What Video Card Should I Buy?

[hXc]

If you have an MSI card use Afterburner, it's the most accurate measurement tool I know. Bare in mind the 3 points on 6900 series cards, the first one is GPU, second two are VRM and/or RAM, can't remember.

Sorry to say that, but no, they aren't
In GPU-Z all temps are from points on the die itself, there was actually a statement from gpu-z confirming that
And I am using afterburner 24/7 for monitoring temps, that's why I couldn't track my problem down, because I was thinking the temps were fine (as you can see the #1gpu temp on the image I posted is fine)
Afterburner shows, no arguing with that, general gpu, vrm and memory temps
Here is a screenshot to prove this:

Also when I removed the radiator from the card, the thermal paste was all over the transistors, transmitng the heat to some parts which weren't covered by radiator, hence the previous super high temps
Probably I did overdo the paste too, I will reapply it later again using mx-4 or noctua nh-t1 or some other ceramic one

[hXc]

Ok I think everything is fine again, I'm ok with those temps and the card started to OC finally

  Spoiler:

[balistic void]

You were running furmark at max res right?

[hXc]

No, I never do it with furmark, card is always clocking down then even if the temps aren't that high. But I did run heaven 3.0 at top settings and full res for an hour after that to ensure OC is stable.
And with heaven temps were even lower, 65/78 and 88 max on gpu#1,2,3 respectively

[balistic void]

Why not? Do you choose a res that shows 99% load? The whole point is to overload the card surely?

[hXc]

Yes it is. So that's why I'm not using high res because it's throttling down no matter if the temps are high or not.
Besides I'm moving away from furmark and I'll use heaven only from now on, it represents real life usage better than furmark

[Zekk Pacus]

As I recall, Catalyst reacts to Furmark negatively, and clocks down. Pretty sure nVidia drivers do the same.

[balistic void]

Surely they react to high temperatures by clocking down, not to furmark itself? Unless there is driver shenanigans going on.

if (programname = "3dmark*")
{
fakefps = 1000000;
}

[hXc]

Surely they react to high temperatures by clocking down, not to furmark itself? Unless there is driver shenanigans going on.

They throttle down regardless of the temps, they just notice high usage of shaders (I'm not that good in this field so I may or may not be wrong here) which furmark uses for stress testing. And that's why it doesn't represent anything apart for the possibilty of burning your card
That's why used furmark there too - I didn't want stability, I wanted to get high temps

edit:

  Spoiler:

edit2: I'm a noob, and now I know after some research that cards throttle down when the power draw is exceeding the limits. Screenshot attached above is with +20% power load limit so it means that furmark causes serious load and that's the cause of burned cards, not the temps.

[Serious Bob]

Surely they react to high temperatures by clocking down, not to furmark itself? Unless there is driver shenanigans going on.

if (programname = "3dmark*")
{
fakefps = 1000000;
}

Afaik both nvidia and ati cards purposefully throttle down for furmark.

[balistic void]

welp! Latest official amd drivers (12.3) causing random bluescreens on our new 2x7950 box. Just installed 12.4 beta, fingers crossed.
update: still unstable, fml. Rolling back to 12.2, will try that and possibly 12.1. Then last resort is to yank the second card. GG AMD

[NoirAvlaa]

My brother is thinking about getting a 7970 for about £400. Personally, I think that's a bit much but I'm not too sure about these things. Any thoughts? Is there better alternatives for cheaper or the same price?

He wants to be able to run 2560x1440 on 1 monitor, 1080p on 2 more and 720p on a TV. Most of the time he just wants it to run displays quietly while he's running visual studio and he wants it power efficient. He doesn't really play games all that often, so there's no major need there.

I was wondering if it it's better to get 2 £200 cards and run them together rather than getting this 1 card.

He also isn't going to overclock.

Any advice?

[balistic void]

If he's not going to play games then don't spend silly money on a graphics card. A single e200 card would do him fine. Only problems are down to number of outputs, and if the monitors have displayport etc. Typical modern amd card will have 1xdvi-d, 2xmini-dp, 1xhdmi + maybe a second dvi.

A 6850 with 2gb memory would be cost effective and keep him happy gaming-wise as well.

[NoirAvlaa]

If he's not going to play games then don't spend silly money on a graphics card. A single e200 card would do him fine. Only problems are down to number of outputs, and if the monitors have displayport etc. Typical modern amd card will have 1xdvi-d, 2xmini-dp, 1xhdmi + maybe a second dvi.

A 6850 with 2gb memory would be cost effective and keep him happy gaming-wise as well.

Won't run the monitors though

Edit: Anyone know how the new high end nvidias compare?

[Aramendel]

Pretty good

Currently only the top-line (aka expensive) version is available though, the 680. The 690 with 2 GPU cores and a downright crazy $1000 pricetag should arrive soonish, the smaller 670 sometime in May probably.

The one which interests me, the mid-range 660 (I would SO have named it 666) is rumored only to come in Q3 2012 though.

[Nareg Maxence]

Some may remember I build a brand new system in march, but held back on buying a graphics card to wait for new offerings from Nvidia. Meanwhile I have been reusing the GTX460 card from my old PC, which actually works completely satisfactory in all the games I play. Well as it happens I promised my sister that she could have my old PC, which means I have to part with the GTX460 card.

So I need a new card real soonish. I am looking for something around 200 euro range. I think the price for the new 680 cards is just way more than I will ever be willing to spend on a graphics card, especially considering that my GTX460 actually does ok for me.

It looks as if a GTX560ti matches my price point, but I am willing to consider AMD cards as well. What card gives the best price/performance compromise in the 150-200 euro range? Radeon HD 6870?

Edit: After checking out a few benchmarks I think I might even be tempted to go for a Radeon HD 6850.

[Aramendel]

In a similar predicament myself, however the recipient of my old PC is my mother in June. I want to stay with Nvidia though. My current plan is to get a 100-150 euro card for it and reuse my GTX460 in my new PC since she does not really need huge graphics power. Unless the 670 is cheaper than expected, but I doubt that very much.

The reason why I want to stay with Nvidia is because I want to try playing games like Skyrim, etc with 3DTV Play in 3D on a TV screen. Anyone here tried that?

[Verizana]

6850 from a 460 is barely an upgrade, stretch for that HD7850 or 560

[Ashigari]

I'm building a new system for my brother for d3 that should last a while, what mid-range card would you suggest? I'll get him an i5-2500K and some RAM to match

[XenosisReaper]

I'm building a new system for my brother for d3 that should last a while, what mid-range card would you suggest? I'll get him an i5-2500K and some RAM to match

a 460 is still a pretty good mid range card, you can OC it to 470 levels in seconds