Old PC 2x8800 GTX SLI dying cheapest new card to replace

€>sense

Hi all,

Have an old Dell XPS 720 H2C, loved it, lasted me till now!

Its 2x8800GTX in SLI are dying .... Have had to oven them a couple of times now ....

I don't think there is anything sensible I can do with the system, BTX mb and case and proprietary H2C cooler, (any sensible ideas would be welcome) but would like to keep it running for small money, my son is enjoying my old games on it, and I can still run my Hearts of Iron 3.

So my question is what new card can I use to replace the 2 8800s?

Same performance or slightly less is the target, but most important would be low cost, want to save the cash for new PC at Xmas.

On an aside, the machine has an aegia phyx card, not sure what it ever contributed, but beginning to wonder if it is part of the problem and should I just take it out?

Digital Solitude

You can hardly open the PC and the wattage of the PSU, and also the GPU pins it carries? Just plug out the GPUs and could how many pins there are on the cables. The wattage will hopefully be printed on the PSU, its at the top of the case.

€>sense

1000 w psu

Have 4 power cables used for the 2 8800 GTX

2 say 10a
2 say 6a

All 4 are 6 pins in a 3 over 3 configuration

Digital Solitude

1000w :eek: Holy moly

A GTX 750 would be a similar specced card, it's about €100 second hand.

Are there other games the son plays that'd be more graphically intensive, are you looking to spend less than this, and will the new build be a low budget self build or a pre-built?

Asking that because you could get a middling card now and just carry it over to save buying two GPUs, but if it'll be a hugher end machine then no point buying high now.

€>sense

Plan is to keep both. Haven't decided on build or buy yet for new PC, have built in past but found with the Dell that I could buy that cheaper than build similar spec. I'm totally out of touch now on components so leaving all that for later in year.

100e would be fine for the replacement card, clearly could go a little more, but more I spend, the less I have for later.

Worried about a second hand card, never bought a second hand component, and would think a second hand graphics card would be particularly risky.

Where would you even get a second hand card?

A GTX 750 single card will give same performance as the 2 8800s in SLI? or do I need 2 750s?

Digital Solitude

€>sense wrote: »

Plan is to keep both. Haven't decided on build or buy yet for new PC, have built in past but found with the Dell that I could buy that cheaper than build similar spec. I'm totally out of touch now on components so leaving all that for later in year.

100e would be fine for the replacement card, clearly could go a little more, but more I spend, the less I have for later.

Worried about a second hand card, never bought a second hand component, and would think a second hand graphics card would be particularly risky.

Where would you even get a second hand card?

A GTX 750 single card will give same performance as the 2 8800s in SLI? or do I need 2 750s?

I'm not into PCs that long but for gaming builds, prebuilts always have very lackluster graphics cards, so a self build gives a balanced system, normally for less.

CPUs and then graphics cards are the safest components to buy second hand, they're normally fairly good once someone hasn't dropped or stupidly OC'd or overvolted them.

Donedeal, adverts or CEX.

*EDIT* Had wrong information, a 750 or 570 should be a huge step up

There's a GTX 570 on Donedeal for €75 at the moment, it's listed as a 750 though. I'll grill him about the card and why it's listed wrongly before I get back to you, it'd be a steal for your machine.

TerrorFirmer

There's no point going above a card like that anyway, as your machine will be heavily CPU bound most likely, presumably it's an old Q6600 or Q6700 processor.

A GTX750 is a big improvement on 8800GTX sli. If you just wanted the same or similar performance something like a €60 R7 250 would be fine.

€>sense

Might be out of date now, but at the time that was only true on the lower end, at the high end I effectively got the 2nd 8800GTX and the physX card free from Dell compared to a self build.

What price a new 570 or 750?

Remember I'm not interested in upgrading, same performance is fine, this machine is for my library of old games. Just want to keep it alive for another few years.

Digital Solitude

From amazon, a 570 is about €145, a 750 is about €120.

€>sense

Apologies cross post, terror firmer, processor is an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad-core processor overclocked to 3.2GHz.

Will that €60 R7 250 be compatible with my mb? Nvidia 680i

Digital Solitude

Yeah it will be

€>sense

Great guys thanks for the help

Is it worth looking at 2gb versions?

Digital Solitude

Nope, don't think it's worth it for your needs

Digital Solitude

Heard back from this guy on DoneDeal. The card still has stickers on it so I can't imagine it got much use. He said he'd sell for €65 if picked up, which is less than half the price of a new one, so an absolute rob. He's in Dublin 12.

€>sense

Why do you think it is a 570?

Digital Solitude

The third picture upside down has "Geforce GTX 570" on the card. I asked him about his 750, knowing it wasn't, and he said it was a 570 so honest mistake I guess.

€>sense

Just occurred to me, I'm still running XP on this machine, will I be able to get xp drivers for any of these cards?

Digital Solitude

Yeah you should be, the 570 is from 2010 and the 750 is from 2013. You really shouldn't be using XP you know...