final gpu decision

nerdshack888 · 1 Dec 2025 at 10:17

ok thanks

harmattan · 1 Dec 2025 at 15:47

I've had a 9700xt Pulse and Nitro+ and had a 7900xtx Red Devil. The Nitro+ is the "best" card out there, in my opinion. Good temps, slick understated design, and an actually innovative hidden power connector. If it were me and had the extra scratch, I'd go Nitro+. However, a base model like the Pulse or Swift will do you just fine and perform within 5% of a top-end model (although maybe a few c more and a bit louder). All the 9700xt models are good, and as usual for AMD, I don't know a single one you'd want to stay away from (unlike on the Green side).

And echoing others, the 12v2x6 are out-of-control overblown, especially on a 350w TDP card.

Also stating what others have mentioned, coil whine in my experience is totally luck of the draw. You might as well throw your money on roulette to have a better chance of guessing.

nerdshack888 · 2 Dec 2025 at 08:20

i have another question but i might sound a bit complicated here it goes, my motherboard is the msi b850 edge ti and it has the additional pcie power connector on it that some people say is not needed unless you are using more power eg more than one gpu but then some people say they have been having crashes and after plugging a pcie connector into the slot they system is working, at the moment i have not connected any pcies to the motherboard so i have 3 connectors spare from my corsair 850w psu, so my question is do i get a 2xpcie gpu and then have the option of connecting the spare connector to the motherboard incase of any problems with the gpu as at the moment i have no problems but i am using the integrated gpu or do i get a 3x8 pin connector card with the presumption that the power will distributed better between the psu and the gpu but will then not be able to connect the additional pcie to the motherboard to test if that fixes any problems that may occur, just been on my mind so thought it was worth asking.

tamzzy · 2 Dec 2025 at 08:38

Motherboard pcie connector not needed

nerdshack888 · 2 Dec 2025 at 09:24

thats what i think, but no guarantees unto i get a gpu and test, at the moment my pc is barely using any power with the integrated gpu so not been tested yet.

Tetras · 2 Dec 2025 at 14:33

nerdshack888 said:
just been on my mind so thought it was worth asking

I'd get a 2x PCI-E card and leave yourself with one spare, just in case.

There's little concern about the power distribution, the 8-pin connectors can handle a lot more than their rated 150 watts and without knowing how the card was designed, it might not distribute that load evenly across the 3 anyway.

nerdshack888 · 2 Dec 2025 at 15:55

ok thanks

nerdshack888 · 2 Dec 2025 at 15:56

just noticed the pulse has gone up from £550 ish to £590 not great.

nerdshack888 · 2 Dec 2025 at 15:57

wish the mercury oc was in at overclockers as i would pay the extra to get that one.

nerdshack888 · 2 Dec 2025 at 15:59

and the cheapest price for the asus prime oc is now the official site.

Tetras · 2 Dec 2025 at 18:46

nerdshack888 said:
just noticed the pulse has gone up from £550 ish to £590 not great.

What about a 9070 non-XT? If you're concerned about the power use, they use a good chunk less power (~50-100 watts).

tamzzy · 2 Dec 2025 at 19:26

nerdshack888 said:
just noticed the pulse has gone up from £550 ish to £590 not great.

tamzzy said:
Its a lottery which ever card you buy, not just the pulse. You'd see more people complaining about the pulse because there are relatively a lot more people buying the pulse compared to the other cards!

If you do want to get a GPU you better buy it soon before the price rises kicks in.

Not sure why you are paralysed in indecision. You can research as much as you want but these cards are much of a muchness. You aren't gunning for mega over clocks and they'll all perform much the same for the average user.

^

Gray2233 · 2 Dec 2025 at 19:33

nerdshack888 said:
just noticed the pulse has gone up from £550 ish to £590 not great.

This is going to keep happening with all GPU's, there's a massive shortage on memory and we've already seen it murder RAM supply.

It's starting to trickle down to storage and GPU's, the longer you wait the more expensive everything is going to become. It's sensible to do a little bit of research, but becoming mired in indecision when the cards you're looking at have very little noteworthy differences will come back to bite you.

You should have just bought the Pulse for £559, you've gained nothing but more expense and a performance difference so marginal you'd never notice it.

heatonpkmassive · 2 Dec 2025 at 19:51

nerdshack888 said:
just noticed the pulse has gone up from £550 ish to £590 not great.

And that's why people tell you that if you want it now you need to buy it now.

Gibbo from here has clearly said this on here, hesitate and you'll be paying more and very soon.

I'd get a shift on fella.

harmattan · 5 Dec 2025 at 09:31

I've had my head in the ground at work and just seeing news on the memory "shortages". Holy cow. Glad I bought that 4tb SSD uppgrade last month and am set up with pretty much everything else.

Disappointed I sold that 9700xt I had sitting around a few weeks ago though... Oh well, someone got lucky.

nerdshack888 · 6 Dec 2025 at 09:42

So i think i have decided on the pure which is which has 2x8 pin connectors now my question is my msi motherboard has the supplemental pcie slot on board and because of the 2x8 connector on the gpu i will have one connector free can i connect the lead to the motherboard supplemental connector and thereby give the gpu more power to overclock more and for more stability or will that be up to the motherboard to decide, and if i can how will i know it is.

harmattan · 6 Dec 2025 at 22:08

nerdshack888 said:
So i think i have decided on the pure which is which has 2x8 pin connectors now my question is my msi motherboard has the supplemental pcie slot on board and because of the 2x8 connector on the gpu i will have one connector free can i connect the lead to the motherboard supplemental connector and thereby give the gpu more power to overclock more and for more stability or will that be up to the motherboard to decide, and if i can how will i know it is.

Do you see shut downs now when you overclock your cpu? If so, try with the extra 4-pin cable and see if you still have shut downs. Or, just try to overclock with/without the extra 4-pin plugged in. If you can go further with the 4-pin, than it's providing more power and/or more stability. It's not going to make a huge difference, in any respect.

Tetras · 6 Dec 2025 at 22:14

nerdshack888 said:
or will that be up to the motherboard to decide, and if i can how will i know it is.

I can't find any comment from MSI in the motherboard manual and their press release about the connector isn't clear about if/when it is required either.

Plugging it in should do no harm, even if it doesn't need it.

nerdshack888 · 6 Dec 2025 at 23:01

i dont use the connector at the moment and the cpu is slighty overclocked and fine but i just wondered if the extra connector on the motherboard would give me more run for overclocking the gpu but it seems it needs to be trial and error.

Tetras · 6 Dec 2025 at 23:11

nerdshack888 said:
but i just wondered if the extra connector on the motherboard would give me more run for overclocking the gpu but it seems it needs to be trial and error.

I'd assume that the graphics card will draw the majority of the power it needs from the 8-pins rather than through the board, so I doubt the connector will give you more headroom there.

In their writeup, MSI are suggesting that the graphics card can end up competing with other devices (except CPU) on the board, which can cause a problem when the GPU spikes in extreme / high load.

Realistically, I doubt many systems are anywhere near to exceeding the 168 watts MSI say the board can draw through the 24-pin, but it is true that high-end cards can pull very high numbers (600+ watts) in total through board and power connectors.