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Where is the optimum price/performance at the moment?

kn100

kn100

kn100

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Joined
27 Dec 2011
Posts
142
Hi all, I am in the market for a new graphics card. I am willing to spend up to £270 but I would MUCH rather spend around £140 maximum.

I will be gaming on a single 1080p monitor and I'll never really go higher than this in the next 2 years or so.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-256-MS&groupid=595&catid=683&subcat=
Is this card sufficient for this use? I know the 7970 is a lot more powerful but this card seems to give good framerates at 1080p on everything so the extra power would simply be wasted?
 
With your currant CPU even with its overclock it would probably bottleneck a 7950, whereas the 7850 not so much.
 
Basically I have £270 to spend but I will only ever game on a 1080p monitor, never across monitors, or in 3d or anything.

My question is, is spending over £140 worth it for someone like myself? If I spend up to £260 other components will suffer.

In light of your answer I think I'll get the 7850
 
Oh also, I am getting an i5 3570k with a z77 mobo for overclocking - so bottlenecking shouldn't be too much of an issue
 
Hmn this is a consideration - how big of a difference is there between the 7950 and the 7970 because I've seen some nice 7970s going for £260ish
 
kn100 said:
Hmn this is a consideration - how big of a difference is there between the 7950 and the 7970 because I've seen some nice 7970s going for £260ish
Click to expand...

If your not the type to upgrade often like every year then go with the highest you can afford. If you can get a 7970 I'd get that as it will outlast a 7950 by a few months.
 
7970 > 7950 by 5% clock for clock.
If you're on a budget getting the 7950 is by far the best choice. If you must have top line then spending the extra for the 7970 isn't a bad idea either.

The only thing you will notice however is less money in your bank :D
5% in real world terms is nothing, nothing you will notice without the help of an FPS counter.
 
I would upgrade the cpu / mobo. Probably not what you want to hear, but imo that would be the better option. You could achieve that ny spending less than your max budget of £270 (no card, of course). The motherboard needn't cost much at all, just make sure you get a good cpu, such as a 2500K / 3570K. I'm currently using a stock cooler on mine, and it still easily reaches 4.2. Mind you, going by the numbers, for once it looks like I've landed myself a decent clocker, which is down to luck of the draw.

If you still decide to opt for a graphics card, then I'd make upgrade the cpu and mobo as soon as you can. :)


This is the cheapest I've seen in the B grade list, though the one you linked to might be worth the extra few quid.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-023-HS&groupid=595&catid=683&subcat=
 
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arc@css said:
I would upgrade the cpu / mobo. Probably not what you want to hear, but imo that would be the better option. You could achieve that ny spending less than your max budget of £270 (no card, of course). The motherboard needn't cost much at all, just make sure you get a good cpu, such as a 2500K / 3570K. I'm currently using a stock cooler on mine, and it still easily reaches 4.2. Mind you, going by the numbers, for once it looks like I've landed myself a decent clocker, which is down to luck of the draw.

If you still decide to opt for a graphics card, then I'd make upgrade the cpu and mobo as soon as you can. :)


This is the cheapest I've seen in the B grade list, though the one you linked to might be worth the extra few quid.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-023-HS&groupid=595&catid=683&subcat=
Click to expand...

I am upgrading the entire machine, getting a 3570k with a gigabyte board along with a 212 evo for overclocking - so this isn't a concern

So I think I'm going to get the 7950 - simply because the difference between the 7970 and the 7950 is minute - unless I find one extremely cheap on clearance on monday (when I'll be buying) - I will be getting the 7950.

Is there ANYTHING to consider by Nvidia? I am sort of a Nvidia fanboy at heart, having only owned Nvidia cards in the past for their pretty good Binary Linux drivers - this isn't so important to me anymore as AMD driver support is adequate but I would miss Physx on games like Mirrors Edge.
 
i think theres something where you can use the 7950 to play the game but have an nvidia card (your 450 if you kept it in) process the physics etc. i don't know how well it works though, and it would require a fair amount of power to run.

I don't think there is anything nvidia offer that is competitive this time round, especially with their pricing and the latest amd drivers. They are good cards, but they priced themselves out of it.
 
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