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6870 vs. 550ti

B

Big_G1976

n00b
Joined
May 10, 2013
Messages
28
After reading reviews until my eyes popped out I chose a XFX 6870 over a 550ti card in February of last year. Well the first card died in a couple of months so I RMA'd it and got a replacement. It seemed and continues to seem as though this card is an underachiever. This card gets hot quick, like 85-88 degrees Celsius in a one minute Furmark pass. My kid put MW2 on here and it blue screens almost every time he plays it. I can play Dirt3, any Assassins Creed and Splinter Cell(s) but it doesn't want to run MW2. Can this be fixed? If not what is a good mid-range card to upgrade to? 7970 or a 680GTX?
AMD 455 x3 3.3ghz
8GB kingston hyperx blue 1600
MSI mobo 890gxm-g65
Seagate 7200 2TB
550W Rosewill Performance series.
Samsung DVD player/burner
 
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1039870313

Get in on that deal, if you want to upgrade him :). On the actual issue, I'd imagine it's a heat problem due to poor case airflow as far as the current card you have for him goes, causing the crashing. Make sure the case is dusted out (use compressed air) and that none of the case fans died/etc.
 
Big_G1976 said:
After reading reviews until my eyes popped out I chose a XFX 6870 over a 550ti card in February of last year. Well the first card died in a couple of months so I RMA'd it and got a replacement. It seemed and continues to seem as though this card is an underachiever. This card gets hot quick, like 85-88 degrees Celsius in a one minute Furmark pass. My kid put MW2 on here and it blue screens almost every time he plays it. I can play Dirt3, any Assassins Creed and Splinter Cell(s) but it doesn't want to run MW2. Can this be fixed? If not what is a good mid-range card to upgrade to? 7970 or a 680GTX?
AMD 455 x3 3.3ghz
8GB kingston hyperx blue 1600
MSI mobo 890gxm-g65
Seagate 7200 2TB
550W Rosewill Performance series.
Samsung DVD player/burner
Click to expand...
lol what? 7970 and 680 are mid range to you? maybe in some regards but looking at your system they are way overkill. your cpu would kill 50% of what cards like that are even capable of in most games. and that psu is certainly not very good for a 680 nevermind a 7970.

that deal he linked too is really good but again your cpu is going to kill a great deal of the performance of a 660ti too. and I know he does not like to hear this but that reference cooler makes some pretty unpleasant sounds so if your sensitive then I would not bother. I also still wonder about the quality of that psu but a 660ti should not use too much power.
 
Furmark isn't necessarily the best method to apply a real world workload to a GPU...

Anyhow, if you're using the reference blower fan model card, then seeing temps pushing 85-90c is perfectly normal on GPUs and it won't likely light itself on fire or fry. I ran a pair of 5870s doing bitcoin mining for a few YEARs at 90c pegged 24/7 and they still have life in them.

My suggestion would be to look at other potential sources of instability other than the graphics card. The Rosewill PSU would be where I'd wager if there was money on the line for picking the correct borked part - cheap power supplies that don't past the redneck quality test (aka how heavy is it compared to another) can cause all sorts of havoc. Beyond that, I'd suggest testing your memory to see if that is causing any issues.

If you upgrade your card to a more hungry model as you've mentioned, it will pop that power supply much like a soda can left in the car on a very hot summer day...
 
Yeah, I was kinda wondering about that PSU too when I saw it in the list...
 
what? O_O 7970 or 680 mid range?... no words..

about your inquiry a real mid range i can recommend its a GTX 650TI or GTX 650TI boost.. both will offer a excelent upgrade without too much PSU requirements..
 
Araxie said:
what? O_O 7970 or 680 mid range?... no words..

about your inquiry a real mid range i can recommend its a GTX 650TI or GTX 650TI boost.. both will offer a excelent upgrade without too much PSU requirements..
Click to expand...
a gtx650 ti is slower than a 6870.
 
Araxie said:
what? O_O 7970 or 680 mid range?... no words..

about your inquiry a real mid range i can recommend its a GTX 650TI or GTX 650TI boost.. both will offer a excelent upgrade without too much PSU requirements..
Click to expand...

They're the midpoint between 2x 7970's or 2x 680's and zero, therefore, that's right in the middle of the range ;-).
 
GoldenTiger said:
Really, that's interesting and fascinating since a 650 Ti Boost is faster than a 7850. And the 7850 is 10-15% faster than the 6870.

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphi...plus-HD-7790-HD-7850-GTX-650-Ti-BOOST/Battl-0

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5625/...-7850-review-rounding-out-southern-islands/11
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perhaps you should read what I said closer.

I said gtx650 ti NOT gtx650 ti boost. he said both were excellent upgrades when in fact the gtx650 ti is slower like I said.
 
cannondale06 said:
perhaps you should read what I said closer...

I said gtx650 ti NOT gtx650 ti boost.
Click to expand...

The 650 Ti is not the main model of 650 ti anymore, the 650 Ti Boost replaced it. Hence why I referred to the current version, not one that people wouldn't be generally looking at to buy.
 
GoldenTiger said:
The 650 Ti is not the main model of 650 ti anymore, the 650 Ti Boost replaced it. Hence why I referred to the current version, not one that people wouldn't be generally looking at to buy.
Click to expand...
READ what I was replying to.

and I had to burst your bubble but the ti boost is a different card at a different price point. not that it matters in this case as you simply did not look at what I replied to.
 
In fact as i've checked in anandtech: (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/540?vs=680) reference 6870vs reference 650TI show the 650TI as winner in general gaming except for crysis 2 where 6870 crush the 650TI.. But much more cooler and less noisy and less power hungry.. Thats why i recommended... A 650ti could be a nice upgrade.. Or in defect the 650ti boost.. :) regards all..
 
Araxie said:
In fact as i've checked in anandtech: (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/540?vs=680) reference 6870vs reference 650TI show the 650TI as winner in general gaming except for crysis 2 where 6870 crush the 650TI.. But much more cooler and less noisy and less power hungry.. Thats why i recommended... A 650ti could be a nice upgrade.. Or in defect the 650ti boost.. :) regards all..
Click to expand...
on techpowerup they have the 6870 being about 10% faster overall so its not an "excellent upgrade". unless the only thing he wants is to use 50-60 less watts then no point in getting the same level of performance. he might as well spend 35 bucks more and get the gtx650 ti boost.
 
I have noticed some deals on 7790 cards but I'm having difficulties finding them in reviews and comparisons sites. 660ti have some good deals too. I have considered upgrading the processor to a 1100fx 6 core but the reviews are mixed on that CPU (I'm not convinced my current CPU is that slow, it has some solid reviews). I thought about a Quad core Phenom 960-ish also. I do plan on upgrading the PSU when I do this upgrading. I have 1 80mm and 2x 120mm fans cooling my case.
 
Big_G1976 said:
I have noticed some deals on 7790 cards but I'm having difficulties finding them in reviews and comparisons sites. 660ti have some good deals too. I have considered upgrading the processor to a 1100fx 6 core but the reviews are mixed on that CPU (I'm not convinced my current CPU is that slow, it has some solid reviews). I thought about a Quad core Phenom 960-ish also. I do plan on upgrading the PSU when I do this upgrading. I have 1 80mm and 2x 120mm fans cooling my case.
Click to expand...
there are tons of 7790 reviews just from a quick google search. and sorry but your cpu is most certainly a bit slow for modern games.
 
Ok computer techies which one is better for gaming? One is faster GHz, the other has more cores. AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Quad Core CPU
AMD Phenom II X6 1045T 2.70GHz AM3 Processor
 
Big_G1976 said:
I have noticed some deals on 7790 cards but I'm having difficulties finding them in reviews and comparisons sites. 660ti have some good deals too. I have considered upgrading the processor to a 1100fx 6 core but the reviews are mixed on that CPU (I'm not convinced my current CPU is that slow, it has some solid reviews). I thought about a Quad core Phenom 960-ish also. I do plan on upgrading the PSU when I do this upgrading. I have 1 80mm and 2x 120mm fans cooling my case.
Click to expand...

I have a 650 Ti Boost review in the pipeline right now that will be compared to a 7790, then after that, a 7790... compared to a 650 Ti Boost. If price is the same, the 650 Ti Boost is the superior option by a significant margin.

Have you read the rest of the thread where several of us pointed out that the graphics card is likely not the culprit?


Big_G1976 said:
Ok computer techies which one is better for gaming? One is faster GHz, the other has more cores. AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Quad Core CPU
AMD Phenom II X6 1045T 2.70GHz AM3 Processor
Click to expand...

It depends on the game's reliance upon CPU and whether they did a good job with multithreading. The X4 965 gives you one more core and 100MHz, while the X6 slows you down with double the cores... neither of which will be significant from your overall gaming experience with current games. Again, I would direct your attention to your power supply...
 
The case is freshly blown out. A 750W Ultra Lifetime Series PSU is ordered. I will start there and work my way to more expensive upgrades.
 
Big_G1976 said:
The case is freshly blown out. A 750W Ultra Lifetime Series PSU is ordered. I will start there and work my way to more expensive upgrades.
Click to expand...

I hope they have revamped their handywork since the last generation of 750W PSUs. You don't need a 750W PSU for your rig. You need a quality PSU. Then again, given Ultra's prior practices, you'll be lucky if that one will do 500W before it lets out the magic smoke.
 
I looked around at several sellers. Caught this one at Tiger Direct for a good price and it had excellent reviews (4.5 stars) and there was over 200 reviewers. And I do plan on adding an SSD so extra wattage won't hurt anything.
 
And I do thank everyone for their advice. I can slap parts in a case and make a computer but when it comes to truly understanding what works together and what are good reliable vendors...... I am learning. Thanks again. :D
 
And I stand corrected, the 750W PSU had over 900 reviews @ 4.7 out of 5 stars. That was a mix of daily web browsers and gamers writing reviews. I hope it works out well.
 
Big_G1976 said:
And I stand corrected, the 750W PSU had over 900 reviews @ 4.7 out of 5 stars. That was a mix of daily web browsers and gamers writing reviews. I hope it works out well.
Click to expand...

not reviews... people like you plugging it in and saying it looks shiny and it powered on the first time.

but go ahead and take "reviews" on a site selling them over forums full of technical professionals.
 
Big_G1976 said:
I looked around at several sellers. Caught this one at Tiger Direct for a good price and it had excellent reviews (4.5 stars) and there was over 200 reviewers. And I do plan on adding an SSD so extra wattage won't hurt anything.
Click to expand...
an SSD uses less than 5 watts.
 
cannondale06 said:
an SSD uses less than 5 watts.
Click to expand...

Yup... but he needs those extra watts that aren't there...

1367833088ADjNuTGrot_9_6.png
 
Patriot said:
not reviews... people like you plugging it in and saying it looks shiny and it powered on the first time.

but go ahead and take "reviews" on a site selling them over forums full of technical professionals.
Click to expand...


I would feel comfortable saying that 10% of those reviewers are tech savvy. But back to the main point. AMD CPU is 95W, XFX recommended a minimum of 450W PSU for the 6870 card, DVD drive and Seagate hard drive draws are minimum, on remaining draws are onboard sound and 4 case fans. So it is fair to say that the 550W Rosewill PSU was getting pushed to it's max (and it seemed like no one on here liked the Rosewill brand anyways). I upgraded the Wattage based on these facts alone. Now if you all don't like the Ultra brand of PSU then I understand and will shy away from it in the future. But I must say it passes the weight test with flying colors, this thing is HEAVY. And one other point, if I upgrade to a 125W CPU and bump up to a GTX 680 graphics card I will need more juice, maybe not 750W but definitely more juice.
 
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