Graphics Card suggestions ~

[Kerm]

I've just had my XFX R7850 begun showing up artefacts and crashing the computer, it's over two years old and out of warranty so I'm reluctantly left with no choice to stump up for a new card.

 

Ive paid no attention to the current range and so would just like some advice on choosing please.

I have a Gigabyte mobo.

 

Budget is around

[PGHammer]

Any of the GTX750s would be a choice option - especially if you don't want to pony up for a new PSU atop the GPU change.

 

My current recommendation - ASUS GTX750 DirectCU Silent. http://www.asus.com/us/Graphics_Cards/GTX750DCSL2GD5/

 

Fanless and requires no extra power, either.  It even supports G-Sync and DX12.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

I have this one: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-gigabyte-gtx-750ti-wf2-oc-black-edition-pcie-30-5400mhz-gddr5-gpu-1163mhz-boost-1242mhz-cores-64

 

A bit over your budget, but it's working great for me.

[+PeterUK MVC]

I prefer NVIDIA over AMD but the R9 270 does seem to be better then GTX 750 Ti
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1130?vs=1080

http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-amd-radeon-r9-270-975mhz-2gb-gddr5-pci-e-3-0-hdmi-directcu-ii-oc-93KL.html?refs=469930000-498490000&src=3

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

The only thing the R9 270 has over the 750Ti is its newness. Of course it will perform better...

[+PeterUK MVC]

The only thing the R9 270 has over the 750Ti is its newness. Of course it will perform better...

The GTX 750 Ti was Launch February 18, 2014 the R9 270 was Launch Nov 13, 2013

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

I thought the R9 270 was newer, my mistake. But like you, these days, I prefer NVIDIA over AMD...

[Kerm]

Thanks for the suggestions. That Asus R9 270 does look like it fits the bill perfectly. Cheers PeterUK.

[Kerm]

I have the choice narrowed down to these two cards;

 

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-xfx-radeon-r9-270x-28nm-5600mhz-gddr5-gpu-1000mhz-boost-1050mhz-1280-streams-dp-dvi-hdmi''>XFX R9 270X -

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

I'd go with the 270X, most XFX hardware has lifetime warranty.

[Luc2k]

On the site he linked, the warranty is 2 years.

 

As for choosing between the cards, I'd look for some review of that Powercolor model to see if it has any kinks. While I don't have any experience with the brand itself, it has been in the GPU business for a very long time.

 

Another thing to take note of, is that the 3xx series will launch next month and since anything not top end will (unfortunately) be a rebrand with higher clocks, they'll probably appear in shops very fast.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Yeah, I said most. Powercolor, I'm not familiar with..

[123456789A]

If you're really on a budget you should get the Nvidia because the AMD uses more electricity at idle and for gaming and that will cost you more money down the road.

[Luc2k]

Yeah, I said most.

That's mostly in the US though. Can't say I've seen any lifetime warranties in the EU while glancing at their cards although I didn't thoroughly researched this.

If you're really on a budget you should get the Nvidia because the AMD uses more electricity at idle and for gaming and that will cost you more money down the road.

Yeah, an insignificant amount. (apply video logic to AMD vs NV)

 

[123456789A]

That's mostly in the US though. Can't say I've seen any lifetime warranties in the EU while glancing at their cards although I didn't thoroughly researched this.

Yeah, an insignificant amount. (apply video logic to AMD vs NV)

 

 

Except the efficiency of the Nvidia over the AMD is much better than the efficiency of Intel vs AMD.

 

Nvidia cards also don't degrade and get artifacts and crazy glitches after a year like my AMD cards did.

[Luc2k]

Except the efficiency of the Nvidia over the AMD is much better than the efficiency of Intel vs AMD.

 

Nvidia cards also don't degrade and get artifacts and crazy glitches after a year like my AMD cards did.

I doubt there's much difference when it comes to percentages. Regardless, it's still pocket change difference at the end of the year.

 

As for your second claim, I hope you have some proof of that being a widespread issue and that it affects current cards (if it happened at all the way you make it sound).

 

Fun fact about Nvidia: owners of previous generation cards are pretty ###### right now because Nvidia is neglecting them so much that a 780 Ti is equal at best to a 970 in Witcher 3 and Project Cars (Gameworks titles btw). Considering their next generation will be Pascal which will feature HBM memory (an even bigger difference than the one between Kepler and Maxwell), I'd expect Maxwell to go the way of the dodo once it's released. Say what you will about AMD, but they support their old cards.

[Anibal P]

I doubt there's much difference when it comes to percentages. Regardless, it's still pocket change difference at the end of the year.

 

As for your second claim, I hope you have some proof of that being a widespread issue and that it affects current cards (if it happened at all the way you make it sound).

 

Fun fact about Nvidia: owners of previous generation cards are pretty ###### right now because Nvidia is neglecting them so much that a 780 Ti is equal at best to a 970 in Witcher 3 and Project Cars (Gameworks titles btw). Considering their next generation will be Pascal which will feature HBM memory (an even bigger difference than the one between Kepler and Maxwell), I'd expect Maxwell to go the way of the dodo once it's released. Say what you will about AMD, but they support their old cards.

 

 

The support for ancient devices is why their drivers blow, you have to call it quits eventually, personally I thing 3 generations is more than enough to support, anything older is a waste of resources and AMD can't afford to be wasteful as it is

[Luc2k]

The support for ancient devices is why their drivers blow, you have to call it quits eventually, personally I thing 3 generations is more than enough to support, anything older is a waste of resources and AMD can't afford to be wasteful as it is

When's the last time you've used their drivers as the "their drivers blow" skit is a mummified horse by now. While I personally don't have any issues right now, from reading comment threads on both AMD and Nvidia driver release threads (on Guru3D), there are an equal amount of issues affecting both camps. While AMD may support too many generations (5 currently, although a good chunk are rebrands) it's still better for a consumer than just supporting only the latest one and crippling anything older.

[Anibal P]

When's the last time you've used their drivers as the "their drivers blow" skit is a mummified horse by now. While I personally don't have any issues right now, from reading comment threads on both AMD and Nvidia driver release threads (on Guru3D), there are an equal amount of issues affecting both camps. While AMD may support too many generations (5 currently, although a good chunk are rebrands) it's still better for a consumer than just supporting only the latest one and crippling anything older.

Not since 08, and everything I'm heading since makes me about them completely still

[SpartanZX7]

I normally go AMD on cheaper builds. I prefer Nvidia but find AMD lower-end cards better than Nvidia's. 

[Noir Angel]

There's nothing wrong with AMD's drivers, ignore the silly fearmongering. I own an R9 280x, and before that I owned a 6950, a 5770, and a 4950 and the drivers were rock solid, I've had maybe 3 or 4 driver crashes in 6 years of AMD cards and most of those were caused by Valve's Hammer map editor.

[FunkyMike]

I work a lot with AMD drivers for switchable graphics devices.

 

So from my experience it is best if you go with Nvidia. Especially if you are considering Windows 10.

 

Frankly speaking AMD was nearly down to a skeleton crew in terms of driver development.... and it shows in code, features and performance.

 

I wish it wasn't so. If you check the Windows Insider bug reports for drivers AMD is pretty much at the top with all sorts of interesting issues.

[Luc2k]

Not since 08, and everything I'm heading since makes me about them completely still

That sounds about right, the good ol' "I've used AMD cards when they were called ATI and nothing changed since then".

I work a lot with AMD drivers for switchable graphics devices.

 

So from my experience it is best if you go with Nvidia. Especially if you are considering Windows 10.

 

Frankly speaking AMD was nearly down to a skeleton crew in terms of driver development.... and it shows in code, features and performance.

 

I wish it wasn't so. If you check the Windows Insider bug reports for drivers AMD is pretty much at the top with all sorts of interesting issues.

See, I was with you when you started mentioning switchable graphics because that's where I've seen the bulk of current complaints about their drivers and where they are in a worse position than the competition (didn't mention the since this topic is about desktop GPUs), but then you go on and lie about code/features/performance. I guess the Omega driver, Mantle, TressFX, etc. never happened in your world.

 

By Windows Insider you mean W10 right which is unfinished right? And it's not like Nvidia's drivers are rock solid for it even though they have an "official" one out.

[Noir Angel]

I work a lot with AMD drivers for switchable graphics devices.

 

So from my experience it is best if you go with Nvidia. Especially if you are considering Windows 10.

 

Frankly speaking AMD was nearly down to a skeleton crew in terms of driver development.... and it shows in code, features and performance.

 

I wish it wasn't so. If you check the Windows Insider bug reports for drivers AMD is pretty much at the top with all sorts of interesting issues.

 

I don't know why this has to be illustrated over and over again, but...

 

Windows 10 is UNFINISHED SOFTWARE.

 

Stable OSes... never had problems with AMD drivers.

[FunkyMike]

 

See, I was with you when you started mentioning switchable graphics because that's where I've seen the bulk of current complaints about their drivers and where they are in a worse position than the competition (didn't mention the since this topic is about desktop GPUs), but then you go on and lie about code/features/performance. I guess the Omega driver, Mantle, TressFX, etc. never happened in your world.

 

By Windows Insider you mean W10 right which is unfinished right? And it's not like Nvidia's drivers are rock solid for it even though they have an "official" one out.

 

For threads sake I will glance over the point of you calling me a liar.

 

The amount of setups I come across isn't solely restricted to switchable cards but PXAI setups essentially allowed me to look into the code of CCC and into the kernel.

 

The first thing I advise you, is to understand that AMD as a company is short staffed, has a low employee retention rate and a bulk of their driver development team left over the years. Those Samsungs buyout reports aren't just fairy tales.

 

Currently the graphics division rides on creating new cards and fixating all their support on them. So the argument of AMD actively supporting older platforms is moot as Nvidia has a far deeper reache of support for older cards. Especially when it comes to supporting DX12 on much older Nvidia cards for Windows 10.

 

A huge shift in their strategy since the ATI days is to rely on their marketing. None the less Omega and TressFX is a huge part of that exact marketing campaign. I guess giving drivers special names is enough for some people these days. So all in all Mantle is one of the best techs to come out of AMD, unfortunately not without its issues.

 

Check out AMDs announcement on creating a "Tiger Team" which is supposed to respond to bug reports in a faster and more efficient way ( They are hiring now). Also a nice marketing move which was largely ridiculed by the community. Don't expect them to mention Tiger Team ever again.

 

One example of their marketing department doing "magic" is the "reintroduction" of GPUDownScalling features into their drivers with a nice new slogan of Virtual Super Resolution. Ensuring to the community that only new cards could support such a feature as it relies on an integrated special "chip".

 

Long story short... a quick changing of a few dwords showed everyone that everything down to an HD5000 supports this magic feature. Suffice to say that this backfired badly for AMD.

 

Now with the release of Windows 10122 Gabe Aul send out a tweet on how the recent AMD drivers cause quite a few issues for the OS and that AMD users should be aware of upgrading until AMD has a chance to fix it.

 

Unfortunately their fix failed and users are still reporting bugs with Edge/Spartan among other things.

 

Another example is the freesync driver for Crossfire setups. Wake me up when this happens.

 

Another personal example would be a current bug on AMD drivers that was reported 1,3 years ago which I have been looking into with an MS graphics tech.

 

AMD will hopefully fix it ... seeing as how they broke it for Windows 8.1 to begin with.

 

Nvidia had 4 WHQL drivers out for Windows 10. Guess how many WHQL drivers AMD had throughout all this year?!

 

 

 

PS. Next time watch your mouth.