, I think I might look for a decently priced 7750. I see a few for under $100, and I really want something low-power and quiet.

If your 4890 isn't cutting it, a newer card may not help you. Core2Duo will probably not feed a better card very well.

I'm still using a 4870 just fine, but with a much beefier processor.

It's your money, but be aware. For any game that a 4890 isn't doing well, a Core2Duo probably isn't either. So, yeah, don't buy anything 'great'.

It isn't that my 4890 isn't "cutting it" - it does just fine and is probably overkill for the games I play. The fan is dying a slow and horribly loud death. It sounds like a jet engine when it spins up, and makes a nasty clicking noise when it spins down. I spent an hour or so yesterday cleaning up my case and checking that all of the cables and dust were squared away, and it's definitely the video card's fan that is having issues. It served me well for a good long time, so it doesn't really owe me anything. It's time to move on.

I think I also have some issues with a 120mm case fan, but that one is easy to fix.

[Thenryb]

I am having the same sort of issue wondering what the next suitable upgrade would be for my Nvidia 240. My system is pretty old: XP OS, 4gb ram, 32bit, quad core (I think). I would like something better but do not want to overdo it. About the only games I play are Bethesda games like Fallout New Vegas and Skyrim which run OK on medium quality. I find the numbering system Nvidia uses incomprehensible and cannot tell with certainty what the next step up is. Diablo 3 also seems to run Ok but I did not play it long enough to really test it.

[LavCat]

This may be of interest:

Anandtech on AMD price cuts

[DeeBye]

I found a Gigabyte Radeon HD6770 on sale for $89.99. I nabbed that because the sale ends today. After shipping and taxes it cost me $109.88, which is at the top end of what I wanted to spend. I really need to get my old video card replaced fast though, because it's getting louder and more obnoxious every day.

Thanks for all the advice!

EDIT: my stupid 4890 fan is stupid. When it runs under 50% speed, it sounds like a thing that clicks a lot. I can't stand it. It's like a chicken rolling around in corn flakes. I installed Speedfan just so I can manually crank up the fan speed to 50% to stop the damn noise.

[Concillian]

I am having the same sort of issue wondering what the next suitable upgrade would be for my Nvidia 240. My system is pretty old: XP OS, 4gb ram, 32bit, quad core (I think). I would like something better but do not want to overdo it. About the only games I play are Bethesda games like Fallout New Vegas and Skyrim which run OK on medium quality. I find the numbering system Nvidia uses incomprehensible and cannot tell with certainty what the next step up is. Diablo 3 also seems to run Ok but I did not play it long enough to really test it.

Almost anything available right now is an upgrade from a 240.

People who buy in the low end seem to strongly prefer nVidia, and as a result, nVidia's pricing is not at all competitive with equivalent AMD offerings.

In that price range, you're basically looking at:
GTX 650 > GTX 460 1 GB > GTX 550 > (maybe ~=) GTX 460 768 MB

For 4xx / 5xx / and 6xx series cards, anything with a GT or GTS instead of GTX is extremely low end for gaming. For the most part, you can cut capability of the lowest end GTX card from that generation and expect it will perform on par with that.

for comparison, AMD cards in that price range are
6850 > 7770 > 6770 / 5770 > to ~= 7750
Below those are mostly not gaming cards here you can look at the hundreds digit. 6 and below in that digit is extremely low end for gaming.

For reference, the GTX 650 is a shade slower than 7770 and GTX 460 1 GB is about equal to a 5770 / 6770.

Cards below these are mostly being phased out because current gen CPUs have competitive integrated graphics to those cards. They're primarily HTPC type cards.

[Thenryb]

I am having the same sort of issue wondering what the next suitable upgrade would be for my Nvidia 240. My system is pretty old: XP OS, 4gb ram, 32bit, quad core (I think). I would like something better but do not want to overdo it. About the only games I play are Bethesda games like Fallout New Vegas and Skyrim which run OK on medium quality. I find the numbering system Nvidia uses incomprehensible and cannot tell with certainty what the next step up is. Diablo 3 also seems to run Ok but I did not play it long enough to really test it.

Almost anything available right now is an upgrade from a 240.

People who buy in the low end seem to strongly prefer nVidia, and as a result, nVidia's pricing is not at all competitive with equivalent AMD offerings.

In that price range, you're basically looking at:
GTX 650 > GTX 460 1 GB > GTX 550 > (maybe ~=) GTX 460 768 MB

For 4xx / 5xx / and 6xx series cards, anything with a GT or GTS instead of GTX is extremely low end for gaming. For the most part, you can cut capability of the lowest end GTX card from that generation and expect it will perform on par with that.

for comparison, AMD cards in that price range are
6850 > 7770 > 6770 / 5770 > to ~= 7750
Below those are mostly not gaming cards here you can look at the hundreds digit. 6 and below in that digit is extremely low end for gaming.

For reference, the GTX 650 is a shade slower than 7770 and GTX 460 1 GB is about equal to a 5770 / 6770.

Cards below these are mostly being phased out because current gen CPUs have competitive integrated graphics to those cards. They're primarily HTPC type cards.

Thanks for your input. I confess to being one of those who automatically gravitates toward Nvidia cards. That 6850 looks pretty good. According to my search (my owner's manual is lost) my old Dell XPS 610i has a 750 watt power supply, so that should be adequate. I looked on Newegg and it appears to have two versions of that card available and the only difference between the 2 is that one supports something called "Eyefinity" and I wonder if this is something I ought to embrace or avoid.

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I am having the same sort of issue wondering what the next suitable upgrade would be for my Nvidia 240. My system is pretty old: XP OS, 4gb ram, 32bit, quad core (I think). I would like something better but do not want to overdo it. About the only games I play are Bethesda games like Fallout New Vegas and Skyrim which run OK on medium quality. I find the numbering system Nvidia uses incomprehensible and cannot tell with certainty what the next step up is. Diablo 3 also seems to run Ok but I did not play it long enough to really test it.

Almost anything available right now is an upgrade from a 240.

People who buy in the low end seem to strongly prefer nVidia, and as a result, nVidia's pricing is not at all competitive with equivalent AMD offerings.

In that price range, you're basically looking at:
GTX 650 > GTX 460 1 GB > GTX 550 > (maybe ~=) GTX 460 768 MB

For 4xx / 5xx / and 6xx series cards, anything with a GT or GTS instead of GTX is extremely low end for gaming. For the most part, you can cut capability of the lowest end GTX card from that generation and expect it will perform on par with that.

for comparison, AMD cards in that price range are
6850 > 7770 > 6770 / 5770 > to ~= 7750
Below those are mostly not gaming cards here you can look at the hundreds digit. 6 and below in that digit is extremely low end for gaming.

For reference, the GTX 650 is a shade slower than 7770 and GTX 460 1 GB is about equal to a 5770 / 6770.

Cards below these are mostly being phased out because current gen CPUs have competitive integrated graphics to those cards. They're primarily HTPC type cards.

Thanks for your input. I confess to being one of those who automatically gravitates toward Nvidia cards. That 6850 looks pretty good. According to my search (my owner's manual is lost) my old Dell XPS 610i has a 750 watt power supply, so that should be adequate. I looked on Newegg and it appears to have two versions of that card available and the only difference between the 2 is that one supports something called "Eyefinity" and I wonder if this is something I ought to embrace or avoid.

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Apologies for the duplicate post.

[Concillian]

Thanks for your input. I confess to being one of those who automatically gravitates toward Nvidia cards. That 6850 looks pretty good. According to my search (my owner's manual is lost) my old Dell XPS 610i has a 750 watt power supply, so that should be adequate. I looked on Newegg and it appears to have two versions of that card available and the only difference between the 2 is that one supports something called "Eyefinity" and I wonder if this is something I ought to embrace or avoid.

Eyefinity is AMD-speek for their software features for dealing with multiple monitors. All of their cards support it, it's a driver thing. There are some cards with a special layout of ports or extra ports if they're specially made for using an array of monitors. Other than that, it's a complete non-concern for any typical user.

nVidia pricing IS competitive in the higher end cards ~$180ish and above, I try not to be biased, but I haven't really bought nVidia in quite a long time, pricing always ends up better on the AMD cards. I also overclock, so that changes the equation for price vs. performance. How much headroom there is becomes another factor. Anyway, I have no issue with others choosing nVidia... it's just a fact that the general public holds nVidia in higher regard than AMD and that nVidia prices themselves higher for a given performance in the lower end segments.

I guess I should also mention that something in the 5770 / 6770 range is quite adequate for 13xx resolution at very high settings or 1900x res with some stuff turned down. 6850 is a good mainstream 1900x card at pretty high options, may not max out, but will run well without AA. Will max out something like Diablo III, though, which is fairly easy on the graphics card.

[DeeBye]

Last question for this thread - I need a new 120mm case fan and I see all kinds of weird ones with like "double batwing design" and crazy LED stuff. I just want a fan that is cheap, quiet, and moves a lot of air.

[Concillian]

Yate Loon D12SL or D12SM are the de-facto system builder high value fans. L is lower speed, M for medium. Usually adequate flow for 12L and a little quieter than the 12M.

I get mine from svc.com because I can order them, then drive there at lunch to pick them up. Usually you can find them for ~$5. The D12SL is thought to be the same fan as the Nexus reference fan that silentpcreview uses to compare other fans to.

The difference between given fans at the same noise level are subtle and not something to be concerned about in most cases. Of course, labeling cannot be trusted and it's nearly impossible to compare fans via spec sheets. For the most part, use the RPM as a guide to noise level (and airflow). I generally stick with <1500 RPM fans. I have some D12SM fans (1650 RPM), but they are undervolted and actually running at a lower RPM.

I've tried some of the "gucci" fans and really don't think the difference is worth worrying about. Certainly not when they often cost ~$20 compared to <$5.

[DeeBye]

Yate Loon D12SL or D12SM are the de-facto system builder high value fans.

Hmm, none of my local computer stores seem to carry Yate Loon fans. I could order one online, but I really don't want to pay shipping fees for <$10 item.

Is the Enermax T.B.Silence 120mm Case Fan UCTB12 any good? The reviews look positive and a local computer shop sells them for like $7.

[Concillian]

Yate Loon has really large reseller order requirements, so you don't find them in places that don't move a lot of volume.

900 RPM, so should be quiet, but less flow. Fans aren't really magic. Pick the RPM you're happy with, and the distribution of flow / noise follows pretty close regardless of brand. There's some variation, but it's not a big deal. For the most part you have to try something, so if that's cheap, see if you like it, and you have a reference point on RPM for future purchases.

[DeeBye]

900 RPM, so should be quiet, but less flow. Fans aren't really magic. Pick the RPM you're happy with, and the distribution of flow / noise follows pretty close regardless of brand. There's some variation, but it's not a big deal. For the most part you have to try something, so if that's cheap, see if you like it, and you have a reference point on RPM for future purchases.

Well I got my 6770 installed today and it runs a LOT cooler and quieter than my 4890. It's at about 33°C @ 15% fan speed (according to SpeedFan). My 4890 was doing about 60°C @ 50% fan speed.

I have the side panel off of my case and unplugged my 120mm back case fan and everything is really quiet. I really couldn't stand the noise coming from that broken fan. I think I might buy that Enermax TB Silence fan tomorrow and see how it goes. Or maybe I'll just leave the side panel off my computer and roll without case fans.