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video card help
Hi,
I currently have a nvidia 9800gt 1gig video card and it seems to run hot and crash in games sometimes. I was wondering if there was a good card that is equal to or better that would run much cooler. I was looking at the 260 gtx or the 460 gtx, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Comments
GTX 560ti runs 7-10 fps slower than it's 350$ counter part the gtx 570.
Gogogo
"Sometimes people say stuff they don''t mean, but more often then that they don''t say things they do mean"
hello,
if you are looking for quiet and cool graphic card, maybe consider Radeon 6870? It seems to be a good card and you can get it for resonable price. If you want some more powerful gpu, you can look for some with better cooling systems (like MSI twin frozr series)
PS you can also consider Radeon 5850 - I bought one yesterday for about 110 Euro (Sapphire Radeon 5850 extreme edition-new card), it seems to be only a bit hotter than 6870 and offers similar performance. It seems to be the best card for this money
Agreed, a 560 is a good upgrade for you.
Any modern desktop gaming card will outperform a GeForce 9800 GT, except for some of AMD's budget gaming cards, notably those based on Redwood and some bins of Turks. Nvidia doesn't really have any good modern budget gaming cards, but is competitive at the higher end.
The GeForce GTX 260 is not a modern gaming card, though. It launched about three years ago, and is pretty obsolete by now. It's not the sort of thing that you'd necessarily need to get rid of if you had it, but it's not what you want to buy new today.
A modern Nvidia card will take about 20% more power to offer the same performance as a modern AMD card. This is basically because AMD's architecture is simply better than Nvidia's. In a desktop, you can compensate for this by putting a better cooler on the card, but this only works up to a point. The GeForce GTX 590 is beyond that point and a bad card, but a lot of Nvidia's single GPU reference cards in the 500 series have pretty good coolers.
If overheating is a big problem for you, then you can get a card with a premium cooler that will keep the card very cool. MSI's Twin Frozr cooler is among the best for that:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127593
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127545
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127588
Bigger rebates make the Nvidia cards there a better deal than the AMD ones, but only if you'll do the rebates. If you don't do rebates, then you could make an argument for any of them.
Sapphire's Vapor-X cards also do a very good job of keeping the card cool:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102937
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102925
Note that all of those cards I linked charge extra because they're putting a better cooler on the card. You can get the same performance for cheaper with a different SKU of the same GPU chip, but the card will run hotter.
Those are all internal exhaust cards, though. That's fine if you've got a good case that can dissipate a lot of heat. It's not so good if you don't. If you've only got a couple of case fans, you'd do better to look at an external exhaust card.
The reference GeForce GTX 570 has a very nice cooler for an external exhaust card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133370
Don't try to overclock it, though, as it went rather light on power delivery circuitry. The reference Radeon HD 6870 has a decent enough external exhaust cooler:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161349
It's not a great cooler, but it's adequate for the card. If your real problem is getting heat out of the case, and not just off of the GPU, then it should work pretty nicely.
Actually, what case do you have, and what power supply? Sometimes the real problem in situations like this is the power supply, and different hardware connected to the same bad power supply won't fix it.
If you can find a Sapphire 5850 Xtreme, then yeah, that's a great deal. But it's been sold out and completely gone for about a month in the United States. I think AMD was trying to get rid of a bunch of discontinued Cypress chips, and now they're gone. They might still be available in some other parts of the world.
It really all boils down to how much money you want to spend.
There are plenty of faster cards, and there are plenty of cards that run inside the same power envelope, and there are plenty of cards that run cooler. It's more a matter of how much are you willing to spend, and that will lead you to the right card that carries the right combination of those three factors.
Thanks
What power supply do you have? 400 W is not a power supply. There are a lot of "400 W" power supplies:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007657+600014018+600014054&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&IsNodeId=1&Subcategory=58&description=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&AdvancedSearch=1&srchInDesc=
And they range in quality from unsafe at any wattage to really great.
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Unless you've found an unusually good deal on a GeForce GTX 550 Ti, I'd advise against getting one. It offers about the same performance as a Radeon HD 5770/6770 (same card under two different names), but uses considerably more power and costs quite a bit more. It will probably get you a little shy of double the performance of your GeForce 8800 GT/9800 GT/GTS 240/whatever Nvidia is calling it today. Whether that's enough performance to justify the upgrade is debatable.
It's possible that the real problem with your old card is either a bad power supply or inadequate case airflow, in which case, replacing the video card won't fix the problem. Again, what case do you have, and what power supply?
It looks like you've got an 80 mm case fan, and that's it for airflow. Your video card might well be overheating simply as a result of releasing a lot more heat into the case than it is designed to handle. If that's the case, it could easily be nothing wrong with the card, but simply an inadequate case.
Gateway says there are three different power supplies that they use with that computer. None of them are 80 PLUS certified, so none of them have any real hope of being good. From the specs, the 6506042RDelta might plausibly be all right. Or it might be awful. Gateway won't say anything at all about the 6506043R400 or 6506070R400-Watt BTX Non-PFC, apart from basically saying that they're standards-compliant.
Regardless, if you're not looking to replace the computer outright, then you should probably replace the power supply. You should also get an external exhaust card like this to help with airflow:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150506
For a power supply, either of these would work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371047
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013
There are also questions about what video cards will physically fit in your case. Apparently it's a Micro ATX motherboard and 9.6" long, and it doesn't look like anything overhangs the motherboard. Any video card up to 9.6" long should fit, though that will exclude some high end cards.
Among the latest architectures (Radeon HD 5000 and 6000 series, GeForce 400 and 500 series), AMD cards offer about 20% better performance per watt than Nvidia cards. There are some exceptions that manage to do much worse than other cards from the same vendor (Radeon HD 5830, GeForce GTX 465, 470, and 480), but excluding the low end cards where performance per watt is a somewhat dubious concept, it's about the same all up and down the line for each vendor, and better for AMD than Nvidia.
Performance per watt is the relevant metric because you can readily get double the performance at the expense of double the power consumption. Getting double the performance in the same power consumption tends to be unavailable on a given process node, unless you're making huge architectural changes and the old architecture was a complete disaster (e.g., Intel's NetBurst). Better performance per watt means you can either get the same performance with less power consumption, or else better performance for the same power consumption, depending on which cards you're comparing.
Power consumption is heat output, as that's where the electricity goes when it is used by a card. More heat output tends to lead to higher temperatures, but this also depends on how good of a cooling system you have. A large vapor chamber together with 6 large heatpipes and a three slot heatsink that runs the full length of the card will keep a card a lot cooler than a simple 0.5" x 2" x 2" block of aluminum with a small fan.
Most cards are internal exhaust models. That is, there's a heatsink and a fan blowing on the heatsink, but after the air goes across the heatsink to absorb heat, it scatters all over the place inside the case. If you've got a well-ventilated case, then general case airflow subsequently carries the heat out of the case. If all you need is to get heat off of the GPU, then an internal exhaust model is the best way to do it.
The problem is that you don't just need to get heat off of the GPU. You need to get it out of the case entirely. And you don't have much case airflow, so you can't just rely on general case airflow. If you put a high end internal exhaust video card in your case, it will spray heat all over the place, and it will take a long time for the heat to get out of the case. The interior of the case will get very hot, and that is bad for everything in the case. It can also lead to the video card itself overheating, as blowing hot air across a heatsink (since that is what is in the case) isn't that effective at cooling it.
An external exhaust model will have a single fan at one end of the card, the heatsink in the middle of the card, and a vent at the opposite end of the card from the fan. The vent goes in the back of the case. You won't be able to see the heatsink, as it is covered by a plastic shroud so that hot air doesn't escape into the case.
The idea is that the fan pulls air into the card and blows it along the length of the card. It goes over the heatsink, and picks up some heat from the heatsink that way. Then the hot air goes out the back of the card and right out of the case. That way, you don't have to worry about insufficient general case airflow, as most of the heat released by the video card is sent right out of the case, without leaking out of the video card and into the interior of the case. This won't get rid of all of the heat, as the PCB and shroud will get hot and radiate some heat away. Furthermore, the shroud that covers the heatsink to route the air isn't airtight. But it will get the bulk of the heat from the video card out of the case immediately, which prevents the interior of the case from overheating.
You can tell the difference between an internal exhaust card and an external exhaust card by visual inspection. Look at the card and if there's a fan on one end pulling air into the card, and the only place for the air to go is out the vent in the back, then it's an external exhaust card. If you can see the heatsink, it's an internal exhaust card. If the fan is in the middle of the card, it's mostly internal exhaust, though some such cards do manage to route a decent amount of air out the back of the case. If there are multiple fans on the video card, then it's definitely internal exhaust.
In short, yes, AMD's Radeon cards run cooler and more efficiently than Nvidia's Geforce cards
but you should get a card that exhausts the air to the outside regardless of who you buy from, because your case's own airflow isn't very good with just one 80mm fan.
heyo..
given the information on your system that you have described.. and that you have a 400w psu and the overall age of system, i would probably shy away from most newer "upper end" vid cards simply in that most will require a dual ac connect AND you simply do not have enough power to keep things smooth.
now without going into the wallet for a new system (which i can recommend you one should you like. just bought a third box for around 800$ that is simply divine for the price point) , i will leave you with a decent review/comparison that should help a great deal.
also be aware that this card only requires one ac plug and can handle (though barely) your psu. have fun reading
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/10/12/amd_ati_radeon_hd_5770_5750_review/1
cheers
d
"He who reigns within himself and rules his passions, desires, and fears is more than a king."
"Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much argruing, much writting, many opinions; for opinions in good men is but knowledge in the making."
John Milton 1608-1674
You need to calculate your system's power usage, ie everything in your pc uses power, how much does each piece use on full load ? then you can see how much head room you have.
and also depends on the brand/model of the powersupply:) a high quality single rail 400w powersupply would go a long way, but if it's a cheapo, then forget it:D
IF you are trying to use the powersupply that came with your gateway, then be ready to hear that "pop" sound when you load up a game and smell that blown up capacitor from your crap powersupply:D
It depends on which "400 W" power supply you have and what else there is in your system. If it's the power supply that Gateway sent you in a pre-built computer, then it's a bad idea. If it's one of these, then it will work fine with your Core 2 Quad:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026
Its all about how many amps you get on the 12v rail. Just from a quick google search it looks like the HD 5770 needs a minimum of 25amps. You can normally see how many amps each rail gets on the label on the side of the PSU, or in the specs if you havent bought it yet.
I would check the reviews and specs for the GFX card tho to confirm how much power you need
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