Double Questions: Issue with Graphics Card, and what Card should I buy to replace it

[raogrimm]

I currently have a GTX 645 GeForce card, and about three weeks ago now it has beguns to show a sea of flickering red dots across my screen in a circular pattern most often. I find through multiple restarts everything will eventually appear to work fine so long as I do not restart the computer, as with each restart it is more likely I will get the red dots followed by the black screen of death where I can see nothing even though the computer is still running.

I've tried everything I can think of from making sure it is not from over heating by checking fans and making sure there isn't a dust build up I had not caught from regular dusting, to making sure drivers are up to date. Best I can tell is that the card is simply packing it on a hardware level, so I have been looking at getting a new card and have been eyeing a GeForce 1060 with about 3GB VRAM. My question is if my conclusion with the card is that it is failing, is the 1060 a good choice as I am hoping to get GTA V for the PC during the Steam Winter Sale after Christmas.

Edit: Thank you to anyone and everyone who can help, and Happy Holidays (Merry Christmas) to all!

[Fascinate]

I think a better option for you would be the gtx 1050, it is plenty powerful enough for GTA 5 and is a easy drop in replacement GPU.

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/G3H4...zt-p10500a-10l

We cant guarantee you the GPU is the problem, but you are due for a GPU upgrade anyways

[Sturmbringe]

I currently have a GTX 645 GeForce card, and about three weeks ago now it has beguns to show a sea of flickering red dots across my screen in a circular pattern most often. I find through multiple restarts everything will eventually appear to work fine so long as I do not restart the computer, as with each restart it is more likely I will get the red dots followed by the black screen of death where I can see nothing even though the computer is still running.

I've tried everything I can think of from making sure it is not from over heating by checking fans and making sure there isn't a dust build up I had not caught from regular dusting, to making sure drivers are up to date. Best I can tell is that the card is simply packing it on a hardware level, so I have been looking at getting a new card and have been eyeing a GeForce 1060 with about 3GB VRAM. My question is if my conclusion with the card is that it is failing, is the 1060 a good choice as I am hoping to get GTA V for the PC during the Steam Winter Sale after Christmas.

Edit: Thank you to anyone and everyone who can help, and Happy Holidays (Merry Christmas) to all!

It will be 2017 soon, so I can't really recommend a 3GB GPU for GTA V.

GTA V easily gobbles up all of my 3072 MB of GPU RAM of my GTX 780TI GHz, and there are plenty of features that I can't max out. I play at 3440X1440. If you want to max out GTAV, I'd say GTX 1060 6GB is the minimum you should get, maybe even a 1070.

[Evildeffy]

How about, before we recommend any items and considering that he's got a GTX 645, we ask him exactly what he's got in terms of the rest of his specs and which brand computer he has as a GTX 645 is OEM only.
OEM only means he's got a rig like HP and if it's a compact rig you won't know if any of it will fit or even work properly.

Recommending a GTX 1050 or 1060 is a bit meh if you don't know what he has, what resolution he's playing at and what his playing goals are apart from GTA 5.
Following that we should also know his budget and where he lives.

So.. @raogrimm .. the above questions are all for you to answer.

[PhantasmagoriaX]

The other thing I would like to bring up is maybe a new power supply with the new video card, especially if its a prebuilt computer its bound to have a lousy PSU.

[Fascinate]

Eh guys, the 1050 is designed as a drop in upgrade for OEM rigs. It has a 75w TDP with no need for extra power connections from the PSU, it will work on even the shittiest PSU's that come in OEM PC's.

He obviously is running on a 1080p or lower monitor, a 2gb 1050 is more than enough for that res at decent settings and would be a monumental upgrade to a gt645.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ti,4787-4.html

On high with MSAAx2 the 1050 is able to average 75 fps at 1080p, quite the powerful little card for 100 bucks.

[Aleksej89]

Get one of the latest generation NVIDIA gpus, depending on your money and the rest of your pc (mainly motherboard and power supply).

I highly advise against buying AMD/ATI gpus.
Last 2 graphic cards i had were from AMD and i was just horrified at how awful and bad their software/drivers/utilities are.

Some games i play have random severe FPS drops for AMD/ATI users and it is a "known issue" by AMD, but no fixes have been released for months/years.
Also if you play a game that has that damn Nividia "physx" thing then you will have to run games physics on your CPU which means lowest physics quality and an impact on framerate (borderlands 2, for example).

[Evildeffy]

Eh guys, the 1050 is designed as a drop in upgrade for OEM rigs. It has a 75w TDP with no need for extra power connections from the PSU, it will work on even the shittiest PSU's that come in OEM PC's.

He obviously is running on a 1080p or lower monitor, a 2gb 1050 is more than enough for that res at decent settings and would be a monumental upgrade to a gt645.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ti,4787-4.html

On high with MSAAx2 the 1050 is able to average 75 fps at 1080p, quite the powerful little card for 100 bucks.

The 1050 is not designed as a drop-in for OEM rigs, it's designed as a starter gaming card.
Which is assumed in a standard ATX case.

Do you know what the OP has? Perhaps he has a slim case.
Perhaps he's only got a single slot of space.
Perhaps the length of the case won't fit (unlikely but possible).
Perhaps the OEM's BIOS is configured to boot only with a certain range of cards (I've had this with cheap Acer and HP Junk!)
Etc. etc.

Never recommend anything on an OEM PC until you know what it is because you can potentially fuck that person over.
Remember that as in businesses you're the one responsible.

- - - Updated - - -

Get one of the latest generation NVIDIA gpus, depending on your money and the rest of your pc (mainly motherboard and power supply).

I highly advise against buying AMD/ATI gpus.
Last 2 graphic cards i had were from AMD and i was just horrified at how awful and bad their software/drivers/utilities are.

Some games i play have random severe FPS drops for AMD/ATI users and it is a "known issue" by AMD, but no fixes have been released for months/years.
Also if you play a game that has that damn Nividia "physx" thing then you will have to run games physics on your CPU which means lowest physics quality and an impact on framerate (borderlands 2, for example).

Purely anecdotal evidence in general as well as the entire tech community pretty much disagreeing with you right now.
If anything nVidia has released some seriously horrid drivers causing many issues and even frying some cards.

Hell they even had to retract several WHQL drivers because they fucked systems up the last couple of months.

[Fascinate]

The 1050 is not designed as a drop-in for OEM rigs, it's designed as a starter gaming card.
Which is assumed in a standard ATX case.

Do you know what the OP has? Perhaps he has a slim case.
Perhaps he's only got a single slot of space.
Perhaps the length of the case won't fit (unlikely but possible).
Perhaps the OEM's BIOS is configured to boot only with a certain range of cards (I've had this with cheap Acer and HP Junk!)
Etc. etc.

Never recommend anything on an OEM PC until you know what it is because you can potentially fuck that person over.
Remember that as in businesses you're the one responsible.

- - - Updated - - -


Purely anecdotal evidence in general as well as the entire tech community pretty much disagreeing with you right now.
If anything nVidia has released some seriously horrid drivers causing many issues and even frying some cards.

Hell they even had to retract several WHQL drivers because they fucked systems up the last couple of months.

1050 absolutely is designed as a drop in upgrade for OEM rigs, hell pcper even did a video about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7myQLMSw5B8

The dude was already shopping for a 1060 when he made the thread, its on him to check to see if stuff fits.

[Evildeffy]

1050 absolutely is designed as a drop in upgrade for OEM rigs, hell pcper even did a video about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7myQLMSw5B8

The dude was already shopping for a 1060 when he made the thread, its on him to check to see if stuff fits.

Again the 1050 is not designed as a drop in upgrade for OEM rigs at all, it's eSports (yeah I find this funny as shit too) and budget gaming.
The fact that a lot of OEM PCs can support it doesn't change that fact.

Pcper making a video about that actually proves my point more as he specifically mentions that IF the motherboard has a x16 slot or case the space it can be a low-thought consideration.
And then you come back to my point again of you not knowing what the OEM is that he has and what he has as a rig all around as the OP comes in here asking for help, help that you should provide properly and make sure it all works rather than waving it off as "Get that and you're done".

Saying he's responsible for making it fit, regardless of what he himself was looking at, is rather stupid and again irrelevant since he's here asking for help.

If he has a rig such as the one depicted in that video and is not by at least Acer/HP (personal experience) then he should be good.
But now instead of him putting money on the line let's put yours on the line, without knowing the details behind it would you blindly spend money on something that may or may not fit/work/be compatible?

The answer to that should be (and is for the majority of people, especially techies) NO.

Again if you want to help someone else publicly then do so properly with all considerations behind it.
Because if that person burns his money listening to you because of reason A, B or C it reflects upon us all.

[Fascinate]

You are delusional if you think nvidia didn't have "OEM upgrade" in their list of things they wanted to accomplish when designing the 1050, that is a huge market. In fact i bet you that was the number one thing they were shooting for with that card, how much power can we fit into 75W TDP for the OEM market. As for fitment sure if the dude comes back he can post his tower model and someone can check, but ultimately it really is on him. Its not like i disagree there are a ton of proprietary cases, but you act like we are paid support here or something lol.

[Evildeffy]

You are delusional if you think nvidia didn't have "OEM upgrade" in their list of things they wanted to accomplish when designing the 1050, that is a huge market. In fact i bet you that was the number one thing they were shooting for with that card, how much power can we fit into 75W TDP for the OEM market. As for fitment sure if the dude comes back he can post his tower model and someone can check, but ultimately it really is on him.

Actually considering the market for graphics cards between 100 - 200 USD is FAR larger than anything higher end their first concern was that price range.
OEMs generally have their own range they develop and build for at any given time.

It's far more profitable for nVidia that was as they have contracts with large OEMs saturating the market instead of a %-age of said market which most people don't know or care about.

Regardless .. your last sentence is telling really as there are more factors then 1 and you'd rather let the person whom asked for your help possibly burn his money for fuck all reason rather than going that extra step in confirming an OEM instead of assuming things.

Under Siege 2 (Movie with Steven Seagal) had a perfect quote for this: Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups.

[Fascinate]

Whatever man paint me the bad guy for suggesting a card that is likely far better suited to his situation than the 1060 he was originally looking at. Most people skip the 50 series cards because they think they are entry level or something, this time around they are legit mainstream gaming grade cards, i just want more people to be aware of that.

[Evildeffy]

Whatever man paint me the bad guy for suggesting a card that is likely far better suited to his situation than the 1060 he was originally looking at. Most people skip the 50 series cards because they think they are entry level or something, this time around they are legit mainstream gaming grade cards, i just want more people to be aware of that.

And that's perfectly fine for wanting to do so.

I'm only saying that you shouldn't blindly recommend things without knowing what he has as he has an OEM GTX card which very likely means he has an OEM computer, of which those can come in any size, shape and form.

Hell for "low-end" I would fully agree with the GTX 1050, any higher I'd say RX 470 and 480 for price conscious buyers whom play a multitude of games.
(1050 Ti too close to the RX 470 in price but not in performance to be worth it)
If it were Blizzard only I'd recommend nVidia cards in general f.ex. but I always do so with knowing what he has.

I didn't mean to paint you as a bad guy for suggesting that card but I would correct you on the fact that, without knowing what he has, it is a risky move to blindly recommend something.

[Fascinate]

Trust me if the dude hadn't already mentioned shopping around for a GPU and mentioned the GTX 1060 i likely would have asked about his current tower. Again ultimately its on him, we arent getting paid here for this but the tone you are taking in this thread would suggest we are.

[Evildeffy]

Trust me if the dude hadn't already mentioned shopping around for a GPU and mentioned the GTX 1060 i likely would have asked about his current tower. Again ultimately its on him, we arent getting paid here for this but the tone you are taking in this thread would suggest we are.

The tone I'm taking is regardless of whether or not you're getting paid if someone asks you for help and you give him advice in response that you also know the details behind it because it may cost him money if he blindly follows your advice. (I'm saying your in general)

It may seem a little bit like you'd be looking down on the person's intelligence for asking background details if he's already stating that he's looking into a GTX 1060 but does that person know what he's asking for and if he can use it at all?
Since you cannot determine that from his post it's always smarter to ask for it for confirmation then possibly giving him incorrect advice.

[Fascinate]

It's whatever man, we don't even know if the problem was his video card since he hasn't replied since his OP. What i just found funny is you grouped the 1050/1060 recommendations into your "Recommending a GTX 1050 or 1060 is a bit meh if you don't know what he has, what resolution he's playing at and what his playing goals are apart from GTA 5" when the 1050 has a 99.999999% better shot of being compatible with any run of the mill rig. On top of that why are you questioning his resolution when he has an ancient gt 645, if he has anything higher than a 1080p monitor he sure as hell wasnt gaming on it with a 645.

The 1050 whether you like to agree or not WAS designed with OEM PC's in mind, marry that to the fact he was already shopping around for GPU's in the 1060 range and you can see where i didn't feel it prudent to ask exactly what case he had at the time. Its not that you are wrong in asking if he has a proprietary case design, its just the way you went about it.

[Lathais]

You are delusional if you think nvidia didn't have "OEM upgrade" in their list of things they wanted to accomplish when designing the 1050, that is a huge market. In fact i bet you that was the number one thing they were shooting for with that card, how much power can we fit into 75W TDP for the OEM market. As for fitment sure if the dude comes back he can post his tower model and someone can check, but ultimately it really is on him. Its not like i disagree there are a ton of proprietary cases, but you act like we are paid support here or something lol.

Let's say it's a friend of yours, or someone you worked with, someone you see on a regular basis, would you tell them the same thing knowing it may not work?

No, we are not paid support people, but we try to act like it and not give bad advice. If bad advice is given here frequently enough, site will get a bad rep and people won't come here for advice. So don't give bad advice, or people will continue to correct you the way they always have.

[Fascinate]

Let's say it's a friend of yours, or someone you worked with, someone you see on a regular basis, would you tell them the same thing knowing it may not work?

No, we are not paid support people, but we try to act like it and not give bad advice. If bad advice is given here frequently enough, site will get a bad rep and people won't come here for advice. So don't give bad advice, or people will continue to correct you the way they always have.

Wait so i am giving bad advice because i suggested the card MOST LIKELY to be compatible with an off the shelf OEM PC? Again, you need to grasp the scope of what is being discussed here. Its not that i disagree with asking the dude with what case he has, its just the way the other guy went about it and the tone he took in his posts as if i committed a felony for suggesting a 1050 without asking what case he has. (again, the zotac mini 1050 i suggested has THE most chance of being compatible with any OEM PC than pretty much any gaming grade graphics card today).

[Evildeffy]

It's whatever man, we don't even know if the problem was his video card since he hasn't replied since his OP. What i just found funny is you grouped the 1050/1060 recommendations into your "Recommending a GTX 1050 or 1060 is a bit meh if you don't know what he has, what resolution he's playing at and what his playing goals are apart from GTA 5" when the 1050 has a 99.999999% better shot of being compatible with any run of the mill rig. On top of that why are you questioning his resolution when he has an ancient gt 645, if he has anything higher than a 1080p monitor he sure as hell wasnt gaming on it with a 645.

The 1050 whether you like to agree or not WAS designed with OEM PC's in mind, marry that to the fact he was already shopping around for GPU's in the 1060 range and you can see where i didn't feel it prudent to ask exactly what case he had at the time. Its not that you are wrong in asking if he has a proprietary case design, its just the way you went about it.

As this discussion is clearly getting lost and you obviously see it as some sort of personal attack believe and do as you will.

I will however state again that the GTX 1050 was NOT designed with OEMs in mind as they have a separate department for that making OEM boards and designs.
The card being sold stand-alone should give you that hint as OEMs don't want 130 USD cards in 400 USD computers, they want it for less.
Also the fact that there are a multitude of models from each brand in the same series, OEM cards do not get this distinction.

It is a budget oriented but capable card, not an OEM upgrade card.