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Graphics Card for 1080p

korgtronix

korgtronix

korgtronix

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Joined
23 Jan 2013
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228
Fiance has just built a new computer and now wants to get a new graphcis card. She currently has a Sapphire 7850 2gb OC card but wants to get something to replace it which will last as long as possible at 1080p whilst giving her the best graphics in games like Skyrim, Borderlands 2, Tomb Raider.

She has about 200 quid to spend and isn't against B-grade if that gets her a better deal.
 
stulid said:
A 280X can be bought for £209 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-016-VX&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1842


Or if she has a Crossfire capable board and a half decent PSU she could get a 2nd hand 7850 and pair them together.
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Her PC is ITX unfortunately as she was adamant on the Blue Prodigy case :D

I will look into the 208X as it was what I suggested originally but she seemed skeptical but that could have been more to do with parting with the cash than anything else.
 
Borderlands 2 is heavy on the CPU if she is running Physx since AMD cards cannot run it at all, it is all offloaded to the CPU to handle the rendering of the fancyness. It doesn't matter what AMD card she gets with Physx on, especially on max, the card isn't the choke it's the CPU.

Isn't Skyrim another heavy CPU game? I don't know about Tomb Raider.
 
Skyrim isn't that heavy on the cpu anymore; they've fixed a lot of that.

Honestly 280X would be best upgrade for her; or have her hold onto 7850 for a little longer and save for a 290 aftermarket :)

and since crossfire is out :)

Depends does she want the card now.......or NOW ;)
 
I bought a Club3D R9-270 '14series for £125. I ran Club3D's own OC tool and pulled all the sliders to the max and I'm getting performance between R9-270X and GTX 760 levels now... I've never ever had such an easy time OC'ing a card - it was almost boring. No tweaking etc. Just everything to the max and it runs just faster.
Running 1080p Ultra (no AA) at the moment and BF4 runs very smooths indeed.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-270-review-benchmarks,3669-4.html

But again if you can get a R9-280X that will probably last a bit longer.
 
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Gripen90 said:
I bought a Club3D R9-270 '14series for £125. I ran Club3D's own OC tool and pulled all the sliders to the max and I'm getting performance between R9-270X and GTX 760 levels now... I've never ever had such an easy time OC'ing a card - it was almost boring. No tweaking etc. Just everything to the max and it runs just faster.
Running 1080p Ultra (no AA) at the moment and BF4 runs very smooths indeed.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-270-review-benchmarks,3669-4.html

But again if you can get a R9-280X that will probably last a bit longer.
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Sounds like some good experience there, not sure she is game for OCing the card plus not sure the 270 is enough of a step up for her but will suggest it as an option.

colax said:
Borderlands 2 is heavy on the CPU if she is running Physx since AMD cards cannot run it at all, it is all offloaded to the CPU to handle the rendering of the fancyness. It doesn't matter what AMD card she gets with Physx on, especially on max, the card isn't the choke it's the CPU.

Isn't Skyrim another heavy CPU game? I don't know about Tomb Raider.
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She shouldn't be too limited CPU wise as she has a Xeon 1230v3. I am not against Nvidia if that would be a better option for the games she plays. She just wants the results.
 
At £170 the powercolor devil 270X comes with BF4 and a ruby voucher so you can select four more games from AMD's list of never settle games.

Sounds like good value to me.
 
stulid said:
At £170 the powercolor devil 270X comes with BF4 and a ruby voucher so you can select four more games from AMD's list of never settle games.

Sounds like good value to me.
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mmmm that is a good deal will suggest that to her. Must convince her to let me keep the BF4 code though :D
 
korgtronix said:
mmmm that is a good deal will suggest that to her. Must convince her to let me keep the BF4 code though :D
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The 270x is barely a stepup from a 7850 though unfortunately as it is a rebrand 7870. A 280/280x, gtx770 would be the minimum upgrade i would recommend.
 
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I think upgrading from a 7850 to a 270/270X would be silly since the performance increase would be fairly minor.

Aside from the 280X mentioned, you could look at a second-hand 670 since they can usually be had for under £150. ITX is fairly limiting - might be worth saving some more cash and trying to pick up a 690/7990? There's not particularly any cards around at the moment that scream 'future-proofing' at that price range.
 
kaku said:
I think upgrading from a 7850 to a 270/270X would be silly since the performance increase would be fairly minor.

Aside from the 280X mentioned, you could look at a second-hand 670 since they can usually be had for under £150. ITX is fairly limiting - might be worth saving some more cash and trying to pick up a 690/7990? There's not particularly any cards around at the moment that scream 'future-proofing' at that price range.
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She isn't too bothered about 'future proofing' just something that will last as long as possible, even if that is only a year.

Noticed this on Overclockers http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-361-MS&groupid=595&catid=683 would this be a safe bet?
 
is the 7850 performing that bad? id try and save up a bit for a better upgrade like a 290 if i was future proofing
 
JonSmith said:
7850 at 1250 core will be fine for a year. I would wait. I'm having no trouble with mine.
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Fair enough, it plays the game she likes well enough but I think she is getting antsy as it was my card till I did my big upgrade this year.

is the 7850 performing that bad? id try and save up a bit for a better upgrade like a 290 if i was future proofing
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Its performing well enough in the main games she plays (Ace of Spades and Skyrim) but she wants to play others and is a little worried it won't last much longer at 1080p High settings.
 
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