Advice on Graphics Cards

[Alegis]

I have the same cooler Abriael has and my CPU is overheating while his isn't. His CPU runs at lower temps overclocked than mine on default clocks. Overclocking in not possible because it crashes once I go a few MHz away from stock clocks, no matter if I over- or underclock it. It's definitely defective, I wish I would just have found it out earlier.

Ok, that sucks...

[Coris]

Hello there!
May I sneak in and ask for your opinions too?
I am running a PC with the following specs:
Win 7 Professional
Asus M4A77T
AMD Phenom II X4 955
PowerColor Radeon HD 6850
630W PSU
8GB RAM
(Nothing overclocked if this might be important.)
(Always had AMD/ATI Cards!)

Well, since a while my Graphics card sometimes is showing issues right after boot when my PC was off over night. Usually in my browser some nice checkboard patterns show up. They disappear after a while and when I hover with my mouse over them. My colleague at work said it might be a heating problem.

Long story short...
I want to get a new card but can't decide. Around 200€ is what I want to spent and the cards I checked out at that german Online Store I use to order at, offer them around that price.
Checked them both out on Newegg too if this helps xD


ASUS GTX660
http://www.mindfactory.de/product_in...--Retail-.html

http://newegg.com/Product/index?item...82E16814121660

(Hopefully I found the right models. Not sure which of them at Newegg is the OC version and also not sure if I need an OC card.)


ASUS HD 7870
http://www.mindfactory.de/product_in...--Retail-.html

http://newegg.com/Product/index?item...82E16814121649


Newegg links used to be mobile links. Just removed the m. I hope they still work.
Thanks in advance!

[Alegis]

If youre interested in free download codes for Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider (never settle reloaded program from AMD available at mindfactory, caseking.de and alternate.de), get the 7870.

http://forum.chip.de/grafikkarten-so...a-1696517.html

[Coris]

If youre interested in free download codes for Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider (never settle reloaded program from AMD available at mindfactory, caseking.de and alternate.de), get the 7870.

http://forum.chip.de/grafikkarten-so...a-1696517.html

Not THAT much interested in those codes (maybe Tomb Raider) ^^
Is this the only reason why you would go with the 7870? Just curious.

[Alegis]

Not THAT much interested in those codes (maybe Tomb Raider) ^^
Is this the only reason why you would go with the 7870? Just curious.

Check the link i posted

If u speak german (i think u do, because u mentioned on of our online shops) it could help u to decide which card to choose from a technical point.

I for myself just would prefer it because i use ATI/AMD cards for years and their price/performance level is, from my experience, way higher than the Nvidia one.

[Coris]

Check the link i posted

If u speak german (i think u do, because u mentioned on of our online shops) it could help u to decide which card to choose from a technical point.

I for myself just would prefer it because i use ATI/AMD cards for years and their price/performance level is, from my experience, way higher than the Nvidia one.

TY TY I just did
The 7870 was the first one I found (at the beginning I 'just' wanted a 7850 but the price difference is not that big and I thought I could get a bit more power for 20-30€ more.)

Ja, stimmt. Ich bin nicht ganz sicher und verzeih mir falls ich falsch liege, aber ich glaube wir hatten mal eine Diskussion über Mille und Mio xD


One thing that annoys me a bit concerning the 7870 is that (just?) the ASUS model needs 2x 6 Pin plugs and uses around 175W.
(Mindfactory says the 660 needs 140W and just 1 6pin)

[Alegis]

TY TY I just did
The 7870 was the first one I found (at the beginning I 'just' wanted a 7850 but the price difference is not that big and I thought I could get a bit more power for 20-30€ more.)

80€ more and u get a 7950 just kidding

Ja, stimmt. Ich bin nicht ganz sicher und verzeih mir falls ich falsch liege, aber ich glaube wir hatten mal eine Diskussion über Mille und Mio xD

Kann gut sein Wenn jemand Millionen mit Mille abkürzt, bin ich bei folgender diskussion immer gern ganz vorn dabei^^

One thing that annoys me a bit concerning the 7870 is that (just?) the ASUS model needs 2x 6 Pin plugs and uses around 175W.
(Mindfactory says the 660 needs 140W and just 1 6pin)

Atleast all the higher radeon cards do have 2x6 or 1x6+1x8 pins and use about 180W at full load.
But that shouldnt be a real problem unless your Power Supply dont got enough Watt left to feed the radeon.

[Coris]

80€ more and u get a 7950 just kidding

No thanks xD I'm an Azubi after all xD
Also I think that might be a bit too much for the rest of my setup? :/

Kann gut sein Wenn jemand Millionen mit Mille abkürzt, bin ich bei folgender diskussion immer gern ganz vorn dabei^^

Na dann kommts hin xD

Atleast all the higher radeon cards do have 2x6 or 1x6+1x8 pins and use about 180W at full load.
But that shouldnt be a real problem unless your Power Supply dont got enough Watt left to feed the radeon.

(Following data from manufacturer's websites)
CPU needs 125W
HDD 6.80W
No clue about Motherboard, RAM and the like...
Plus the 175W it shod be alright?
Got a modular PSU and a PCIE cable left and the one my 6850 uses atm has another 6pin added to it. Just unsure if this will be a pain to add xD My cable management could be waaaay better and using the 2nd cable would be annoying to put aside in my case.
By the way, length of the card shouldn't be a problem. My case got the option to remove a HDD cage for more space.

[Alegis]

No clue about Motherboard, RAM and the like...

If u know model-names u can check the specifications online.
Ram usually uses up to 1,2W, nothing u cant handle

If u got a 450 - 500W PSU, u should be fine.

Got a modular PSU and a PCIE cable left and the one my 6850 uses atm has another 6pin added to it. Just unsure if this will be a pain to add xD My cable management could be waaaay better and using the 2nd cable would be annoying to put aside in my case.
By the way, length of the card shouldn't be a problem. My case got the option to remove a HDD cage for more space.

Shouldnt be a pain. If u got enough space for bigger cards, there should be space left to manage an additional cable as well


Edit: Zur not, wenns garnicht klappt mit dem zweiten kabel oder dem Netzteil, hast du bei Onlinekäufen ja ein 14 tägiges Rückgaberecht ohne angabe von gründen.

[Coris]

If u know model-names u can check the specifications online.
Ram usually uses up to 1,2W, nothing u cant handle

If u got a 450 - 500W PSU, u should be fine.

I did, wasn't successful :/
It's an ASUS M4A77T. Maybe you can find something xD

Using a be Quiet! Pure Power 630W
Changed to it in August. Before that I only had 450W ^^"

Shouldnt be a pain. If u got enough space for bigger cards, there should be space left to manage an additional cable as well


Edit: Zur not, wenns garnicht klappt mit dem zweiten kabel oder dem Netzteil, hast du bei Onlinekäufen ja ein 14 tägiges Rückgaberecht ohne angabe von gründen.

Yeah, think so ^^
Last time I lost some nerves on my PC 'cause of cable management. I really need more experience ;x

So... 7870 then?
Not going to buy in the next days though. Checking my savings first and maybe the prices drop? x)