GTX 285 Bricked. Time Crunch!

D

Deeky

Gawd
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
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My BFG 285 has been acting hinky for months and this morning it finally gave up the ghost, bought the farm, kicked the bucket, etc. I would normally see this as an opportunity to research my ass off and make an informed purchase from an online vendor after extended price matching shenanigans, but I have an important project due this Friday and everything is on the 285 system. No time to waste. I don't currently have a spare PCI-e GPU, so I'm forced to make a quick purchase from a local shop; no time to wait for shipping.

My first instinct is to go with an ASUS 570, but I want to touch base with the [H] brain trust before pulling any triggers. I can delay the purchase until tomorrow morning, at which point I'm committing to something.

Is the 570 a decent purchase coming from a 285? Or is it retarded from a price/performance standpoint? I'm not keen on rolling the dice on an ATI soft mod, but I'm not otherwise averse to the 6-series cards. SLI/Xfire are options, but I tend to err on the side of single card solutions, if only to avoid hassle.

I'm running Win 7 on a stock (for now) i7 920 D0 w/ 6 gigs Corsair on an ASUS P6X58D Premium, 850w PSU. Playing at 1920x1200 on an HP LP2475w. Moving up to 30" at some point soon. Any input would be appreciated!
 
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I would go with a 6950 and unlock it personally. That being said the 570 is still a great card, but it is nearly $100 more than the 6950, that is a lot of money for a gain that is not worth it in my opinion.
 
Depends how much worth you put on not having to use AMD drivers. I'd probably go with a 570 or 560 Ti. Maybe 560's in SLI?
 
The HD 6950 stock snip the heels of the GTX 570 and HD 6970 which are far more expensive and doesn't worth the price difference, the GTX 560 is slower than the HD 5870.
 
I need to decide between potential multi-monitor and a single, big ass 30".

It's clear that a stock 6950 2GB is the go-to choice for multi, whereas a 570 would likely be the better candidate for 2560x1600. Adding a second 570 for 30" gaming would be nice, maybe overkill. Would the 1.25GB of video RAM hold the 570 back on a 30" setup, or is that only a concern when dealing with Eyefinity/Surround resolutions?

Then again, if I unlock a 6950 2GB to run at 6970 speeds, it suddenly becomes the all-rounder. How does the mod hold up under Xfire? Will AMD put the kibosh on soft modding with a future nazi-patch? Is that possible? I don't know much about it.

Sorry for the rapid fire questions. Time is of the essence!
 
Read HardOCP review of the GTX 580 SLI vs HD 6970 CF, shows that the HD 6970 CF is better suited for such high resolutions with Eyefinity thanks to its large frame buffer and some stuff in the GPU that doesn't nose dive much when eye candy and Anti Aliasing are raised. Don't worry about the nazi patch, it won't exist as the HD 6950 and HD 6970 is basically the same GPU, unlocking it will simply tell the driver that it is an HD 6970. If AMD was bothered for such unlocks, they would had laser cut those shaders.
 
NO, to the 570<bad PWM> get a 560 2gb or 6950(shader unlockable)
 
Well ... good news: I got the 285 working again. I reseated everything (for the third time) and it finally spun up. It's not inspiring confidence, but I did manage to play a few rounds of the Crysis 2 demo and the Shogun 2 demo historical battle; no issue.

That said, I think it's time for something new. Video card related nonsense and blue screens are becoming all too common in my neck of the woods. I'm honestly leaning toward Red this time around (and it's been a while since I've ventured beyond the walls of Fortress Green). The 6950 is an interesting choice, but I'm liking the look of the 2GB 6970. The potential xfire possibilities are exciting, moreso now considering the Antilles review. Personally, I'd rather pay a little more and not stress over unlocking shaders. Not very [H] of me, I realize. :p

The 2GB factor is something that weighs heavy in my consideration. I don't want to hobble myself should I decide to take the plunge into multi-monitor gaming. At the very least, I'll eventually be rocking a 30", and I'll be wanting to squeeze as much AA as I can out of it.
 
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My recommendation would be one of the 560ti 2GB cards, if you decide to go mutlimonitor you can SLI two of those with ease, without weird tearing and expensive adapters.

The gtx 580 3gb card is also a really nice card, but get's expensive when talking about 2 or 4 of them in SLI, and there's a bunch of power required. Check out Vega's crazy setup with quad SLI'd 580 3gb cards, the scaling is intense.

I'm not a fan of ATI drivers and use Nvidia's Cuda tech, so I am pro Nvidia.

I'll admit that ATI's 6950 2gb card is very tempting, but I plan on going with 2 560TI 2GB cards in SLI for a triple display once I swap out my monitors. If the upcoming 590 has more ram then the 580's, can do trip displays, and is priced right, I might end up with one of those.
 
The 2GB 560s are on my short list as well, but I keep hearing that a pair of 6950s tend to out perform them at higher resolutions. I suppose I should dig up a few 560 reviews and see what's what. Not sure how the pricing stacks up, either.

I do appreciate that the 560s are quieter and cooler, however.

I've always gravitated toward Nvidia ... but this is a close one, in my mind.
 
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The 2GB 6950s quite considerably (20%+) outperform the 2GB GTX560s at 2560x1600, and are cheaper to boot, the only reason to buy the 2GB 560s for high-res is if you really want the nvidia-specific features, CUDA, 3D and the likes. HD6950s are pretty quiet cards, and they run relatively cool too. Complaints laid against the 6950 and 6970 about this are unwarranted.
Add to this that crossfire scaling is slightly better than SLI scaling, and two 6950s versus two 2GB 560s is already about a 30% lead for AMD on a big screen. If you unlock the 6950s, or if you bought 6970s instead, you're up to a 40-45% increase, and that's definitely noticeable in games.
 
Hmm. I'm on the fence, perched like a sniper, my finger on the trigger.

The 6950 looks like a safe bet and I'm definitely feeling the pull of the SLI/crossfire. A pair of 6950s outperforms the SLI 560s, but heat/noise is a consideration. The 6950s (at least the Radeon model) appear to get very hot in crossfire, with sandwich action trapping a lot of heat, causing the top card to spin up like a jet turbine. Something to do with the box-shape of the cooler. The Nvidia offering does not (according to reports).

ASUS offers a crazy two fan cooling solution in their DCII, but a three slot card doesn't jibe with my mobo for purposes of crossfire.

What other options are there, short of having to buy and apply my own aftermarket cooler? Or water. Has someone (EVGA, Palit, ASUS, etc) introduced a two slot 6950/70 that doesn't cook and scream in crossfire?
 
I run my unlocked 6950s in crossfire with 60% fan at 79c load on the top card. Don't believe the hype
Posted via Mobile Device
 
Why would you run the fan that high? Just because your system isn't cooling the cards properly doesn't mean other people will have the same problem, plus that's more fan speed than you need.
 
I live in south louisiana and have a case meant for water-cooling...

I'm really trying to convey that 60% isn't all that loud, and 79-80c isn't all that hot.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
Don't buy a 560, their relative lack of tesselation hardware is going to show itself on the new DX11 engines coming out this year. 470/570 for nvidia or 6950 2gb are really the only sensible options.

Don't buy a 6950 because you think it will let you do single card multimonitor gaming, I tried that approach and it just doesn't have the power.
 
Depends on the game but I agree, single card multi-display gaming is confined to low levels of demand, as one HD6950 on three monitors is the performance equivalent of a geforce 8800 on one monitor, you don't have very much grunt there.
 
R-Type said:
Don't buy a 6950 because you think it will let you do single card multimonitor gaming, I tried that approach and it just doesn't have the power.
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No, no, HELL no. I'll be picking up one card to replace my 285 and run at 1920x1200, but only until I expand to either a 30" or Eyefinity/Surround, at which point I'll double up. I'd probably opt for a 570 if I weren't concerned with the 2GB question.

The 6970 is nice, but doesn't seem worth it for a slight bump to average minimum frames. Plus, there's always the option to unlock/OC the 6950. I've heard it needs to be a reference design 6950 2GB for unlocking to be possible, and that these are becoming more rare? I won't risk flashing with a 6970 bios, but I'd certainly try a modded/unlocked 6950 bios. How dangerous is it to flash with a modded bios, then OC?

The 560ti is the only real alternative and I'm not seeing at lot of love for it (here or anywhere). Plus, I'm failing hard to find one for sale from an online vendor in Canada.
 
I found a 6950 to be a nice upgrade from my GTX280. I had a 6870 for a couple of months and it was nice but the 6950 2GB was the upgrade that I was looking for.
 
Upgraded my tank of an 8800 GTX to a GTX 580 last night. Hands down, that card is worth every penny! I run at the same monitor res you do and its really a sight to behold.

If your concerned about going multi-monitor down the road, the Radeons would be your best bet. I personally have zero desire to game on a setup with black bars in my field of vision from the monitor split, but were I to be in that situation, a 6970 would be much more attractive.

Single monitor gaming? GTX 580 all the way; this fucker just CRUSHES every game Ive thrown at it so far and asks for more.
 
I'd probably wait to see how the 590 stacks up against Antilles if I were dead set on getting stupid with pure animal single card ownage. I like the 580, but I'm starting to feel the pull of SLI or crossfire. Considering I can squeeze more performance out of two cards for the same (less?) money, it seems like a no brainer. Not to mention this tasty high end mobo just begging to run multiple GPUs ...

Of course, there's something to be said for the peace of mind that comes from a powerful single GPU solution. No hassle, just crushing numbers.
 
If the antilles review is any indication, then the 590 will be about as powerful as 580s in SLI on a single card. Redonkulous for sure, but SLI on a card none the less.

In the end, all top shelf components (regardless of brand) will get the job done. Its just how fancy you want your setup to be! :D
 
Deeky said:
No, no, HELL no. I'll be picking up one card to replace my 285 and run at 1920x1200, but only until I expand to either a 30" or Eyefinity/Surround, at which point I'll double up. I'd probably opt for a 570 if I weren't concerned with the 2GB question.

The 6970 is nice, but doesn't seem worth it for a slight bump to average minimum frames. Plus, there's always the option to unlock/OC the 6950. I've heard it needs to be a reference design 6950 2GB for unlocking to be possible, and that these are becoming more rare? I won't risk flashing with a 6970 bios, but I'd certainly try a modded/unlocked 6950 bios. How dangerous is it to flash with a modded bios, then OC?

The 560ti is the only real alternative and I'm not seeing at lot of love for it (here or anywhere). Plus, I'm failing hard to find one for sale from an online vendor in Canada.
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I game at 3300x1680 and can do 2xAA in most games without hitting my 1.25gb vram limit. If you were to do surround gaming with 1080p or above you need more ram. Unlocked 6950 (completely safe with modded bios btw) is good for this with the 2gb frame buffers provided you are willing to suffer through the catalyst drivers. For ultimate futureproofnessticularity the non reference 580's with 3gb of ram are where its at.
 
ebeattie said:
Upgraded my tank of an 8800 GTX to a GTX 580 last night. Hands down, that card is worth every penny! I run at the same monitor res you do and its really a sight to behold.

If your concerned about going multi-monitor down the road, the Radeons would be your best bet. I personally have zero desire to game on a setup with black bars in my field of vision from the monitor split, but were I to be in that situation, a 6970 would be much more attractive.

Single monitor gaming? GTX 580 all the way; this fucker just CRUSHES every game Ive thrown at it so far and asks for more.
Click to expand...

If you're running 1920x1200 I'm not surprised, even a cheaper, older HD5870 would produce the same result.
 
R-Type said:
I game at 3300x1680 and can do 2xAA in most games without hitting my 1.25gb vram limit. If you were to do surround gaming with 1080p or above you need more ram. Unlocked 6950 (completely safe with modded bios btw) is good for this with the 2gb frame buffers provided you are willing to suffer through the catalyst drivers. For ultimate futureproofnessticularity the non reference 580's with 3gb of ram are where its at.
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Good to know. If I do go three wide, it'll likely be at 1080p in landscape (no 3D). 5760x1200 would be insane, but 5760x1080 would be easier to drive and allow for more eye candy in the long run. Three 24" IPS monitors would be beautiful, but I'm tempted to opt for pure gamer nonsense w/ a trio of 120hz TN displays. Suddenly, my extra frames mean something! Gamma shift is a concern, though ...

The 580 is tempting, but I'd be committing to single screen if I go that route. Requiring two of those things for surround is a bucket of crazy, no offense to Vega and his jacuzzi tub of insanity.
 
Warranty wise, I'm of in love with XFX's double lifetime action. Is there anything comparable? XFX isn't the cheapest option next to the Powercooler, Gigabyte and Sapphire offerings, but the warranty is excellent. $289.79 is the best I can do on an XFX 6950 2GB from a trusted Canadian vendor, whereas an XFX 6970 2GB runs $359.79. The $70 price premium is holding strong. I still haven't written off the 6970 as an option. Guaranteed grunt, no need to mod, additional 7-8% OC headroom. Not sure if it's all worth $70, but then ... I own a 285. :rolleyes:
 
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samuelmorris said:
If you're running 1920x1200 I'm not surprised, even a cheaper, older HD5870 would produce the same result.
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Yeah, he did skip two and a half generations of video cards there. He could have gotten the same wow factor with a much cheaper card. Coming from a GTX285 or 280 like I did is a completely different story.
 
Deeky said:
Good to know. If I do go three wide, it'll likely be at 1080p in landscape (no 3D). 5760x1200 would be insane, but 5760x1080 would be easier to drive and allow for more eye candy in the long run. Three 24" IPS monitors would be beautiful, but I'm tempted to opt for pure gamer nonsense w/ a trio of 120hz TN displays. Suddenly, my extra frames mean something! Gamma shift is a concern, though ...

The 580 is tempting, but I'd be committing to single screen if I go that route. Requiring two of those things for surround is a bucket of crazy, no offense to Vega and his jacuzzi tub of insanity.
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Its also worth pointing out that I hit my VRAM limit far before I max out gpu usage. Maybe if I had 120hz monitors it would be different, but with 1.25gb of vram anything over the 470's seems kind of pointless.
 
ebeattie said:
Upgraded my tank of an 8800 GTX to a GTX 580 last night. Hands down, that card is worth every penny! I run at the same monitor res you do and its really a sight to behold.

If your concerned about going multi-monitor down the road, the Radeons would be your best bet. I personally have zero desire to game on a setup with black bars in my field of vision from the monitor split, but were I to be in that situation, a 6970 would be much more attractive.

Single monitor gaming? GTX 580 all the way; this fucker just CRUSHES every game Ive thrown at it so far and asks for more.
Click to expand...

^+1 well said. But I notice going from 1 to 2 cards with the 580 the gain is small but adding a 3rd there's a big gain. Like the 2nd card only woke when the 3rd card was added. Strange
 
Thats interesting about the SLI scaling! I had originally planned to go to GTX 580 sli myself, but I wanted at leased one 580 for sure. I admit that Ive put all these upgrades into my PC for one purpose and one purpose only: Battlefield 3. After reading that all the footage released so far was rendered off one GTX 580 Im stoked!

It certainly looks like Radeons are squarely marked for people that want Multi monitor gaming, with crossfire being the performance solution to drive 3+ monitors. I personally will upgrade to a larger single display before I go multi-monitor but this certainly is just a personal preference.

Ironically enough, I came VERY close to getting a 5870 reference a year or so back when I was building the core of my current rig. Especially when it went head to head with the nuclear inferno called the GTX 480. I knew that my 8800 GTX was outdated as soon as the Radeon 5 series came out, but my core rig was beyond obsolete for the gameplay I wanted.
 
At high resolutions, the HD 6970 tends to scale better, specially with added eye candy. A good example of this is the latest HD 6990 review, which shows that two HD 6970 2GB in Crossfire, simply outperforms the GTX 580 SLI more often than not. The HD 6950 is a nice balance of performance and good pricing, but I would go straight to the HD 6970, with the latest Catalyst 11.4, lots of people around here had showed gains up to 15%, which puts it almost on par on the GTX 580 for much less money.
 
I'd personally be all over a 6950 if they weren't 275mm long and my case only takes cards up to 270mm...

So if I upgrade this round, it's a 570.

Mainly just because I like to switch teams every time I buy, and I bought NVIDIA last time. (Unless, of course, the $$$:performance ratio is just ridiculous.)

*

And yeah, try baking it. What could you lose, an already dieing card?
 
Unsurper said:
you can unbrick that card by cooking it.
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Cheers. Thankfully, the 285 is back up and running. I reseated the card several times in different slots with no luck. I moved it back to the original slot (the third reseat) and BAM, it started working again. No idea why. It seems fine now, but I'm still looking to upgrade. The old girl manages a decent performance at 1920x1200 depending on the game, but the card itself has been the cause of numerous errors and blue screens. She's getting twitchy. Yeah, maybe baking it would extend the life a little, but really ... I want MOAR POWER. :D

I love the idea of 6950/70 crossfire, but the heat/sound situation ...? For every person happy with their temps and fan speed, there's someone disgusted with 100% and 50dbs. I guess it's entirely dependent on your case/airflow, ambient temps, subjective noise tolerance, etc.

If someone would release a model with a two-slot, non-reference cooler similar to the ASUS DirectCU II but smaller, I'd be down. Or a 570 with 2+GBs.

Water would be the ideal solution, but water scares me more than heat and sound!
 
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