GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

William Hughes16 said:Benjamin King2? Timothy Kim60? crimsonstag84?

If you get the chance, grab one. $233 It’s a steal when they’re sitting on shelves at stores like Best Buy $300.
They're essentially the exact same cards; brands like AMD, Sapphire, and others are just different partners that vary mainly in their cooling solutions.

Benjamin King2 said:You could run it two or three times just to be safe—though honestly, it should catch the error on the very first pass if there is one. Just keep in mind that this specific test only confirms whether the video RAM is behaving itself; it doesn't necessarily mean the rest of the card is actually healthy.

So, I had some kind of memory error pop up earlier, but the DDR seems fine now—and even the card's own memory is passing its checks... so what else am I supposed to use? Is there another program I can run to actually verify if this thing is functional or just a ticking time bomb??

Who actually threw what error, and why on earth do you think the GPU is the culprit? You haven't really given me anything to go on here—just a total blank.

Benjamin King2 said:What kind of error are we talking about here? And why on earth would you assume it's the GPU? You haven't actually given me any details to go on.

Okay, look—so I was reinstalling Windows because my old hard drive basically gave up the ghost, right? So the OS is now sitting on an SSD. But then, out of nowhere, Windows starts crashing left and right—sometimes immediately, sometimes after maybe thirty minutes. Every time the system crashes, the screen just... explodes into random colors for a split second before the whole thing restarts. Then, boom, Blue Screen of Death. I can't tell you the exact error codes offhand, but they both seemed to point toward memory issues. Now, since I already tested the RAM and it passed without a hitch, I’m starting to suspect the VRAM on the graphics card might be the culprit. I did run that one diagnostic program I mentioned earlier, and hey, no errors showed up there either. To make matters worse, I ran Essential and found out the SSD has bad sectors—but honestly, that weird color glitch right before the crash feels way more like a GPU issue than anything to do with the SSD. And because I accidentally set my second new hard drive to "dynamic" during the process, I can't even get Windows installed to verify if the SSD was the sole villain here. I am currently staring at this machine wondering if I should just chuck the whole thing out the window 🙂 hope that gives you enough to work with 🙂

Just switch it back to basic mode. If you're not sure how, there are plenty of tutorials online. It isn't exactly rocket science.

driftingwalker19 said:So, basically—because my old hard drive finally kicked the bucket—I did a fresh install of Windows onto an SSD. But then, out of nowhere, Windows starts crashing constantly. No pattern, really; sometimes it’s immediate, other times it’s after thirty minutes. Every time it crashes, the screen just explodes into random colors for a split second before the whole thing restarts. Then I get hit with a Blue Screen of Death featuring two different error codes—mostly memory-related stuff. Since I already ran tests on my RAM and it seems fine, I started suspecting the VRAM on my graphics card... though, to be fair, I ran that one program I mentioned earlier and it didn't show any errors there either. Meanwhile, I used Essential to find out the SSD has bad sectors. Honestly, though, those weird color glitches right before the crash feel more like a GPU issue than an SSD issue. To make matters worse, I accidentally set my second new hard drive to a dynamic disk, so now I can't even reinstall Windows to see if the SSD was actually the culprit. It's a total mess—I'm honestly half-tempted to chuck this entire PC out the window. 🙂 hope you can make sense of any of this 🙂

Look, if your display isn't acting up during the boot process—you know, before Windows even starts loading—then I wouldn't bet heavily on the graphics card. I'd look at the damn Windows installation or drivers first. Also, grab SSDlife or CrystalDiskInfo and check the S.M.A.R.T. attributes on that SSD. If it's showing bad sectors, take it back for a warranty claim if you've still got one. You could try doing a secure wipe on the SSD and then attempt the Windows reinstall again, but if the SMART data still looks garbage, that SSD is officially junk.

Which one is the better pick for a 1440x900 monitor?
HD 7850 or the 650ti boost?

Both options are solid choices for that resolution.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/782?vs=778

What kind of CPU and power supply are you running?
Honestly, I’m not sure if those two cards are even worth $1,200$433 at today's prices, considering how much cheaper the slightly weaker 260X is—or even looking at the marginally more expensive R9 270 or the 270X.

What’s actually different here besides the price tag? I'm looking at the XFX R7 260 x ZNF4, the Core Radeon R7 260 x 1075M Boost 1GB, and the Sapphire R7 260X 1GB GDDR5 OC, 1GB GDDR5 128bit, 28nm. Is there anything else worth noting?

hiddenpilot4 said:What’s actually different besides the price tag between an XFX R7 260 x ZNF4, a Core Radeon R7 260 x 1075M Boost 1GB, and a Sapphire R7 260X 1GB GDDR5 OC, 1GB GDDR5 128bit, 28nm?

Just the cooling, honestly.

The AMD card actually packs an extra DVI port—plus, the clock speed is slightly higher, sitting at 1075 versus 1050.

So... is it actually worth shelling out more cash? I barely scraped together the $300 😬 I have right now, but if it makes a massive difference for gaming, I guess I'll find a way to make it happen.

I'd probably just go with the cheapest option.

You won't even notice a difference—just grab the cheaper one and spend the savings on some burgers instead. 😁

Picked up this budget option, $296 and $3.75 just to grab some 😁

Hopefully the power supply holds up for now since I don't want to drop cash on a new one yet—it's only a 420W...

What kind of power supply are we talking about here?

I can't even remember exactly where I left off; I think I wrote about 15 pages or so previously. Regarding that Cooler Master unit—you guys did mention there might be some cheap junk inside 😁

Hey guys!
Got a quick question for you all.
I've got a chance to snag an HD 7770 that's basically brand new—hasn't even been running for more than 10 hours—for just $267 ( https://www.google.com/search?q=xfx+r...up%3B800%3B600). Or, should I just bite the bullet and grab a brand new r7 260x OC ( http://www.bestbuy.com/detalji_proizvo...22-05-20g.aspx) which is gonna run me $43 more.
What do you think is the smarter move here?
Thanks in advance 🙂

$267 is way too much for her, especially if it’s used. I picked up a Radeon RX 560 today that’s a massive step up from $297. It’s faster, it’s new, and it costs more for reasons I can't even begin to explain...$30...

http://www.amazon.com/product_info.php?c...ducts_id=14073
Just grab this...

Wait, this guy is selling a used HD 7770 for $267? 😬

http://www.bestbuy.com/detalji_proizvo...-dvi-i-dp.aspx

A brand new one is barely $233 🤣