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Hello TL, as title says, I recently, within the last day or two, have been having problems with the fan on my graphics card. The card is Nvidia GT 530 2GB DDR3. The fan has started to make a grinding noise that it never was making in the last 4 months of owning this desktop. I have also noticed it sometimes stops, and starts spinning again at random times. Looking up on Google and forums, there is very little, if any information on this particular graphics card, since I believe it only come with prebuilt systems like mine. I haven't modded or added any hardware in the case in the last 2-3 weeks, let alone the past 2 days to possibly warrant me bumping it or something similar. My question is, what course of action would you recommend?
System Specs:
CPU: i7 2600 3.4Ghz
GPU: Nvidia GT 530 2GB DDR3
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1333Mhz
Motherboard: Asus socket 1155 mobo (don't fully know which model, prebuilt computer)
PSU: Generic 550W non 80+
HDD: WD Caviar Blue 1TB 7200 RPM
19" Acer 1680x1050 monitor (also planning to upgrade to 1080)
I originally bought this computer to replace my Asus ROG laptop which broke. It was purchased at Best Buy unfortunately, but was able to use the store credit for a desktop. This Asus Essentio was more or less the best I could do. I knew that once I got enough money, I was going to replace the graphics card with something better, was waiting for the new Radeon HD 7xxx series. Should I upgrade to a new card now? Or stay on integrated for a while? Or try to fix my current card?
Also, I don't think I did, but I strayed out of the Tech Support Guidlines, or am missing info, please tell me
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well the fan is probably just off balance, so replacing the fan is possible. But getting a new card is probably the best idea. I dun ever reccommend best buy, but if you had a warranty or could only exchange with store credit( Hate store credit soo much) what would your budget be? 100-200? 200-400? etc.
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The problem is i don't think there are any fan replacements for this card, it has a tiny fan and heatsink, to just be blunt, the card sucks, but it's better than integrated. If I had a budget, I would say maybe $200 max, but it may be few weeks until I have that. As I said, I was waiting for something like a Radon 7850, or 7790 to upgrade to, depending on price/performance. Also, I can't get it replaced under warranty, since I've changed cases and psu, and added a CPU cooler. The warranty sticker on the original case came broken anyway.
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This isn't by any chance a card manufactured by Palit is it?
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No, the card says Asus on it, but I think it only comes in pre-built machines, and they just stamp on the logo of who ever made the computer
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On January 19 2012 04:34 TheToast wrote:
This isn't by any chance a card manufactured by Palit is it?
What does that have to do with the card?I have a Palit GTX550Ti Sonic for a year and I have no problems with it.
It's probably best to get a new card tho id suggest getting a Radeon 6950
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Interesting. I saw almost the same issue with a number of Palit manufactured Nvidia cards at my previous job. Tiny little fan would start making weird noises, running slowly, and regularly siezing up. Cards would regularly get very hot and eventually fry themselves. I looked all over the internet to see if I could find a replacement (in the interest of saving money) and was unable to. You could probably come up with some type of improvised solution such as a different fan soldered into place (just make sure it's the same 5volt plug.), or one of those small 40mm case fans attached on there somehow. Basically anything that will blow significant air over the heatsink would work.
Of course if you were already thinking of getting a new card, now would be a good time to do it 
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That card isn't worth the trouble of fixing if it costs you money or more than 1hr. You most likely have an H61 or H67 chipset motherboard so you can just use the i7's graphics until you get a discrete GPU.
Depending on your budget, you may be better off just getting a new card now instead of waiting. You'll probably need a PSU too - what's the manufacturer and model on that PSU's label?
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A 6950 is out of my budget, and I'd rather not get a 6xxx series when the 7xxx series is just being released. To help any recommendations, games I play are SC2, Red Alert 3, Skyrim, while planning on getting Crysis, and Borderlands. I don't care that much about Crysis settings, but if I do (have) to upgrade, I'd like to be able to play SC2 and Skyrim on ultra
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@The toast- Don't have the know-how to fix the fan, and since I wanted to upgrade anyway, I don't really want to
@Wabbit- I believe you are correct with the chipset, as newegg lists one or two VERY similar mobo's that are H61 or H67. I don't know the PSU brand, it was handed down to me from my brother's previous build, which had an OCK'd quad core and 5770, so I think it should be able to power most single card set-ups
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Radeon HD 6950
Well it's 260$ a 7xxx will be 400$+ depending on the model(HD 7970-580$ here)
If you're on a 200$ budget I don't think you can afford a 7xxxx.
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*warning: I'm extremely frugal/cheep and always try to find the best possible deal*
Honestly, buying the newest graphics cards feels like a waste to me. Usually there isn't really any new features and you're just paying more money for essentially a rebadged product. Second, even when there IS new technology (dx11 for example) unless you're making a higher end system you might not have the horsepower to take advantage of them! (I haven't seen anything groundbreaking about the 7xxx series yet.)
It's often like buying a new 2012 car vs buying a 2011 vehicle of the same model. You can save a lot of money and usually have essentially the same thing. (Of course, I'd buy a 10 year old used car...)
On topic, find a good deal on a card you can use now at Tom's Hardware
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Then should I maybe look at a 6850~ $150, or 6870~ $170? Would that last until my next build, which probably won't be for at least 2-2.5 years
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Not sure how much you want ot spend thats probably the most important bit of information in order to help you. Also a lot of the newer video cards require 2 - 6 pin conectors coming from the PSU to conect to the Video card which is somthign you might want to consider in looking. Another problem with a lot of already built PC's are the mobos which tend to be smaller unless it was built originaly for gaming the PCI - Express slot may be close to the bottom creating heating problems with newer cards that take up 2 slots. If your PCI - Express slot is close to the bottom and you have only 1 6 - pin connecter a HD6750 would do a decent job wouldnt get you ultra settings but would run most things adequitly for you and not break you on cash. Very good overclocker to with the catalyst drivers.
http://www.overclockers.com/sapphire-hd-6750
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161379
Under $100 =)
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Well according to charts and TL'ers the Radeon HD6959 is the best budget/performance card out there so just go and get it.
Btw, this helps.
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On January 19 2012 05:46 AeralHero wrote:Well according to charts and TL'ers the Radeon HD6959 is the best budget/performance card out there so just go and get it. Btw, this helps.
Find the 6950 for less than $200 as OP specifies thats his budget.
@ OP the 6850 will run most games high/ultra settings so it will be fine, plus you can get them depending on where you live for $120 after rebates.
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On January 19 2012 05:29 Wild Weasel wrote:
Then should I maybe look at a 6850~ $150, or 6870~ $170? Would that last until my next build, which probably won't be for at least 2-2.5 years
6870's are currently your best bet for price/performance. They can play SC2 and Skyrim at Ultra 1920x1080 easy, Crysis at High. Some can be found for about ~$30 more than 6850's (which cost around ~$130) but offer around ~25% more performance, so it's a roughly linear increase in performance ratio to the increase in price. 6950's cost ~$50 more (at least) than 6870's but don't offer 30% more performance so it's a less linear increase in performance per $.
There are often good deals for them too. Like right now, you can get a dual-fan XFX 6870 for $170 with free shipping, and $20 mail-in-rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-Video Cards-_-XFX-_-14150521&AID=10440897&PID=3938566&SID=
As was mentioned before, you might want to check your PSU has 2x6pin connectors otherwise you'll have to get a molex-to-6pin adapter (i'm sure it has at least 1 6pin) since that particular XFX doesn't come with an adapter even though most cards do...
EDIT: If you're more limited on budget, a 6850 is still a decent choice, and this Gigabyte one is a good deal right now.
Once again, I really doubt the next-gen 77xx series will completely destroy current 68xx cards in price/performance, at least not initially until prices settle.
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I'm greatly considering those deals you posted, $150 after rebate seems like a great deal to me to max my current games and run Crysis at high. And I did check, my PSU only has 1x6pin connector, so it looks like I would need an adapter. Thanks for the suggestions
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I've never seen a newer graphics card that didn't come with a Molex-to-PCIE adapter, although some have.
Chances are high it will come with one.
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Why not just get the HIS which is $5 cheaper than the Sapphire and it has free shipping as well.
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Now, will the three 6870's mentioned all overclock about the same? I haven't had done any overclocking with graphics cards, but I hear it's pretty simple to do with something like MSI Afterburner, or CCC, then later test it with furmark. I'm guessing that since I don't have my i7 2600 overclocked, I'll have enough power.
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No, they will not. It's pretty likely they're all lower-binned chips because of the lower price, though you might get lucky and hit over ~960 on the core clock with stock voltages. The higher-binned chips go into more expensive 6870's that are often pre-overclocked and come with a better heatsink and a more expensive power delivery (something like 6+2 phases or more instaed of the 4+1 of stock, think MSI Power Edition/Lightning cards, ASUS Direct CUII and Gigabyte Super OC cards).
6870's are bad at overclocking overall though. Not really a card for which you want to get an MSI Power Edition or anything like that (don't think they even make one for 6870's because it's not worth it). They have a hard time going over 1000 core clock even with voltage increases. At that point you're so close (in price) to just buying a 6950 that it's hardly worth it. It's more worth it for 6950's because the price gap to a 6970 is a lot bigger (~$100)
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Oh well, overclocking isn't that important to me, I was just wondering if I could by a little bit, thanks for the input
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It's worth trying anyway. I did on mine and it's pathetic (930 core vs 900 stock, 1100 VRAM vs 1050 stock - anything above that gives artifacts on screen or is just unstable and crashes the PC), but some people get a bit luckier and can do around 950/1150 or maybe higher with stock volts. It's free performance and only takes a little bit of playing around. I wouldn't touch voltages on a card not specifically designed for it though, just OC using Catalyst Control Center or MSI Afterburner without unlocking voltage.
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EPT
I have the exact same model. At least it's quiet, even under gaming, can't hear the fans - which is what I cared about.
