New GPU

[DZimmy]

Dear all,
today at 1st April my wife called me the PC died...it wasn't much of a joke.
My GTX580SC got some trouble (bought 2011). When booting up white bars are all over the place and after booting there is horrible resolution and colours. I have a spare GPU and it is all right, so the problem is within the GTX580SC.
Any idea what could go wrong?
Wife told me she heard some harsh noises. Btw could I damage the GPU by playing demanding games with FAN on high rotation or putting the PC into "sleep" very often?
We will see how will the repair end up, but I am thinking about getting a new GPU.

EVGA GTX970 seems nice, what version would you recommend? Or is there anything better in this price range?
Wouldn't my CPU bottleneck the GPU?
Will my PSU have enough W?
Also additional RAM woudn't hurt, right?
I also hope it wouldn't be bigger than 580 so it would fit the case.

Thank you very much for your further repies! I appreciate your opinions.

Best regards,
DZimmy

My setup:
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Superclocked 1536MB, PCI-E
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 CL8
Case: CoolerMaster HAF-922 (RC-922M-KKN1-GP)

 

[PP Mguire]

They run really hot and are power hungry. Odds have it your card just ran really hot for a while and was damaged. When was the last time you took it apart, cleaned it, and reposted? This could fix the issues.

Also you didn't mention your PSU so that could be a problem as well.

The 970 is a good card, and no your Cpu is fine for anything.

More Ram? Are you having any issues with 8GB?

 

[Dauntae]

For the GTX970, Great cards and if running 1080P or lower its all the card you'll need, Best card out for that price point also, EVGA are good cards and if your limited on the length of card I know they make some shorter versions of the 970, Measure the length of your 580 and find one that's similar, Newegg usually has the length in the description, Some are longer than others with the aftermarket coolers they put on these cards.

 

[DZimmy]

My wife was playing some web game, so temperature shouldn't be the trouble.
I tried to dust it off from outside and changed slots on MB, no change. Now I tried to take it apart, but one screw got jammed. Anyways, there was only some dust on the cooler.
PSU? I am using a spare GPU, so that souldn't be a trobule should it?
8GB just doesn't sound enough considering gaming.
I really wonder in what aspects these GTX970 differ. Vyhledávání "evga gtx970" ve všech kategoriích | CZC.cz

 

[Dauntae]

Mostly how there set for overclocking out of the factory, kind of irrelavent since they all come with a program you can over clock them to match the super locked version so not worth paying extra but on the site you posted the Superclocked edition is on sale cheaper than the others, Don't know the exchange rate though so can't really say how well there priced on that site.

Dauntae

 

[PP Mguire]

My wife was playing some web game, so temperature shouldn't be the trouble.
I tried to dust it off from outside and changed slots on MB, no change. Now I tried to take it apart, but one screw got jammed. Anyways, there was only some dust on the cooler.
PSU? I am using a spare GPU, so that souldn't be a trobule should it?
8GB just doesn't sound enough considering gaming.
I really wonder in what aspects these GTX970 differ. VyhledávánÃ* "evga gtx970" ve vÅ¡ech kategoriÃ*ch | CZC.cz

Doesn't matter what she was doing at the time, it would happen over a period of time of getting constantly hot from not being repasted and cleaned constantly. As I've owned 4 580s myself I can tell you from experience they will go belly up if they aren't repasted and kept clean. A custom fan curve goes a long ways too.

Spare GPU or not, what PSU are you using? Running a cheap PSU that is undervolting a 580 could cause it to die too. Under load stock they can take almost 300w by themselves.

8GB of RAM is perfectly suitable for any gaming.

 

[DZimmy]

@PP Mguire: What exactly do you mean by repasted? Is damage caused by this repairable? Oh I forgot to mention the PSU Corsair Enthusiast Series Modular TX750M 750W. It should be enough even for GTX970, right?

 

[DZimmy]

I got so excited about new GPU that I ordered EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 2.0 4GB. It is on sale.
I can still cancel it, so please tell me - is it the best buy?
And about PhysX? All the GeForces have PhysX? Because I coudn't find it in the specs.
Also I hope the PSU will be enough?

Sorry for so many questions and thank you for further answers.

And an important thing - GTX970 is PCI-Express 3.0 and my ASUS P8Z68-V PRO - Intel Z68 has only PCI-E 2 is that a trouble?

 

[Dauntae]

Repaste is the same as if you were doing it to the CPU, It's just putting new thermal paste on the heatsink so it gets the best cooling. As for the GTX970, You will love that card. Will get great frame rates and run everything smooth maxed out on all the settings. There is a few who have neg about it but those are the ones running higher res than a 1080P monitor. The 970 is a beast of a card and was designed to max out everything out for the new generation of games at 1080, But when you start running higher than 1080 like the new 4K monitors is when the 970 struggles but there is little hardware out there right now that will run a 4K monitor on max settings. As long as you stay at 1080 it will last you a long time.

 

[PP Mguire]

PSU should be fine. 970 is fine, and will run on PCI-E 2 (I have two Titan X on PCI-E 2).

The stock thermal paste on GPUs is pretty terrible as it's more of a blanket than actually doing any good. That's why I kept talking about it. A repaste on a GTX580 is almost necessary as soon as you buy it because they run so hot.