Looking for the perfect card for my humble (mediocre) PC

[electroban]

Hi guys, I currently have a 460 GTX in my PC. My motherboard is crap so only supports AM2+ stuff, so I have a Phenom II x4 955 Proccessor and 4gb of ram.

I was wondering what your best suggestion for an affordable card that won't cause bottle necking with my CPU.

Thanks!!!!

 

[humbug]

Its always a great help to us if you give us a budget.

The best value card at the moment is the 270.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-245-MS

 

[Darujhistan]

The above is a good fit for your system, i'd say.

 

[jh30uk]

Your CPU would limit a decent GPU in some games, why not buy 2nd hand instead of spending too much on a older PC (politer way to say mediocre)?

 

[almighty15]

I would say get a 750ti

 

[electroban]

I would say get a 750ti

AH yes i saw the 750ti cards are getting released those are the maxwell ones?

I have a decent power supply like 550W.

I just want a card that's going to give me the biggest gain with the constraints my CPU/wallet has. (AMD Phenom II x4955 3.2ghz)

Any specific links would be great, i'm looking to spend about £120/130/140

I hear AMD usually dominates that area? I'm mostly not familiar with AMD GPUs. However I hear they are doing something with mantle? Will games that support mantle help ease the burden off the CPU and further prevent bottlenecking in the long term if I go the AMD direction?

Thanks for the input folks.

 

[ArchAndroid]

Mantle is designed for situations like yours - to alleviate the limitations caused in CPU-bound situations. Mantle seems to give a decent boost so it is something to look out for.

The Sapphire 270X (11217-01-20G) is clocked 170MHz higher than the 270 you linked, so it could give 10-15% more performance out of the box. It's your choice whether the extra ~£15 is worth it. Both cards are excellent value for money. That card is also £5 cheaper on OverClockersUK than it is in the rainforest.

P.S. You can't show links to other sites here

 

[triss]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-339-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1982

if you wnat a plain 270,, and remove your link to another site before it gets deleted

 

[electroban]

Mantle is designed for situations like yours - to alleviate the limitations caused in CPU-bound situations. Mantle seems to give a decent boost so it is something to look out for.

The Sapphire 270X (11217-01-20G) is clocked 170MHz higher than the 270 you linked, so it could give 10-15% more performance out of the box. It's your choice whether the extra ~£15 is worth it. Both cards are excellent value for money. That card is also £5 cheaper on OverClockersUK than it is in the rainforest.

P.S. You can't show links to other sites here

My bad for showing external links guys! Thanks for the illuminating help.

 

[Bart_Hunt]

I wouldn't buy an XFX card.
It's just not worth it, you will spend that extra 5£ in no time on headache pills.
Get one of 279x's available here at OCuk, as suggested above.

 

[Rilot]

Electroban, please read the rules of the forum that you agreed to when you signed up. Specifically the section regarding competitors.

 

[electroban]

Electroban, please read the rules of the forum that you agreed to when you signed up. Specifically the section regarding competitors.

yeah my bad pal!

thanks for the help though, i'm going for the Sapphire Dual-X Radeon R9 270X OC 2GB GDDR5 .

I just want to be able to run dark souls II, titanfall, and star citizen.

 

[electroban]

Also what are AMD cards like for recording gaming clips and such? I know Geforce has it's shadowplay going on that seems like its easier for youtube clips and the like...

 

[humbug]

You can use RadeonPro for that and many other things. ^^^^ http://www.radeonpro.info/download/

Or you can use FRAPS, and a host of other recording apps, some of them use a specific AMD encoding app for excellent results.

AH yes i saw the 750ti cards are getting released those are the maxwell ones?

I have a decent power supply like 550W.

I just want a card that's going to give me the biggest gain with the constraints my CPU/wallet has. (AMD Phenom II x4955 3.2ghz)

Any specific links would be great, i'm looking to spend about £120/130/140

I hear AMD usually dominates that area? I'm mostly not familiar with AMD GPUs. However I hear they are doing something with mantle? Will games that support mantle help ease the burden off the CPU and further prevent bottlenecking in the long term if I go the AMD direction?

Thanks for the input folks.

The 270/X is much faster than the 750TI for about the same money.

sapphire radeon r9 270 2048mb gddr5

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1043?vs=1130