Have to buy a new GPU

tophee · 12 Mar 2013 at 13:46

So, I've been surviving on my brother-in-law's old Nvidia GTX295. I had this after my GTX460 went pop.

Now this card is starting to show artifacts everywhere even when load doesn't seem that great.

So I need a new GPU. I can't afford a high end GTX690, and am seeing people on here liking the ATI cards at the moment.

What mid-range card would you guys recommend. I'm playing a fairly heavily modded Skyrim, I expect I will be buying the new Tomb Raider soon too and I've just got the new Simcity.

Any and all help gratefully received.

Thanks in advance

tophee · 12 Mar 2013 at 14:18

Actually, looking at what other people are talking about at the moment, it seems the ATI 7950 is a smart choice.

Which one would you recommend?
The Gigabyte one at £239.99 inc vat
Asus at the costlier £259.99 inc VAT

arc@css · 12 Mar 2013 at 14:56

What cpu and psu do you have? Is the cpu overclocked? What res are you gaming at? What is your max budget?

Tazzfalcon · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:05

Power supply is important too.

tophee · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:14

Ok, sorry meant to put them in and got distracted.
Gaming at 1080p
CPU Intel i7-3770K stock at present
16Gb ram
Samsung SSD
PSU Corsair 750M
Max budget is around the 250 mark I guess. That's sort of top end-ish. I could stretch a little more perhaps £300, but really would be uncomfortable spending that much...

arc@css · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:16

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-190-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673

Gibbo3771 · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:16

7950 is what you are looking at, if you want to save money you can get a 7870XT and overclock it and it pretty much runs like an non oc'd 7950...except you have £20-60 left over

tophee · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:20

which is the best one? I linked to two in my first post

tophee · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:21

oops, missed your link arc

arc@css · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:22

I'd rather have the Gigabyte over the Asus, since Asus customer care is practically non-existent should you need to rma it. Gigabyte / MSI are the best firms to go with for AMD imo.

tophee · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:22

Now i've 3 to choose from

arc@css · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:23

Does your case have decent cooling?

tophee · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:25

ok, 2

tophee · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:26

I'd say so. i'm still using my classic Akasa Eclipe with 2x120mm in, 1x120mm out.

arc@css · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:27

Should be fine with either then.

tophee · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:30

Is there any significant difference other than price and different coolers? Is it just down to paying an extra £15 for a fan? :-)

arc@css · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:38

No. They're both quiet at idle and good performers at load. In this instance, I'd vote with your wallet.

The only thing I might add, is you could wait to hear from MSI users to see how happy they are with their product. If it's of any use, I have the same cooler on my 480 as the Gigabyte, and I've been very happy with it.

tophee · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:39

Thanks for your input. MSI it is then. Much appreciated. Cheers

arc@css · 12 Mar 2013 at 15:42