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Please be patient and forgive me..... Choosing a graphic card.

Uziel Gal

Uziel Gal

Uziel Gal

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Joined
7 Nov 2013
Posts
30
Location
Chingford, London, UK
Apologies - I have in the past contributed and even moderated specialist forums, and I know how frustrating these sorts of questions can be. They can be very subjective, and often best dealt with through personal research rather than relying on other people's opinions.

That said, there is just so much information out there about graphics cards that I am drowning!

I would greatly appreciate the answers to some questions of a less subjective nature, to assist me with my selection, though if you want to express an opinion as to which is the best of the cards, I'd be happy to listen!

I am looking to purchase two cards, and have set myself a limit of £240 per card. This gives me the option of a couple of GTX 770 cards, but limited to 2GB memory, or a selection of GTX 760 cards, a couple of which have 4GB of memory. There are also different cooling methods, and different clock speeds.

These are the cards that I have been able to narrow my choice down to from the original list of 15 or so that I started with: -

GTX 760

1. EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC 2048MB GDDR5

Core: 1072MHz, Memory: 2048MB 6008MHz GDDR5, Stream Processors: 1152, Shader Clock: 2144MHz, SLI Ready, PhysX/CUDA Enabled, 3 Years Warranty. Induction fan.


2. Gainward GeForce GTX 760 Phantom 4096MB GDDR5

Core: 1072MHz, Memory: 4096MB 6200MHz GDDR5, Stream Processors: 1152, Shader Clock: 2170MHz, SLI Ready, PhysX/CUDA Enabled, 2 Years Warranty. Dual fans and radiator?


3. Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 WindForce 3x OC 4096MB GDDR5

Core: 1085MHz, Memory: 4096MB 6008MHz GDDR5, Stream Processors: 1152, Shader Clock: 2170MHz, SLI Ready, PhysX/CUDA Enabled, 3 Years Warranty. Triple fan.


GTX 770

1. OcUK Geforce GTX 770 2048MB GDDR5

Core: 1046MHz, Memory: 2048MB 7010MHz GDDR5, Stream Processors: 1536, Shader Clock: 2220MHz, SLI Ready, PhysX/CUDA Enabled, 3 Years Warranty. Induction fan.


2. Gainward GeForce GTX 770 2048MB GDDR5

Core: 1046MHz, Memory: 2048MB 7010MHz GDDR5, Stream Processors: 1536, Shader Clock: 2220MHz, SLI Ready, PhysX/CUDA Enabled, 2 Years Warranty. Triple fan.

So my queries are as follows: -

GTX 770 can obviously be presumed to be better than GTX 760, with more stream processors, faster RAM and faster shading, but does the 770 still hold the advantage if the 760 has twice the RAM?

Am I right in thinking that the induction fan system is better at expelling heat from the case, whereas normal fans will push the heat in to the case? Even if this is the case, would the (presumably greater) cooling power of triple fans still hold an advantage?

The Gainward GTX 760 has faster RAM, but only dual fans - would the faster RAM be more of an advantage than the presumably greater cooling power of the Gigabyte's triple fan?

I would greatly appreciate a quick response, as a couple of these cards are on offer at the moment.

Many thanks
SteveW
 
I'd second the 280X. An extra £10 per card will get you the Windforce version. Or if you really want an Nvidia card the same money will get you MSI's Gaming edition 770. Both coolers are highly regarded 'round these parts.

Is there any particular reason you want two cards? Do you need the extra grunt now? For the price you could get a 290, a 290X, or a 780 with money to spare.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. I wouldn't be looking at 2Gb cards to be honest if you want some future proofing and both the 760, in particular, and the 770 don't have the grunt to push vram much beyond 2Gb anyway, so you have a problem. Frankly if I was you I'd be looking at the 780 (single just now, sli later) or the R9 290\X cards(single now, xfire later). :)

PS: Please please please do not buy a 4gb 760\770, such a waste.
 
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id say go with the 280x but wait a bit to see if any games get added if you have them sell them on to knock the price down for you
 
rolypolyman said:
I wouldn't be looking at 2Gb cards to be honest if you want some future proofing and both the 760, in particular, and the 770 don't have the grunt to push vram much beyond 2Gb anyway, so you have a problem.

PS: Please please please do not buy a 4gb 760\770, such a waste.
Click to expand...

He's looking to get two cards so SLI 760s would have more grunt than a 780 Ti. Would you love a 780Ti with 2GB Vram? That said it would still be a better choice overall to go with CF 280X as the 760 4GB is slower and the 770 2GB is not great for the future .

I presume the next Battlefield will render 2GB inadiquate on high settings.
 
I personally would get a 7950. This will beat that 760 and compete favourably with the 770 in performance and smash it to pieces for price.

Free games to boot :)

Oh and welcome to the forums.
 
Two 760s would have more GPU grunt than a 780 ti in well scaled games, but weak memory bandwidth. The 770 has the same problem.
 
280X should be coming free with BF4 soon but AMD have yet to give clear information on when and which cards it will come with. It should be free with all R9 cards from 270 to 290X but AMD have made the promotion very staggered and confusing.
 
Thanks for the welcome guys, and for your opinions and advice - much appreciated.

With regards to the NVidia slant to my choices, this was actually due to the fact that I couldn't access the Radeon pages when compiling the info in my post! As the 280X seems like a popular choice in this price range, I'll have a look at those.

Thanks again.
Stephen
 
Two 280X would offer top performance for a good while. Any chance of seeing the specs of the rest of your system?
 
Strictly bang for bucks, AMD has got it nailed at the moment over Nvidia in every price range; but if sticking with Nvidia is a MUST, don't settle for anything lesser than a GTX780. The GK104 based cards with 2GB vram and 256-bit peewee bus size is not gonna coup well with future titles.
 
RanxZy said:
Two 280X would offer top performance for a good while. Any chance of seeing the specs of the rest of your system?
Click to expand...

Apologies for not having replied sooner - had some account issues, and it took a few days for my password to be reset.

Bit of a moot point, as I have purchased the cards now, but my system was as follows: -

CM Storm Scout 2 case with all fan locations filled
Asus M5A99X Evo.
AMD 8350 CPU
Corsair H80 cooler
Corsair Vengeance 1866MHz 8GB x 4
Asus GTX 550TI x 2 GPU
Sandisk 480GB Extreme x 4, RAID 10
WD 1TB Velociraptor x 2, RAID 1
Corsair AX860i PSU
Akasa USB3 card reader
LG Blu-ray Re-writer

This will be upgraded to the following: -

ASRock 990FX Extreme 9
AMD 9590 CPU
Corsair H80i
G.Skill TridentX 2400MHz 8GB x 4
Velociraptors replaced by Seagate 2TB SSHDs
Silverstone 1000W ST1000-P PSU

Finally, two Sapphire R9 280X Vapor-X (just my luck - bought them prior to BF4 being included)
________________

I'll be getting some shorter PCIe cables from moddiy to make the above build neater, so chances are that I'll be completing a new build before I finish the rebuild.

The new build comprises: -

BitFenix Prodigy-M
ASRock Z87M OC Formula
Intel Core-i7 4770K
Corsair H80 (from above)
Corsair Vengeance 1866MHz 8GB x 4 (now with Arctic RC Pro ram coolers and fan module)
Samsung 500GB 840 Evo x 2, RAID 0
WD 1TB Velociraptor x 2, RAID 1
OCZ ZX 850W PSU
Slim Blu-ray re-writer
BitFenix USB3 card reader

While the case and motherboard could support dual cards, space wise, one card is going to be a lot easier to work with - a second card would cover a number of sockets on the board.

I can use a card up to 245mm long.

What would be the best single, two slot high card (I guess I could use a three slot high card if there are any that offer better performance than two slot cards, and fit the length restriction), 245mm or less?

Thanks again
SteveW
 
Fulax - many thanks for your response.

Yes, the OCZ is 180mm long, and the bottom of the GPU just sits below the top of the PSU. Even if the card cleared the top of the PSU, the cables would obviously get in the way.

I had hoped to save it for a different project, but I could obviously use the Corsair AX860i in the Prodigy-M, which is only 160mm, and so give me almost 20mm for the modular plugs and cables. Tight, but hopefully do-able.

The alternative would be to accept that it is only money, and you can't take it with you(!) and buy another PSU. The new Silverstone ST75F-GS would give 750W, 800W peak, and is 150mm, so would make cable manipulation easier. Sadly for my OCZ (and bank balance), probably the best solution.

That would free up the full length of the case for a graphic card - just under 340mm.
 
If you'll only be using one card, you don't need 750w (unless that one card is a 7990). It is much easier to find a 140-160mm PSU around 500-650w than it is at higher wattages. Do you have a budget for PSU and GPU combined?

Off the top of my head, the best you'll get under 245mm is an ASUS GTX 670 Mini. But it's £300, and for that price you're looking at a 290, or a 280X plus a new PSU.
 
Uziel Gal said:
Apologies for not having replied sooner - had some account issues, and it took a few days for my password to be reset.

Bit of a moot point, as I have purchased the cards now, but my system was as follows: -

CM Storm Scout 2 case with all fan locations filled
Asus M5A99X Evo.
AMD 8350 CPU
Corsair H80 cooler
Corsair Vengeance 1866MHz 8GB x 4
Asus GTX 550TI x 2 GPU
Sandisk 480GB Extreme x 4, RAID 10
WD 1TB Velociraptor x 2, RAID 1
Corsair AX860i PSU
Akasa USB3 card reader
LG Blu-ray Re-writer

This will be upgraded to the following: -

ASRock 990FX Extreme 9
AMD 9590 CPU
Corsair H80i
G.Skill TridentX 2400MHz 8GB x 4
Velociraptors replaced by Seagate 2TB SSHDs
Silverstone 1000W ST1000-P PSU

Finally, two Sapphire R9 280X Vapor-X (just my luck - bought them prior to BF4 being included)
________________

I'll be getting some shorter PCIe cables from moddiy to make the above build neater, so chances are that I'll be completing a new build before I finish the rebuild.

The new build comprises: -

BitFenix Prodigy-M
ASRock Z87M OC Formula
Intel Core-i7 4770K
Corsair H80 (from above)
Corsair Vengeance 1866MHz 8GB x 4 (now with Arctic RC Pro ram coolers and fan module)
Samsung 500GB 840 Evo x 2, RAID 0
WD 1TB Velociraptor x 2, RAID 1
OCZ ZX 850W PSU
Slim Blu-ray re-writer
BitFenix USB3 card reader

While the case and motherboard could support dual cards, space wise, one card is going to be a lot easier to work with - a second card would cover a number of sockets on the board.

I can use a card up to 245mm long.

What would be the best single, two slot high card (I guess I could use a three slot high card if there are any that offer better performance than two slot cards, and fit the length restriction), 245mm or less?

Thanks again
SteveW
Click to expand...

You could return the 280s under DSR and get BF inclusive editions?

Alternatively, a 7990 would be cheaper that 2x 280s and would use less power for the same performance.

8350 to 9590 really isn't worth it! Same chip, you're just paying someone to overclock it for you. From what I've seen, there isn't any overclocking headroom to be gained.
 
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