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Struggling to decide on a GPU!

bradUK

bradUK

bradUK

Associate
Joined
14 Jul 2013
Posts
884
HELP ME! After weeks of chopping and changing, watching YouTube reviews, scouring the forums and talking to mates I'm still no closer to choosing a new card :-(

It seems as soon as I find something I like I'll find a reason to discard it.

I was set on a EVGA 780ti Classy dual bios until I read a offhand comment from someone that it lagged behind a 290x by like 3fps in some obscure graphics benchmarking suite. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-235-EA&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1402

Then I was looking at the 8gig Sapphire 290x but I don't know how useable the 8gig frame buffer would be in the real world? It's never going to be doing anything other than gaming although I love the board I think it'll be slower than the 780 but with over twice the memory http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-353-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

I think I'm right in saying that both of those cards will be okay with my Corsair 600w PSU and it's worth noting that I game @ 1080 120+hz. Now I realise that these cards are designed for much higher resolutions but this is a treat for me now after grafting my nuts off for months lol The new monitor can wait until Christmas time :-)

Although the price isn't a concern I'm not looking to drop £1000+ on a 295x2 or TitanZ as that's ridiculous. I'd rather stay on a single GPU setup. My mate has a 690 and another pal has a 7990, both of them have various compatability issues.

Any pointers or other cards to consider? Which/what would you buy and why?
 
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For best price/performance I'd recommend the Powercolor 290 PCS+ for AMD or Inno3D 780 for Nvidia.
Though as you say that price isn't an issue you could treat yourself with a 290X Lightning or Inno3D 780 Ti for best performance and best cooling.

And the 8GB framebuffer isn't at all useful at 1080p, and probably isn't useful even at 4k unless you get 3 or 4 cards.
 
Probably a 780Ti or a 780 6GB. R9 290 would be a good bet too, though if it were me I'd be going for a 6GB 780 - not really needed at 1080p. For 1080p, I'd get either 780Ti or R9 290 as the 290X isn't worth the extra over the normal 290 for the 5-10% performance increase
 
290 / 780 @ 3 / 6gb, unless you can find a 780ti for a good price.

I would choose the 780 (or 'ti' if I could find one at a sensible price). For my needs, 3gb of memory is still enough, though again, if the price was reasonable I would consider a 6gb model. I'd opt for Nvidia simply because I've found them to be a bit better overall. However, everyone's experience will vary; some will find the opposite to be the case. You won't go wrong with either. :)
 
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I think OCUK's Powercolor 290 offer is pretty sweet. Money saved and great performance. Benchmarks are benchmarks, so, best to go with something that you recognise will be of use to you.
 
thefogo said:
For best price/performance I'd recommend the Powercolor 290 PCS+ for AMD or Inno3D 780 for Nvidia.
Though as you say that price isn't an issue you could treat yourself with a 290X Lightning or Inno3D 780 Ti for best performance and best cooling.

And the 8GB framebuffer isn't at all useful at 1080p, and probably isn't useful even at 4k unless you get 3 or 4 cards.
Click to expand...

my guess is that 8GB isn't needed yet and wont be late next year either.

I would get the MSI Lightning and the best mobo/cpu that you can afford, e.g my 7970 plays Metro last light easily and you wont get many games next year better than this.....if any, plus on 1080p only, i dont think you need to go too crazy anyway
 
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Why do ppl always tell users to get 290 or 780s for 1080p gaming? I have a 670 and runs everything great. For others I'd recommend 680 or amds equivalent as they are good and cheap especially if u find a good deal in mm that's not too old.

Edit: I see in your SIG that u have a 7950. Can u xfire with another as might be cheap way to get a boost. I did say get maybe a 680 etc but there not much better I think than the 7950 tho u might like the boost i guess but tbh a 7950 should be good for 1080p. Is there a game ur struggling with that ur wanting to boost?
 
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SkeeterUK said:
Why do ppl always tell users to get 290 or 780s for 1080p gaming? I have a 670 and runs everything great. For others I'd recommend 680 or amds equivalent as they are good and cheap especially if u find a good deal in mm that's not too old.

Edit: I see in your SIG that u have a 7950. Can u xfire with another as might be cheap way to get a boost. I did say get maybe a 680 etc but there not much better I think than the 7950 tho u might like the boost i guess but tbh a 7950 should be good for 1080p. Is there a game ur struggling with that ur wanting to boost?
Click to expand...

I think similarly, it's to do with advising others on how to spend their money. Always easy to tell someone to grab a Ferrari.:p
 
SkeeterUK said:
Why do ppl always tell users to get 290 or 780s for 1080p gaming? I have a 670 and runs everything great. For others I'd recommend 680 or amds equivalent as they are good and cheap especially if u find a good deal in mm that's not too old.

Edit: I see in your SIG that u have a 7950. Can u xfire with another as might be cheap way to get a boost. I did say get maybe a 680 etc but there not much better I think than the 7950 tho u might like the boost i guess but tbh a 7950 should be good for 1080p. Is there a game ur struggling with that ur wanting to boost?
Click to expand...

I know a guy that runs everything he plays great at 1080 with a 6850, but it doesn't mean everyone would be happy with that. And why buy Intel when an AMD cpu does fine? :o
 
Hi, we do allow to put third party BIOS on the classy card because of its built quality, if you push the power target to 200% and throw 1.35V on it I am pretty sure there is nothing lagging behind any other single GPU ;)
 
780 classy non ti i can say for sure is rly well made
can only imagine the ti is the same but faster :)

tho if i was buying today i think i would just get a 750ti lol bcos all ive played l8ly is tropico 5 and some tera... i rly need find a new game

respect to evga for having nice warranty's
there isnt many companies that do
 
SkeeterUK said:
Why do ppl always tell users to get 290 or 780s for 1080p gaming? I have a 670 and runs everything great. For others I'd recommend 680 or amds equivalent as they are good and cheap especially if u find a good deal in mm that's not too old.
Click to expand...
It's down to the graphic setting that people are expecting to use.

Take Sleeping Dogs with max setting and Extreme on AA (SuperSampling), the GK104 based cards would run a like a dog (no pun intended) comparing to 290 or GTX780.

I just complete the game yesterday. Had I been using a GTX670, I wouldn't have been able to use Extreme on the AA setting, but would have had to drop it down to High instead in order to keep the frame rate constantly at above 48fps.
 
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I own a MSI Lightning 290X and love it. Was a fantastic clocker, just a pity I had to RMA it due to a fan issue and am now PC less until MSI repair/replace it.

I was getting 1180 on the core and 1600 on the memory with a tiny bump on the voltage. Ran anything I threw at it reasonably well, though I don't play a lot of games other than Titanfall, BF4 and CSGO.

At the time, I was battling over a 780Ti Classy and the Lightning but decided it wasn't worth the extra price for a few extra frames, so went AMD and am not disappointed.
 
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SkeeterUK said:
Why do ppl always tell users to get 290 or 780s for 1080p gaming? I have a 670 and runs everything great. For others I'd recommend 680 or amds equivalent as they are good and cheap especially if u find a good deal in mm that's not too old.

Edit: I see in your SIG that u have a 7950. Can u xfire with another as might be cheap way to get a boost. I did say get maybe a 680 etc but there not much better I think than the 7950 tho u might like the boost i guess but tbh a 7950 should be good for 1080p. Is there a game ur struggling with that ur wanting to boost?
Click to expand...

the reason you go for a top end card is that it'll last the next 2 years....my 7970 plays Metro easily at 1080p but only with the settings turned down ;)

it's ok for now, but this wont last much longer....because the 7970 will be getting too old by late next year, finally, not just the card...but the MOBO/RAM/CPU as well
 
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http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-238-MS

that one might be quite good, because you'll run out of GPU power before you'll need the 8GB RAM.....8GB RAM is too much for 1080p, i'd spend the extra money you save on a much faster MOBO/RAM.....reduce the bottleneck here first

when 8GB of RAM is finally needed for 1080p tv....the MSI 290X will be out of date.

BUT you can forget all of this if you fancy 4K :eek::eek:
 
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