I ended up getting a little to greedy with my EVGA GTX 470. This was my first build where I tried to overclock everything but my memory. I tried the CPU, that caused system crashes. I did the GPU, and then my graphics card took an arrow to the knee. In kind of a literal sense though. As in, my graphics card is literally limping along as I drag it through the dirt, yelling at it, feeling sorry for it, then yelling at it all over again.
I have been on the hunt for a replacement card for about 2 months now. Keeping affordable and powerful at the same time is creating a fine line for me to find the right card. Also, being male makes me needing one more powerful than my friends, or anyones, ever. The bonus part of looking for so long is that prices fall! The issue with looking for so long I see deals, sweet, tempting, sexy deals. But being 22 and living with my girlfriend who is in college, I must be rational! So I wait. I mean, I do have a card with slight baggage. You know, the kind that causes graphics to artifact, tear, and spiking.
Also being male, comes with the need to fix things. Find the solution to the issue that will loom over this card until I lose 6+ hours of sleep. I try everything from forum posts, to running every test program under the digital era sun. I even contact EVGA support, in which they were extremely helpful. They clarified what I did not want to admit. I over-overclocked my card. Now, I must go back to the wilderness of figuring it out on my own.
Then I found it. The simplest of temporary fixes. Reinshtalling the driver. For real? Why did I not notice this the other thousand times I did just that. Oh well, for now my poor 470 will be pulled until it simply cannot be pulled anymore. Or, it decides to go all Kiss Concert on me and give me a miniature electrical smoke show. For any of you who have smelled an electrical fire, you know how excited I am for that one.
So far I have gathered two cards into my shopping cart arena. One of them being the EVGA 550 Ti SuperClocked. I have owned NVIDIA for as long as I can remember honestly. From my very first computer build, both of my MacBook Pros, as well as my computer now. So, I have nothing to argue about because they have not failed me because all those computers are still running, except for the one I am running now. I'm sure the GTX 470 would of been just fine if I didn't decide to cripple it. Unfortunately that is not the case I have in front of me right now. So therefore I would love to be faithful to my beloved NVIDIA. I also have a friend who owns that card and tells me for the price, it is a beyond fantastic card to own and can handle anything you decide to run through it.
The other combatant being the Sapphire Radeon HD 6850. I obviously have not owned one but from what I hear AMD/ATI has definitely come a very long way. Which is great to hear because they do seem to pack a little more punch for the price. As for this card as well, I have another friend who tells me that this card handles anything you throw at it, and it seems to stay cool like a spring breeze. Which then sparked me to think about temps. I understand most cards can run fairly hot and be just fine. On average my GTX 470 runs ~75C. Which isn't bad. Then my buddy comes along and says he runs The Old Republic with ~65C for his temp. Oh that is nice. Sometimes temp is something to think about due to the fact that I play games in a fairly small office with 2 windows, which is nice in the winter but during the summer, forget it.
For now, I am leaning towards the EVGA 550 Ti SuperClocked. Just because I have always been a fan of NVIDIA and I know EVGA's support is spectacular.
The weather is finally starting to get warm here, so I cannot wait to pop open my new Shock Top Raspberry Wheats. I can hear 'em calling now...
UPDATE: With Diablo 3 on the horizon, and Blacklight Retribution slowly killing my 470. I caved and ordered the GTX 550 Ti. It feels good honestly. Can't wait for it to come in!
Stay Classy, Internet.
-EF
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