Hardware & Technical Buying a new videocard GTX970- advice required please.

[DieScream]

Hello,

Win7 Pro
8 Gb DDR3 RAM
GTX580 GPU
AMD Phenom X6 CPU
850w PSU

System is around 4-5 years old, been great till now. Quick run down for perspective:

As of Thursday while playing Elite, my GTX580 seems to be dead. The issues are green artifacts, followed by the error message that the drivers have failed and have recovered. At first it was just in game, but it progressed to constant the last few days. I am in safe mode now to post this.

The drivers are up to date, I have adjusted the core clocks down, core volts up, memory etc with MSI afterburner. Temps never exceed 50-60 degrees. I have rolled back drivers, installed drivers from as far back as months ago, to no avail. Did a computer restore, used Driver Uninstaller in safe mode and so on for the last few days.

I cleaned everything meticulously and made sure all connections are secure, all parts seated well.

The card has gotten worse and I am now forced to post this in safe mode as the card will get green artifacts and BSOD within minutes of boot up now

So, it seems to me that the card has simply reached the end of it's life, (no visible scorches or smell, and no indication of dmg) and I am forced to buy a new one. (Any thoughts? Seems like the only conclusion).

I've decided on a GTX970 and another 8Gb of RAM (for total of 16Gb).

Questions (I'm not computer savy):

1. My mobo slot is PCI-e 16x, whereas the GTX970 is a PCI-e 3.0, this is fine, correct? For the fit?

2. The card calls for minimum of 500w PSU, mine is 850w, with the 8Gb of added RAM I am also getting and the GTX970, am I covered power-wise?

3. I've read some posts by people with the GTX970 & 980 reporting the same crashes; I'm afraid I may spend this cash on a card and find I still get artifacts because it wasn't card-related after all, I guess I'm asking any GTX970/980 owners to chime in with experiences.

4. Is there anything I should know, anything I've missed that you would find out before dropping the $100's for the upgrade?

Thank you very much for any help.

Edit: Also, any recommendation of brand type? EVGA/MSI, etc?

 

[Sargon]

Adding RAM, a good move..

 

[Obsidian Ant]

Edit: Also, any recommendation of brand type? EVGA/MSI, etc?

EVGA have great support. You also get an 'upgrade' window, so that in Nvidia release a new card after you make the purchase, you can return the card to EVGA (regardless of where you brought it from), and pay the difference to get the new card.

EVGA are also very well built with great heatsinks.

 

[Antmax]

I have an older system too. PCI2 x16, Quad 3ghz intel, 16gb ram, 650psu, and just bought a GTX970

GTX970 uses 100w less power than the equivalent previous gen card. PCIe x16 is theoretically slightly slower but your not going to notice in practice.

Comparrison between my old GTX 650 and 970:

650 Sitting in the hanger in a space station maxed graphics but no AA 22 - 25 fps

970 Sitting in hanger in a space station maxed graphics with any AA 90 - 95 fps.

And the card doesn't even hit 70c when playing the game for a long time. (I do use vsynch for non tearing head tracking though, so I doubt the card ever runs hard, unlike the 650.

 

[DieScream]

Adding RAM, a good move..

Yes, I think 16Gb should be a good amount, I have 4 slots, with two 4Gb Gskill(?) currently.

EVGA have great support. You also get an 'upgrade' window, so that in Nvidia release a new card after you make the purchase, you can return the card to EVGA (regardless of where you brought it from), and pay the difference to get the new card.

EVGA are also very well built with great heatsinks.

That's good advice Granite, thanks! Another site had people talking up MSI, and I found a possible buy here. The cooling is great, and it will fit my case (max 11"" length). I like the outputs too. Thoughts?

I have an older system too. PCI2 x16, Quad 3ghz intel, 16gb ram, 650psu, and just bought a GTX970

GTX970 uses 100w less power than the equivalent previous gen card. PCIe x16 is theoretically slightly slower but your not going to notice in practice.

Comparrison between my old GTX 650 and 970:

650 Sitting in the hanger in a space station maxed graphics but no AA 22 - 25 fps

970 Sitting in hanger in a space station maxed graphics with any AA 90 - 95 fps.

And the card doesn't even hit 70c when playing the game for a long time. (I do use vsynch for non tearing head tracking though, so I doubt the card ever runs hard, unlike the 650.

This is very encouraging Antmax, thanks! I think I'll die inside if I splurge on this card, get it up and running...then BSOD or get screen artifacts

I read about the lower power just a few moments ago comparing on Nvidia's site, my current GTX580 req 600W min, while the GTX970 req 500w, good!

 

[kyoseki]

EVGA have great support. You also get an 'upgrade' window, so that in Nvidia release a new card after you make the purchase, you can return the card to EVGA (regardless of where you brought it from), and pay the difference to get the new card.

EVGA are also very well built with great heatsinks.

Another vote for EVGA here, I'm actually taking advantage of their upgrade program to replace my 780 GTX with a 980 GTX, it's only costing me $12 (shipping) because the 980 came out about 2.5 months after I bought my 780.

Their build quality is great and their support is fantastic, if you submit a question to them they'll usually get back to you within an hour.

I can't recommend them highly enough, the only problem you'll have right now is finding one in stock.

 

[chaseydog]

That's good advice Granite, thanks! Another site had people talking up MSI, and I found a possible buy here. The cooling is great, and it will fit my case (max 11"" length). I like the outputs too. Thoughts?

I wouldn't buy from NCIX at that price, NewEgg's about $50 cheaper. Of course no one has them in stock at the moment and when they do come into stock they don't last long. EVGA is a good choice but I'll most likely go for a MSI or Asus.

 

[DieScream]

I'm in Vancouver Canada, is Newegg still a deal? the FX rate is pretty bad right now. I bought my computer from NCIX and there is a store 2 blocks away, so it's convenient.

Another vote for EVGA huh?How's the cooling on ACX 2.0? This is $20 cheaper.

 

[chaseydog]

I'm in Vancouver Canada, is Newegg still a deal? the FX rate is pretty bad right now. I bought my computer from NCIX and there is a store 2 blocks away, so it's convenient.

Another vote for EVGA huh?How's the cooling on ACX 2.0? This is $20 cheaper.

Check the price in store. IIRC NCIX online prices are higher than their in store prices. A GTX970 should be $349-379 US, not sure what that works out to in Canadian money.

 

[Lestat]

Other thing you might want to look into.

Power supply might failing. Which in this case could cause the card to fail do to lack of power.

Replacing CPU Thermal Paste after a few years It dose break down Can run hotter. Use HWinfo. Monitor system temps. If they seem high it might be sign of thermal breakdown which can also cause unwanted issue.

Fan speed. Fan tend to wear out. Use the HWinfo to monitor fan speed.

 

[DieScream]

I have MSI Afterburner & GPUZ, I haven't seen any issues with temps, I've monitored while creating the crash, the voltage shoots to 99% at the moment of the crash, but the core clocks and temps, fan etc, seem unaffected.

I have plenty of ventilation, and I just cleaned the case out today like new, but it was fine before anyway.

 

[Lestat]

I have MSI Afterburner & GPUZ, I haven't seen any issues with temps, I've monitored while creating the crash, the voltage shoots to 99% at the moment of the crash, but the core clocks and temps, fan etc, seem unaffected.

I have plenty of ventilation, and I just cleaned the case out today like new, but it was fine before anyway.

I going to give you a few ideas. The voltage for me show me the issue could be something else.

See a lot of graphics card has two power source one from the Motherboard and a 4 prong plug that come from directly from the power supply. Check to see if any of the wires from 4 prong came lose from fan vibration.

If that not the issue and you replace the graphics card and still have issue. The next thing to do is replace the power supply.

Note some Manufactures like Dell use their own power supplies. So you might have to buy one from the manufacture like Dell.

 

[DieScream]

Thanks Lestat. There is a 6 pin & an 8 pin power connector to the GTX580, both are connected securely, I mentioned I made sure all connections were secure and card was inserted (seated) correctly and fully.

Fortunately PSUs are fairly cheap, I currently have a Seasonic 850w, it was a custom machine put together by NCIX.

 

[Distance]

970 is a great card. I have mine on an old system from 2010 and pcie 2. Card works fine, if there's a difference in frames between pcie 2 and 3 it's going to be 1 or 2 at best. It'll work fine in your current board. 970 also comes with two 6 pin adaptors rather than a 6 and an 8 and is very power efficient. Also depending on the model you get you may need adapters, e.g. my palit comes with 1 dvi 3 mini dp and one mini hdmi so i needed a mini hdmi adaptor to use it with my monitor.

 

[Simon853]

I upgraded my PC (3.2 GHz i7, 12 Gb RAM, 750Watt PSU) last week from a GTX 560 Ti to a GTX 980.

I was actually getting great frame rates with the old 560 Ti (about 60 fps most of the time in space) and don't really notice it performing much better in that regard with the 980, (though to be fair most of the time I have v-sync on, so I wouldn't.)

However, it does look much better. There's still the outstanding shader bug with the 500 series cards in Elite which, when fixed, might even make it look near identical.

The biggest improvement though is that I'm able to run it at the same higher frame rates at 4k res on my new monitor. That makes the gfx card upgrade worth it in my opinion. Had I not also got that monitor, I'm not sure the financial outlay for the 980 would have been worth it for Elite alone.

 

[dognosh]

Hello,

Win7 Pro
8 Gb DDR3 RAM
GTX580 GPU
AMD Phenom X6 CPU
850w PSU

System is around 4-5 years old, been great till now. Quick run down for perspective:

As of Thursday while playing Elite, my GTX580 seems to be dead. The issues are green artifacts, followed by the error message that the drivers have failed and have recovered. At first it was just in game, but it progressed to constant the last few days. I am in safe mode now to post this.

The drivers are up to date, I have adjusted the core clocks down, core volts up, memory etc with MSI afterburner. Temps never exceed 50-60 degrees. I have rolled back drivers, installed drivers from as far back as months ago, to no avail. Did a computer restore, used Driver Uninstaller in safe mode and so on for the last few days.

I cleaned everything meticulously and made sure all connections are secure, all parts seated well.

The card has gotten worse and I am now forced to post this in safe mode as the card will get green artifacts and BSOD within minutes of boot up now

So, it seems to me that the card has simply reached the end of it's life, (no visible scorches or smell, and no indication of dmg) and I am forced to buy a new one. (Any thoughts? Seems like the only conclusion).

I've decided on a GTX970 and another 8Gb of RAM (for total of 16Gb).

Questions (I'm not computer savy):

1. My mobo slot is PCI-e 16x, whereas the GTX970 is a PCI-e 3.0, this is fine, correct? For the fit?

2. The card calls for minimum of 500w PSU, mine is 850w, with the 8Gb of added RAM I am also getting and the GTX970, am I covered power-wise?

3. I've read some posts by people with the GTX970 & 980 reporting the same crashes; I'm afraid I may spend this cash on a card and find I still get artifacts because it wasn't card-related after all, I guess I'm asking any GTX970/980 owners to chime in with experiences.

4. Is there anything I should know, anything I've missed that you would find out before dropping the $100's for the upgrade?

Thank you very much for any help.

Edit: Also, any recommendation of brand type? EVGA/MSI, etc?

8GB of RAM is more than enough !!! I have 16 amd running lots of other apps and ED at the same time I have never gone over 5GB

850W PSU , more than enough power for your build, if it is 5 years old, take this opportunity to clean it thoroughly. Many a PSU has gone bad and killed components ! I personally would get a new one if it was 5 years old.
you need a PSU with 2 X 6 pin for the card.

pci 3.0 is backward compatible with older PCI slots? not sure,depends on what yours is ,but it is double width(the 970/980)

 

[dognosh]

regarding artifacts, I don't have many, dunno, even people with similar specs have different experiences in ED

edit : your WIN7, 64 or 32 ? (in WIN 7 32 bit it can't use more than 3.5GB of RAM)

 

[DieScream]

Thanks for the replies. I have a 64 bit Win7.

This morning I turned on the computer and it BSOD'd right off the bat, pretty harsh. It's amazing how much it degraded since Thursday when it began with a few artifacts on screen during Elite only.

Thanks for the tip about the PSU connector, my current GTX580 has an 8 pin and a 6 pin.

I'm debating getting a new PSU and GTX970 now rather than the card and 8 more Gb RAM, though I have no indicator the PSU is faulty besides the videocard dying(?).

 

[Sub]

Firstly, the card and every other question.. you should be fine.

That said, what brand is the PSU? Does it make any weird noises?

Edit: just read up.. seasonic should be fine.

What I will say is, make doubly, tripply sure you install the drivers properly.

1) don't install anything on any disc you get with it
2) you need to completely remove any drivers you have first, and then you need to reboot in safe mode and use driver cleaner to properly clean out nvidia drivers
3) You then need to reboot again and install the proper drivers, in manual mode, and without the sound or 3d drivers (unless 3d is our thing, or you're sending audio over hdmi) and do a MANUAL install. and clear any previous settings when the option is given.
4) reboot again, and you should be fine.

if you're not sure/not confident, hit me up via PM the process is much easier explained via voice and I'm happy to help.

Most issues with GPU's Crashing/artifacting/going wrong are badly installed drivers

Above all: Don't install drivers over the top of older ones. And don't rely on geforce experience to do it for you because it's STILL not good enough.

One quick thing, might be worth trying to do a proper driver install with this card just to check it really is dead. But I'd still start fresh with a new card.

 

[DieScream]

Great stuff, thank you Sub.

I did use DDU in safe mode at the beginning, when I thought it was just the newest drivers (344.11). I then rolled back one set of drivers and still got artifacts. Then I tried drivers all the way back to 320.xx and in between.

However, as I am in safe mode now (or I BSOD), I think I will run DDU again to be sure and then reinstall the new drivers.

I cannot boot into regular mode though, or else I crash pretty quickly. The issue seems to have progressed to critical as far as my comp even being operable out of safe mode.

Sadly, I get paid Wednesday, but then i have at least 2-10 day wait for delivery, depending on stock it could be more

Thanks for the advice, I'll make sure I reference it when the time comes.