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Configurator Advice

Xand

Xand

Xand

Associate
Joined
20 Jan 2011
Posts
217
Hello,

I'm looking building a system on Configurator and don't have much what graphics cards are good these days, the system specs i'm looking at are

Screen_Shot_2013_08_29_at_09_03_20.png


I'm looking at the Gfx cards in the range of the below

Screen_Shot_2013_08_29_at_09_06_04.png


i'd rather not go to the more expensive side unless there is a lot of improvement over the other cards.

any advice?
 
Have a look at Anandtech's GPU benchmarks: hxxp://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/854?vs=829

Should help you make a decision.

Did you have an overall budget when you started? Will any of the cards take you over?
 
No real budget no, replacing a system I bought around 5 years back that still holds up today just has a few issues. I don't really game so much these days, the odd MMO or comic book game generally!
 
Xand said:
No real budget no, replacing a system I bought around 5 years back that still holds up today just has a few issues. I don't really game so much these days, the odd MMO or comic book game generally!
Click to expand...

If you don't game too much you don't need to go for the 770/7970. MMOs generally aren't too taxing, anyway.

You don't seem to have an SSS in your configuration, though. I'd highly recommend getting one.
 
Not sure why the ssd wasn't showing up, but yes there will be a new one of those going in!

Yeah, they aren't too taxing, my current card from 5 years ago still handles the majority on high, picking something that holds up is key, i'd like to be able to play GTA 7 on low settings for example!

how would you rate the motherboard side of things, do i need a certain level to avoid any bottlenecks?
 
Xand said:
Not sure why the ssd wasn't showing up, but yes there will be a new one of those going in!

Yeah, they aren't too taxing, my current card from 5 years ago still handles the majority on high, picking something that holds up is key, i'd like to be able to play GTA 7 on low settings for example!

how would you rate the motherboard side of things, do i need a certain level to avoid any bottlenecks?
Click to expand...

There's no real need to go mad with motherboards, so long as it has the features you want. The motherboard you have supports Crossfire but not SLI, so if you stick with it I'd go for an AMD card.

If possible, though, I'd upgrade to the MSI Z87-G45 Gaming. It looks better, supports SLI, and is
equipped with Killer™ Ethernet that eliminates latency and ping spikes and lets you concentrate on your frags and kills!
Click to expand...
- which should be useful for MMOs.
 
Xand said:
just as a follow up to this, I was looking at splashing out a bit with the MSI HD 7970 Lightning BOOSTED Edition 3072MB http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-181-MS

is there any obviously better cards at same price range.

Cheers
Click to expand...

The Lightning series is aimed at extreme overclockers. If you know what LN2 is (I don't), you'll love it. If you don't, but still want a powerful, overclockable card, you might be better off with the AUSU 7970 Matrix Platinum - also £379.99.

Of course, both cards are overkill for casual MMO gaming.
 
Fulax said:
The Lightning series is aimed at extreme overclockers. If you know what LN2 is (I don't), you'll love it. If you don't, but still want a powerful, overclockable card, you might be better off with the AUSU 7970 Matrix Platinum - also £379.99.

Of course, both cards are overkill for casual MMO gaming.
Click to expand...

Whats the primary difference between the two? I won't be over clocking myself, so the lightning being pre-overclocked would be the better call?
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus HD 7970 Matrix Platinum 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £379.99
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £379.99
1 x MSI HD 7970 Lightning BOOSTED Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Corsair Vengeance M65 Mouse & OcUK Mega Mat!! £379.99
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 770 LTD OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **WHITE EDITION** with FREE GPU Keyring £359.99
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 770 Superclock ACX 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (02G-P4-2774) £339.95
Total : £1,854.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).



If you're not going to be overclocking you really can't go wrong with any of these cards. They have excellent out-of-the-box overclocks - the ASUS, however, does take up 3 slots, which would cause problems if you wanted to go Crossfire in the future.

I would say go for one of the GTX 770s, but the 7970s come with 3 free games from AMD's Never Settle bundle: http://amd4u.com/radeonrewards/

Might as well put that shiny new GPU to good use, right? If you don't care about the games on offer, I'd go for the EVGA and spend the money saved on a game you do want.
 
Fulax said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus HD 7970 Matrix Platinum 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £379.99
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £379.99
1 x MSI HD 7970 Lightning BOOSTED Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Corsair Vengeance M65 Mouse & OcUK Mega Mat!! £379.99
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 770 LTD OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **WHITE EDITION** with FREE GPU Keyring £359.99
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 770 Superclock ACX 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (02G-P4-2774) £339.95
Total : £1,854.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).



If you're not going to be overclocking you really can't go wrong with any of these cards. They have excellent out-of-the-box overclocks - the ASUS, however, does take up 3 slots, which would cause problems if you wanted to go Crossfire in the future.

I would say go for one of the GTX 770s, but the 7970s come with 3 free games from AMD's Never Settle bundle: http://amd4u.com/radeonrewards/

Might as well put that shiny new GPU to good use, right? If you don't care about the games on offer, I'd go for the EVGA and spend the money saved on a game you do want.
Click to expand...

Excellent info thanks!

if I could just ask one more question, is the 3gb of the 7970 going to be a lot more future proof than the 2gb of the 770? (radeon 9800 was king back when i followed hardware)
 
Xand said:
Excellent info thanks!

if I could just ask one more question, is the 3gb of the 7970 going to be a lot more future proof than the 2gb of the 770? (radeon 9800 was king back when i followed hardware)
Click to expand...

Rather depends on what resolution you plan on playing at, and more importantly how many monitors you'll be using. Don't quote me on this, but I'd say it'll be a while before single-monitor setups start demanding over 2GB. By the time they do, you'll be wanting a new GPU anyway.
 
Fulax said:
Rather depends on what resolution you plan on playing at, and more importantly how many monitors you'll be using. Don't quote me on this, but I'd say it'll be a while before single-monitor setups start demanding over 2GB. By the time they do, you'll be wanting a new GPU anyway.
Click to expand...

I will be running 2 monitors, with the chance of moving to a third for Eyefinity/nvidia alternative gaming. Think i'm definitely leaning towards the 7970 at the moment!
 
Yea, dual monitors - go for a 7970.

EDIT: And if you do go 3 monitors in the end, you might want to Crossfire, so I'd go for the MSI Lightning over the ASUS Matrix.
 
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