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Upgrade from a gtx 285

weehamish

weehamish

weehamish

Permabanned
Joined
20 Oct 2012
Posts
1,800
Ok its been a while since i got my pc. The gtx 285 is getting old now.

I've been looking to either wait until next year and get a full system since not many new games or buy a cheap card for now to see how it goes?

My rig atm is;

Q9450 @2.8
4gb ram
1tb hd
750w psu
Gtx 285

My case is a cooler master cosmos s and i love it and would like to keep it although id lose out on usb 3 from a newer case its an awesome case.

Anyways the 285 is only dx 10 as you know and im not getting my games max potential.

But i can play most games at very high and high still at 1920x1200

But like i say its at dx9 or 10 so not the best. The main game i struggle with is shogun 2 at this is mostly down to vram as i run out at anything above medium settings.

I've looked at the 7870 at £180 ghz edition so that would be a nice xmas present but i wanna upgrade the full rig next year when everything new is released.ill spend like £1000 on a full rig what do you guys think?
 
I would overclock the cpu as much as possible (keep an eye on the temps), save for the new rig, and while you're waiting drop in something like a 7850, of which the full benefits will be reaped when you make the complete system upgrade.
 
get the 7850 now then upgrade the rest of the system later.

If you can afford later add a 2nd 7850 with any spare cash as well
 
arc@css said:
I would overclock the cpu as much as possible (keep an eye on the temps), save for the new rig, and while you're waiting drop in something like a 7850, of which the full benefits will be reaped when you make the complete system upgrade.
Click to expand...

+1
 
I had the cpu at 3.4 but it kept messing up. This was overclocked from the place i purchased it too!.

The motherboard does a stepup overclock which important using that's the 2.8.

The 7870 is only 20 more then the 7850 would it not be better to grab this card? Or wait for the 8 series equivalent and then buy an oc bundle with a new hd?

I don't really like xf or sli i hate the micro lag it brings unless this has changed now since its been a while?Ill search how to oc the cpu on the forums its the one thing im not good at as it has a risk to go with it.

Thanks.
 
Thanks for quick reply.

Is the 7870 not worth the tiny bit extra? I could get a Sapphire 7870 new for £20 more free shipping.

And do you have any news about the 8 series?

The mag i bought had a rig in it with this setup,

i5 3570K @ 4.6
7970
120 ssd
1tb hd
800w psu
8gb ram
with a half decent case

Its impossable to build that rig any cheaper, but i dont wanna buy it then new cpus and cards get released this is why im waiting because i like to be uptodate for atleast 6 month.

I had a 9800gx2 when they were first released and it was BAD! I rma and got a gtx 285 for free when they were released, but it was PNY and i had to wait nearly a month as its in France and im in England!

The 7850 vrs the 285 is nothing much on spec? i know its DX 11 and way newer but i wont OC it,

http://www.hwcompare.com/12108/geforce-gtx-285-1gb-vs-radeon-hd-7850/

The 7870 however shows to be atleast 50% faster

http://www.hwcompare.com/12263/geforce-gtx-285-1gb-vs-radeon-hd-7870/

Both have more vram which is good but for £20 more the gain on the 7870 is worth £20 id say?

I know specs dont say everything but this is 2x similar cards and a £20 difference? My brother has a 580 and it kills everygame ive seen so far on max settings and the specs on that are not too impressive for the cost but its a great card.
 
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There's no news on the 8 series cards and if you looking at 78XX range it's going to be a while before there replacements hit the market.

Be sure to overclock your 7850 to get the best out of it but if you don't fancy overclocking it you might better off getting the 7870. As for which card, stick with MSI, Gigabyte and Powercolor they tend to be good when it comes to warranties and customer care (I was surprised by the good comments Powercolor got in the Graphics card warranty thread).
 
weehamish said:
Yes i read MSI have 3 years? But the tf3 edition is built for OC? if i dont OC wouldnt this be pointless? the sapphire has 2 years? Bare in mind i wont be paying £199 for it.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-296-SP

Are the fans quiet on the tf3?

Also a big question since my mobo is only PCIx2 and not x3 will the card underperform a lot?
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The difference between PCIx2 & x3 will be negligible. Regarding the GPU - if you have £209 for the sapphire - could you find another 20 or so for a 7950? You could then take advantage of the new games bundle offer as well.
 
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^

Is a good point. At those prices seems worth £20 for 40% more stream processors and the extra feebies (no spelling mistake :p).
 
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322 is a disgrace i think lol! i could get a 7970 almost for that price and then the free games :P

I havent had a good ATI card in my life but im starting to get sick of Nvidia, they always fail on shadows for me, even when i got a 9800gx2 i couldnt run games at full settings, then the 285 on release was still struggling with games at full settings, i do play at 1920x1200 but at the time i read the ATI counterparts were doing great. And not to mention the price difference!

Yes ive been following the free games thing, the only draw back is the games are kinds pap imo and sleeping dogs is cheap as chips £15 on steam atm and you get it free with the 7870 anyways lol!

Hitman is not my kinda game, farcry i have never played before so that would an ok feebie lol.

7950 is a decent card would last a while i think but from the £186 7870 i found from another shop its like £50-60 more, much better card and games with it i guess.

Is there anywhere i can sell my 285 its the PNY Performance edition lol i dont expect much off it but anything helps :) I know ebay but its hard to set a price on there.
 
But it wont need overclocked it should run every game at very high - high at 1920x1200 no problem?

And the price difference is £140 for the 7870 that is massive! And i doubt ill notice the difference between a 7870 and a 670 when actually playing games? What ive read Nvidia do better with tesselation and thats it! ATI are the powerhouses these days specially when price comparing.

I would OC maybe if i new how to do it and it didnt void warranty but its too risky for the price, maybe not on a 7870, but i if it dies and i need a new one then it will be like the price of a 7970 lol so i best avoid :)
 
weehamish said:
But it wont need overclocked it should run every game at very high - high at 1920x1200 no problem?

And the price difference is £140 for the 7870 that is massive! And i doubt ill notice the difference between a 7870 and a 670 when actually playing games? What ive read Nvidia do better with tesselation and thats it! ATI are the powerhouses these days specially when price comparing.

I would OC maybe if i new how to do it and it didnt void warranty but its too risky for the price, maybe not on a 7870, but i if it dies and i need a new one then it will be like the price of a 7970 lol so i best avoid :)
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You have your mind made up and ATI (AMD) are the powerhouses :)
 
I do for price greg i mean a 670 is a nice card but for £320 its not that nice of a card look at these basic stats;

7970 vs 670 both can be found at around £320

http://www.hwcompare.com/12508/geforce-gtx-670-vs-radeon-hd-7970/

7950 vs 670 the 7950 can be found at £240 or lower and has more memory bandwidth and only 14% weaker in the other 2 stats.

http://www.hwcompare.com/12507/geforce-gtx-670-vs-radeon-hd-7950/


7870 vs 670 nearly £160 cheaper in some cases, can you see where im going? I just dont see how Nvidia can put such price tags on their products, even half the mags are saying the same thing.

http://www.hwcompare.com/12502/geforce-gtx-670-vs-radeon-hd-7870/
 
weehamish said:
But it wont need overclocked it should run every game at very high - high at 1920x1200 no problem?

And the price difference is £140 for the 7870 that is massive! And i doubt ill notice the difference between a 7870 and a 670 when actually playing games? What ive read Nvidia do better with tesselation and thats it! ATI are the powerhouses these days specially when price comparing.

I would OC maybe if i new how to do it and it didnt void warranty but its too risky for the price, maybe not on a 7870, but i if it dies and i need a new one then it will be like the price of a 7970 lol so i best avoid :)
Click to expand...

Overclocking a graphics card literally is the easiest thing to do. All you need to do is install MSI Afterburner (there are other utilities out there but I prefer AB myself) and then simply move the sliders. Job done, simple as that. Just play around with the sliders and as long as you stick below safe voltage levels (or don't even move the voltage at all- my 7950 overclocks by over 25% just on stock voltage levels) and safe temperature levels then you are fine. Regarding the warranty, they won't even know it has been overclocked if you just use software overclocking tools like AB, unless you set ridiculously high voltage levels and get temperatures of 120C+ or something stupid and actually leave burn marks on the GPU. MSI even officially warrant overclocking using Afterburner (since it is their software after all) so as long as you use the limits in the official version, they will warrant the card if it is damaged as a result of overclocking.
 
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