Looking for a NEW card? Need help?

hey guys i recently sold off my R9 290x and for the time being i want a graphic card which can run games at atleast medium to high settings at 1080p, i have a 1080p monitor so i am not looking for 2k or 4k gaming and don't care

Running a 3770k with Asus P8Z77VLK, 2x8Gb Corsair Vengence DDR3 1600 Mhz and system is powered by a EVGA SuperNova G2 1000W

Since this is a temp solution for around couple of months i don't want to spend TOO much say around and under 150$ i have been using AMD lately (7850 and 290x) but wouldn't mind getting nvidia either, just care for value for money

Games i mostly play is Dota2 but i will be getting the new Tomb Raider and i haven't finished MGS V till now, apart from gaming the rig is extensively used for Photoshop

I keep 760's around for fill ins, they can be had pretty cheap, perform well and in sli will keep up with a titan.
I have seen them go for 120 or so used.

would prefer single card solution, have never tried SLI / Crossfire so a lil bit skeptic here

1) What are your system specifications? Give us full specs:

CPU = I5 2500k
Motherboard = msi z68 gd65 g3
RAM = 8 gigs ddr3-1600
PSU =corsair tx850
Current Video Card = 5770 playing at 1680x1050 wanting to upgrade lcd at some point in the future
etc.

2) What is your budget?under lets say 200
3) For how long are you planning to have this new card? normally keep for about 2 years
4) What will the new Video Card be used for? gaming mainly just want it future proofed to the point i don't have to worry about upgrading for a while
--- a) Hard-Core Gaming - LOVE GAMING!
--- b) Mixed = Some gaming but not much, a card that will let me play at least at medium/high settings.
--- c) A cheap-o card on which I might be able to game sometimes, not much power needed.
--- d) My grandpa wouldn't care what kind of a card it is, but he'd like to watch DVD's.
5) If Gaming, please tells us the games you're planning to play. Please list as many as you'd love to play.

i play fps almost exclusively cod and battlefield for the last 5+ years

HELP! Which video card should I buy???

1) What are your system specifications? Give us full specs:


CPU = Intel Q8400 OC'd to 3.2Ghz
Cooler = Deepcool Captain 120 AIO
Motherboard = Gigabyte EP43T UD3L
RAM = 8GB 1333Mhtz
PSU = 600+ watts (I haven't decided which to purchase yet but am considering Rosewill fully modular 80+ Gold 650watt)
Current Video Card = nVidia GTX 480
Storage = 120gb SSD, 1TB internal 7200 mechanical
Monitor(s) = Dual 1080p, no plans to go to 4k/1440 at any time soon

2) What is your budget? $100-$200, new or used, nVidia or ATI, SINGLE (not crossfire or SLI)

3) For how long are you planning to have this new card? The foreseeable future (call it 4 years)

4) What will the new Video Card be used for? Everything... hi quality/large screen projector 1080p streaming (I've been using a latop to stream for a long time), gaming (see below), light video (youtube) rendering, lots of browsing, etc. Needless to say, it will get lots of use.

I'm just getting into computer gaming at all. Going to start with the new W.o.W. Expansion which my brother has played from the beginning and has finally talked me into trying. But probably not many other MMO's. I will definitely get into some FPS's like COD, maybe Doom, etc (I was a console gamer previously) Might also do some RPG like Skyrim, No Man's Sky, Assassin's Creed.

Thanks in advance for your help guys!

ten8yp said:

HELP! Which video card should I buy???

1) What are your system specifications? Give us full specs:


CPU = Intel Q8400 OC'd to 3.2Ghz
Cooler = Deepcool Captain 120 AIO
Motherboard = Gigabyte EP43T UD3L
RAM = 8GB 1333Mhtz
PSU = 600+ watts (I haven't decided which to purchase yet but am considering Rosewill fully modular 80+ Gold 650watt)
Current Video Card = nVidia GTX 480
Storage = 120gb SSD, 1TB internal 7200 mechanical
Monitor(s) = Dual 1080p, no plans to go to 4k/1440 at any time soon

2) What is your budget? $100-$200, new or used, nVidia or ATI, SINGLE (not crossfire or SLI)

3) For how long are you planning to have this new card? The foreseeable future (call it 4 years)

4) What will the new Video Card be used for? Everything... hi quality/large screen projector 1080p streaming (I've been using a latop to stream for a long time), gaming (see below), light video (youtube) rendering, lots of browsing, etc. Needless to say, it will get lots of use.

I'm just getting into computer gaming at all. Going to start with the new W.o.W. Expansion which my brother has played from the beginning and has finally talked me into trying. But probably not many other MMO's. I will definitely get into some FPS's like COD, maybe Doom, etc (I was a console gamer previously) Might also do some RPG like Skyrim, No Man's Sky, Assassin's Creed.

Thanks in advance for your help guys!

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I'm going to strongly recommend against Rosewill PSUs. Every one that I have seen used in the past 6 years has catastrophically failed since, taking components with them. I'd recommend EVGA, Seasonic or a few others.

I'd go for probably an RX 470 or GTX 960 in that price range for new, or anything better than that you can find used.

Dlaw said:

I'm going to strongly recommend against Rosewill PSUs. Every one that I have seen used in the past 6 years has catastrophically failed since, taking components with them. I'd recommend EVGA, Seasonic or a few others.

I'd go for probably an RX 470 or GTX 960 in that price range for new, or anything better than that you can find used.

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+1 to EVGA PSU's. Their Supernova lineup is fantastic and rock solid reliable

ten8yp said:

HELP! Which video card should I buy???

1) What are your system specifications? Give us full specs:


CPU = Intel Q8400 OC'd to 3.2Ghz

Click to expand...

I'd suggest an Nvidia GPU because that CPU is seriously weak and AMD cards do have a small cpu overhead disadvantage.

Saul Goodman said:

I'd suggest an Nvidia GPU because that CPU is seriously weak and AMD cards do have a small cpu overhead disadvantage.

Click to expand...

*In DX11

Rudy Kraner said:

GO fo NVIDIA Cards . They are better in my opinion . They have the cooling facilities .

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I'd more put it down to cooler running chips due to lower power usage, the cooler designs on the AMD cards have actually been really good the last few generations.

*Excluding reference

My CPU: 2600k 4.8Ghz

Hi guys im trying to decide on which card to buy. Im trying to decide on best price/performance ratio. Here are the choices"

RX480 4gb = 235eur
GTX1060 3gb = 218eur
GTX970 4gb = 179eur

Which would be the best on price/performace? These are the only prices that i can get from my local store

Performance per watt goes to the 1060
Performance per dollar the GTX 970
Top performance goes to the RX 480

This is based strictly on the raw specs at hwcompare. Real world experience might and probably will vary slightly.

If you go 1060 stick to the 6gb model, will tidy over better in the future.

Hey guys,

So I'm looking for a GPU for my kid's system (6500, H110M-ITX/AC, 8Gb DDR4 2133, SSD+HDD combo, Raven RVZ02, 500W Gold SFX PSU).
I had made a deal with someone from a local forum for a GTX1060 6Gb, but they changed their mind in the last moment. The asking price for 1060 was 200eur (which is fair, around here anyway).
Given that the deal didn't go through, I found someone selling a GTX780 for 100eur (3Gb, Gigabyte Windforce). Realistically, I won't be finding 1060's lower than 200 at the moment and 970's go for around 150 euros. That being said, do you guys reckon it would be worth getting a 780 for a 100?
I do realize I'm not saying what games will be played, but that's because it would be pretty much everything he can get his hands on. Currently he's playing DS2 and DS3, with some other games in between.
Thanks for the input guys!

Looks like a decent deal.

http://www.hwcompare.com/31217/geforce-gtx-1060-vs-geforce-gtx-780/

Taking a glance at hwbot the 780s in firestrike on stock cooling average around 5500 points, and 1060 averaging around 6500 points. The only real downside to the 780 is the amount of power it pulls, but 250W isnt horrible.

If your kid is at 1080P I don't see any downside. Power and they do run somewhat hot.

(At least my son's card does).

yeah, i have a gtx 770 here. I replaced it with my rx480, and there was a significant gain. the gtx 780 would have a much shorter use period, being a 4 year old card. that said, there wasn't much I couldn't run at near max settings, and medium settings were good enough.

Thanks for the input everyone. I picked up the 780 earlier today. Already installed it, got the drivers and will run some benchmarks to see if everything is fine. The seller was somewhat concerned about my PSU, but I don't think it should be an issue. Granted 500W might be on the low side for a GTX780, but it's a decent PSU. Gold rated and shares the exact same SFX-L platform as SilverStone and another brand I can't remember from the top of my head. All three have received fair reviews around the net for this particular PSU.

@Suppressor1137 I acknowledge that a RX480 is clearly a better card, however, the prices have spiked somewhat as of late. The cheapest RX480 4Gb is 213 euros and the cheapest GTX1060 is 195 euros for 3Gb and 239 euros for 6gb version. So more than twice as much, as the GTX780... without even coming close to twice the performance of the GTX780.

As for the longevity of GTX780 - I'm not bothered. I'm not expecting to have it in the system for more than a year.

Thank for the help everyone.

it's his son, all kinds of games for the kids out there that the 780 will be fine for for a few years to come.
one that I'm hooked on was released back in 1999, it's so old it might be dx1........

v1ks_ said:

Thanks for the input everyone. I picked up the 780 earlier today. Already installed it, got the drivers and will run some benchmarks to see if everything is fine. The seller was somewhat concerned about my PSU, but I don't think it should be an issue. Granted 500W might be on the low side for a GTX780, but it's a decent PSU. Gold rated and shares the exact same SFX-L platform as SilverStone and another brand I can't remember from the top of my head. All three have received fair reviews around the net for this particular PSU.

@Suppressor1137 I acknowledge that a RX480 is clearly a better card, however, the prices have spiked somewhat as of late. The cheapest RX480 4Gb is 213 euros and the cheapest GTX1060 is 195 euros for 3Gb and 239 euros for 6gb version. So more than twice as much, as the GTX780... without even coming close to twice the performance of the GTX780.

As for the longevity of GTX780 - I'm not bothered. I'm not expecting to have it in the system for more than a year.

Thank for the help everyone.

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500 watts is plenty. And I wasn't saying go for the rx480, exactly. I thought that you had a deal for 200 eur for the gtx 1060 6 gig, which the seller backed out of, and to consider the rx480, then saw how long this thread was and realized you probably heard it all before.

Posted from my phone, and I missed that bit, sorry

Well, here's an update - the GTX 780 is returning to it's former owner tomorrow.
The system is not stable with the 780 and actually I suspect that PSU is the culprit. I get crashes in Furmark, Superposition and Valley (didn't bother with others) with that 780. When the card is cold (PC just booted up), I can pull off a single Furmark 1080 HQ Preset run. On the second run it crashes. Same with the other benchmarks. It seems that as soon as the card hits 60C, it crashes.
I installed the 780 in my system, which has a 550W PSU and experienced no crashes (same drivers, clean install using DDU) what so ever, even with temps reaching ~70C. Installed my 1070 in kids PC and benches run fine, no issues, no crashes.

Since I don't believe the second rig in my sig can realistically draw more than 400W at full load, I'm inclined to think it's not the wattage, but the ampage of the PSU. The SFX-500GD-C has 40A on 12V, while 780 requires 42A on paper(RM550x is 46.8A I think). Either that, or there's a problem with either caps and/or vrms on the card, which makes it draw more than it realistically should/requires more than 40A and the PSU just can't deliver, leading to regulation/stability issues. Obviously, it could be a mix of both, who knows... I'm no wasting my time trying to pinpoint the issue. Since the seller offers moneyback, I'm returning the card.

I already found a replacement in the shape of a GTX 970 STRIX for 150eur. That should work (if not, this one has moneyback as well, heh).

Thanks again, everyone.