Upgrade from GTX 670.

[Sw1ftY]

I've been running an ASUS GTX 670 DirectCU II TOP for the past two and a bit years now and I've not had a single problem until this week. While I'm aware the temperatures in the UK are quite high for a change, I wouldn't expect a two year old graphics card that cost nearly £400 to overheat and give me temperature readings like the picture attached below:



That was taken while running Heaven Benchmark and shortly after I tried playing a few games that I usually do, all of which returned temperatures similar or higher. The strange thing is, I've never had temperatures go so high on this card, even during summer last year it peaked at 76c. However this year It's hit 90c+ a few times and actually throttled itself causing my PC to shut down. I'm still under warranty for the card but I've been told that I'm most likely to expect a repair as they don't stuck GTX 670's anymore and even If they did, I'm not currently a fan of ASUS in anyway as I've had a number of problems with them over the past year.

The main thing I use my system for is gaming so I'm looking to future proof myself a little bit as I did previously with the 670. I have a little knowledge about graphics cards but not enough to make the decision over what is a worthy upgrade.

[sqwerty]

Firstly, I wouldn't upgrade just because I was having temperature problems, I would look for the cause.
Have you checked both fans are spinning freely and the heatsinks alu fins aren't clogged with dust? Tried a custom fan curve with afterburner to increase speeds a bit? 41% at 87c is a bit low.
Thermal paste can dry out after many heat cycles, re-application could help.

[Sw1ftY]

I have looked for the cause, both fans are spinning freely. I also clean my machine on a monthly basis just to make sure all components are dust free. I have tried a custom fan curve as well, 90% speed and still hitting the high 80c mark. I don't have the ability or knowledge of re-applying thermal paste. I'm sending it off under the warranty that I was told had expired (I've just learned that the warranty still covers it) and will most likely sell the repaired/replacement card due to the fact I can't afford to go without a PC for upwards of 3 weeks.

[sqwerty]

Okay that wipes my first response out.
For upgrade recommendations I went from a 7970 to 780 but settled on a custom cooled R9 290 as it was quite a bit cheaper but performs just as well.

[Sw1ftY]

I should of mentioned that I've done that already, sorry. I don't suppose you have a link at all to that specific one? I've not been with AMD for some time now but a lot has changed since I ran a 850XT or whatever it was called all those years ago.

[MrJim]

I'm sorry to hear about your graphics card - I have the same one, although mine's not the TOP edition (clocked a bit slower than yours). Touch wood, I've not had any problems with mine, which is almost the same age as yours. Changing the thermal paste isn't difficult, just a case of unscrewing the cooler, cleaning off the old thermal paste & reapplying. Doing so would invalidate your warranty though, so an RMA might be the best bet until your warranty period is up.

Which R9 290 are you looking at? I did try the Gigabyte Windforce card, but end up sending it back because it was a bit whiny for me, despite fiddling with the fan profiles.

This is a handy thread, if you want to compare warranties:

http://forums.hexus.net/graphics-car...ally-look.html

[sqwerty]

http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-...560-streams%29

I would pick the Sapphire out of these but not in stock atm. There's a good roundup here including noise videos.

[Sw1ftY]

@Jimbobgod1969: I hadn't had any problems with mine until this week so hopefully yours will be all good for now. I was just looking at the Sapphire card that sqwerty mentioned but as I've been away from AMD for so long I'm unsure what I'm purchasing in comparison to nVidia cards. I will RMA the card and as It's with ASUS probably have a 2 month wait so I intend on selling whatever is returned by them. That warranty list does make me want to go towards either Gigabyte or Zotac in all honesty.

@sqwerty: Hmm, as I said in the above message to Jimbo I'm unsure on AMD so I don't know whether to stick with nVidia or move to AMD.

A question, the R9 290 sits at around £300 with the R9 290X at £400, but If I were to say use two of these at £80 more would I not be nearing the performance and possibly out doing a GTX 780 Ti?

[KeyboardDemon]

Have you recently upgraded the drivers to 337.88?

I read somewhere that one of the changes with the latest drivers was that I had allowed GPUs to run at a slightly higher temp than before in order to improve boost consistency, is it possible that all you are seeing now is related to that?

[Sw1ftY]

I hadn't seen anything about that but the fact It's causing my card to throttle and shut my system down shouldn't be happening? I mean, It's possible but surely It shouldn't be pushing me from 74c to 95c+

[KeyboardDemon]

The only other thing I can think of is dust, take the GPU out of your case and blow out all of the dust using some Canned Air from Maplin.

[Sw1ftY]

I thought I'd mentioned in a previous post (I can't scroll up as I'm on a phone right now and It's being a pain) that I've already attempted that. It's either the driver or a faulty card so I'm looking to upgrade either way. Just to back myself up that the temperatures very rarely go over 70c --> Review

[KeyboardDemon]

In that case order your new GPU and then contact the place where you bought your existing card and arrange to RMA it, if all goes well you'll be able to sell the replacement on eBay to help cover the costs of your new GPU.

[kompukare]

http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-...560-streams%29

I would pick the Sapphire out of these but not in stock atm. There's a good roundup here including noise videos.

Computerbase also did a group comparison just recently and while they have less photos than Tom's, they have far more test results:
http://www.computerbase.de/2014-05/a...oundup-test/3/

Sapphire seems to be the best regarding temps vs noise.

[Sw1ftY]

In that case order your new GPU and then contact the place where you bought your existing card and arrange to RMA it, if all goes well you'll be able to sell the replacement on eBay to help cover the costs of your new GPU.

That is/was the intention but since AMD cards have been bought into question I'm a little lost. I'd preferably stick with nVidia but as of yet no one has been able to answer my question regarding SLi.

[sqwerty]

@sqwerty: Hmm, as I said in the above message to Jimbo I'm unsure on AMD so I don't know whether to stick with nVidia or move to AMD.

A question, the R9 290 sits at around £300 with the R9 290X at £400, but If I were to say use two of these at £80 more would I not be nearing the performance and possibly out doing a GTX 780 Ti?

I had a 680 before the 7970, made the switch for the extra vram, had no issues with AMD since the move. 290X is not worth ~£100 more than 290 though IMO. I was lucky enough to get a reference 290 for £250 and already had an accellero xtreme iii to keep it quiet/cool.

The two 770's would beat the 780Ti in some scenarios but lose in others. I would personally always go for the fastest single gpu in budget over and dual gpu setup.