• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Graphic Card Upgrade

maj

maj

maj

Soldato
Joined
19 Jul 2010
Posts
2,913
Location
Durham
I'm so far out of the loop regarding graphic cards these days, my last 'upgrade' was going from a 470 to a 560:o The 560 is starting to show it age and five minutes of gaming causes it to crash and my screen going black needing a restart.

I'm looking to replace it with something in the £150-£200 range. I game at 1920 x 1200 so will need something capable that will last me a few years and play the latest games.

I've always been an Nvidia fan but will consider AMD if the price is right.

Thanks
 
It's a bit of a shame that the PowerColor 290 was £199.99 about a week ago so would've been spot on for your £200 budget.
 
digitalx said:
Is £200 your hard limit? for the extra £15 odd you can get this 290 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-166-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

Or strictly under £200, then I would go for this 280x http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-225-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1842
Click to expand...

I could stretch an extra £15-£20 if the performance was worth the price difference. I lost interest in PC gaming so bought an xbox one for my main gaming needs but wanting to get back into PC gaming with some of the games coming out.

Will check those two cards out.

RanxZy said:
It's a bit of a shame that the PowerColor 290 was £199.99 about a week ago so would've been spot on for your £200 budget.
Click to expand...

Just my luck!
 
The R9 290 is a great shout and offers very good bang for buck right now around the £200 mark. Could hold fire until next weeks offers are up (Wednesday) as the powercooler might be on This Week Only again.
 
shadow_boxer said:
The R9 290 is a great shout and offers very good bang for buck right now around the £200 mark. Could hold fire until next weeks offers are up (Wednesday) as the powercooler might be on This Week Only again.
Click to expand...

Yes good point, the 290+ at £199.99 was excellent value - worth seeing if it comes around again
 
I bought the powercolor PCS+ yesterday at 199.99 :D I'm sure if you went into CS section of the forums and asked they'd most likely honor it.

honestly 290 at even 215 is a steal......
 
shadow_boxer said:
The R9 290 is a great shout and offers very good bang for buck right now around the £200 mark. Could hold fire until next weeks offers are up (Wednesday) as the powercooler might be on This Week Only again.
Click to expand...

Goody_GTI said:
Yes good point, the 290+ at £199.99 was excellent value - worth seeing if it comes around again
Click to expand...

Seems like 290 is the most popular choice. Does look a good card spec wise for the price.

meldarthx said:
I bought the powercolor PCS+ yesterday at 199.99 :D I'm sure if you went into CS section of the forums and asked they'd most likely honor it.

honestly 290 at even 215 is a steal......
Click to expand...

Will get in touch with them and see if they will still honor the deal.
 
Just been checking the specs of that 290 card further. It says I need at least a 750W PSU. That right? I'd have to check but fairly sure I only have a 550 or 650 one.
 
Can't go wrong with the Powercooler wish I had gone for that GPU instead of my 290X as it cost £50 more and some guy on the forum overclocked his 290 faster than my 290X at even MY max overclock.

So it just goes to show :D
 
Gilbert89 said:
Can't go wrong with the Powercooler wish I had gone for that GPU instead of my 290X as it cost £50 more and some guy on the forum overclocked his 290 faster than my 290X at even MY max overclock.

So it just goes to show :D
Click to expand...

Got it in my basket ready to buy just trying to convince myself as it's a lot of money but I'm sure will pay for itself over the years I'll have it.

thefogo said:
A good 550W one will be fine.
Click to expand...

Just checked and it's a corsair 650W one.
 
Even if you use the card for a year if you think of the hours of entertainment you'll get from using a better card the value for money works out very well. 20 trips to the cinema is about £200 and that's nowhere near as much hours of entertainment!
 
thefogo said:
Should be no problem then.

I just checked my power draw on Firestrike during the combined test. It peaked at 395W, and that's with a 290x and 5820k both OC'd
Click to expand...

Then you're not doing it right. 690W Pulled with the Lightning & 3930k both clocked in the Batman BM ;)

Total draw with 2 cards in said benchmark 900/950W.
 
Last edited:
So card arrived in the post today. However an error on my part meant I overlooked that it needs a mobo with PCI 3.0 whereas mine only supports 2.0. What's my options? Mobo upgrade? But would that mean I'd have to upgrade cpu too?
 
maj said:
So card arrived in the post today. However an error on my part meant I overlooked that it needs a mobo with PCI 3.0 whereas mine only supports 2.0. What's my options? Mobo upgrade? But would that mean I'd have to upgrade cpu too?
Click to expand...

It should work with PCIE 2.0 fine, it's all backwards compatible. There is no way you would see any impact in performance with a single 290 and PCIE 2.0 x16. Just make sure you put it in your motherboards x16 slot.
 
Last edited:
RanxZy said:
It should work with PCIE 2.0 fine, it's all backwards compatible. There is no way you would see any impact in performance with a single 290 and PCIE 2.0 x16. Just make sure you put it in your motherboards x16 slot.
Click to expand...

Ah right noob alert:p I'll give it another go tomorrow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom