Help Me Decide Please

[Daniel]

Hello,

I'm looking to get a new graphics card and have read lots of reviews but am unsure what to go for. I'm not bothered if it's ATI or nVidia but am wondering what would be the best to go for as both seem to have good reviews. I am also not too bothered about 3D.

I am running 1080p and have a i7 2700k and 16GB of memory. My current card is a 5870. I currently play BF3, Dirt3 and Batman Arkham City.

The cards I have read reviews on and are within my price range are these two.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-007-VX

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-011-PL&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=2255

So are any of those any good or should I be looking at something else? I'm looking at the pre overclocked ones as I'm not good at the overclocking side of things.

Budget £350-£500.


Thanks for your help
Dan

 

[psychodil]

I would be looking at an nvidia card if I were you as they have strong performance in batman and BF3. A 680 is a waste of money when you can save yourself £100 and get a 670 which gives 95% of its performance.

Based on what you said I would get a windforce 670.

How tolerant are you of noise and do you intend on overclocking? do you intend upgrading to multimonitors at some point?

 

[Daniel]

I have sensitive hearing so any card would have to be pretty silent in idle and desktop use. Obviously I expect it to ramp up during gaming. I find my 5870 ok for noise but wouldn't want anything ear splitting loud. This is why I am looking at the multi fan designs.

I don't intend on overclocking but I'm happy to have the headroom for the future. I also don't intend on using multimonitors.


Thanks for your help
Dan

 

[psychodil]

Windforce 670 then IMO.

Im sure some others will offer their opinion tomorrow though

 

[7haRV91]

As psychodil said, I would definitely side with Nvidia if you are planning maxxing out the games you have mentioned.

If you're willing to spend a chunk more for some extra performance, I say this as you don't plan on overclocking, I've heard good things about the MSI GTX 680 Lightning. It has a multi fan design and is quite a quiet card as are most of the MSI cards with custom coolers. Reason I suggest this card is you mentioned your budget is up to £500 and I just wanted to suggest this card as, although pricey, it's still within your budget.

If you want to save a bit, I would be inclined you go with the MSI GTX 670 Power Edition although Overclockers doesn't sell this card so you would have to go elsewhere. If you are not planning on SLI down the line then yes, the Gigabyte GTX 670 Windforce 3X is also an alternative. Also, I would like to mention the Asus GTX 670 cards as they also have custom coolers and apparently have great performance. Again, you would have to buy them elsewhere.

You will see major improvements from your 5870, regardless of which card you choose.

 

[Daniel]

Thank you for your help.

I managed to get a GTX 680 DirectCu II TOP which is higher clocked than the MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning and for less money

Dan