15 replies to this topic

[+jamesyfx]

Hey guys, after about 5 years of using nothing but Apple Macs and laptops I've decided to build a Windows PC, and I've gone for a budget spec, but I've tried to look for quality components at least. I've got a Gigabyte motherboard, XFX power supply, Mushkin memory, and an AMD FX processor.. Now all I need is a graphics card. I just want to get a good compromise between quality of components, brand and performance.

... There are so many graphics cards out there, it's a complete minefield. I don't know where to look. I've been out of the loop for that long that I don't know which brands are good, or even whether it's worth deciding AMD over Nvidia and stuff like that.

But my budget is £100-150 for a graphics card. I was hoping one of you brilliant souls on here would find a spot-on product for me.

Thanks.

[+jamesyfx]

Bump. Had a look around today but I can't be sure whether what I pick is a good buy or not, soI'm still after some suggestions or advice.

[+BoneyardBrew]

What do you plan on doing with this PC? If gaming, I'd say something along the lines of a 560 Ti would be your best bet for that price range. Some of my favorite brands are MSI and EVGA.

I'm not sure where you're shopping but I did take a quick look at overclockers.uk and found this card. It has a great cooler and it's overclocked out of the box to squeeze some more performance out of the card.

[+Crisp]

Any Radeon 6000 series graphics card. I'm looking at getting an XFX HD 6870 Black Edition for my FX.

[+jamesyfx]

Thanks for the suggestions. I was thinking EVGA and XFX would be the best brands to go for respectively, is this accurate?

The computer will be used for gaming on a large display.

I was looking at AMD Radeon cards, but their model numbers have confused the heck out of me. I could easily afford a 7000 Series graphics card with my budget, but is a 6000 Series one better?

As for where I can shop, virtually anywhere other than ebuyer. However, Aria.co.uk would usually be my first port of call since they are local to me (30 mins bus ride) and I can pick stuff up direct. Same with Microdirect.

[Mark]

7000 series is the latest. There are 7000 series cards which are less powerful than some 6000 cards. There are some 6000 cards which are less powerful than some 5000 cards.

There is still usually an advantage from going with the latest series, for example, cooler temps and lower power consumption.

Having said that, I'd go with a 6850/6870/6890 in your price range. See if you can get something that comes with anything other than the stock fan, although it does the job, it can be a bit noisy. OC models imo are a waste of money, the factory overclocks are usually pretty minimal. They do allow for generally better manual overclocks but I've only personally managed to get a small real world increase in performance by doing that anyway. I've never used a custom ROM before though so there's something to consider. I don't like the idea of wrecking a perfectly good card though.

BTW, I have a 6850 and think it's brilliant. If you're doing a whole new build, maybe get that and spend the excess on something else like an ssd or something.

[Site Lab]

6870 or 560ti.

PowerColor PCS+ Radeon HD 6870 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ 1 FREE Game! 129.95
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards+-+GPUs/Graphics+Cards+-+AMD/Radeon+HD+6870/PowerColor+PCS%2B+Radeon+HD+6870+OC+1024MB+GDDR5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+w%2F+1+FREE+Game%21+?productId=50101

OR if you can stretch your budget a little bit more

Zotac GeForce GTX 560Ti 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E 2.0 Dual-link DVI HDMI Graphics Card Retail 156.00
http://www.microdire...GDDR5-PCI-E-2-0

I think they both have the cards in stock at their stores.

[MillionVoltss]

For the Drivers along id go with Nvidia, I have a 560ti 1024 and its great. I play at 720p 1680 x 1050 resolution and can max settings for most games if not nearly highest setting. ( Skyrim, Max Payne 3, CS Beta, LA Noire, Crysis 2, GTA V ) .

[MillionVoltss]

http://www.ebuyer.co...medium=products Cheaper link Ebuyer. Sorry

Mines the MSI Twin Frozer but its slightly more expensive.

[TokiToki]

jamesyfx, on 02 June 2012 - 17:42, said:

Thanks for the suggestions. I was thinking EVGA and XFX would be the best brands to go for respectively, is this accurate?

The computer will be used for gaming on a large display.

They may have better warranty (some cards have lifetime), but you'll be fine with all other manufacturers as well. Another factor to look into is which cards have improvements over stock, such as a better fan. I have an EVGA GTX 560 TI which with the stock fan was extremely noisy and heats up like crazy. I've since changed the fan with an aftermarket one and it is now absolutely silent and very cool in temperature. I could have easily saved some money getting the MSI Twin Frozr instead.

[+jamesyfx]

Okay, so to summarise, brand is less important, as well as overclocked editions.. and the cooling system installed is more important.

So either a Radeon 6870 or a Geforce 560 Ti? Thanks for the posts guys, this was exactly what I was after!

[+BoneyardBrew]

jamesyfx, on 02 June 2012 - 19:29, said:

Okay, so to summarise, brand is less important, as well as overclocked editions.. and the cooling system installed is more important.

So either a Radeon 6870 or a Geforce 560 Ti? Thanks for the posts guys, this was exactly what I was after!

Based on this benchmark, I'd go with the 560 Ti. It seems to always edge out in games. As far as drivers go, Nvidia tends to release drivers monthly with performance improvements more times than not, while AMD just switched to a "when they're needed" schedule. Doesn't sound too promising to me when their driver releases were already very strange (this month's latest WHQL drivers older than last month's Beta drivers, and so on).

When you say larger display, what resolution are you hinting at? 1920x1080 or higher? Anything higher than 1920x1080 might be pushing it for either of these cards depending on whether you want to max out your games at 60FPS.

[+jamesyfx]

Usually 1360x768, so I reckon I could get some nice performance... but I can ramp it up to 1920x1080 if I'm after a higher resolution.

[+BoneyardBrew]

jamesyfx, on 03 June 2012 - 17:29, said:

Usually 1360x768, so I reckon I could get some nice performance... but I can ramp it up to 1920x1080 if I'm after a higher resolution.

You'd get fantastic performance at 1360x768 and great performance at 1920x1080. I had a 560 Ti prior to upgrading and was able to handle just about everything maxed out. Battlefield 3 was the only exception which had some issues if there was too much smoke on the screen.

For your budget my recommendation still stands unless you can snag a 570 for a price within your budget.

[Ulpian]

Maybe use this: http://www.benchmark...arator-gpu.html (Polish not needed)
I could buy 6850, which is best in value, but I bought slightly slower and more expensive 7770, because of low noise and low power consumption.
7770 75W DX11.1
6850 115W DX11.0
560 Ti 145W DX11.0

Also IIRC 7xxx line is much better in term of idle power consumption.