Considering a graphics card upgrade. What should i get?

steviet32 · 18 May 2012 at 20:32

Hi everyone,
Can you please advise what would be a good graphics upgrade for my pc. My setup is:

ASROCK M3A770DE motherboard
500w power supply
12GB DDR1333 RAM (Can change to 8GB 1600Mhz Ram as two out of four sticks are clocked down)
AMD Phenom ii x6 1045T
Naff HD4350 graphics card(to be upgraded)

I was considering HD 7950 or HD7970 or maybe Nvidia equivalent.

What would you guys advise?

spain · 18 May 2012 at 20:35

What PSU is it?

What res do you game at?

spixelspixel · 18 May 2012 at 20:42

gtx 670 (because i bought one)

steviet32 · 18 May 2012 at 21:52

1920 x 1080 on HD tele. Or my 4:3 monitor 1280 x 1024

shadow_boxer · 18 May 2012 at 22:11

7850 and overclock it or spend more on a Gigabyte Windforce GTX670.

Cleeecooo · 18 May 2012 at 22:12

If it's a good quality 500w PSU, then Windforce 670 would be my choice

steviet32 · 23 May 2012 at 14:51

Thanks guys

mp260767 · 23 May 2012 at 14:55

as mentioned, make sure its a decent quality psu before putting a decent card in like the 7850, be a shame for it to get killed

.

dave_beast · 23 May 2012 at 14:58

HD7970 as it's the best overclocking/performance card atm.

the_director · 23 May 2012 at 15:01

What about the MSI 7950 Twin Frozr III on one week only offer for £299? Surely that is a good deal - pre-overclocked and still has plenty of headroom to go further.

dave_beast · 23 May 2012 at 15:03

the_director said:
What about the MSI 7950 Twin Frozr III on one week only offer for £299? Surely that is a good deal - pre-overclocked and still has plenty of headroom to go further.

+1 This would be the frugal option if the OP is not adverse to some overclocking.

Marine-RX179 · 23 May 2012 at 15:20

I wouldn't recommend card beyond 7850, unless the OP is planning on overclocking his CPU to 4.0GHz+.

dave_beast · 23 May 2012 at 15:22

Marine-RX179 said:
I wouldn't recommend card beyond 7850, unless the OP is planning on overclocking his CPU to 4.0GHz+.

Yes, bottlenecking on a high end gpu is a distinct possibility on that CPU

Boomstick777 · 23 May 2012 at 16:01

dave_beast said:
HD7970 as it's the best overclocking/performance card atm.

Only if you pretend the GTX 670 and GTX 680 don't exist...

Rusty0611 · 23 May 2012 at 16:02

dave_beast said:
HD7970 as it's the best overclocking/performance card atm.

Incorrect.

GTX680 is better in most games. Max OC vs Max OC it's even at best.

No matter how many times you post saying the 7970 is better doesn't make it any more true

dave_beast · 23 May 2012 at 16:34

Boomstick777 said:
Only if you pretend the GTX 670 and GTX 680 don't exist...

And if you don't play the games that are stuttering atm.

Rusty0611 said:
Incorrect.

GTX680 is better in most games. Max OC vs Max OC it's even at best.

No matter how many times you post saying the 7970 is better doesn't make it any more true

In reviewers benchmarks, end users report completely different findings where 7970>680.

Rusty0611 · 23 May 2012 at 17:04

End users being you. :rolleyes:

shawsy109 · 23 May 2012 at 17:09

Rusty0611 said:
End users being you.

Arent you doing the same as Dave? defending your green card against his red card?

Rusty0611 · 23 May 2012 at 17:19

Defending against what? I couldn't care less which performs better. What I do care about is incorrect information being given out. I won't comment or attempt to correct a genuine recommendation with tinges of brand preference in there but posting incorrect information to influence somebody's purchase isn't right.

I don't need to round up all the hardware reviews of the two cards but they say it all.

steviet32 · 25 May 2012 at 08:44

Don't think my 500w PSU is of a suitably high standard. Was one I got with case. How would I go about ensuring it is good enough? And can you recommend a good PSU? For a reasonable price?