New graphics card required?

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davcam

Member
Hi everyone,

My PC was bought from PC specialist back in 2013, so is quite old. Recently I have had display problems, it began with the display in games becoming madly pixelated and quickly deteriorated to the point where the display even on start-up was distorted (many white lines across the screen) and finally failed to display at all (black screen.) The graphics card was a GTX 770 2GB.

After trying a different monitor and different HDMI leads to no avail, I removed the card and plugged into the onboard graphics and now have a working computer again. Am I correct in assuming the graphics card needs replacing, or could there be another issue here?

Finally, if I am going to buy another card what would be suitable for an i7 4770 3.5GHZ with 16G RAM? My power supply is 650W (recently replaced) would this place restrictions on the type of GPU I could use?

My monitor btw is: AOC E2752VQ 27" WIDESCREEN LED TFT - 1920 x 1080, 2MS, HDMI, DP

The games I play don't require intensive FR (I don't think) things like Civ 6, Footy manager, WoW. Might also want to give the new game Humankind a look.

Any advice appreciated.

Dave
 
sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
It's a terrible time to be buying a graphics card; indeed, I don't think PCS are even offering GPU upgrades right now.

The good news is that your monitor is not terribly demanding as it's only 1080p 75Hz. If you can find something like a secondhand 1050 Ti, a 1060, an RX 560 or an RX 570, it might keep the machine going for a while.

If you can afford a complete upgrade, though, it's definitely a good time for it.
 
loso64

loso64

Well-known member
i second the above, if you really wanna resurrect this ancient pc, look at second hand market and no more than 1060.

If you have bigger budget, it is time to upgrade. Do not waste money on 30xx series cards in that pc
 
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davcam

Member
SpyderTracks said:
Strongly reiterate this, there’s no point resurrecting that, it’s well past it’s prime.
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Oh thanks.

I was thinking £200-£300 for the graphics card.

Do you mean it's past its' prime in terms of specs or just because it's old and will have more problems going forward? It does what I need it to do at present, couldn't I buy a new graphics card, see how that goes, and use it in a future computer if I decide to change the PC?
 
BlessedSquirrel

BlessedSquirrel

We love you Ukraine
davcam said:
Oh thanks.

I was thinking £200-£300 for the graphics card.

Do you mean it's past its' prime in terms of specs or just because it's old and will have more problems going forward? It does what I need it to do at present, couldn't I buy a new graphics card, see how that goes, and use it in a future computer if I decide to change the PC?
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You could, yes, but second hand GPU’s, even the older 1000 series which are over 4 years old cost about what they did when they were brand new, it’s just a crazy time for GPUs at the moment.
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I'd agree with the above, I mean you've already replaced the psu, now the graphics card, whats it going to be next?
 
sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
davcam said:
Oh thanks.

I was thinking £200-£300 for the graphics card.

Do you mean it's past its' prime in terms of specs or just because it's old and will have more problems going forward? It does what I need it to do at present, couldn't I buy a new graphics card, see how that goes, and use it in a future computer if I decide to change the PC?
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You can buy a 1060 for approximately that range, which is stupid but is the present reality. Any more than a 1060 would be a waste of money because the 4770 will bottleneck it horribly. A 3060, for example, would not be able to perform at anything like its full ability because the CPU just isn't up to it. (Your monitor isn't up to a 3060 either, but that's a different question.)

If you can afford to do a complete upgrade, now's the time. If not, your only real option is a stop-gap second-hand at an exorbitant price.
 
D

DarTon

Well-known member
I just sold my 6 year old EVGA 980 card (comparable performance to a 1060) for £175, net of eBay fees. It sold in < 24 hours. I reckon I could have got another £50 for it if I had some patience. I understand why people are buying these old GPU cards if their current card has failed and they can't afford to buy a new system etc.

I think though that, if you can afford to buy a new custom build, buying an old card at £200+ is a false economy. Yes, the embedded price of the GPU in the custom build is higher than in 'normal market conditions'. Nonetheless, it's still far lower than the price for new GPU on the open market. Plus if you buy an old card that might have been worth say <£50 second hand for £200+, you've effectively paid at least £150 more for the next GPU you buy. Yes, GPU prices will fall over the next 6-18 months but it's not clear they will fall as much as some expect. Moreover, other component prices are likely to rise. Plus you run the risk the second hand GPU fails, your experience is inferior and other components may also fail.
 
BlessedSquirrel

BlessedSquirrel

We love you Ukraine
DarTon said:
I just sold my 6 year old EVGA 980 card (comparable performance to a 1060) for £175, net of eBay fees. It sold in < 24 hours. I reckon I could have got another £50 for it if I had some patience. I understand why people are buying these old GPU cards if their current card has failed and they can't afford to buy a new system etc.

I think though that, if you can afford to buy a new custom build, buying an old card at £200+ is a false economy. Yes, the embedded price of the GPU in the custom build is higher than in 'normal market conditions'. Nonetheless, it's still far lower than the price for new GPU on the open market. Plus if you buy an old card that might have been worth say <£50 second hand for £200+, you've effectively paid at least £150 more for the next GPU you buy. Yes, GPU prices will fall over the next 6-18 months but it's not clear they will fall as much as some expect. Moreover, other component prices are likely to rise. Plus you run the risk the second hand GPU fails, your experience is inferior and other components may also fail.
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Very well put (y)
 
loso64

loso64

Well-known member
DarTon said:
Yes, GPU prices will fall over the next 6-18 months but it's not clear they will fall as much as some expect. Moreover, other component prices are likely to rise.
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I actually think the prices will never fall to what they were, and in future the prices gonna be higher. This whole situation just showed manufacturer that people are willing to buy 2k dollars cards. Heck MSI and Asus officially announced and raised the MSRP of their cards. It is a sad reality, 500-600 dollars cards will not happen any more
 
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davcam

Member
Thanks all, really appreciate all the posts giving advice, it seems to boil down to this:

"If you can afford to do a complete upgrade, now's the time. If not, your only real option is a stop-gap second-hand at an exorbitant price."

I am now thinking, what if I were to buy the components and replace them myself? What would I need? Motherboard, CPU, GPU...anything else obvious? I guess I may as well invest in new HDD. I currently also have an SSD with WIN10 OS on, would I need a new OS for the new HD? Essentially, what I am asking is: what could I rescue of my current system?

The nearest I have been to doing any of this build stuff is replacing existing components: a CPU water-cooler unit, GPU fan and power supply unit. Installing new stuff would require a lot of help from you-tube!
 
S

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
We can't really comment on builds that aren't through PCS mate so we wouldn't be able to help with specific part replacements unfortunately
 
T

tpcosgrave

Active member
davcam said:
Thanks all, really appreciate all the posts giving advice, it seems to boil down to this:

"If you can afford to do a complete upgrade, now's the time. If not, your only real option is a stop-gap second-hand at an exorbitant price."

I am now thinking, what if I were to buy the components and replace them myself? What would I need? Motherboard, CPU, GPU...anything else obvious? I guess I may as well invest in new HDD. I currently also have an SSD with WIN10 OS on, would I need a new OS for the new HD? Essentially, what I am asking is: what could I rescue of my current system?

The nearest I have been to doing any of this build stuff is replacing existing components: a CPU water-cooler unit, GPU fan and power supply unit. Installing new stuff would require a lot of help from you-tube!
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If you are asking yourself that, I think it's time to buy a new machine from PCS and let them do the work...
You should do that and buy what you need in terms to keep the current machine going - yours is clapped out and needs to be retired. No sense in replacing components because then you'll need to look at replacing the motherboard as that wears out as well - what's the point? Get a new machine.

I am waiting my new build and using my dying all in one machine (which has served me brilliantly) but it's headed for 8 years old and it's clapped out.
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
davcam said:
Just thought I would let you all know, I took your advice and have ordered a new PC.

Being a Yorkshireman, I needed to explore all the money saving options first.

thanks for the advice.
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From on here? hopefully so in which case post the spec and let us see if we can get more bang for your buck
 
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davcam

Member
Martinr36 said:
From on here? hopefully so in which case post the spec and let us see if we can get more bang for your buck
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Yes indeed, just a pre-built, next day delivery deal.

I may look into buying some speakers and a new monitor at some point if anyone has any advice on that?

Case PCS P209 ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-10400 (2.9GHz) 12MB Cache
MotherboardGigabyte H410M H V2: Micro-ATX, DDR4, USB 3.2, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power SupplyCORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor CoolingPCS FrostFlow 80 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal PasteSTANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound CardONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network CardWIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt OptionsMIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
 
BlessedSquirrel

BlessedSquirrel

We love you Ukraine
davcam said:
Yes indeed, just a pre-built, next day delivery deal.

I may look into buying some speakers and a new monitor at some point if anyone has any advice on that?

CasePCS P209 ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-10400 (2.9GHz) 12MB Cache
MotherboardGigabyte H410M H V2: Micro-ATX, DDR4, USB 3.2, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power SupplyCORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor CoolingPCS FrostFlow 80 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal PasteSTANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound CardONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network CardWIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt OptionsMIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Click to expand...
Please don’t buy this!
 
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