Upgrading my video card


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Ok, this is with the 7870 at stock clocks

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Capture.PNG

Looks great. Here's what I get when I run it:

Workload Single init returned error message: DXGI call IDXGISwapChain::SetFullscreenState failed:

The requested functionality is not supported by the device or the driver.

DXGI_ERROR_NOT_CURRENTLY_AVAILABLE

Maybe it doesn't work well under Win8?

Looks great. Here's what I get when I run it:

Workload Single init returned error message: DXGI call IDXGISwapChain::SetFullscreenState failed:

The requested functionality is not supported by the device or the driver.

DXGI_ERROR_NOT_CURRENTLY_AVAILABLE

Maybe it doesn't work well under Win8?

That's what I used to get when something else was interfering with 3DMark11 entering fullscreen

Sometimes it would get part way through, other times it would fail more or less straight away

Close everything else you can, browsers, open windows, programs, even disable your AV just for the test, depending which AV it is, if it scans 3DMark it pulls it out of fullscreen with that error, firewalls too (I just use windows fw atm)

Sometimes takes 3 runs until it is not messed with by anything else and completes

That's what I used to get when something else was interfering with 3DMark11 entering fullscreen

Sometimes it would get part way through, other times it would fail more or less straight away

Close everything else you can, browsers, open windows, programs, even disable your AV just for the test, depending which AV it is, if it scans 3DMark it pulls it out of fullscreen with that error, firewalls too (I just use windows fw atm)

Sometimes takes 3 runs until it is not messed with by anything else and completes

When I ran it all that was running was the inbuilt Defender. But I will see if I can disable Defender just to run it.

When I ran it all that was running was the inbuilt Defender. But I will see if I can disable Defender just to run it.

Try a reboot too, possibly something is running in the background, once your sure it has finished booting, run 3DMark only

I managed to run it under Win 8 :)

"Futuremark SystemInfo" should have asked to be updated once you ran 3Dmark, but make sure that's at this version

Futuremark_SystemInfo_v4120_installer.exe

Ah well, the results speak for themselves

550Ti graphics score: 2451

7870 graphics score: 7721

I'd say you would have a substantial boost upgrading to a 7870 :)

The scores I got suck. I couldn't even set it to 1920x1080. I get better FPS in Skyrim on ultra.

The scores I got suck. I couldn't even set it to 1920x1080. I get better FPS in Skyrim on ultra.

So long as you hit the Performance check box then the scores are genuine (1280x720 is performance, same as I used), these tests are meant to stress the cards to their limits and yep you`ll definitely get better FPS in games

Benchmarks are hardcore on hardware :)

Heres another one you can play with

https://unigine.com/products/heaven/

So long as you hit the Performance check box then the scores are genuine (1280x720 is performance, same as I used), these tests are meant to stress the cards to their limits and yep you`ll definitely get better FPS in games

Benchmarks are hardcore on hardware :)

Heres another one you can play with

https://unigine.com/products/heaven/

Getting that one now. I just can't believe the crap numbers I got. In Skyrim, I even use the 4096x4096 HD textures and I can still get 20+fps even when I'm in a heavy graphic situation.

Getting that one now. I just can't believe the crap numbers I got. In Skyrim, I even use the 4096x4096 HD textures and I can still get 20+fps even when I'm in a heavy graphic situation.

I'd say the 2GB VRAM on the 7870 has a good hand in helping the scores (1GB vs 2GB) but all in all there are a load of differences between the two cards which in the end make up a big difference in performance

Such as Texture Fill Rate, 550Ti = 28.8, - 7870 = 84.0

Like I say though, benchmarks vs real life gaming = sometimes a big difference, for example with my old setup of 2 x 6850s, I got amazing benchmarks and really poor gaming due to CFX

I'd say the 2GB VRAM on the 7870 has a good hand in helping the scores (1GB vs 2GB) but all in all there are a load of differences between the two cards which in the end make up a big difference in performance

Such as Texture Fill Rate, 550Ti = 28.8, - 7870 = 84.0

Like I say though, benchmarks vs real life gaming = sometimes a big difference, for example with my old setup of 2 x 6850s, I got amazing benchmarks and really poor gaming due to CFX

I guess that's true. But I have ordered the Radeon. Should be here in about a week.

Yup. The 7870. But I went with this one instead

Ooh, very nice :)

And you get Sleeping Dogs with it too

You'll enjoy the temps, with 2 x fans I get about 19-21c idle and not much over 60c full load

With 3 x fans I'd imagine you`ll crush that depending on your ambient temps

Ooh, very nice :)

And you get Sleeping Dogs with it too

You'll enjoy the temps, with 2 x fans I get about 19-21c idle and not much over 60c full load

With 3 x fans I'd imagine you`ll crush that depending on your ambient temps

I also got my wife to agree to this.

I also got my wife to agree to this.

haha! :laugh: Yea I have to get the missus to agree on hardware too lol (That made me laugh)

Looks like you`re gonna have some flying machine once you have it all installed, I`m yet to get an SSD :p

Here is a nice review and benchmark for your new card (bear in mind as I said earlier, these benchmarks were with very infant drivers and much has improved since then)

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_radeon_hd_7870_oc_review,1.html

haha! :laugh: Yea I have to get the missus to agree on hardware too lol (That made me laugh)

Looks like you`re gonna have some flying machine once you have it all installed, I`m yet to get an SSD :p

Here is a nice review and benchmark for your new card (bear in mind as I said earlier, these benchmarks were with very infant drivers and much has improved since then)

http://www.guru3d.co...c_review,1.html

Yea. Wifey has the final say on money being spent. I had an SSD before and posted about it here. But my nephew wanted it back. It was a working pull and he installed a diff SSD into the clients system. Well, I guess they actually wanted it back, so I returned it to him.

Yea. Wifey has the final say on money being spent. I had an SSD before and posted about it here. But my nephew wanted it back. It was a working pull and he installed a diff SSD into the clients system. Well, I guess they actually wanted it back, so I returned it to him.

Bad luck! I'm waiting on prices dropping and capacity increasing, I would want a 1TB minimum for my main drive, having fibre internet I seem to fill my drives very quickly with a load of stuff I don't need, and even having a 2TB normal HDD now I still run out of space after a few months and hate having to sort through it all working out what I want and what I don't

And then having to find somewhere to copy it to before I wipe and reinstall :s

I've since learned that partitioning is a good idea

EDIT - Keep an eye either on this thread

http://forums.guru3d...ad.php?t=371951

or this page

http://support.amd.c...betadriver.aspx

For the latest AMD Beta drivers for your card, generally the forum link will find them before they are officially released

And for final versions of AMD drivers, they're here

http://sites.amd.com.../downloads.aspx

Bad luck! I'm waiting on prices dropping and capacity increasing, I would want a 1TB minimum for my main drive, having fibre internet I seem to fill my drives very quickly with a load of stuff I don't need, and even having a 2TB normal HDD now I still run out of space after a few months and hate having to sort through it all working out what I want and what I don't

And then having to find somewhere to copy it to before I wipe and reinstall :s

I've since learned that partitioning is a good idea

Maybe, you should start slowing down on the dls and rethink what you dl, to only dl stuff that you know your going to use?

Maybe, you should start slowing down on the dls and rethink what you dl, to only dl stuff that you know your going to use?

lol I always plan that with each new install, seems to work fine for a while and then next thing I know I feel I need to save the entire internet in-case of judgement day or something

I edited my last post with a few links for your 7870

Yea. Been there, done that. My eyes used to be bigger then my HDD. Now my HDD is bigger then my eyes. LMAO! I have bookmarked that forum link and will keep an eye on it.

:D lol

Good stuff, be great if you update this thread once you have your new card and maybe new card & SSD, I'd be interested to compare scores again

:D lol

Good stuff, be great if you update this thread once you have your new card and maybe new card & SSD, I'd be interested to compare scores again

I will try and remember to do that.

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