Replacing/Upgrading HD 4870 on a budget

[beowulfmaccool]

My Radeon HD 4870 is making ungodly noises and running unusually hot. I'm going to try compressed air, on the off chance it's just accumulated dust, but I think it's dying. My system is rather old at this point, so I was hoping to get some advice on a replacement.

Approximate Purchase Date : This week, most likely.

Budget : As low as possible. Ideally, I'd like to keep it under $150, but I can do up to $200.

Usage : Multi-media/home theatre (Blu-Ray, DVD, etc), gaming (Civ V, assorted sandbox games like Arkham City, Saints Row 3, Prototype 2), general purposes

Current GPU & Power Supply : Diamond Radeon HD 4870 750MHZ 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E 2XDVI-I HDTV & the default 500W power supply that came with my Antec Sonata III

Other Specs : Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, Gigabyte EP45-DS3L ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 PCI-E 2PCI SATA2 , Mushkin HP PC2-6400 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-800, Windows Vista

Country of Origin : Canada

Preferred Websites : ncix.com, directcanada.com, newegg.ca

Parts Preference : It would be nice if I could stick with a Radeon, but I'm fine with anything

Overclocking : Nope

SLI or Crossfire : Nope

Monitor Resolution : I currently use 2 monitors, 1 at 1920x1200 & another at 1680x1050. I'd like to add in a third monitor, if possible

Additional Comments : I'd like something at least as powerful as my current card, if not more so. It would be nice if it was somewhat quieter than my current card, but as long as it's not much louder, it'll be OK.

If I'm limited to PCI-E 2.0 cards, it looks like the Visiontek 5750 may be my best bet, at $115 on Newegg. I'm not too hardware savvy, so I not sure if it would be compatible, or even suitable.

 

[scout_03]

compare the one you got with your choice http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=564&card2=616 but i would give a eye on this http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121442

 

[beowulfmaccool]

Hmm, that is cheaper than the one I was looking at. My concern is that it appears to be PCI-E 2.1 - I understand that it should be backwards compatible, but would this affect performance at all? All of the low-budget appears appear to offer slightly worse performance than I already have, which I suppose is inevitable, but I wouldn't want to hamstring them even more.

 

[nukemaster]

In mid level cards, you will not loose anything from pci-e speeds.

I would for sure look to the 7750's or 7770's for AMD cards.

 

[beowulfmaccool]

Jeez, that was a good tip. I hadn't considered getting anything so recent, but it looks like the 7770 would give significantly better performance for only a small increase in price. If compatibility isn't an issue, that definitely seems like the way to go.

 

[nukemaster]

And it takes less power too.

 

[maxh22]

My Radeon HD 4870 is making ungodly noises and running unusually hot. I'm going to try compressed air, on the off chance it's just accumulated dust, but I think it's dying. My system is rather old at this point, so I was hoping to get some advice on a replacement.

Approximate Purchase Date : This week, most likely.

Budget : As low as possible. Ideally, I'd like to keep it under $150, but I can do up to $200.

Usage : Multi-media/home theatre (Blu-Ray, DVD, etc), gaming (Civ V, assorted sandbox games like Arkham City, Saints Row 3, Prototype 2), general purposes

Current GPU & Power Supply : Diamond Radeon HD 4870 750MHZ 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E 2XDVI-I HDTV & the default 500W power supply that came with my Antec Sonata III

Other Specs : Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, Gigabyte EP45-DS3L ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 PCI-E 2PCI SATA2 , Mushkin HP PC2-6400 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-800, Windows Vista

Country of Origin : Canada

Preferred Websites : ncix.com, directcanada.com, newegg.ca

Parts Preference : It would be nice if I could stick with a Radeon, but I'm fine with anything

Overclocking : Nope

SLI or Crossfire : Nope

Monitor Resolution : I currently use 2 monitors, 1 at 1920x1200 & another at 1680x1050. I'd like to add in a third monitor, if possible

Additional Comments : I'd like something at least as powerful as my current card, if not more so. It would be nice if it was somewhat quieter than my current card, but as long as it's not much louder, it'll be OK.

If I'm limited to PCI-E 2.0 cards, it looks like the Visiontek 5750 may be my best bet, at $115 on Newegg. I'm not too hardware savvy, so I not sure if it would be compatible, or even suitable.

Radeon 7850 $200 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127663

 

[beowulfmaccool]

The 7850 is a bit pricey for me. Right now, it seems that the Diamond HD 7770 is the way to go ( http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103205 ). Since the 7770s are all pretty close in price, I might as well stick with the manufacturer of my current card. Before I make any final decisions, would someone be able to double-check that it's fully compatible with my current system? I really want to avoid having to return anything. Also, thanks for all the help you guys have given.

EDIT : On second thought, one of the other forums I frequent recommends Sapphire as one of the best manufacturers. And since their 7770 appears to be one of the cheapest available, it would make more sense to get it. http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202011

 

[nukemaster]

It is a preference, You will find users who like one or the other.

In this case it may be good to look over the reviews.

 

[beowulfmaccool]

Well, I went with the Sapphire HD 7770, and now my motherboard won't POST. I get 23 short beeps, a pause, 23 beeps, pause, 23 beeps, and then it shuts down, and restarts. All lights and fans seem to be running. I get the exact same result with my old HD 4870, and with no video card at all. Any thoughts?

 

[nukemaster]

Sounds like it may be dust. I had a card I had just reinstalled working at x1 once I just removed and reinstalled(from the slot, not drivers or anything) it to fix it.

Use that air duster and try to blast the pci-e slot.

Some times installing and removing the card a few times can "clean" the slot too.

While it sounds strange, sometimes the pushing of a new card into the slot can also loosen memory, so it never hurts to remove and reinsert the memory sticks as well. May as well clean any dust from those slots as well.

If all else fails, you may have to use the Clear_RTC jumper and reset the bios to see if it helps.

 

[scout_03]

continuous short beep refer to power error page 97 user manual recheck all you power cables and see if you memory is set for the dual channel as page 16.

 

[beowulfmaccool]

Oh man, I was convinced either my PSU or my mobo was fried, but it turns out it was just a loose stick of RAM. I can't even begin to express my relief. Thank you all...and God bless us, everyone!

 

[scout_03]

have fun with the system .

 

[nukemaster]

The flex of a board when pushing a card can do this. I fine some boards more prone to this issue.

Glad you got it solved.

 

[beowulfmaccool]

It seems that for every step I take forwards, I take another back. The card is working (and I'm finally posting from my own computer again!), but the software is now causing problems. I've updated my drivers, but now Catalyst Control Center won't launch. It gives me the message "Catalyst Control Center cannot be started. There are currently no settings that can be configured using Catalyst Control Center". I've tried un-installing and re-installing, with no success. Googling around, it seems that there isn't any commonly accepted solution for this.

 

[nukemaster]

Did you make sure you had the.net framework installed? Without it CCC will not work right.

See if this helps.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17851

 

[beowulfmaccool]

No idea how, but everything is working fine now. Once again, thanks 'yall!

 

[scout_03]

i suggest you go on windows update and scan your system in case there is something new for your system to update with the os .

 

[beowulfmaccool]

Best answer selected by beowulfmaccool.