Just a quick question...

[StarSolitude]

Hi. I've been out of the pc/custom-building scene for a good few years now. Last time I was around, the ATI 5850 was a decent graphics card. Obviously it's outdated now.

I'm looking to upgrade in a new system, and was wondering what the mid / mid-high end cards were, thesedays? I don't need an exact model, I just want to know roughly what ranges I should be looking at.

I'm looking to build a PC that will handle games for at least 2-3 years (with some lag occuring around 3 year mark).

And do NVidia's still have an edge over ATI's in benchmarks?

 

[Drangueos]

budget???

*Single GPU card Nvidia is faster than AMD, Titan and GTX 780 (at least for now, AMD is about to release new cards soon)
**Dual GPU card AMD is faster than Nvidia, AMD HD 7990
***Cost/Benefit AMD is better, AMD HD 7950

 

[=XDC=FluphyBunny]

The above is a really nice summary.

Just to check what system ie cpu etc?

 

[Confused Stu]

Each month Tomshardware produce a list of old and new GPUs sorted roughly into a table. This is the best system I've seen to see roughly how fast any given GPU is:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-graphics-card-review,review-32760-7.html

I tend to use this to narrow down options in my price bracket to leave just the quickest ones, then look at reviews for those cards to get exact scores - Anandtech Bench is a good tool to compare two cards directly, but it's always with checking other reviews too

 

[Doomedspeed]

All depends on your budget. The 780/7990 are around £500..

The 770 is around £300, though the 7970 is close but cheaper (just).

There are a few deals on 670's and 680's recently which have been real bargains. Under £200.

For around £150 you can get a 7870 or 7870LE (7950 chip).

 

[StarSolitude]

Thanks for the replies. My budget is probably around £160-200. The limiting factor would be my motherboard/CPU (Core i5 750). I'm looking to max out current generation games, specifically Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn and Rome 2.

I was looking at the ATI 7950 card... that might carry my current system a bit further, before I finally revamp the whole thing in a year or two when I have more money.

 

[los]

Then buy this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-065-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673
That was easy

 

[StarSolitude]

The ATI 7950 is a PCI-E 3.0 card, but my motherboard is only PCI-E 2.0. Will it still work, albeit at a lowered 2.0 spec?

 

[los]

Yes they are backwards compatible

 

[Sasahara]

Personally I'd go for a GTX 670 over the HD 7950, given it uses a bit less power and we don't know what the full system spec the OP is gonna use this with.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-170-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=2294

The MSI GeForce GTX 670 OC Twin Frozr Power Edition is fast and cool, and also IMO has a better combination of outputs.

2x Dual-Link DVI-I, 1x HDMI 1.4a & 1x Displayport
VS
1x Dual Link DVI, 1x HDMI & 2x Mini-DisplayPort

In terms of gaming they are pretty even overall, unless there is a specific reason or game that you play that requires an ATI card.