My graphic card died... :'(

[CodeGeek]

Hello everyone,

I have to tell you sad and shocking news today: My graphic card died.
From one moment to the next my screens went black and I couldn't do anything. So I restarted my computer. While it was booting up I even had graphic errors in the text mode of the BIOS. And after the boot screen of Windows 7 (when it switches into the graphic mode of the desktop) it simply went black.
I removed the card and used the on-board graphic chip. It works well and I don't have any problems.
Then I plugged my card in again and again I had the graphic errors and I couldn't enter Windows 7.

My card is/was a PowerColor HD 6850 SCS3 having passive cooling. It has 2x DVI and 1x HDMI. All screens can be run in 1920x1200.

I was looking for a new passive card and found the PowerColor HD 7850 SCS3. But it seems that model is also no longer sold.

Does anyone of you have any recommendation for a passive AMD Radeon card? It should have 2x DVI and 1x HDMI and being able to run each screen in 1920x1200. It also should fit into my ASUS M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3 which has only PCI-Express 2.0. But I read PCI-Express 3.0 is downward compatible. So it should also be possible to put a PCI-Express 3.0 graphic card into my PCI-Express 2.0 board.

 

[Ceewan]

bummer. Remember to check that you have plenty of power supply to run it, most graphic cards don't die a nice death but burn out (that is what happenned to my last two but I am set now). Other than that advice I am out of my depth here and can only wish you luck.


addendum:
http://www.eteknix.com/amd-xfx-radeon-r7-250-core-edition-passive-1gb-gddr5-graphics-card-review/

 

[CodeGeek]

A friend of mine recommended an R9 270/270x because the smaller cards don't have the ports (DVI, HDMI) I need. And he recommend to have a look at MSI because their cards - also they are active - are really quiet.

And maybe I should add that my displays also have a DisplayPort port. But only one, so I can't do a Daisy Chain, but need 2x DP - one for each screen.

Thanks, Ceewan, for the article. I will read it later.

 

[Ceewan]

That is the card I have in my machine, luv it, very quiet but it runs hotter than the Sapphire although it is quieter (I believe, don't quote me on that). I don't know if it qualifies as a passive AMD graphic card though. I can feel the heat from mine though when I run some games like Shogun 2 (thinking of adding another fan to my case). If you are going for high end graphics cards and you can't run two of them you might look at one of the newer ones but they cost closer to $400 and the R9 270X (the 270 is almost as good but I got a good deal on the 270X) goes for less than half that. I did a bit of reading up on midrange graphic cards whenI was putting this puppy together.

 

[CodeGeek]

So you own a R9 270X? And you're okay with the noise as well as with the power of the GPU? Hm...

No, I don't plan to pay more than $200 - $250.

 

[Ceewan]

Oh yeah, there is no discernable noise to my ears. The R9 270 is superior in its' weight class to the Geoforce 660 and compares nicely in many instances to the GeoForce 760 and definetly is better than the AMD Radeon HD 7870 and 7850....at a better price. I prefer the MSI R9 270X because there is no need to overclock it, in my opinion, it comes pretty powerful stock. The MSI also has a better fan system than the Sapphire version, cooling almost as well without hardly working nearly as hard (which makes it quieter I suppose). MSI R9 270X GAMING 2G starts around $179 but you can get a nice price at newegg for $149:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127761

MSI recommends a 500W minimum power supply to function correctly (typical board power is only 180W though). It is also not a small card so make sure ya got room in your case: It measures 10.25 inches in length, 1.5 inches wide.

 

[CodeGeek]

I have a bequiet! Pure Power L7 530W. So it should work. 10.25 inches? That are 26,04 cm. Pretty long. And if it would be one inch longer it would fit in. But 10.25 inches are okay.

Be the way: I found a nice comparison site I didn't know before: gpuboss.
I wasn't sure if and how much that R9 270X would be faster than my HD 6850 (also this HD 6850 seems to be the reference design of AMD):
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-HD-6850-vs-MSI-Radeon-R9-270X
I guess it is more than obvious THAT she is faster. I guess 2 times.

MSI offers 4 R9 270X cards:

• R9 270X GAMING 2G ITX - only one fan, lower clock rate, only 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x miniDP instead of 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DP, about €160 / $200
• R9 270X GAMING 2G, about €160 / $200
• R9 270X HAWK - same as R9 270X GAMING 2G, but higher clock rate, about €185 / $230
• R9 270X GAMING 4G - same as R9 270X GAMING 2G, but 4GB RAM instead of 2GB, about €200 / $250

Which one did you buy? I'm somehow fancy with the GAMING 2G. But should I invest the €40 / $50 more and have 4GB RAM? I guess I won't use that anyway. But if I need it later I will kick myself in the ass for not having paid it.

 

[Ceewan]

MSI Radeon R9 270X 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card $179 after the $20 rebate If you can up it to 4GB affordably go for it!

Out of the box, the MSI R9 270X 2GB Twin Frozr Gaming OC carries with it a core clock speed of 1120MHz

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/58...aming-oc-edition-video-card-review/index.html

I am not saying I know if this review is worth anything but it was interesting reading.

 

[CodeGeek]

Bought the MSI R9 270X GAMING 4G. It was delivered yesterday and I installed the card 3 hours ago. Since then I ran 3DMark06, 3DMark Vintage and 3DMark11.
The results are 100% (3DMark Vintage) to 50% (3DMark11) better than with my old card.
But that's not the reason I bought that card. It has all the same ports as my old card (2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DP) and is really quiet. The fans are not louder than my other fans (CPU, case, power supply). And even after I ran all these benchmarks they didn't get louder.
I didn't install anything from the MSI CD. Only the normal Catalyst drivers from AMD/ATI.

 

[Summer-Time-Fun]

For these kinds of questions, I recommend the Australian Forms for Overclockers.
That forum has some of the most knowledgeable computer people I've ever dealt with when I use to build and repair computers.

Australian Forms

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/index.php

PC perspective My second choice

http://forums.pcper.com/forum.php

Like Ceewan said, make sure you're running a good power supply (at least a bronze rated) with plenty of power. If you have a lot of fans, lack of power will fry your system/ card. Heat is another issue. Did you ever check the temperature of your card before it went bad?

It's good to get a monitor program. I always buy EVGA cards and use the PrecisionX software, but your card should have temp monitor software too. Sometimes there is an issue with how well the heat sink was machined and not making good contact with the GPU. That can kill a card, and/or the memory chips. But it's too late, now you need to find out if your power supply is putting out the correct power. If not, or it's dropping in and out, you're going to kill your new card.

There's nothing wrong with having a power supply way over rated. So if you add up the voltage requirements of all the components in the system, say your system needs, 500 watts, put a 1000 watt or bigger PSU in. They run more efficiently and cooler and still only use the power needed by the system. Also, sometimes voltage regulators on the mother board go bad, as a result, the components attached to the system don't get the correct voltage contrary to the readings in the BIOS. Not much you can do about that.

.. The good old days - Playing Unreal with the Voodoo 3000/4500

 

[Ceewan]

I gotta agree, for the most part. Personally I would love to have the new EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB. Yet if you are shopping for a midrange GPU that doesn't cost in the neighborhood of $400 he made a good choice. That doesn't mean I won't upgrade oneday but not anytime soon (unfortunately).

As far as power supplies go it is intereting, perhaps, to note that they use a minimum of 10% wattage. I have a 620 watt power supply so if I leave my computer on to seed or download torrents it is like leaving a 60 watt light on 24-7. A power supply is a bitch to change though but I have to agree that upgrading his power supply to something more powerful might be a good idea, however I believe he also bought a GPU that uses less power so that may equal things out some.

One thing the R9 270 series is not is the best GPU out there, there are many better. For the price though, the performance is awesome. It is quieter, uses less power, performs well against even some high end cards (not better but in the same ballpark). Probably the biggest drawback that I have read is that it has lower memory than some comparable cards.

Of course if I can't play Far Cry 4 with it I will have a shit fit.......

 

[CodeGeek]

Thanks for the replies. Currently everything is working fine.

I'm not 100% sure why the old card died as I didn't game very often. So for the normal usage everything should have been fine as the GPU temperature shouldn't be an issue. The same applies to other components of the PC. Now the cooling is definitely no problem. I also monitored the new card using that "MSI Afterburner" program which includes also a monitoring for the whole system. But didn't see anything special.

.. The good old days - Playing Unreal with the Voodoo 3000/4500

View attachment 274101

Back the I owned a Voodoo2 Mega Monster - 2x Voodoo2 from Diamon (they called the cards "Diamond Monster", so the SLI solution was called "Mega Monster"). It was a really great time. Later I also had a Voodoo3, but didn't feel as great as having owned the "Mega Monster". Aaah, the Voodoo2 was my first 3D card...

 

[Totoro79]

Passive GPUs don't tend to live too long sadly had ones that died within months, while they claim to be passive I find a bit of cooling or good case fan flow really helps to keep parts from dieing.