Video card suggestion


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I have a few more parts to get before I'm ready to start building my computer. I've been trying to decide on a good video card to get, and have asked around at various stores. What I'm finding is that a card with at least 3GB of memory is a good place to start if I wanted to run games at the highest setting all the time, and 4 would be better. There's quit quite a big price jump going from a 2GB up to a 3 or 4. I picked up a GeForce GTX 760. In my previously posed posted topic regarding s new build, a 770 was recommended. My understanding is that the 770 is an overclocked version of the 760.

Can I expect to get good performance out of the 760 as far as game play on high settings? I'd like to have a decent system that will run effectively without any upgrades needed for a while.

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No the 770 is not just overcloked.

 

It has more steam processors and texture units. The 760 is less powerful than a 670 and a 7970.

 

If you can't afford a 770 maybe a 280x would be a better option. There's a very good deal for the one by Sapphire right now at Newegg.

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7400/the-radeon-r9-280x-review-feat-asus-xfx

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202046&cm_re=280x-_-14-202-046-_-Product

 

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I like the Sapphire R9 280X in that it's a 3GB card with a few game bundles for less than I paid for the GTX 760.

 

As for the 770, it's actually just a bit less than what I paid for the 760. Maybe I should just go with the 770 for now.

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I'm playing most if not all games on Very High using a 7870 with 2GB of RAM and 1920x1080.  Of course 3GB would be better, but hardly necessary unless your resolution is much higher.  I haven't officially benchmarked any of them, but CoD: Ghosts, Wolfenstein, Battlefield 3, Battlefield: Hardline, and others run fine.

 

The 760 is actually a little better card than mine.  I would keep it unless you just have money to burn.  It's nice to get new card if everything else is new, but try using it and if you don't like it, then get a new card.

 

For comparison, my rig:

Core i5 3570 at 3.4Ghz

16GB of Crucial Ballistix at 1600Mhz

Radeon 7870 XFX Double D

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At stock speeds, the GTX770 beats the 280X slightly. If you're willing to OC the 280X, however (and it's quite OC-able), the 280X beats the GTX770 in every benchmark.

 

<-- owner of VisionTek's 280X, which I must recommend because of the lifetime warranty it comes with. 

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I'm going to be using the i7-4790 CPU. I may overclock it at some point. I searched for a comparison of the 770 vs the 280c, and it seemed like the 770 out performed the 280x in all tests.

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I'm going to be using the i7-4790 CPU. I may overclock it at some point. I searched for a comparison of the 770 vs the 280c, and it seemed like the 770 out performed the 280x in all tests.

 

Correct. At stock clocks, the GTX770 beats the r9 280X. However, the GTX770 is also roughly $350. If you were to buy the Sapphire r9 280X and overclock it, you'd be getting better performance than stock GTX770 at roughly $100 cheaper the cost.

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Choosing a GPU is quite tricky at times. 

However you should always factor in at which resolutions you intend to play. 

I myselft have a old 5870 with 1 GB ram. However a computer I built for a friend has a m-atx motherboard with a 7870 3GB card. 

Everything runs fine mostly so far at 2560x1440 resoution. 

 

Usually I'd say that 2-3 GB is OK for resolutions up to 2560x1440 on one screen. However if you intent to use mods, high-rez texture packs and long draw distances and well as lightning etc, and play on several monitors, then maybe Crossfire/SLI and over 3 GB VRAM might be necessary. Or getting that 4 GB GPU-card. However don't skimp on the cooling. Good airflow is really important. 

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Choosing a GPU is quite tricky at times. 

However you should always factor in at which resolutions you intend to play. 

I myselft have a old 5870 with 1 GB ram. However a computer I built for a friend has a m-atx motherboard with a 7870 3GB card. 

Everything runs fine mostly so far at 2560x1440 resoution. 

 

Usually I'd say that 2-3 GB is OK for resolutions up to 2560x1440 on one screen. However if you intent to use mods, high-rez texture packs and long draw distances and well as lightning etc, and play on several monitors, then maybe Crossfire/SLI and over 3 GB VRAM might be necessary. Or getting that 4 GB GPU-card. However don't skimp on the cooling. Good airflow is really important. 

I don't have the room on my desk to run multiple displays. Looking at reviews of the Sapphire, there seems to be reports of issues even with normal everyday use. I suppose though that with every card, someone will identify some issue with it.

 

I'm not going to be too heavily involved in gaming, but to be honest, I don't have any of the current games so I don't really know what kind of settings I would want to use.

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Purchased the Sapphire r9 280x. Hope it turns out to be a good card and that there won't be any problems with it.

 

Update the firmware and keep the drivers updated.

 

I owned many AMD and nVidia gpus (curently own nVidia) and never had any gamebreaking problems with neither of them.

 

Sapphire is not a bad company. If there was a problem with this card it has probably been patched via a firmware update.

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Update the firmware and keep the drivers updated.

 

I owned many AMD and nVidia gpus (curently own nVidia) and never had any gamebreaking problems with neither of them.

 

Sapphire is not a bad company. If there was a problem with this card it has probably been patched via a firmware update.

 

Indeed. I agree. I'd say that many of Sapphire cards I've had had been really good card in terms of quality. Of course there is always somethings more expensive. Sapphire used to be the one that made the reference cards for ATI/AMD.  

 

SIdenote: They once made a white (!) AMD-motherboard. That was sleek. It had the dreaded SB600 Southbrigde however. 

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