Need advice on 7900gt problem

[primalgeek]

I have an issue I was hoping to get some advice on.

In August I bought an MSI NX7900GT-VT2D256E-HD. From the reviews at the time it seemed like the best nVIdia bang for my buck card. About a month ago I started seeing artifacts in my video games, started out light and has gotten worst. I decided to try and RMA the card with the hopes of getting an Advanced RMA so I wouldnt be without my PC for a few weeks. Unfortunatly MSI does not offer advance RMA to end users.

I have a few options at this point.

I can order another MSI card, RMA mine and SLI the two of them when the replacement arrives. My concern with this option is that I didnt realize that MSI's warrantee was only a year (dumbass me didnt think to look, just saw the rebate and dove in). My other concern is that apparantly my problem is common (checkout the user opinions from NewEgg http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?item=N82E16814127218 ) so with only 1 year warrantee am I gonna be stuck with 2 junk cards next year?

I could just order an upgrade and sell my 7900GT after I get the replacement back, but Im not sure what would be a reasonable upgrade over the 7900GT SLI option.

Any opinions or other options?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

[Sovereign]

8800GTS 320MB would be a nice bump, the 7900 series had some nasty issues a while back and from what you're saying you managed to get one of the bad cores. Ditch the 7900 and get your hands on a new 8-series. You won't regret that.

 

[primalgeek]

is it faster than a 7900gt sli setup? and if so...what is the price range and good card maker? Not gonna be buying from msi anymore ;(

 

[Sovereign]

I don't know. But what I'd worry about is future compatibility, why waste money dealing with outdated SLI (7900) when you can have a single card you can build on later, in addition to DX10 support? My SLI is out of date (no DX10) but I bought it before DX10 was anything more than an argument that popped up in forums...

 

[kush]

I say go G80, like was mentioned it seems a bit of a waste to SLI "old" tech now. They may still be great cards (I've still got my 7900gt), but you're SOL with any games that are exclusively DX10, although for the time being I'd imagine the majority will have both DX9 and DX10 code paths.

I'd say either of the 8800gts versions would probably suit you just fine. Go for an eVGA card, then if you want a boost, you can either upgrade to a GTS 640 (assuming you got 320), or goto a GTX -- or if within 90 days (assuming they're not cancelled) the G80 refresh. You could also use the funds from the RMA card to upgrade to pay for an upgrade 320 -> 640 (debatable use given the average o/c of nearly all G80 cards/reviews I've seen), or most of the cost going to a GTX. Or of course, just get a GTX from the get-go and be at the top of the heap, and use the RMA card funds to put your bank account back towards normal after a $540+ purchase.

[edit] Oh, and on the warranty subject, my choices
1) eVGA - Lifetime warranty covering cooler swaps & overclocking officially, advanced RMA these days if you pay a bit extra when registering the card
2) XFX - double lifetime warranty; sell the card and the new owner is covered
3) BFG - Lifetime warranty, but they don't offer the double lifetime, nor (afaik) do they cover you w/ overclocking or cooler swaps.

You may put the ability to (possibly) get a higher resale price on a still warranteed card (XFX), but I went eVGA with their terms, since I tend to keep cards longer than their useful purpose (gaming wise)...And for me personally with an N563 originally [now #3/N584] their handling of the 7900's of death, they did better in handling the problems, cross-ships no problem for those of us affected (mostly given problems with the scale that there were there was bound to be some balls dropped in places though)..Nor did they shut down their forums (XFX). Price and overclocking is about the same across all card brands, since they're all from the same factory (Foxconn these days?).