New Graphics Card - £150

[Mathius]

My current card, the 4870 is great for what I play, which to be honest is only MW3, BO2, Metro 2033. However I frequently get a ATIKMDAG.sys BSoD.

I've searched this and there is no real fix......I've made do since June '12 but with the upcoming GTA V, and newly announced CoD Title, as well as the Noise of the current fan etc..... I want a new card....

Budget of £150 is ideal. (I'm waiting on a AC Twin Turbo II Pro cooler)

*Sapphire 7850 2GB (OC edition or not, but will be OC'ing myself anyway)
*PowerColor 7850 2GB
*PowerColor 7850 2GB PCS+
*MSI R7850 2GD5/OC
*Asus 7850 2GB (dual fan edition, but have the ACTT2P cooler anyway)

The 7870 is also something I'd be looking at but these very rarely go for close to my budget.

I hear that people suggest to not go for the GTX 660 but aim for the 660Ti version, and I would but its out of my budget.

Any suggestions? I'm looking toward the 7850's for their extreme overclocking potential.....


Could a Poll be added to this thread...... I tried and nearly had it, and my Internet glitched, with OTHER - Please Suggest added to it, thanks

 

[Josh Weston]

Poll added.

 

[Mathius]

Thank you

 

[seumasbeathan]

I say save a little and go for the 7870 Tahiti LE

 

[Mathius]

Link to a great priced Tahiti card ? UK Pounds

(or via PM if external links are a no go)

 

[Christoi]

Link to a great priced Tahiti card ? UK Pounds

This, perhaps?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AAAFE7E/?tag=pcp0f-21
£20 over and it's a reference design, but it'll perform significantly better than a OC'd HD7850. If possible, I'd go with that one instead.

If you can stretch that extra bit however, I'd recommend either this XFX card, or this Gigabyte one instead. Out of the two the Gigabyte card has a better cooler so overclocking potencial would be better, but I thought I'd also link the XFX one since it's a great deal at £125. You could also opt for a better unit like the DCII cards and such, but personally I don't think the extra performance you get from overclocking will be worth the added costs.

 

[alienware]

I wouldn't buy a XFX with your money.

Seriously,absolutely pish. Their warranty is among the worst too..

If you live in the UK go with Gigabyte as it's only them and KFA2 that offer UK based RMA direct. Otherwise you'll be shipping to Europe at your expense or at the mercy of your retailer who doesn't give a toss.

 

[paulstung]

Personally I've got the Sapphire 7850 , and it is a little beast of a card . It can handle most things thrown at it . For £150 I'd say the best performing card out there .

 

[Mathius]

yea but then I see things like a Sapphire 7870 Manufacturer Refurbished for the same price, and then I seen a GTX 670 go for £200.......

Now even I know its worth the extra £50 to get a 670.....

The flip side is my card (the 4870) has a common problem, to which there is no solid fix. ATIKMDAG.sys or ATIKMPAG.sys

The last thing I want it to buy a £150 video card for it to have the same errors.....as currently I dont need anything more than what I have...

 

[paulstung]

have you tried any of the fixes ?

 

[Mathius]

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=363233

Done that ^^^ nothing!

Uninstalled All Drivers, CCC, and got it all clean, and reinstalled, problem persists.
Tried the Re-seat RAM suggestion, and it seemed to work..... but I dont think it is a 'problem solved'

Now that the PC is running, I can restart quite alot (e.g setting an overclock) but when I shutdown for the night, it doesn't get turned on (lol) for about 18 hours, and the problem is back.

 

[RadeonHDx]

Have you considered the XFX 7850 2GB for £140 or a XFX 7870 DD, which is only £170 on Aria. I currently have a 7870 and they play all games great! Most games I have set to high to max settings! Hope this helps.

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't read all of the posts. I am agreeing with Christoi.

 

[paulstung]

http://www.overclock.net/t/420875/possible-solution-to-atikmdag-driver-crash
Try this mate ,found it after a quick search

 

[Mathius]

I've been getting the BSoD's before I installed the CCC.... hence my problem.....

I thought it was because my Video Driver was out of date...

Without CCC installed I went to Device Manager and updated the Video Driver = Already uptodate...

With CC installed, along came a new driver.... baffled me.

I need the new driver from CCC so that Asus GPU Tweak and MSI Afterburner read my card.

Can I not just copy the ATIKMDAG/PAG.sys files and paste them on my USB and then uninstall CCC > then replace the driver files ?

 

[paulstung]

when you removed ccc did you remove the driver also ? If not try removing that then use driver sweeper , to remove all traces of AMD , and then just install the driver only as mentioned in the article I posted . Almost a start from scratch approach . Other than that I'm out of my depth mate hopefully someone with more experience than me can help . Good luck .

 

[Mathius]

I'll give it another try later....and we'll see....

I'm not hold my hopes though.....

 

[Mathius]

Ok here's what I've done tonight...

Uninstalled CCC
Uninstalled the driver through Device Manager
Run Driver Sweeper - AMD

Reboot...

Autodetected the GPU (rebooted again)
---------------------
I went to Device Manager - and Update Driver = Already Up To Date. (8.56.1.16)

Asus GPU Tweak and MSI Afterburner, will not work/read properly

Installed CCC - Custom settings and picked only the Drivers for the display adapter (I had done Express beforehand)

Driver Version Now is 8.970.100.7000 and Asus GPU Tweak + MSI Afterburner work as they should.....

----------------------

Lets see if this annoying error goes away, but will have to test it tomorrow night, when it usually occurs

Failing that I just dont know......


I'm still debating the 7850 (NEW) or 7870 (Used but in great condition) or maybe the GTX 660

 

[alienware]

If you don't want any driver headaches then the 660 is a nice card.