New graphics card - £170-£240 range

[WU-TANG]GZA · 25 Nov 2012 at 19:11

Rusty0611 said:
Yup. If you consider the chances of getting a faulty one are quite small and I got 2/2 and so did spoffle... it does make you wonder what the true volume of failed ones are.

Shame the HIS one I have isn't on the 7970 PCB like the MSI card but I'm more than happy overall.

What differences does the 7970 PCB have to the 7950 PCB, do u know mate?

Rusty0611 · 25 Nov 2012 at 19:17

[WU-TANG]GZA;23240860 said:
What differences does the 7970 PCB have to the 7950 PCB, do u know mate?

Gives you an 8 pin connection in (more wattage) and should in theory allow greater overclocking capability.

SkodaMart · 25 Nov 2012 at 19:24

The only answer to this thread is the GTX 660Ti.

Unless OP is willing to try ATi in which case get the HIS HD 7950.

If you can stretch your budget, the GTX 670 might be worth a look, however the 660 Ti won't disappoint at 1080p.

Edit: If you can hang on a while, I expect the price of the GTX 660 Ti to drop.

Nickolp1974 · 25 Nov 2012 at 19:29

SkodaMart said:
@Rusty, TBH if I had the spare cash I would try another HD 7950.

The MSi ones seem scandalous the amount of dodgy cards they have had.

I'm not stupid, I could see how 'awesome' the HD 7950 was that's why I bought one. Shame mine was a partial lemon.

The GTX 660 Ti on the otherhand has performed flawlessly.

Ocuk now have a new batch of msi 7950's, so hopefully the problems should be sorted. And dont forget your going to get more returns on a card which is probably one of the highest selling.

The 660Ti would disappoint me if i couldn't run AA on a 32" tv.

SkodaMart · 25 Nov 2012 at 19:34

Nickolp1974 said:
The 660Ti would disappoint me if i couldn't run AA on a 32" tv.

Maybe you should try a HD 7970 then?

HD TV is 1080p, I don't have any problems at 1080p??

Gregster · 25 Nov 2012 at 19:38

SkodaMart said:
My personal opinion in this thread is the GTX 660Ti.

Unless OP is willing to try AMD in which case get the HIS HD 7950.

If you can stretch your budget, the GTX 670 is a good purchase however the 660 Ti won't disappoint at 1080p but is a little over priced.

Edit: If you can hang on a while, I expect the price of the GTX 660 Ti to drop.

Fixed

Nickolp1974 · 25 Nov 2012 at 19:40

SkodaMart said:
Maybe you should try a HD 7970 then?

HD TV is 1080p, I don't have any problems at 1080p??

Ummm maybe i should

What size screen are you running?

SkodaMart · 25 Nov 2012 at 19:42

Nickolp1974 said:
What size screen are you running?

27"

SkodaMart · 25 Nov 2012 at 19:45

@Gregster read the OP!

what is your suggestion?

Catch! said:
I'm currently trying to decide on a graphics card for my first home build (so excuse any newbish questions).

What Nvidia cards in the price range would you recommend?

SkodaMart said:
The only answer to this thread is the GTX 660Ti.

Unless OP is willing to try ATi in which case get the HIS HD 7950.

If you can stretch your budget, the GTX 670 might be worth a look, however the 660 Ti won't disappoint at 1080p.

Edit: If you can hang on a while, I expect the price of the GTX 660 Ti to drop.

Nickolp1974 · 25 Nov 2012 at 19:51

Well from a personal point i would like max AA at 27" and above, and most def at op's 32", how does the 660 perform? And dont get me wrong the 660Ti is a great card, but for the money it struggles to compete with the 7950.

Gregster · 25 Nov 2012 at 19:51

SkodaMart said:
@gregster read the OP!

what is your suggestion?

gregster said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660TI OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Borderlands 2 & Assassin's Creed III PC Games £245.99
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £229.99
Total : £487.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).

As you can see, the 660TI is priced more than the 7950 and performs less admirably. Nvidia have put too much of a price tag on this gen to make them viable. Personaly, I would go for the 7950 unless you want the pretties that come with PhysX games.

I am not having a go at you Mart but I am an Nvidia fan and can see common sense where the 660TI is over priced. The 660 isn't a bad card at all and at 1080P I would imagine it copes very well in games having seen and read feedback from others.

You can't say "The only answer to this thread is the 660TI" because it isn't. That is saying eveyone who suggests any thing other than a 660TI, is wrong.

SkodaMart · 25 Nov 2012 at 19:57

@Gregster We are talking about a guy with 3 posts (OP) he has specified an nVidia card.

The answer therefore is the GTX 660Ti.

You are well within your rights to direct OP towards the HD 7950 or point out the fact that the GTX 660 Ti is currently overpriced.

All of which I agree with.

This however does not change the fact that the ONLY answer to OPs original question is the GTX 660Ti.

Gregster · 25 Nov 2012 at 20:02

Fair enough Mart and I am sure the OP will decide. His first build and I felt best to give him the view of both companies and not dictate only Nvidia or AMD

SkodaMart · 25 Nov 2012 at 20:04

Rusty0611 · 25 Nov 2012 at 23:42

there was me forgetting that people might be open to other ideas

must have forgetten that it's only ok to be literal. as OP can get far more performance with AMD I am sure he'll want to hear about it.... if not then fair enough.

Nuclear Fusion · 25 Nov 2012 at 23:58

Rusty0611 said:
there was me forgetting that people might be open to other ideas

must have forgetten that it's only ok to be literal. as OP can get far more performance with AMD I am sure he'll want to hear about it.... if not then fair enough.

Just what I was about to say, OP did not say he was excluding AMD cards from his search so it is best to give them the best option for that price range, which is the 7950. If OP said it absolutely has to be an Nvidia card, then I would probably say to try and get one of the cheaper reference 670's, or a 660. The 660Ti is poor value for money.

Gregster · 26 Nov 2012 at 00:37

I feel when the OP comes back (if he does), he will let us know if he is staunch on getting Nvidia only or prepared to get the better value and performing card.

SkodaMart · 26 Nov 2012 at 22:28

gregster said:
I feel when the OP comes back (if he does

The Wraiths of the wild graphics card hunt have driven off yet another unsuspecting thug

SkodaMart · 26 Nov 2012 at 22:30

Rusty0611 said:
there was me forgetting that people might be open to other ideas

must have forgetten that it's only ok to be literal. as OP can get far more performance with AMD I am sure he'll want to hear about it.... if not then fair enough.

It was suggested in the 2nd post? :confused:

Nickolp1974 said:
Better alternative's are AMD cards, you could get the 7950 sell the games and you would be looking about the £200 price point, with the new drivers your looking at 670+ performance.

And the next card down, the 7850 is around £150 and performance to match the 660, so again price wise, amd all the way.

Rusty0611 · 26 Nov 2012 at 22:35

SkodaMart said:
I was suggested in the 2nd post?

As you have blarbed on about the 660Ti I felt it right to point out the 7950 is a better option for the neutral buyer.