General Discussions

I am so bummed. One of my Gfx cards just fried. I download a new AMD driver a few weeks ago and have been using the VSR feature. I guess OC'ing and running 7680x1440 was just too much for my poor 7950's to handle. So...KAPUT.

While it is always exciting to get new hardware, I am really not looking forward to having to drain my LC system. Though I suppose it should be done after the few thousand hours I have put on it. Nevertheless, no fun.

I think I am now going to switch to Nvida. It was such a pain to take the 7950's appart and install water blocks, but the new 980's have them pre-installed. No matter, the 980 hydro copper's should be a big boost over the 7950's. Still yet, the events of the past hour...have been like the loss of a good friend.

I guess only a gamer would understand. (My wife didn't feel my pain. If Candy Crush was GPU intesive, she would have.)

I do feel your pain and that sux Vlad. From what you said before, you were keeping them at a safe temp but I thought it was a slightly lower rez?

How old is the card? Coupla 980's should make ya feel all better.

I bought the cards about 2.5yrs ago. With the liquid cooling solution I have the cards rarely reached above 42c (108f). BUT... since LC'ing I have OC'd from 925 stock to 1100 mghz which I run at all times. Even with the low temps, I know hardware degrades. I know that at a minimum, I have 6,000hrs on the system, with over 4,500hrs of that gaming.

As you have said about the res... my gaming res. is 5760x1080 (3 32" screens). But with recent driver updates, I have been using the VSR (Virtual Super Resolution(DSR for Nvidia folks)) and have been running 7680x1440. I guess this is sort of like a newish version of Super Sampling? I was very surprised to see see the difference. While this only raised my temps a couple of degrees, guess it was just a bit much for a system with 6,000+ hrs on it.

So as you stated, hopefully a " Coupla 980's should make ya feel all better". I just painfully ordered 2 980 hydro copper's and a half gallon of coolant to flush my system. What a pain but, the stock speeds of the 980(1291mhz) is miles above my OC'd speed(1100mhz) on my 7950, and should prove to be a great upgrade for my multi-screen setup.

Will see how I feel Thursday after my new cards and coolant get here. Maybe update after install.....

So now I am the proud owner of 2 liquid cooled GTX 980's. Install was of course a pain, since I didn't think ahead when putting together my WC system. Nevertheless, the new EVGA cards are installed and I am a very happy gamer(with a minor caveat).

The new cards far exceeded my expectations. As I have had dual AMD 7950's for the last few years, I really didn't know what to expect. WOW... I was hoping to see a bit of a gain, but this was a massive boost in gaming horsepower. The new cards have a factory set boost of 1455Mhz (compared to the 7950 boost of 925) and destroy everything I throw at it @ 5760x1080. I am super happy

So here are a couple of take aways from the AMD to NVIDIA switch. Mind that these were the first NVIDIA cards I have ever purchased.

Positives
-- Stock clock speeds. ARE YOU KIDDING ME.... 1293/1455Mhz(boost), that is just insane.
-- Power consumption lower than my overclocked(1100Mhz) 7950's!
-- EVGA pat on the back... $60 for a 10 year warranty. 10 YEARS!! But the major selling point was this; Say I want to sell my cards and upgrade after a couple of years? No problem! Warranty is transferable to next owner. That will be a massive positive on EBay.
Negative
Notice how this was prefaced as Negative, not Negatives?
That is because I have only found one negative aspect on the AMD/Nivdia switch. This could be classified as trival, yet it is still very relevant.

--While these EVGA/Nvidia cards are above reproach, the Nvidia software however, is not. **This may only apply to multi-screen gamers, but since that would be me, I have to base my opinion on myself.**
By a very large margin, the NVidia control center and the Surround(amd's Eyefinity) settings were my biggest disappointment with this upgrade. Compared to the AMD Eyefintiy settings/customizations, Nvidia's efforts on the software side is a fail.
What an absolute pain in the A$$!!!
I often switch between monitor configurations and guess what??? There is no way to save custom presets. For example, in the AMD panel I had 8 different configs between 5 monitors. Furthermore was the accessibility between those different configurations. Right click on the amd icon and you get every resolution and every preset available on one click. Not so with the Nvidia Control Center. No right click, no presets... Every resolution/monitor change... Surround settings, even more of a headache. Have to go through the whole process every single time...good grief Charlie Brown!

I say all that to say this...
While I do think the Control Center's usability if far superior on the AMD side of the house. I have to give the leading edge to Nvidia on the hardware side. Being that I spend most of my time gaming (i.e. using the hardware) and not adjusting monitors, Nvidia will be my new "go-to" card. I do sincerely hope though that they will get with the program in regards to multi-monitor accessibility.
--On a side note... DSR(dynamic super resolution..AMD's Virtual SR) is disabled in surround mode. I could game at respectable FPS's @ 7680x1440 in VSR mode on my old cards. I was majorly excited to see the improvements on my new cards! I was bummed out to find that DSR is automatically disabled when running multi-monitor(Surround).

***To any of you Nvidia owners of multi-screen setups that are far more knowledgeable than myself...
I am always willing to admit where I have made a mistake. If I am missing something in regards to the ease of use for Surround setup, by all means, please let me know. I will be more than happy to receive your input being that this is my 1st Nvidia GPU.***

I have a full tower and I would not have any place to really put those two radiator fan units. I doubt the Clear PVC pannel would take them.

What kind of temps in a game under a load, Vlad?

Theroc44 showed me this link last night. GTX 980 Ti HYBRID. He said everytime they get a new lot in, it's gone almost immediately. I wouldn't mind a couple of these myself.

[url]www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=06G-P4-1996-KR'>Link






[Edited by element5, 8/11/2015 1:37:39 AM]

The max I have seen running 5760x1080 @ 1455Mhz is 48c. This is running in a system with exactly 1000ml(just about 34oz) of Thermaltake coolant. Ambient temp. is about 74f.

If you are willing to put in the DIY effort, you get a much larger clock speed(1140 vs. 1293 base) gain from the WC card vs. the hybrid cards. [edit]Though I suppose the clock gains are probably negated by the extra cores on the hybrid. Since my setup was already WC'd, it was the reason I went down the path I did.

[Edited by Vlad_the_Bad, 8/11/2015 2:38:07 AM]

Really? I have a Corsair 750d full tower and it has tons of room. I currently have a 280mm(360mm supported) up top and a 140mm radiator to the rear.

If you want to see my transition from mid tower to full tower to WC build pics, scroll down to the customer reviews(I am the "most helpful" review... yay me!! lol) here:
[url]www.amazon.com/Corsair-Obsidian-Performance-Tower-CC-9011035-WW/dp/B00EB6O4N8/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1439277039&sr=1-3&keywords=corsair+case'>Link