Esequiel Posted September 19, 2013 Posted September 19, 2013 I currently have a: GTS 240 GeForce And i basically want to swap it out for something better but that doesnt require me to change anything else on my PC. I might upgrade the PSU and fans at some point but for now just the graphics card. Anyone got anything reasonably priced they can show me?
Sheikah Posted September 19, 2013 Posted September 19, 2013 How much are you looking to spend? Name a price and I'll name you a card.
Esequiel Posted September 23, 2013 Author Posted September 23, 2013 (edited) @Sheikah Only just noticed this! Im looking to spend under £100. I found the problem with mine is its overheating. Its gets to 116c and cuts out (usage is normally 50% ish on FFXIV) to 6% usage which makes everything stutter. It gets down to 100c and then goes back to 50% usage, until its at 116c again.... rinse and repeat. Edited September 23, 2013 by Esequiel
Sheikah Posted September 23, 2013 Posted September 23, 2013 (edited) If you spend just a little more than £100 you can get a really good card that myself, Cube and EEVIL have. We all have the Radeon 7850 HD and it runs any current game really well in full HD, and is very efficient. Cards below £100 tend not to be that good. The 1GB model is about £120. The 2GB about £135. I'd definitely recommend it as it can be overclocked really easily at pretty much no risk and runs games so well. 1GB model: http://www.dabs.com/products/sapphire-technology-amd-radeon-7850-hd-1gb-pci-express-3-0-hdmi-8BHG.html?q=7850&src=16 2GB OC edition: http:// http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-11200-14-20G-Card-HD7850-GDDR5/dp/B008HV63F0/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1380017566&sr=1-1&keywords=7850 Or a 2GB alternative for the same price, since the amazon link is low stock: 2GB MSI 7850 (Novatech) I would recommend the 2GB if you can put forward a bit more as it's only about £15 more, and comes pre overclocked. Tagging you @Esequiel in case you miss this. Edited September 24, 2013 by Sheikah
Nolan Posted September 24, 2013 Posted September 24, 2013 Holy fucking shit, I've never heard of a card going to 116! Usually the fail safe kicks in at 100 and the PC reboots. Anyways, Sheikah is spot on. And I'll go so far as to say do not get the 1GB model period. Higher resolutions demand more memory, especially if you want to use any amount of MSAA. And games in generally are taking more advantage of the memory. If that is definitely out of the price range though, http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-HD7790-DDR5-PCI-E-Graphics/dp/B00DURD12Y/ref=sr_1_17?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1379999269&sr=1-17 it isn't quite as powerful but would serve your needs admirably. My friend gets on quite well with his 7770 at 1680x1050. So this 7790 might not be maxing anything it'll do well. Don't forget to price check though as I haven't, I used to do that but I've forgotten half the UK sites I use to check. Also lazy.
Esequiel Posted September 24, 2013 Author Posted September 24, 2013 Thanks for the advice, i noticed the fan on the card wasnt always kicking in i had another strip down. Took it all apart (quite literally, including the fan off the board etc) and gave it an almighty clean. Then when it was back in i downloaded afterburner to manually set the fan speed. Result is that it now idles at 55-65 and goes to 83 at full load. This gives me the time i need to be able to afford the card you just showed me!
Rummy Posted September 26, 2013 Posted September 26, 2013 Thread hijack! How long do graphics cards generally stay relevant for? Like if I was to buy the one Sheikah recommended at £135 - would it last me a good few years? My PC's like 2 years old but nothing fancy, and sometimes as my console gaming dwindles more and more I consider getting a graphics card that can actually run some of the big blockbuster games on a PC(my PC struggled hard with SR3, and seemed to struggle with a few other games too). Am I right thinking that has 2 HDMI outs too? I'd probably eventually end up running a dual screen setup and that'd be somewhat ideal. Do they handle the sound aspect too, though?
MoogleViper Posted September 26, 2013 Posted September 26, 2013 Thread hijack! How long do graphics cards generally stay relevant for? Like if I was to buy the one Sheikah recommended at £135 - would it last me a good few years? My PC's like 2 years old but nothing fancy, and sometimes as my console gaming dwindles more and more I consider getting a graphics card that can actually run some of the big blockbuster games on a PC(my PC struggled hard with SR3, and seemed to struggle with a few other games too). Am I right thinking that has 2 HDMI outs too? I'd probably eventually end up running a dual screen setup and that'd be somewhat ideal. Do they handle the sound aspect too, though? Well if you get a decent graphics card at the start of a console, then that graphics card will last you for the life of the console (for multi-platform games, not so for PC exclusives). However, you will find yourself turning down the graphics settings more and more. However you should be able to run almost everything on high for at least 2 years. And turning the settings down should give you at lest 2 more. There'll be the odd game that you can't play (Crysis games like to do this), but 99% will be playable.
Sheikah Posted September 26, 2013 Posted September 26, 2013 (edited) Plus even when you turn it down to cope in a few years, it'll still mean the game looks a lot better than the console alternatives. You certainly won't get any games that you can't play 'acceptably' for many years with that card. It only has dual DVI and one HDMI. You can get DVI to HDMI converters though but they don't carry the audio (but then I imagine that can be solved too). Edited September 26, 2013 by Sheikah
Nolan Posted September 26, 2013 Posted September 26, 2013 Actually, it has Display Port as well which can also carry the audio signal. I'm wary about saying a 7850 will last for a any amount of time. We are about to hit a new console generation and it's a bit up in the air. Though 2 years with setting being turned down is a fair estimate. But a single card is not going to run two monitors anywhere near high. I have 2 7950s that are lightly OCd and at 2560x1440 (3.6 million pixels versus 4.1 of two 1080p displays) And I'm not getting an average 60 at max settings in some of the newer titles. Most ports are fine, but games like Far Cry 3 Sleeping Dogs Tomb Raider Borderlands 2, hell even Alan Wake I have to fiddle with the settings. For the most part not having AA is enough (and larger resolution its not as important) but Tomb Raider still hovers around 40-50. Which is playable at least. A Single mid-range card isn't driving two monitors. It's also a lot more expensive to jump into multimonitor setups than you might think. It was cheaper for me to sell my old monitor and buy a 27" Korean for about 600 less than brand names. And the panel is the same one Samsung would use. Unless you're like others and moving away from the AAA side of gaming and loving on the Indies, if thats the case you probably won't have issues running 99% of games.
Rummy Posted September 27, 2013 Posted September 27, 2013 Hmm...maybe I'll leave it because I don't *really* need it; just might be nice. There's a lot of good ol games that I've got on steam through various bundles sales promos etc that I don't think I can even run well lol. You lost me a bit half way through your post there Nolan - mainly on the multimonitor issue? Am I likely to have that much of a problem running say...a game on one and possibly streaming something on the other(i'm an entertainment whore). It's rare I'd do both I imagine, but it's the only thing I can think that'd be pushing it.
Sheikah Posted September 27, 2013 Posted September 27, 2013 No I think he meant if you wanted a game displaying on multiple monitors.
Nolan Posted September 27, 2013 Posted September 27, 2013 Gaming on one and watching something on the other would work fine, great even. I use to play WoW on my laptop and also be watching Netflix and in a chatroom on my second screen. Sorry to have lost you, my mistake.
Nolan Posted September 29, 2013 Posted September 29, 2013 wait for the new AMD. Also a viable option, just requires some waiting. I don't think there are concrete release dates for anything though. And personally no clue on pricing beyond the 280x ~$300 rumored to be a renamed 7970GHz Edition. So waiting is a bit iffy if you want to play able to play now.
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