New video card - My old 8800GTS died

[joejccva]

I own this card right now -->http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?Item=N82E16814130071

...and it died so I'm not really interested in getting a new one of those. I'd rather spend the money and buy either a better manufacturer or a better card. What are your thoughts?

I have between $400-450 to spend on a new card, probably can go as high as $500 if there is a huge difference. I play games.

What do you guys think? Any advice on what card is really good? I want to have a nice card for when Age of Conan releases. I'm currently playing Vanguard right now.

Thanks very much in advance!

 

[jonks]

Doesn't EVGA have a lifetime warranty?

 

[joejccva]

Originally posted by: sirjonk
Doesn't EVGA have a lifetime warranty?

Can they tell if I've overclocked it though? It *could* have been the cause, not exactly sure.

 

[thilanliyan]

EVGA covers SOFTWARE overclocking as well. You would have had to register your card within 30 days of purchase I think to get the lifetime warranty...otherwise it's just one year I think. I would personally get the replacement then just sell it and use the money to buy a new one.

EDIT: I just saw in your sig that you were running it at 620/1000...I had the same exact card before and ran it at 650/1000 and never had any problems for about a year. I'm guessing by your overclock that you didn't voltmod the card and were just using rivatuner (?) to overclock in which case it IS covered under warranty. Don't spend more than you have to. Just get the replacement and sell it if you don't want to keep it.

 

[joejccva]

Originally posted by: thilan29
EVGA covers SOFTWARE overclocking as well. You would have had to register your card within 30 days of purchase I think to get the lifetime warranty...otherwise it's just one year I think. I would personally get the replacement then just sell it and use the money to buy a new one.

EDIT: I just saw in your sig that you were running it at 620/1000...I had the same exact card before and ran it at 650/1000 and never had any problems for about a year. I'm guessing by your overclock that you didn't voltmod the card and were just using rivatuner (?) to overclock in which case it IS covered under warranty. Don't spend more than you have to. Just get the replacement and sell it if you don't want to keep it.

Thanks for the advice!

Just curious but why do you run the 8800GT now if you used to have the EVGA 8800GTS card?

 

[crisium]

8800GT 512mb is faster than the 8800GTS 640mb. The GT has the newer G92 core

Your best bet is the 8800GTS 512mb. It's faster than the GT and GTS 640mb. It uses the newer G92 core like the GT, but is clocked even higher.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...=8800GTS+512mb&x=0&y=0

 

[joejccva]

Originally posted by: Crisium
8800GT 512mb is faster than the 8800GTS 640mb. The GT has the newer G92 core

Your best bet is the 8800GTS 512mb. It's faster than the GT and GTS 640mb. It uses the newer G92 core like the GT, but is clocked even higher.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...=8800GTS+512mb&x=0&y=0

Sweet.

Any recommendations on which manufacturer? Should i stick with the EVGA or go BFG Tech, Gigabyte?

Thanks again.

 

[secretanchitman]

evga has the lifetime warranty. did you register the card within 30 days after you bought it?

it covers any overclocking and even 3rd party heatsink removal/addons....which is really nice. evga will likely give you the 512MB replacement instead of the 640MB. the 512MB is faster btw...

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Crisium
8800GT 512mb is faster than the 8800GTS 640mb. The GT has the newer G92 core

Your best bet is the 8800GTS 512mb. It's faster than the GT and GTS 640mb. It uses the newer G92 core like the GT, but is clocked even higher.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...=8800GTS+512mb&x=0&y=0

If he was running a G80 GTS @ 650/1000 it would've been a parallel move at best. I had a hard time seeing any differences in gameplay or benchmarks between a G80 GTS @ 621/1000 compared to a G92 GT @ 729/1000. Little better in shader intensive games, worst in texture heavy/AA games at higher resolutions.

But ya, definitely pursue an RMA through EVGA regardless whether you get a new card or not.

 

[joejccva]

Oh I have another question. I noticed on the new 8800GT and GTS 512mb cards it says PCI Express 2.0 x 16. Do I have to have a motherboard that supports PCI Express 2.0 x16?

This is my current motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?Item=N82E16813128048

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: joejccva
Oh I have another question. I noticed on the new 8800GT and GTS 512mb cards it says PCI Express 2.0 x 16. Do I have to have a motherboard that supports PCI Express 2.0 x16?

This is my current motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?Item=N82E16813128048

You should be fine. Some older and budget PCI 1.1 boards have problems with their BIOS picking up 2.0 cards, but I don't think that Gigabyte P35 is one of them.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: joejccva
Thanks for the advice!

Just curious but why do you run the 8800GT now if you used to have the EVGA 8800GTS card?

Lol, I wanted a change (I had it since launch day in Nov '06) so I sold it and got an ATI 3870 and performance was similar to slightly better and ran very cool and quiet. Then that card died within like 2 weeks so I RMAd it ended up getting the GT.

 

[JACKDRUID]

the new 3870x2 is the fastest card out there right now... if you really need the fastest and not mind paying extra...
else I'd say go with the $189 8800gt a few posts above..

 

[joejccva]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: joejccva
Oh I have another question. I noticed on the new 8800GT and GTS 512mb cards it says PCI Express 2.0 x 16. Do I have to have a motherboard that supports PCI Express 2.0 x16?

This is my current motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?Item=N82E16813128048

You should be fine. Some older and budget PCI 1.1 boards have problems with their BIOS picking up 2.0 cards, but I don't think that Gigabyte P35 is one of them.

I called Gigabyte support and they said my board would work with those PCI Express 2.0 cards however it would downgrade the video card bandwidth to 1.1 because thats what my board mainly supports.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: joejccva
I called Gigabyte support and they said my board would work with those PCI Express 2.0 cards however it would downgrade the video card bandwidth to 1.1 because thats what my board mainly supports.

You're not gonna notice an improvement going from 1.1 to 2.0 with a GT or GTS so don't worry about it.

 

[joejccva]

Originally posted by: thilan29

Originally posted by: joejccva
I called Gigabyte support and they said my board would work with those PCI Express 2.0 cards however it would downgrade the video card bandwidth to 1.1 because thats what my board mainly supports.

You're not gonna notice an improvement going from 1.1 to 2.0 with a GT or GTS so don't worry about it.

Thanks man. Yea I ordered this one -->http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?Item=N82E16814130325

I'm going to RMA my old one and then sell it. I wanted to upgrade anyways.

 

[thilanliyan]

Good choice on the card, I'm sure you'll be really happy with it. Does that version come with Crysis?

 

[joejccva]

Originally posted by: thilan29
Good choice on the card, I'm sure you'll be really happy with it. Does that version come with Crysis?

Nah. Not really into Crysis at all. I'm more of an MMO player. Currently playing Vanguard waiting for either AoC or Warhammer Online now.