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Purchasing a graphics card

matt.xx

matt.xx

matt.xx

Associate
Joined
14 Dec 2012
Posts
11
Hi All,

I'm in the market for a fairly decent graphics card, but I don't want to spend a small fortune on something that I may not use to it's full potential.

I play most games on my xbox at the moment, but I'd like to start playing things like Skyrim on my PC, ideally on the highest settings.

It seems that AMD cards are fairly highly rated now... I had always thought that Nvidia was the way forwards.

What cards do you guys have? Are there any at the moment that you'd recommend? I'm looking for something that I'm not going to have to replace for a while.

Dell u2312hm
Intel Core i5 3570K,1155, Ivy Bridge
120GB Corsair Force Series 3, 2.5 SSD
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance
Asus P8Z77-V PRO, Intel Z77, S 1155
Corsair Enthusiast TX V2 650W
 
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matt.xx said:
Hi All,

I'm in the market for a fairly decent graphics card, but I don't want to spend a small fortune on something that I may not use to it's full potential.

I play most games on my xbox at the moment, but I'd like to start playing things like Skyrim on my PC, ideally on the highest settings.

It seems that AMD cards are fairly highly rated now... I had always thought that Nvidia was the way forwards.

What cards do you guys have? Are there any at the moment that you'd recommend? I'm looking for something that I'm not going to have to replace for a while.

Dell u2312hm
Intel Core i5 3570K,1155, Ivy Bridge
120GB Corsair Force Series 3, 2.5 SSD
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance
Asus P8Z77-V PRO, Intel Z77, S 1155
Click to expand...

i have a amd 6970 and a 7850 on skyrim with settings on full i get around 50-60 fps atleast both cards cost me 180 whereas the equivelent nividia is around 50-60 quid more expensive
 
Thanks for your suggestions so far, guys! I'd say my max is ~£300. Less would be preferred if I can get something good enough for the money.
 
Thanks guys, I appreciate your suggestions.

So it's looking so far as if the 7950 is the favourite. Is there any reason not to spend the little extra on a gtx 670? Will I not gain enough to make it worthwhile?
 
matt.xx said:
Thanks guys, I appreciate your suggestions.

So it's looking so far as if the 7950 is the favourite. Is there any reason not to spend the little extra on a gtx 670? Will I not gain enough to make it worthwhile?
Click to expand...

its a win and lose. Pure power wise the 670 is faster. Not by much though.

The 670 also comes with only 2gb of vram compared to the 7950's 3gb of vram. Playing certain games on higher settings with mods eat up vram. 2gb is fine for now but 3gb give you a safety net.

Not to mention the 7950's price point is perfect. :)
 
Doomedspeed said:
its a win and lose. Pure power wise the 670 is faster. Not by much though.

The 670 also comes with only 2gb of vram compared to the 7950's 3gb of vram. Playing certain games on higher settings with mods eat up vram. 2gb is fine for now but 3gb give you a safety net.

Not to mention the 7950's price point is perfect. :)
Click to expand...

+1
 
Doomedspeed said:
its a win and lose. Pure power wise the 670 is faster. Not by much though.

The 670 also comes with only 2gb of vram compared to the 7950's 3gb of vram. Playing certain games on higher settings with mods eat up vram. 2gb is fine for now but 3gb give you a safety net.

Not to mention the 7950's price point is perfect. :)
Click to expand...

Wrapped it up in a nice little bow there +1 :D
 
Right, couple of incorrect things to address in this thread:

a) there have been huge problems with the MSI TFIII V2 7950s with the cooling solution not working properly resulting in heat, and as a result, a lot of noise. I had two dodgy ones and there were tonnes returned to OcUK;

b) the 670 is faster than the 7950 out of the box. When both cards are overclocked the 7950 edges it and is actually faster;

c) 2GB is fine for 1920*1080 and is unlikely IMO to be the limiting factor anyway so the extra VRAM on the 7950 isn't really enough to swing it one way or the other. It's nice to have but it's unlikely to actually net you any increase in performance as it would only bump performance when you're running out of VRAM. The 7950s advantages are that is is cheaper; marginally faster when overclocked; handles high resolution and AA better due to the wider memory bus
 
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Nobody answered my thread about AMD being able to use AO in Skyrim. If this is your main game, this could be a consideration. No AO = poorer looking GFX IMO.
 
Ah, that's interesting regarding the issues with cooling for the MSI TFIII V2 7950s - Thanks for the warning.

Do you have a suggestion as to the best manufacturer / version of this card? I see that a few people above have mentioned Gigabyte may be an step in the right direction?

Edit: Do AMD cards not support AO, then? or just not for Skyrim?
 
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