GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

Adam Reyes64 said:BTW. Once I wipe all my current drivers, is just downloading the new ones from the web enough for this little GTX card? No need to mess with anything else?

Just use DDU to clean out all the old stuff and then grab the new drivers. That’s all there is to it. 🎉

Just make sure you grab the standard drivers instead of the DCH versions.

Adam Moore3 said:Use DDU to wipe everything old, then just download the fresh drivers. It’s as simple as that. 🎉

Thanks!
I haven't personally used that software before, but I’ve downloaded it and gone through the instructions. Fine. I will disconnect from the internet, use DDU to completely uninstall and scrub those old drivers away.

Jonathan Barrett said:Just make sure you grab the standard drivers instead of the DCH version.

Thanks! I've already grabbed these

It says they’re meant for Windows 7, but honestly, those should be the ones actually following the rules for once.

Mission accomplished! 👍

Yesterday, I wiped all my drivers using DDU—smooth sailing so far. I restarted the PC, shut it down, swapped out the old card for the new one, plugged in the 1m HDMI cable I’d just bought, and thought, "That's it." But knowing my luck, I had a feeling it wouldn't be that simple. I power up the computer, but the monitor remains dead. It just sits there in standby mode, refusing to pick up any signal. I can't even get into the BIOS to check if some "energy-saving" or "sleep" setting is causing the headache. I scoured the internet for answers, but found nothing useful. So, I tried the classic trick: unplugged both the PC and the monitor, waited a few minutes, and hit the power button before unplugging to drain any residual voltage.

I started tinkering with everything. The HDMI cable was brand new, included with the graphics card. Part of me thought it would be wise to test a different cable, but I really didn't feel like unplugging the home theater system or the TV. Then, inspiration struck! While I was out buying the card this morning, my wife had the cable technician over because we had an appointment to swap out our modem and TV box. I remembered there was an HDMI cable sitting right there in the box. 🎉
Alright, let's see if I can rule out this theory. I plug in the cable from the box and—presto—everything works perfectly! I have absolutely no clue what the issue actually was, but it works. To be fair, the new one is much nicer: braided, short, and gold-plated. That plain black one was ugly, basic, and far too long. Still, it goes to show: "all that glitters is not gold." 😁 One shouldn't rush to grab the diagnostic tools, call tech support, or summon friends and forums at the first sign of trouble.

Now, I'm installing the drivers I downloaded last night. Everything is running beautifully on Windows 7—Arma, Far Cry, MFS... they all run great. The only outlier is the graphics in Verdun. It looks terrible—blurry, pixelated, as if anti-aliasing doesn't even exist—even though the frame rate is steady. Well, whatever, I'm not about to hack the code. Uninstalled.

Had I been the one choosing, I probably would have gone for the "Ti" version, but based on your comments, that would have been total overkill. I agree.
The Control Panel works fine; the setup is intuitive, and personally, I find it much better organized than the AMD/Radeon software. The card is quiet and gets a solid 5/5 from me!

A warning to the younger generation!
The bottom part of the card is encased in plastic that might cause issues of a reproductive nature: "as stated in the text." 🤣 Essentially, it's like a printer without paper. The device functions, but it won't produce copies, if you catch my drift! D 🎉 Not that it matters to me; I've already become a grandfather several times over. 🧐
HINT: read the text on the back of the box

Thanks to everyone for the helpful advice and recommendations! If you're in the neighborhood, stop by for a BBQ and some beer. 🙏 🙂

Glad to hear you're happy with the results. Honestly, though, I don't quite get why you aren't just moving over to Windows 10. You’d see a decent bump in FPS and finally get access to DX12. Plus, support for Windows 7 basically died at the start of this year, so you aren't getting any more security patches. If you do decide to jump to Windows 10, do a clean install—don't bother with an upgrade.
I haven't personally played Verdun, but word on the street is the optimization is absolute garbage. The community is constantly complaining about bugs. There’s some weird workaround floating around for when the graphics look pixelated, so maybe give that a shot.

https://www.reddit.com/r/VerdunGame/...t_look_blurry/

urbanheron4 said:Well, I am glad you are satisfied. However, I fail to see why you wouldn't just move to Windows 10. You would gain a bit more FPS and finally get access to DX12. Besides, support for Windows 7 was officially discontinued at the start of this year, which means security patches have dried up. If you do decide to switch to Windows 10, do yourself a favor and perform a clean install rather than an upgrade.
I haven't played Verdun myself, but word on the street is the optimization is abysmal; the community is constantly complaining about bugs. There is some strange workaround floating around for the pixelated graphics, so perhaps give that a shot.

https://www.reddit.com/r/VerdunGame/...t_look_blurry/

It was "designed" to run on Windows 7, apparently. ☕ btw, some games simply don't support DX12, so...
Verdun has been downloaded and promptly forgotten. It wasn't quite intense enough to serve as a proper stress test for the GPU. A failed attempt.😁

btw, here is the issue, though I am unsure if it pertains to the GPU. I am not trolling, but perhaps it has something to do with the graphics card output. A friend mentioned he is getting that "HDMI Power Saving" error again. He was trying to hack something, and then the game froze solid. Alt+Tab, Alt+F4, or Win + d. won't do a thing. The only solution is to force the PC off using the power button, and once it restarts, the Winsi come back up. If this happens again, I might actually have to buy the computer from him and pay him the difference.🙂

If anyone has any insight into what is going on, please let me know. 🙏

You can still run all those older DirectX versions on Windows 10. You aren't stuck just using DX12.

This could be anything at this point. It might be a driver issue, or maybe the HDMI port on the monitor or the GPU is acting up. Could be a bad cable, too. Honestly, there’s even a chance the graphics card itself is just dead.
You can download it. WhoCrashed Scroll down a bit to WhoCrashed 6.65 and see if that dump file actually tells you anything useful.
You could try using a DisplayPort connection instead. If your monitor doesn't have one, you can always pick up an adapter. It’s worth a shot.
Maybe try reinstalling the driver. Give it a clean slate by wiping out all the old files first, then run CCleaner to scrub the registry.
Try switching over to the integrated graphics for a bit. It’ll help you figure out if the actual GPU is the culprit.
It seems like you might have cut off your message there. I'm ready when you are. Just send over the text you need me to rework. HWInfo You can check how hot your GPU is getting using MSI Afterburner. While you're at it, take a look at the voltages and temperatures for the rest of your components too. You actually remembered to plug in that 6+2 pin connector from the power supply, right?
It might also be worth digging into your monitor settings. Take a look and see if there's anything useful under the input settings specifically regarding the HDMI configuration.
Seriously, just try to talk your friend into moving over to Windows 10. It’s entirely possible that while you're sorting out his other drivers, this whole issue will just resolve itself.

I have finished analyzing the data from HWinfo. There were absolutely no deviations from the expected references. However, I believe I have finally stumbled upon the root of the issue.

To be precise, I noticed in Device Manager that both the PCIe controller and an 'unknown device' were missing. This occurred following a DDU uninstallation of the drivers, but since everything seemed to be functioning perfectly fine, I assumed no action was required. After all, what is a couple of small yellow exclamation marks? I see them constantly.

Neither incantations nor magic could force the installation of this PCIe component or the unknown device. I performed yet another clean installation of the latest Nvidia drivers along with GeForce Experience. Everything proceeded without incident, yet the drivers still failed to appear in Device Manager. Even after updating Winsi, the system failed to locate the drivers, even after attempting to search for and uninstall them manually.

I attempted to use the drivers provided by the motherboard manufacturer, but they simply reported that they could not be installed for a specific device—the usual "unknown/unable to find" nonsense.

I set out to investigate the identity of that unknown entity, and lo and behold, I found it! They are the Nvidia drivers for USB and USB-C. It appears Nvidia neglected to include these specific drivers in their standard installation package.
We are talking about the "Fresco Logic xHCI (USB3) Controller" and the "Nvidia USB Type-C Port Policy Controller." I downloaded the former manually, but even that proved futile, as there is no recognized device for them to attach to.
In the meantime, my monitor began shutting off again, displaying that infuriating "HDMI Power Saving" message. While Winsi continues to run in the background, the screen remains black and refuses to wake up. The only remedy is a hard reboot.

And so, to conclude how I eventually resolved this mess:
I installed Driver Booster 7, which updated several drivers to newer revisions, though it did nothing to address the two primary issues. I then tried the same approach with Driver Easy. I spent time scouring the internet, searching through the endless void of "PCIe missing, failed, unknown, solved, download..." until I finally encountered Driver Updater. Upon scanning, it immediately identified the missing PCIe and the second 'unknown' device. It asked if I wished to install them; I said yes, of course, and—presto!—the yellow exclamation marks vanished. 😁 Or rather, they moved under USB controllers. They are technically installed now, but given the nature of the OS and the HW, they cannot actually be utilized, so it makes no difference. I have no intention of deleting them.
The Nvidia audio drivers were also installed; I don't need them since I use Realtek, but I shall leave them be. One wouldn't want to delete something only to realize later it was necessary for some obscure reason. 🙄

There you have it. Perhaps this experience will prove useful to someone else struggling with an Nvidia card. BTW, for the last two days, the computer (or rather, the monitor) hasn't shut down once. It has been running 24/7 under constant, intense gaming loads. In other words, I am actively provoking it to fail.

Here is how they were renamed and finally appeared in Device Manager:
(image)[/IMG]

Just checking in for a moment.

Ever since I installed those drivers mentioned above, the issues with my graphics card and the monitor shutting off have completely vanished. Honestly, the card is fantastic—both in terms of sheer performance and value. I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to push this thing to its breaking point by running demanding games, attempting to induce freezes or tank the frame rates, but so far? Nothing. It hasn't budged. And let’s be real: buying something more powerful would have been an expensive mistake and total overkill for this specific build, given there wouldn't have been any noticeable performance gain (thanks for the guidance on that!). This thing handles everything I throw at it on high settings without breaking a sweat.

Well, take note! I have a nearly identical setup, and after seeing how well this works, I finally caved—I ended up picking one up for myself too.😁

Hey everyone, I need some advice. My old card (GTX 1060 6GB) finally kicked the bucket, so I need to pick up a replacement. I've listed my system specs below; if anyone could suggest a solid GPU for around $833, I’d really appreciate it.

CPU
Intel Core i7 7700 @ 3.60GHz 50 °C
Kaby Lake 14nm Technology
RAM
8,00GB Single-Channel Unknown @ 1064MHz (15-15-15-36)
Motherboard (PCIe)
ASUS H110M-A/M.2 (LGA1151) 118 °C
Graphics
MP59G (1920x1080@75Hz) - Monitor.
Intel HD Graphics 630 (ASUS)
Storage
931GB Toshiba HDWD110 (SATA ) 30 °C
232GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (SATA (SSD)) 33 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NSD1

Here is a link for the CPU and Motherboard View on imgur

Thanks in advance...

Alexander Moore67 said:

Thanks, seems like a solid choice...🙂

Hey everyone,

I've got a question about picking up a new GPU and could really use some help or advice.
Right now, I'm running a GTX 1060 6GB, but I want to swap it out since I've recently upgraded pretty much everything else (getting ready for the release of Cyberpunk 2077 😁).

I was browsing Craigslist and found a few used cards. There's one RTX 2060 $667 (it's out of warranty, so I'm not sure if it's actually worth the risk, even though the price looks great), a brand new RTX 2060 $833, and a new RX 5600 XT $700.

I'm leaning toward the RTX 2060 because I've mostly stuck with Nvidia cards up until now.

Any thoughts?

I’m running an RTX 2060 and, frankly, I couldn't be happier with it. But—if you've actually got the cash to burn—just go ahead and grab the 2080 instead.

Look, we aren't even talking about the same league here. If you're actually choosing, just grab the RTX 2060 without a second thought. And honestly, don't even get me started on those AMD drivers.

It’s a known fact that AMD users have been dealing with those frustrating blackscreen issues. That said, the most recent driver updates actually list this as a resolved bug. We haven't run into any blackscreens ourselves during testing, though that's probably because we didn't have the problem to begin with. If you're an AMD user hitting that wall, my suggestion is to stick with the 'standard' profile to see if that stabilizes things. It's possible that extra bells and whistles like Enhanced Sync might be contributing to the instability. Ultimately, AMD and Nvidia Drivers is more in terms of presentation

Winner : Tia Yes. We’re declaring this another draw, as it really just boils down to what you personally value most. Are you itching to experiment with ray tracing, or do you believe it’s truly the future of gaming? If that's the case, the Nvidia RTX 2060 offers the better deal. On the other hand, if you're interested in grabbing one or both of the titles bundled with the RX 5600 XT, you could see an extra $40 to $100 in value—though those specific promos don't last forever and usually get swapped out for something else. Of course, a good sale can always change your mind.

If the price gap doesn't matter much to you, just grab the RTX 2060; they're pretty much neck and neck in everything else.

Thanks for all the input, everyone. I’ll most likely end up pulling the trigger on the RTX 2060.

Building a budget rig
G5420 paired with a GT1030
An Athlon G3000 with either a GT1030 or an RX550
Or maybe just a Ryzen 3200G

If you look at the total build cost, going with the Ryzen saves about $100$67. I’d rather stick to all-new parts; there’s no sense in dealing with used hardware if you don't have to.

Looking at PC Max 2000$667 for some Fortnite and schoolwork