GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

William Hughes16 said:My CPU is an Intel Core 2 quad Q8400, and the power supply is 420w. It’s nothing crazy, but I guess it should be enough.

My brother is getting a new PC, so he offered me his 5750... is that actually much worse than the ones you guys are suggesting?

I just want to be able to play newer games on at least medium settings.

If that power supply is from LC Power or Spira, it probably won't even handle half of an HD 4870 X2 🤣

You might need to swap out the PSU too... I have an HD 5750, but I run it at 1600x900 and don't really play the most demanding titles, so I can't say for sure. However, it's definitely quite a bit weaker than the R7 260 x; the HD 5750 is roughly comparable to an HD 7730.

And compared to the HD 7730, you're looking at something like: HD 7730 - HD 7750 (+20%) - HD 7770 (+30%) - HD 7790 (+20%) - R7 260 x (+10%).

EDIT: What GPU are you actually running right now?

crimsonstag84 said:If you're running an LC Power or Spira power supply, there is absolutely no way it’s going to handle even half of what an HD 4870 X2 demands. 🤣

You really ought to consider replacing the PSU as well... I have an HD 5750 myself, but since I run at 1600x900 and don't touch the most demanding titles, I can't give you a definitive answer—though, let me be clear, it is significantly weaker than an R7 260 x. In fact, an HD 5750 is roughly comparable to an HD 7730.

To put it in perspective from the HD 7730: HD 7730 - HD 7750 (+20%) - HD 7770 (+30%) - HD 7790 (+20%) - R7 260 x (+10%).

EDIT: What GPU are you actually using right now?

🤣 Look, I realize that if I go for the HD 4870 X2, I'll need to pick up a new power supply too.

I think the PSU is a Cooler Master, but I'm not entirely certain.

Right now, I'm running a 4650. 😁

But honestly, it's handled everything I've thrown at it reasonably well so far—not always on High settings, but at least on Medium... things like Skyrim, Diablo 3, Far Cry 3, Battlefield 3...

And if I recall correctly, I usually play at 1680x1050, or something along those lines.

Aha... maybe just go with the Radeon HD 5750 then. You'll probably be happy enough with it, especially since you were running a Radeon HD 4650 before, which is basically a paperweight at this point anyway.

Look, if they’re offering it to you—take it. It feels like a significant step up from what you're running now, plus you finally get DX11 support.

crimsonstag84 said:Right... just take the Radeon HD 5750 then. You'll be happy enough since you were rocking an HD 4650, which is basically a paperweight at this point.

As if it matters today? That 4650 was junk from the start.😬

Hey everyone, I was hoping I could get some help here. A few days ago, I was right in the middle of a gaming session when I needed to hop on the web real quick. As soon as I minimized the game, my cursor just froze up completely. I tried to reboot, but then all these red lines started streaking across my screen—kind of like what you see in the photo. After that, the Windows logo pops up, but it won't actually boot into Windows. I even tried loading Ubuntu, but that didn't work either, which is pretty confusing. I gave a friend a call, and he suggested it might be an issue with my graphics card (for context, I'm running a SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 that's about two and a half years old, and unfortunately, the warranty has already expired 🙂). So, if anyone could weigh in, do you think this is definitely a GPU issue, or could it be something else entirely?
Thanks!
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...046c06f036db91
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...b52d7de1f9591b
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...a8fba76ea99672

Oh, I almost forgot—if it does turn out to be the card, could someone recommend a good replacement within a reasonable budget $467? I've been looking around and stumbled upon this one :
.

crimsonstag84 said:Well... if I may suggest—just take the Radeon HD 5750. You’ll find yourself perfectly satisfied with that setup, especially considering you’ve been dragging yourself along with a Radeon HD 4650 lately—which, let’s be honest, is little more than a paperweight at this point.

Timothy Kim60 said:Look, if you're being offered it—just take it. Seriously. It’s objectively better than what you're currently running, and more importantly, it actually supports DX11. Why would you pass that up?

So, I was catching up with a buddy of mine—you know how it goes—and he dropped this little bombshell. He mentioned he might be able to hook me up with a graphics card through his company at a discount of maybe 20 percent... and get this—he said I could even pay him back in installments! Isn't that just the dream? Now, the real question is, should I actually pull the trigger on this, or is it just one of those "too good to be true" scenarios? Just something to chew on, I suppose.
So, if that's the case—and I'm just weighing the options here—you might as well just grab an R7 260X for around... $233Should I jump on this opportunity?

Right, I also came across this XFX R7 260X with 1GB GDDR5—it’s labeled as a "boost" model... what am I looking at there? What is the actual difference?

Timothy Kim60 said:I think maybe it's F8 (it should pop up for you)

If you're planning on going online with that PC to download Driver Sweeper, then I guess you should probably pick Safe Mode with Networking

Oh, I also forgot to mention—before you run Driver Sweeper, you might want to try deleting the drivers the old-fashioned way first (like through the Control Panel's add/remove programs), and then let Driver Sweeper clean up whatever is left over

In the end, I couldn't actually get into Safe Mode, but after resetting a few times, Windows finally started working again. I followed everything you said, but now it just resets right after I install the drivers... it keeps freezing on the desktop screen. What should I do now? I don't know if maybe the graphics card is too powerful or if some kid messed with it or something😢 🙂

mistymason18 said:Hey everyone, I could really use some help here. A few days ago, I was gaming and needed to quickly alt-tab to look something up online—standard stuff, right?—but when I minimized the game, the whole system just locked up. I had to hard reset, and once it rebooted, my screen was covered in a mess of red lines, exactly like what you see in the photo. After that, the Windows logo pops up, but then... nothing. It just won't boot into Windows. I even tried booting into Ubuntu, but that failed too. I called a buddy who thinks it’s likely the GPU—it’s a SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870, about two and a half years old, and yeah, the warranty is long gone 🙂. So, if you guys could let me know if this is definitely a GPU issue or if it could be something else, I'd appreciate it!
Thanks!

What do you mean by "won't boot"? What's actually happening? Is there an error message on the screen or something? Have you tried booting into Safe Mode yet?

Check your VGA cable connector first—make sure none of those pins are bent out of shape. As for the card itself, your best bet is to swap it out temporarily to test it, or just try plugging the monitor directly into your integrated graphics if your motherboard supports it.

mistymason18 said:Hey everyone, I could really use some help here. A few days ago, I was gaming and needed to check something online; when I minimized the game, the whole system just froze. I tried a hard reset, and then the screen filled up with all these red lines you see in the picture. After that, the Windows logo pops up, but it won't actually boot into Windows. I even tried booting into Ubuntu, but that failed too.[/url]

Oh, and I almost forgot—if we're talking about a replacement GPU, could someone recommend the best option under $467? I did some digging and found this one
.

It looks like a classic case of RLOD. Still, try following what Benjamin King2 suggested. If anyone nearby has a spare card you can test with, give that a shot. If the RLOD keeps happening but the card still runs games, it might just be a faulty connector. However, I suspect this might be the end of the line for that card...
As for getting a new one, just pick whichever fits your needs best; the R9 270 and the X series are pretty much neck-and-neck. Just make sure you get something with a 3-year warranty so you don't have to deal with this all over again.

Adam Williams2 said:In the end, I couldn't even get into Safe Mode. After rebooting a few times, Windows finally started working, so I followed all your steps, but as soon as I installed the drivers, it crashed again. It just freezes the image right after hitting the desktop. What's the move here? Is there any chance the card is too powerful or something? I have no idea. 😢 🙂

It definitely isn't "too powerful." Your old card was actually more demanding when it came to power supply requirements and stuff like that.

The best way to troubleshoot this would be to pop the card into a different PC to see if it runs normally there.

Timothy Kim60 said:It definitely isn't too powerful; your old one was probably way more demanding on the power supply and stuff like that.

Maybe it would be a good idea to try plugging it into a different PC just to see if it works normally there.

I mean, I'm thinking maybe the issue is actually the antivirus? Is that even possible? My brother uses Webroot, and when I disabled it right as Windows was booting up, everything seemed totally fine.🤷

So, it works fine for him? If you can successfully record the drivers on his machine without a hitch, then the card itself is solid and the issue lies somewhere on your end.

And honestly, I don't see any reason why an antivirus would block graphics drivers; that would have to be some seriously buggy software.😬

Timothy Kim60 said:So, it's working fine for him? I guess if you can actually download the drivers without issues on his machine, then the card is probably okay and maybe there's just something going on with your setup.

I mean, I don't know, it doesn't really seem likely that an antivirus would block graphics drivers... that would have to be some pretty crappy software, I suppose.😬

But that's on his computer, so I guess that might be the issue. I think I saw a prompt asking if I wanted to allow some .ccc file to access memory—it was part of those Catalyst files. Does that sound logical to you? Because once I hit allow, everything seems to be working fine for now without any trouble.😬

Well, that's great if you've got it sorted out.
Honestly, I have no clue what that even is. I've been sticking with Avast for ages and just run Malwarebytes once in a while for a quick scan, and everything works fine—I haven't bothered testing anything else.
That said, if your graphics card is actually healthy and this turns out to be some weird software glitch, a clean install of Windows should clear all those issues right up. 😬

Much appreciated!

How many passes should I run during a VRAM stress test before I can actually trust that my GPU isn't about to kick the bucket??

William Hughes16 said:So, look—I was just chatting with a buddy of mine, and he mentioned he could probably hook me up with a GPU through his company at maybe a 20% discount... and apparently, I could even pay it off in installments!
Which means I could snag an R7 260X for roughly $233. Is this an opportunity worth jumping on?

Fosna? The New Guy? Smartic?

driftingwalker19 said:How many passes should I run during a video memory stress test to be sure my GPU is actually okay??

Honestly, you could probably just run it two or three times—though, theoretically, a single pass ought to catch any errors if they exist. Just keep in mind that this specific test is really just verifying that the VRAM is behaving itself—it doesn't necessarily mean the entire card isn't going to flake out on you later.