GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/graphics-card-listing

You could probably go with something like that. If you're looking at anything from brand new down to $500, you might only find an overclocked HD 7870 (R9 270x) 😬 Did yours finally give up the ghost?

For $567, you could grab a new R9 380 (though it’s slightly weaker than the R9 280 x or an HD 7970)

I wouldn't bother picking up a brand-new card if I were you; you're better off hunting down a used one that still has some warranty left. My 7870 didn't actually die on me—I just want to swap it out for something with a bit more punch. Maybe a GAINWARD GTX 760 or something in that ballpark.

Keith Harris55 said:I wouldn't bother with a brand-new card. You're better off grabbing something used that still has some warranty left. It's not like your 7870 died; you just want an upgrade... maybe a GAINWARD GTX 760 or something along those lines?

Man, if you're already running a 7870, jumping to anything less than an R9 290 isn't really worth the money. Especially not that GTX 760 you mentioned.

Then I guess nothing lower than a Radeon R9 290 works. Like my buddy said, anything less would just be a sidegrade rather than an actual upgrade.

What is the SPECIFIC reason you even want to swap out the XFX 7870? It’s actually a pretty decent card by today's standards; if you aren't obsessed with cranking every single setting to the absolute max, it should serve you just fine. If you are dead set on replacing it, you really need to aim high to see a jump significant enough to notice. It feels like a waste of money to drop over fifteen hundred bucks just to nudge the graphics settings up one notch. Or maybe it's just me, I don't know 🤷

Not quite... honestly, the XFX 7870 is still a pretty solid card. My dad actually has one sitting in his desktop right now, though I had to retire my own Sapphire model because it ran into a manufacturing glitch early on. If you're seriously considering dropping $1,500 on a GPU just to see a marginal jump in performance, I'd suggest taking a breath. You'll likely find yourself back in this exact same position in about eighteen months, wondering why you didn't pick something else. In my opinion, it's just not worth it.

Thanks for the advice.

I’m dealing with an issue involving my XFX 7870 (or at least that's what I assume it is based on the attached photo)... This hasn't been a constant thing, maybe just twice in the last month and a half; the computer just resets itself and then goes right back to normal
While I'm actually using Windows—whether watching a movie or playing a game—the screen will suddenly jump up and down, almost like someone hit the refresh button (it doesn't happen constantly, maybe two or three times over a ten-minute stretch)... I've already ruled out the monitor and the HDMI cable because I tried different ones and the result was exactly the same...
Does anyone suspect anything other than the graphics card? My power supply is a Corsair VS550, though I wonder if it might be underpowered since it isn't the X version.

Greetings,

I am looking to pick up a new graphics card, though I am currently undecided on which model would offer the best balance of performance and value while providing a meaningful upgrade over my current setup.🤷

My current PC specs are as follows:

An Intel core i3 2120 CPU running at 3.30 GHz, paired with 4 GB of RAM (though I intend to bump that up to 6 GB shortly).
My present GPU is a GeForce GTX 650.
Ideally, I would like to keep the cost of this card somewhere around $500😁

What specific model is the ATX Power Supply?

Timothy Kim60 said:What specific power supply are you running?

ATX Power Supply

You’ll probably need to swap out the power supply too...

http://www.newegg.com/msi-video-card-...dvi-vga-c.aspx
http://www.newegg.com/seasonic-power-supply-400w-bulk.aspx

+ plus that power supply (it’s slightly north of $533)

Guys, looks like I fried my PCI-E slot or some other component rather than the card itself... Seriously, my new GPU just showed up, I pop it in, and nothing happens. Total disaster. 🙂 What am I even supposed to do now?

Zachary Bishop11 said:Guys, looks like it’s a dead PCIe slot or something else rather than the GPU itself... My card just arrived, I plug it in, and nothing. Total nightmare. 🙂 What am I supposed to do now?

What motherboard are you running? (I know it's a long shot since the odds of having a second functional slot are slim, but you never know 😬)

Nah, I wouldn't do that. Personally, I'd just toss it into the second slot instead...

Zachary Bishop11 said:I don't have one, I'd probably just pop it into the other slot...

What's the socket?

LGA 1366 (938)

I did a little digging online, and it looks like this advice actually helped some guy out.

"Try resetting the CMOS with the jumper. If that doesn't do the trick, you're looking at a new motherboard."

What is that supposed to mean, exactly?

Let's just say you need to reset the BIOS. Honestly, just pull the battery out of the motherboard, let it sit for a bit, and then pop it back in.

http://www.wikihow.com/Reset-Your-BIOS

Which specific graphics card is giving you trouble? Did you double-check all the connections—maybe it’s just missing a power connector? Also, what are we looking at here: is the screen just pitch black, or are you seeing artifacts all over the display? It's entirely possible the card itself is a dud; even if it's brand new out of the box, you can still run into a faulty unit that needs to be returned. Have you tried testing your monitor on a different PC yet?

Zachary Bishop11 said:I did a little digging online and found someone saying this might help.

"Try resetting the CMOS with the jumper if that does not make it work then it's going to need a motherboard. "

What's that actually supposed to mean?

Drop the full model name of the motherboard. Basically, he means if clearing the CMOS doesn't fix it, you're looking at buying a new board...