Replacement to nVidia 8800GT

A

ATITek

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 6, 2004
Messages
138
I am running two nVidia SLI 8800GTs in a SLI config.My build is below.

Last week my PC started crashing and BSOD during games. At shutdown I got a black screen with random $ all over it and at boot I got distorted yellow lines through my BIOS screen. Finally Windows Device Manager reported there was a problem with my cards.

I removed card # 1 and put card #2 into slot one on my MB. Now all is well and I am able to game again.

Is it safe to say my card # 1 was bad?
Could a bad SLI bridge cause this even with SLI disabled in control panel?
Is this build worth putting two new cards in vs. replacing this rig (I have the budget or either option)?
If I keep this rig then what should I replace my 8800GT with? One alone is not enough.


Thanks advance for your help.



My SPECS:
Asus P5ND nForce 750i SLI, Socket 775, PCIE,DDR2 W/ Integrated High Definition 7.1 Channel Sound
Intel Core 2 Quad processor Q9450, quad 2.66GHz cores, 12MB L2 Cache
DDR2 Memory 8GB of Corsair XMS2 DDR2800
2 x 512MB EVGA GeForce 8800GT DDR3 in SLI, PCIE,Dual DVI/HDCP
1TB / Western Digital Black 7200rpm
Windows Vista Ulimate 64-bit
CORSAIR 850W (MPSU-850TX 850W) ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified
 
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considering how 8800GT's are now like what? 6 years old now since release. It's not too farfetched that they're starting to fail. With a LGA775 platform, they're still very usable even in today's standards. Two 8800GT's in SLI I would say is roughly equal to a single GTX280 performance. I wouldn't replace the dying 8800GT with another 8800GT.. I'd just invest about $100 into the newer HD7770 or $120 on a GTX650TI to replace both cards. They're MUCH more energy efficient, equal or greater performance, and dx11 support.
 
Not sure how much actual HELP I could offer, but i just upgraded from a 5 year old 512MB 9800GT and bought this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131487

every comparison site i matched the two up two was basically showing this card as around a 3x improvement.

Wanted to go with nvidia (as they were easier for hackintosh builds) but with the 10.8.3, amd 7xxx series cards are supported.

That, the rebate, and the two games (which i just sold in one day on ebay) made this card cost around 140 for me. Not too shabby!
 
The 650 Ti might get a 192 bit memory interface.

I too would get a new card, not another 8800GT. You're limited via V.R.A.M. size.
 
Heck a 6600/ti would do wonders for your setup i don't think you need two with your current setup though.
with the 6600/ti it'll hold you over till the haswell stuff gets sorted out.
 
Geforcepat said:
Heck a 6600/ti would do wonders for your setup i don't think you need two with your current setup though.
with the 6600/ti it'll hold you over till the haswell stuff gets sorted out.
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Will my MB support a double height card like that if I did SLI?
 
ATITek said:
Will my MB support a double height card like that if I did SLI?
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sli with your older cpu would be silly. you will not even get all that a single 660 or higher end card can deliver.

did you mention what resolution that you will be playing at?
 
There are several GTX 650 1GB cards on newegg for under $100 (one is $80 after a $20 rebate card). One of these will be a bit more than twice as fast as a single 8800GT (and have twice as much VRAM besides), so it's better than the best you could possibly get out of 8800GT SLI.

The GTX 650 Ti 1GB is $140 ($120 after a $20 rebate card) and is well over three times as fast as a single 8800GT.

Your current system would probably limit video cards faster than that.
 
I just wanted to say nice rig!
Glad to see it still rocking the games these days.

Currently anything around $100-150 should easliy beat the sli 8800gt's
 
evilsofa said:
There are several GTX 650 1GB cards on newegg for under $100 (one is $80 after a $20 rebate card). One of these will be a bit more than twice as fast as a single 8800GT (and have twice as much VRAM besides), so it's better than the best you could possibly get out of 8800GT SLI.

The GTX 650 Ti 1GB is $140 ($120 after a $20 rebate card) and is well over three times as fast as a single 8800GT.

Your current system would probably limit video cards faster than that.
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well over 3 times faster? its more like two times faster. a 650 ti is basically even to a gtx460 which overall was almost twice as fast as the 8800gt. of course with only 512mb of vram there would be many situations where the 650ti would be able to run higher settings while still being nearly twice as fast too.
 
Put the bad 8800 in the oven for about 15 minutes. Make sure you remove all the shrouding/heatsink/covers; just the bare PCB. Do a search on what others have done. I can't remember the exact temperature, I wanna say it was 350*F, but I could be off.

I've done it to a few GPUs before, including laptop cards that fixed similar issues. ;)
 
Skillz said:
Put the bad 8800 in the oven for about 15 minutes. Make sure you remove all the shrouding/heatsink/covers; just the bare PCB. Do a search on what others have done. I can't remember the exact temperature, I wanna say it was 350*F, but I could be off.

I've done it to a few GPUs before, including laptop cards that fixed similar issues. ;)
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Bear in mind, though - that while this is effective (if not terribly convenient), it's not a permanent fix, and eventually will stop working altogether. Whether that's after the second time tried, or the tenth, it's still to be considered a "don't want to spend money right now" solution.

As for a replacement, I'd go with a 650 Ti or non-Ti 660 if you're on a budget/a long time from an upgrade, or a 660Ti if you're within six months of upgrading your system.

Also, ATI/AMD is supposedly "skipping" this round of GPUs because they're too busy handling their console orders. That means you can expect some pretty hefty cuts on the Radeon line across the board.
 
Destruya said:
Bear in mind, though - that while this is effective (if not terribly convenient), it's not a permanent fix, and eventually will stop working altogether. Whether that's after the second time tried, or the tenth, it's still to be considered a "don't want to spend money right now" solution.
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Everything will eventually stop working altogether. :rolleyes:

I did it to a laptop I had got back in 2006, the GPU I modded into the laptop experienced that issue about 3 months after owning it. As far as I know, that GPU is still working like a champ or at least it was when I sold it last year.
 
I am playing games at 1440 x 900.

The consensus seems to be to run a single GTX 650TI based on the limits of my current setup? 1GB or 2GB?

If a GTX 660TI is overkill then I won't want to spend the money as this is likely the last upgrade I will put into this box before replacing it with something more modern.
 
At 14x9 a 1gb 650Ti would be just fine. Until you're ready to upgrade your monitor and computer I wouldn't go with anything more powerful.
 
I just got myself a GTX 650 Ti, replacing some old ass cards around the same age.. Night and day, and the rig pulls less power.
 
My MB will support a 1GB gtx 650TI?

Also, eVGA or Asus for the card? Is one better than another?
 
The 1gb 7850 seems to be by far the best card under $200, and it comes with Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite making it super cheap if you planned on buying those ($120 worth of AAA games for a $180 card is nuts). It kills all the nvidia cards in the same price range even without the crazy rebate, the next step up is around $200 for a Gigabyte GTX 660 after $20 rebate, but its a big step up.
 
Would a 2GB 650TI be overkill? Only a tiny price difference between 1GB and 2GB.
 
ATITek said:
Would a 2GB 650TI be overkill? Only a tiny price difference between 1GB and 2GB.
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Not really overkill, but the 650 Ti doesn't really have enough gpu power to take advantage of the extra vRam. Similar to the 4 gb gtx 670.

Looks like an extra $30 between the cheapest 1gb 650 Ti and the cheapest 2 gb 650 Ti card. Not worth it IMO.
 
Why would you do that? The 7850 destroys the 2gb 650 ti and is the same price. The 7850 is basically a GTX 660, just a little slower in most games.
 
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Years ago I was ATI only.

I switched sides. I like nVidia products better.
 
I can understand going with a preferred brand if the difference was marginal but the 7850 is in a completely different class, like I said it competes with the 660. When next gen consoles come out and PC games finally get a major graphics boost youre going to regret not going with the much faster card, unless theres some deal breaker about AMD not being compatible with your hardware the better nvidia drivers dont matter that much.

I went from a GTX 460 (almost the same speed as a 650ti) to a 7850 and the difference was huge, the 460 could only do 720p at max'ish settings in the most demanding games but the 7850 was doing 1080p at max with speed to spare. But I have an HTPC and the AMD cards dont like my AV receiver and had HDMI handshake issues, so I returned that and got a GTX 660 since the upgrade was cheaper than buying an $80 hdmi dongle that solves handshake issues, I couldnt tell the difference between it and the 7850 (to be fair nvidia also doesnt work with my receiver, but unlike AMD they can be tricked into not caring about handshakes with a piece of tape on the HDMI cable).
 
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I went from a 9800GT to a GTX 560 Ti and it was awesome, BF3 was very playable, then I got a GTX 680 and I couldn't be happier. OC that cpu if you can. Also, I went from Vista to 7, it was worth it.
 
Destruya said:
Also, ATI/AMD is supposedly "skipping" this round of GPUs because they're too busy handling their console orders. That means you can expect some pretty hefty cuts on the Radeon line across the board.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why you'd expect that TBH. It could just as easily mean prices will stay higher longer since there's nothing replacing them. Unless nVidia releases a faster card that doesn't cost $1000 there's really no reason why Radeon prices would drop.
 
If you haven't bought a card yet, you now have a new player: the GTX 650 Ti Boost at $150 for the 1GB version. HardOCP reviews it as being equal in every way to the AMD 7850 and superior to the AMD 7790.
 
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