GrogHeads Forum

IRL (In Real Life) => Tech Talk => Topic started by: JudgeDredd on January 17, 2018, 05:40:01 PM

Title: I need a new graphics card
Post by: JudgeDredd on January 17, 2018, 05:40:01 PM
Any ideas?

I currently have an AMD Radeon HD 7950 with 3GB of DDR5 memory. I'm not necessarily stuck with AMD - I did use to buy NVidia. I think the most limiting factor is probably the space in my case. I can't have a particularly long card. Current card is over 10" long and (luckily) the power points are at the top (no space between the back of the card and the hard drive cases.

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4763/39750727801_af6e3873ba_h.jpg)

I think I want 6-8GB.
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: OJsDad on January 18, 2018, 02:51:05 PM
JD,

    I just purchased a new card last year, my first in over 8 years.  I did it at the same time I built my new PC, so getting a case for the card was not an issue.

    1.  I was and AMD person also.  Would have gone with an 580, but due to the crypto miners, the prices on those was unreasonable.  For about the same cost at the time, I ended up with a 1080 that included a water cooler for it.  Specifically this https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=08G-P4-6288-KR.

    2.  I probably got more card than what I really need, but I know I won't purchase another for another 8+ years.

    3.  Both AMD and NVIDIA have technology that help with tearing and stuttering issues for monitors.  The AMD tech seems to use an industry standard, thus minimul or no extra cost.  NVIDIA has developed their own tech, that addess $300 to a monitor.  If you not playing games, or those issues don't bother you, then it's not an issue.  Just want you to be aware of it before you purshase.  Theres a section in this article about adaptive refresh that explains it more.  http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/monitor-buying-guide,4559.html#p3

     4.  The card I got require a larger PSU as there are 2 connections from the PSU to the GPU.  Keep that in mind when shopping. 

Hope that helps.  I'm sure others here can be of more help. 
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: JudgeDredd on January 18, 2018, 05:40:59 PM
Excellent. Thanks OJ.

I'm hankering on the Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1070 Ti
https://www.ebuyer.com/819386-gigabyte-geforce-gtx-1070-ti-windforce-graphics-card-gv-n107twf2-8gd

eBuyer refused my payment for some reason, so it gave me some time to go and check if there's actual graphic issues. I've increased system RAM which has helped hugely. I now should check whether it's my CPUs (which I doubt) or my GPU that's struggling and then I'll make a decision.

I was keeping the money for a new bike - but I might wait until next year for that.
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: bbmike on January 18, 2018, 06:22:37 PM
I have the 1070 with 8gb of memory. It handles everything I've thrown at it with ease.  O0
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: JudgeDredd on January 18, 2018, 06:36:19 PM
Quote from: bbmike on January 18, 2018, 06:22:37 PM
I have the 1070 with 8gb of memory. It handles everything I've thrown at it with ease.  O0
O0
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: OJsDad on January 19, 2018, 08:01:16 AM
One more thing on the AMD and Nvidia tech in monitors.  If you get an Nvidia GPU you can get a monitor with the AMD adaptive tech, just cannot use it.  Whether you need it or not really depends on your gaming. 
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: JudgeDredd on January 19, 2018, 12:16:39 PM
Thanks OJ

I pumped for this in the end

https://www.ebuyer.com/819386-gigabyte-geforce-gtx-1070-ti-windforce-graphics-card-gv-n107twf2-8gd

I'm hoping to be able to crank all the DCS settings up - but we'll see. CPU might show as the next issue.  :-"
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: GDS_Starfury on January 20, 2018, 01:22:49 PM
ok JD, lets talk about the horrid wire management.......
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: JudgeDredd on January 20, 2018, 03:08:59 PM
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on January 20, 2018, 01:22:49 PM
ok JD, lets talk about the horrid wire management.......
lol...please don't make me.

Funny thing is - if I was to make a PC for someone, it would look nothing like this.
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: JudgeDredd on January 20, 2018, 03:21:28 PM
Had a bit of a mare. I knew this was 15mm longer than my original card, but I was confident it would fit.

I took my old card out and - the new one wouldn't fit. I decided to take all the cables off all my drives and remove the HD cage. No joy. This damn thing wouldn't come out. I was convinced one of the slides was caught on something. I got my daughter to come in and stand on one side of the case...I stood on the other and pulled and pulled and pulled and it wouldn't budge.

If I didn't get that cage out, I wouldn't get the card in.

Then my daughter said "Don't you undo those screws?"  :pullhair:

Slipped out. Card slid in. Cage back in (no screws this time). Cables on. Done.

First item on the agenda...fire up DCS and whack all the graphics settings up

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4764/39092231534_76dd0aa29a_z.jpg)
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: DoctorQuest on January 20, 2018, 03:52:47 PM
I hope you paid her an adequate consulting fee.
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: JudgeDredd on January 20, 2018, 03:53:31 PM
Quote from: DoctorQuest on January 20, 2018, 03:52:47 PM
I hope you paid her an adequate consulting fee.
She's well looked after.
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: DoctorQuest on January 20, 2018, 03:55:11 PM
 O0

I really had no doubt. Enjoy the new card!
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: GDS_Starfury on January 20, 2018, 04:41:15 PM
This is what it should look like.
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: Staggerwing on January 20, 2018, 06:03:49 PM
Dude! Show some image size discipline!
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: JudgeDredd on January 20, 2018, 06:34:33 PM
Quote from: Staggerwing on January 20, 2018, 06:03:49 PM
Dude! Show some image size discipline!
lol

But I'm going to let him off on the basis that his case seems to be devoid of cables.
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: GDS_Starfury on January 20, 2018, 07:55:26 PM
no
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: JudgeDredd on January 21, 2018, 06:02:24 AM
Two problems that have shown up since installing the card and drivers...

1) Windows Experience Index - whilst I don't put too much weight on this, the fact that my Primary Hard Drive dropped from 7.9 to 5.9 is of concern as the hard drive hasn't changed (the WEI was only updated a week ago, if that, and reported 7.9 for the PHD)

2) Occasionally, and I haven't nailed down when, the mouse becomes unusable. It's moveable, though extremely sluggish and cannot click on anything. I noticed this a couple of times coming out of a game and assumed it may be a stability thing with alt-tabbing in and out to check stats and also having a couple of resource monitors running. However, this morning I came out of DCS and watched the telly for an hour or two. When I came back to the machine, the problem was there.

No idea what's going on.
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: Staggerwing on January 21, 2018, 07:17:10 AM
Is the mouse clicking thing only on your browser?

I've noticed a similar thing with Chrome lately. Every once in a while I have to refresh or even restart Chrome to get my mouse to click on any of Chrome's or a webpages's buttons and other interactive bits.
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: JudgeDredd on January 21, 2018, 07:48:46 AM
oh god no. System wide. Even CTRL-ALT-DEL to load Task Manager see what's occurring...and nothing is. Nothing using huge amounts of CPU. Plenty of RAM. No indication of what's going on at all.
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: OJsDad on January 21, 2018, 03:27:49 PM
Are you using wired or wireless mouse.
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: JudgeDredd on January 21, 2018, 03:38:31 PM
Wired

I think I've found the problem.

I noticed a hiberfil.sys file which is a temporary file used for when your system goes into hibernation. It was 13GB. I removed that and switched of hibernation and the index shot back up. Also, I haven't noticed the mouse lag since.

Funny thing - I never had hibernation switched on. I know this because I'm regularly having to monitor my HD space on my primary disk because it's only a 125GB SSD drive...so it's often getting close to using a whack. So I would definitely have spotted that file before.

Anyway - don't know how it got switched on and didn't need it. Got rid of it and the problems seem to have gone - touch wood.
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: JasonPratt on January 21, 2018, 04:19:35 PM
Incidentally, my 680 SLI NVidia card (or whichever 600 series it was that had SLI, the dual-card setup), still needs a home. Absolutely nothing wrong with it, I just upgraded a few months ago, that's all.
Title: Re: I need a new graphics card
Post by: bbmike on January 21, 2018, 04:24:36 PM
Quote from: JasonPratt on January 21, 2018, 04:19:35 PM
Incidentally, my 680 SLI NVidia card (or whichever 600 series it was that had SLI, the dual-card setup), still needs a home. Absolutely nothing wrong with it, I just upgraded a few months ago, that's all.

Go read the thread on bitcoin mining. You can put that card to work!  :DD