Choosing a Video Card

Hey Guys,

Looking to spend less than $250.

I've been looking at a bunch of cards from the 290x, to the Superclocked gtx 760 and 750Ti

Do you guys have any suggestions for a new GPU? I'm not going to be doing anything gaming intense or anything of the sort i just want to upgrade from my HD 7770.

Keep in mind i have an fx 6300 OC'd to 4.5ghz, so try not to pick a GPU that'll create a bottleneck because i'm not looking to upgrade my CPU.

Thanks.

 

Wait for the 900s.

 

I'm sure they'll be more than $250... And would probably be OVERKILL and create a bottleneck with my 6300.

 

A 270x would suit you best. It's only 170$ and has good specs for the price. Anything higher performance and I'm sure it will bottleneck with that cpu.

 

The 900s are theoretically supposed to be both cost and power-efficient versions of the GTX 700 series. Not only will it drop prices down, it will force the 700 series price down.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqHm4VQecTE


AMD just dropped the price of some of their cards

 

well, if you're considering the 750ti, while theyre not as good as the 760, theyre a GREAT card especially considering how much power they DONT need from your power supply. If I were you, and I were in the market, I would wait until the 960 hits the market. It will suit your budget perfectly, and will last you a long time. I'm waiting on a 980, and already have a 750ti that I had been using as a dedicated PhsX card with my previous GPU. Currently running off solely the 750ti right now since I sold my GPU, and am pleasantly surprised. I'd never used the card before by itself, but it does play modern games on high settings at 1080p. not bad. I really like the fact that my PSU never even gets warm with this Maxwell card!

 

Maxwell architecture is beautiful.

 

Well, seeing as i'm not a heavy gamer AT ALL, maybe i should just get the 750Ti?

The most graphic intense game i play is probably Sims 4 lol.

The GTX 960 was postponed yesterday until 2015...

 

You would be THRILLED with the 750ti, especially at its price point. I've been experimenting with it while I'm awaiting my GTX 980 for the last few days. I'm pleasantly surprised that it runs as good as it does, I've been using it as nothing but a PhysX card for its entire lifetime, shame it's capable of so much more.
So far, it will max the witcher 2 (except "ubersampling" option, which I don't visually see any difference at 1080p) at 45-50 FPS
It almost maxes BF4 at around 40 fps, save for AA and shadows which kill performance badly
For your Sims 4, it is 100% maxed and never drops below the frame limiter.
AC Black Flag plays with MOST settings maxed, but using advanced AA, High PhysX, and soft shadows will kill the FPS, so I have lowered those for an average 45 FPS with everything else maxed. Certain parts of this game are limited to 30fps for some reason by ubisoft, and it has no problem maintaining this frame rate.
Need for Speed games all run maxed at around 60 FPS for me


Now, on some of these games the FPS will dip low under certain circumstances, but unless you're a hardcore gamer it won't bother you at all. What I've listed is what I see as an average for the most part. All of the games have remained 100% playable in my opinion for the average gamer at some very impressive settings. Would I recommend it to someone who is pretty hardcore about their games, the gameplay experience, and the settings? Probably not, as the upcoming generation of games will truly show this card as a midrange card, due to its bandwidth and 2gb memory limitations. But even then, this card should be able to play those next-gen games at mid-high settings with decent framerates, I would guess.

The best part about this little Maxwell monster is that you need no additional power. It uses so little power that the 75w output limit of the PCI-E 3.0 bus is enough to power this card by itself. Just plug it in, and game on. It also stays very cool, maxing around 60C under full load. I also have superb cooling in my case, but I doubt it would get much warmer in a more cramped case.

 

so the bottom line is, 750ti or 270x?

I'm not looking to spend more than $250 honestly. Or actually i think the 760 would be the comparable card to the 270x

270x is ~$170, 760 is ~$200

$30 difference, which do you guys think is better between the two? After a small amount of research the 760ti is slightly better but not sure if its $30 better or not.


edit: after much consideration i'm going to purchase the 760, found one for $180, thinks that a pretty good deal. Just wondering if my 4.4Ghz FX6300 will keep up. Anyone think it'll create a bottleneck?

edit2: just found a 270x for $120... and i'm back to square one.

 

If your budget is at 250 right now, then now is not the time to buy a GPU. When you can muster about another ~ $75 dollars, then go ahead and buy a GTX 970. 760 is not worth buying right now, as Maxwell is HERE and NOW! lol and it truly is great. The added features and technology involved in the Maxwell cards makes the old kepler 700-series cards look like dinosaurs. Except the 750ti, which is Maxwell. Just stay away from them. Their time has come to an end.
Nonetheless, in your budget, I'd go with the best AMD card you can buy(if you need to buy something now), which in your budget is the R9-285 and R9-280X. Dollar for dollar, at 250- and under, you won't find a better card than those right now til the rest of the Maxwell cards come out. Though, you should consider the extra change for a gtx 970. It's the best deal on the market right now, and the biggest steal of a deal for a gpu to be released in years IMO.

 

Well ideally those cards would be great for heavy gamers or someone who does things that are graphically intense.

I on the other hand don't do any sort of video rendering or heavy gaming, the most graphic intense thing i do is Sims 4 or convert video files.

So honestly, the cheaper the better, knowing that information would you still advise me to get the 280x or gtx 970?

The 270x for $120 seemed like a steal.

 

For 'here and now' gaming based on your usage, I'd go 750ti or the 270(x) for sure. Those would do the job very well for the minimal requirements you are in need of.

For the future though, I'd still heavily recommend the upgrade, even if it may be overkill. Who knows, it may even strike you to get into some other games which might make use of the extra power.

 

True. What do you think of the bottlenecking concern?

 

There is no bottlenecking concern. Sure, you might pick up 3-5 FPS in SELECT games by switching to an i5, primarily on games that are poorly optimized, but your overall gaming experience will hardly be any different than anyone else's with a higher-end processor. If I put my GTX 980 in your rig, PSU factors aside, I doubt my gaming experience would be any better on my I7-4770k rig than on your FX-6300 rig. The FPS difference (if any in most cases) would be so minor it would never justify the upgrade, considering that the FPS would already be so high. Now, if you went SLI...then you would find your bottleneck. People just don't seem to understand computers, and think that games need a supercomputer to run them.

 

I'm definitely not one of those with that common misconception, Thanks for all your help. Looks like i'll be going for a 750ti or 280x.

 

haha didn't mean to make it sound like that might have been aimed at you. Just towards the guys that come in here saying you gotta have an i5 or i7 to game with. You'll be happy with either, good luck! PM if you ever have any concerns and want a factual, unbiased response anytime.