£300 GPU spec?

hakank68 · 30 Dec 2013 at 18:02

Hello my friend is looking to buy a new gpu but he is confused on which one to go for, he has a budget of £300, he has found an Asus 7970 matrix platinum at £300 but he doesn't know whether to go for Nvidia instead. Which card do you guys recommend for £300?

he can go up around an extra £20 but prefers not to

Thanks in advanced

Gregster · 30 Dec 2013 at 18:24

What is the rest of his system Hakan?

Sycho · 30 Dec 2013 at 18:24

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-244-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1842 This is a very nice card and get BF4 with it too which you can sell if you want.I would go for any custom cooler 280x at that price.

hakank68 · 30 Dec 2013 at 18:30

Gregster said:
What is the rest of his system Hakan?

he has a watercooled 4670k, 8gb of Ram and im not sure but i think the Z87-D3H, he wants to go for the evga 770 scx but just worried about the 2gb vram.

Gregster · 30 Dec 2013 at 19:03

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-015-VX&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

Tell him to blow his max budget on that card. There is a few with black screen issues but if he does get a goodun, he will be set for a while

Advise him to get the latest mobo drivers for that board as well. Lots of problems with newer GPU's and the D3H

hakank68 · 30 Dec 2013 at 19:06

that is a great card, but he insist on the 770, which would you choose between the 7970 matrix platinum or the evga 770 scx which is cheaper ?

Gregster · 30 Dec 2013 at 19:26

hakank68 said:
that is a great card, but he insist on the 770, which would you choose between the 7970 matrix platinum or the evga 770 scx which is cheaper ?

I would go with the Matrix personally. In fairness, it is hard to call and only a benching program like FRAPS will be able to tell the difference. There is a 680 here on OcUK from KFA2, this is a 770 effectively (faster RAM on the 770 is the only difference) and which is a UK company.

The EVGA SCX is a nice card and a great company as well. To be fair, I don't think he can go wrong with any of them

fowler002 · 31 Dec 2013 at 04:54

hakank68 said:
that is a great card, but he insist on the 770, which would you choose between the 7970 matrix platinum or the evga 770 scx which is cheaper ?

Write 770 on the box and card so he doesn't know the difference?

Captain · 31 Dec 2013 at 05:03

770 is a waste of money personally, 290 is a much better buy.

MrMarvelous · 31 Dec 2013 at 05:09

Get a non-reference 290 mate.

Tonester0011 · 31 Dec 2013 at 06:01

Spending that extra £20 gets you a lot more for you money, the downsides are noise.
If your mate is more interested in performance, then get the 290P.

arc@css · 31 Dec 2013 at 06:15

I wouldn't bother with the matrix at that price when you have faster options for not that much more. I'd go for the card Gregster linked (non-reference versions available quite soon), but if that proves to be a little too expensive, then I'd look at either the 770 or 280x. Providing he's not running a very high resolution (1440p +), then I don't see 2gb of vram being a serious issue.

hakank68 · 2 Jan 2014 at 20:06

he only plays at 1080p, is it true that the stock coolers on the AMD cards pretty much useless ?

ChrisD. · 2 Jan 2014 at 20:14

If only 1080p then a 280X is ample IMO. Then put the spare change elsewhere.

Boomstick777 · 2 Jan 2014 at 20:18

If spending nearly £300 anyway a R9 290 makes much more sense.

R9 290 is best bang for buck at around £300 no question...

Gregster · 2 Jan 2014 at 20:22

hakank68 said:
he only plays at 1080p, is it true that the stock coolers on the AMD cards pretty much useless ?

Useless is a tad harsh but it could be better

It could be a lot better.

hakank68 · 2 Jan 2014 at 20:43

i think his going for the 770 2gb acx for £275, do you think there is a lot of performance difference compared to the 280x ?

fowler002 · 2 Jan 2014 at 21:31

hakank68 said:
i think his going for the 770 2gb acx for £275, do you think there is a lot of performance difference compared to the 280x ?

The sapphire 280x toxic for £275.99 will 'blow the 770 out of the water', well can't say I have any first hand experience but going by the reviews. pretty much beats all other 280/7970 and 770s in all but the nvidia favoured benchmarks, stock 780 level performance in some cases for like £100 less.

hakank68 · 2 Jan 2014 at 23:57

the toxic is a great card but is it worth going for Nvidia as its seemed to be better quality ?
and can the 280x toxic be watercooled ?

Gregster · 3 Jan 2014 at 00:03

hakank68 said:
the toxic is a great card but is it worth going for Nvidia as its seemed to be better quality ?
and can the 280x toxic be watercooled ?

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_770_TF_Gaming/6.html

Have a flick through there for some bench marks. Nothing for the EVGA 770 ACX but the gaming edition from MSI is on par with that card.

Grab the 770 ACX and he will enjoy it