[SOLVED] Graphics Card Fried - What's my best option?

[Exovius]

A few days ago, my graphics card overheated and it does no longer work. I custom built my PC at the end of 2015, so I've been meaning to upgrade sometime soon, but with the current prices of GPU's I was hoping to wait a bit longer. Preferably until the RTX 4000-series cards arrive, and the 3000-series hopefully drops in price a little bit. However, it seems fate is forcing my hand.

My ideal solution would be to get a temporary replacement card for relatively cheap to hold me over for a few months, and then later do an upgrade of my CPU, GPU, motherboard and RAM. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any used cards available near me around the same performance level as my 980ti for under half of what a new 3070 card would cost. So I am considering just splashing on a good card now.

However, due to current prices on GPU's and my limited budget, I was hoping to get some opinions on whether I need to upgrade certain other components of my PC in order to not bottleneck a 3000-series card. I have a Samsung Odyssey G9 monitor which runs at 5120x1440 resolution, so it's not quite 4K, but its not too far off. I've read that CPU matters less at such high resolutions, and it would be great to save some money by not having to upgrade it. The same goes for my motherboard. However, those parts are over 6 years old. Regarding the RAM, I was looking to upgrade to 32 GB, but could I just expand with another 2x8 GB or should I replace my current sticks?

TL;DR: I need a new GPU. Could I get away with just getting a 3000-series card, or would I need a full upgrade of my parts?

My build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/w8b3cT

I'd be very thankful for any input on the matter!

 

[madmatt30]

At that res that old 5820k should still work well enough imo.

Terribly crappy time to have a gpu die on you though.

That uws monitor is virtually the same pixel count as 4k (close enough to be negligible) so you're going to want a 3070 minimum realistically - Id have no issue pairing a 3070 upwarda with your current cpu running at that res.

 

[geofelt]

Without a graphics card, are you now dead in the water?

Seems to me that you should buy a graphics card to run on your current system.
Then, you can evaluate if you need a cpu upgrade or not.
If you play fast action games, then graphics may be more important than the cpu.

Even the lowest 3060 card would be a nice upgrade to your980 ti.
Tom's gpu hierarchy chart will help to rank card capabilities:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

A 3080 class card would be what you want for near 4k.
OTOH, 3070 may well serve for mmo, sims or strategy games.

Where is "near me" ?
What is your budget?

In the us, you may be able to buy a good 3000 series card via the newegg shuffle.
Their offerings have only a modest price premium and will usually come with another product that you may or may not want.

On the ram issue, realize that ram is only guaranteed in a single kit.
Adding 16gb may work properly, or it may not.
You take your chances.
Your current 2400 speed ddr4 would work ok on 12th gen, at least you could see how it goes.
If you determine that 32gb is needed, buy a 2 x 16gb kit of 3600 speed that seems to be the sweet spot.
DDR5 is becoming available, but at a premium. DDR5 today performs only marginally better than ddr4

 

[Exovius]

At that res that old 5820k should still work well enough imo.

Terribly crappy time to have a gpu die on you though.

That uws monitor is virtually the same pixel count as 4k (close enough to be negligible) so you're going to want a 3070 minimum realistically - Id have no issue pairing a 3070 upwarda with your current cpu running at that res.

Thanks for the reply, glad to hear my CPU should be able to handle it. Indeed a crappy time, but what can you do. I am aiming at 3070 or above, if I can get my hands on any, that is.

Without a graphics card, are you now dead in the water?

Seems to me that you should buy a graphics card to run on your current system.
Then, you can evaluate if you need a cpu upgrade or not.
If you play fast action games, then graphics may be more important than the cpu.

Even the lowest 3060 card would be a nice upgrade to your980 ti.
Tom's gpu hierarchy chart will help to rank card capabilities:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

A 3080 class card would be what you want for near 4k.
OTOH, 3070 may well serve for mmo, sims or strategy games.

Where is "near me" ?
What is your budget?

In the us, you may be able to buy a good 3000 series card via the newegg shuffle.
Their offerings have only a modest price premium and will usually come with another product that you may or may not want.

On the ram issue, realize that ram is only guaranteed in a single kit.
Adding 16gb may work properly, or it may not.
You take your chances.
Your current 2400 speed ddr4 would work ok on 12th gen, at least you could see how it goes.
If you determine that 32gb is needed, buy a 2 x 16gb kit of 3600 speed that seems to be the sweet spot.
DDR5 is becoming available, but at a premium. DDR5 today performs only marginally better than ddr4

Thanks for the insight!
I'm dead in the water, yeah. PC won't even boot with the card attached. I guess I'll start with getting a new graphics card and see where any bottlenecks may appear.

By "near me" I basically mean my country. I live in Norway, and Newegg doesn't ship here unfortunately. I'll try my luck elsewhere. My budget is ~1000 dollars, but tolls on imported electronics (and supply limitations vs. demand) mean that I'm lucky to get a 3070 at that price. So not much left for upgrading other components. However, I have felt for a while that 16 GB RAM is a bit low, so I'm looking to upgrade that soon. Perhaps a new set of 2x16 GB DDR4 at 3600 MHz would be best, thanks for the input.

I was basically just hoping for opinions on whether keeping my current setup would be a great dishonor to a 3000-series card. Thankfully, it sounds like I'll be allright

 

[geofelt]

This graphics situation is one example why I advocate spending a bit more for a non F processor that includes integrated graphics.

When you get back running, put a heavy load that might push your ram capacity.
Look at task manager resource manager.
On the memory tab, look for the hard faults/sec.
If it is zero, you always had sufficient ram for what you were doing.
If it is anywhere north of 0, then added ram is in order.

 

[Vic 40]

Perhaps a new set of 2x16 GB DDR4 at 3600 MHz would be best, thanks for the input.

Wonder why you would chose dualchannel ram for a quadchannel motherboard, would look for a 4x8gb set. Can see if you can upgrade what you have if they stil sell the same ram, know it can give problems, but you only know after you've tried.

 

[Zerk2012]

Thanks for the reply, glad to hear my CPU should be able to handle it. Indeed a crappy time, but what can you do. I am aiming at 3070 or above, if I can get my hands on any, that is.



Thanks for the insight!
I'm dead in the water, yeah. PC won't even boot with the card attached. I guess I'll start with getting a new graphics card and see where any bottlenecks may appear.

By "near me" I basically mean my country. I live in Norway, and Newegg doesn't ship here unfortunately. I'll try my luck elsewhere. My budget is ~1000 dollars, but tolls on imported electronics (and supply limitations vs. demand) mean that I'm lucky to get a 3070 at that price. So not much left for upgrading other components. However, I have felt for a while that 16 GB RAM is a bit low, so I'm looking to upgrade that soon. Perhaps a new set of 2x16 GB DDR4 at 3600 MHz would be best, thanks for the input.

I was basically just hoping for opinions on whether keeping my current setup would be a great dishonor to a 3000-series card. Thankfully, it sounds like I'll be allright

If your in the US join the Newegg shuffle each day till you get a card a few 3070-3080 cards today.
https://www.newegg.com/product-shuffle

One 3070ti for 999.