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Question

Defective Graphics card? Need help w/ alternative!

Sep 1, 2015 8:22AM PDT

Hello,

A couple weeks ago after playing a game of league of legends my pc started displaying some weird patterns and lines. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with my graphics card (It's a Sapphire Radeon HD7950) since I'd cleaned out the dust about 2 months ago which had fixed the issue before.

Weird color patterns on screen

At this point you could still see parts of the background (1440p version of this image: background image)


After rebooting it booted into windows but shortly after the screen went striped blue/dark blue

Striped display

The problem has only gotten worse after the last time it did this, I'm currently unable to boot the pc as it displays only a black screen. (it does actually power up and all the fans move correctly)

So here's my first question: Can anyone confirm if this is a graph. card issue?

I had bought a random Graphics card at a local store only to have me bring it back later the same day.
This all happened before my pc (with my current HD7950) completely stopped working. It only displayed a black screen just like it does right now but I figured it had to be caused by my power supply (due to it not being powerful enough).

This is the reason for my second question, which is about compatability. I'll list my components so that you guys (the experts!) can help me with determining what a suitable card is to replace the defective one.

This is my system;

Motherboard: Asrock P67 Extreme4 Gen3
Processor: Intel Core I7 2600K
Processor fan: Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B
RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR3,1600-8GB KIT
Power Supply: XFX Pro 550W
Graphics card: Sapphire HD7950 3GB GDDR5
Case: Corsair Carbide 500R (stock fans all connected, no extra fans)
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 1TB (Replaced a 256GB Samsung 830 when my Seagate HDD broke)

These are all older parts apart from the SSD, I bought the system back in 2012. Also recently replaced my screen which is now a Samsung U28D590D Silver (28inch 4k display).

My goal is to replace the defective part without having to replace the entire system. I use the computer mainly for gaming. The games I'd like to run smoothly if possible;

Guild Wars 2 (medium/high settings preferably 1080/1440p is good enough)
League of Legends (not that demanding compared to Guild Wars 2)

Also would like to be able to watch 4k movies without the screen tearing. My screen requires a DisplayPort connection to achieve 60Hz. HDMI only got me 30Hz and this is really a pain to look at to be honest. I believe a lot of the newer Graphics cards have a DisplayPort slot?

Thanks in advance!

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
That's not good enough for 4K yet.
Sep 1, 2015 11:32AM PDT
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PS. If you decide to keep the card
Sep 1, 2015 11:38AM PDT
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About that
Sep 1, 2015 12:44PM PDT

My intention with the 4k is only to watch movies and do basic office stuff. I'm not really looking for a 4k gaming rig. I just need to replace my graphics card with something that can run 1080p or 1440p games. (without having to replace my PSU if possible)

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Budget
Sep 1, 2015 2:48PM PDT
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I'm reading a lot of screams from folk with 4K displays.
Sep 1, 2015 2:52PM PDT

I can't imagine why no one warned you off. Even movie playback at 4K takes a lot of horsepower on a PC. You would be far better off leaving 4K to 4K BluRay players.

Now what I see the screaming mad crowd do is either dump more green into the PC or just play the content at 1080 and let the display scale it up.