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Spec me a boring mid-range card

theheyes

theheyes

theheyes

Soldato
Joined
17 Jan 2007
Posts
8,944
Location
Manchester
I'd like to upgrade my graphics card but I'm a bit out of the loop with what's going on.

I currently have a GTS 450 which has been fine for the last few years. I'm not a big gamer, I play stuff like Civ5 and XCOM. I recently bought Company of Heroes 2 and its recommended settings were 'minimum' across the board and it looks crap, so that's prompted me to look into upgrading.

I have a 1080 monitor and I'm looking to spend £150, give or take. The card needs to be quiet, not power hungry and not massive (I have limited room in the case, the GTS 450 fits ok but I wouldn't say it was roomy)

Nvidia, AMD, I don't really mind. I just want the best bang per buck to run modern games at medium settings.

Suggestions welcome. There are so many options I don't know where to start. Plus, if there are any new cards just around the corner speak up; I'm ok with waiting.

Thanks,
 
CPU is a stock first gen Core i3, not the best these days but it's not that bad. PSU is a basic Antec 430w thing, again not the best but it's been absolutely fine over the last 5 years so can't complain.

The 7850 looks good - wipes the floor with the 450 GTS so if it's a straightforward swap with no dramas it might be the one for me. :)
 
The same question that always gets overlooked.

Are you going to overclock the new card?

If no then the 660's are a tad quicker than the 7850's at stock settings.

But the 7850's tend to stretch their legs a bit more when overclocked.
 
Hmm, I'm wondering if those might be on the large side for my case though. That 7850 looked nice and compact. I'm guessing there isn't a lot (performance wise) between them?

Remember, as long as it plays stuff acceptably I'm not too fussed if one spits out a few more fps than the other. I'm coming from a 450 GTS :o
 
not to overclock 7850 would be a big mistake, OC'ing is so easy these days, move slider to the right and it's done. For heavy OC you need some patient. either way, you cpu might bottleneck either of those cards at stock... i would go for 7850, cause if you will decide to OC it one day :)
 
The lengths according to the manufactures websites.

Gigabyte 660 wf2 256.3 mm

KFA2 660 your guess is as good as mine because the website doesn't say :rolleyes:.

HIS 7850 IceQ X 235mm

HIS 7850 Ice Q 297mm

At stock settings the Gigabyte WindForcex2 GTX660 will be the fastest, and it shouldn't cause any problems since your coming form an Nvidia card, the HIS iceQ X is the shortest, not qiute as fast and you have the change from Nvidia to AMD driver wise.
At the end of the day either will be a very nice upgrade to your existing 450, as shown here.

Hope this helps.
 
linaaslt said:
not to overclock 7850 would be a big mistake, OC'ing is so easy these days, move slider to the right and it's done. For heavy OC you need some patient. either way, you cpu might bottleneck either of those cards at stock... i would go for 7850, cause if you will decide to OC it one day :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think to not bother with overclocking with the AMD 7000 / Nvidia 600 + 700 series when you need the extra frames is a mistake. Normally, when looking at reviews of overclocked performance I've tend to be quite unimpressed. That changed when the above range of cards came out though. :)
 
Last edited:
theheyes said:
No, no plans to overclock. :)
Click to expand...

All you have to do is move two sliders. It is that simple. Get a 7850 and OC it, you don't have to go crazy and start fiddling about with voltage. It is not complicated.

You don't even have to download a program to do it.

1. Click catalyst control center (this will come on the disk with AMD card)

2. Click performance.

3. Click AMD overdrive

4. Slide HIGH Performance slider to end (or close to it)

5. Slide HIGH performance mem clock slider to end (or close to it)

6. Click apply.

7. Forget about it.


Here's my card. It is great. There are other good options for 7850 too, like the one mentioned above.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-306-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411

I haven't owned that card, but I have owned my card for well over a year, it is cool and quiet, OC's really well past stock settings with no fuss, or any real rise in temps.

The cooler is fantastic.

Have fun whjatever you decide to do, but don't be put off by thinking OC'ing is techy, it isn't, it is incredibly simple!!!


:D
 
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