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Upgrade from a gtx 285

You need to read the rules Hamish. No linking to competitors (OcUK do sell computer components).

Your money bud and I am sure you will enjoy your next purchase :)
 
I would either get a second hand Nvidia 5-series card (580 can be had for around £190; 570 for around £140, but it all depends on model/make) which would probably give you less grief with your older components but still run all the latest games, etc. Or, I'd get a 7950 new for around £230, which is pretty much a cooler, less power hungry 580, but with extra vram.

I also second what Nuclear said. OC'ing is ridiculously easy and so worth the effort.
 
Ahh man i never seen the stupid adverts half down the page! Sorry for this but i cant find any other comparison site as good :(

So Nuclear Fusion, if i buy a 7850 and OC it, aslong as its MSI i should be covered still?

The 7950s are only £150 how well do they do on shogun 2 ect? best to try it out on a cheapy card i think.

Thats why im here greg to make sure i dont go wasting 100s of pounds on a card that wont last 2 mins lol. Next gen consoles are not far away and thats what im trying to get ready for.

@kissenger - ive tried looking for a cheap 580 but its hard to find and i would prefer it to be covered with warranty incase something happens, the 7950 is looking good and for the price now is nice but it was released in january 2012 so the 8 series has to be around the corner, the 78xx were march so a tad bit fresher and much cheaper. Computer parts is so hard to decide because you can never win on anything but price!
 
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weehamish said:
Ahh man i never seen the stupid adverts half down the page! Sorry for this but i cant find any other comparison site as good :(

So Nuclear Fusion, if i buy a 7850 and OC it, aslong as its MSI i should be covered still?

The 7950s are only £150 how well do they do on shogun 2 ect? best to try it out on a cheapy card i think.

Thats why im here greg to make sure i dont go wasting 100s of pounds on a card that wont last 2 mins lol. Next gen consoles are not far away and thats what im trying to get ready for.
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Yes, if it is an MSI card and you stick to the limits of Afterburner (Ie, not altering the limits with modding) then they will warrant it. But really, you don't need to worry about that anyway since for example if you bought a Gigabyte card and used AB to overclock, they won't know it has been overclocked anyway. As for which card, I'd say go for a 7850 and overclock it, your CPU will be the limiting factor so there is no point buying a 7950 and not being able to get the full potential (unless you are rebuilding in the imminent future). 7850's can overclock to stock 7950 performance, so they will give you a very noticeable performance increase over your 285.
 
weehamish said:
@kissenger - ive tried looking for a cheap 580 but its hard to find and i would prefer it to be covered with warranty incase something happens, the 7950 is looking good and for the price now is nice but it was released in january 2012 so the 8 series has to be around the corner, the 78xx were march so a tad bit fresher and much cheaper. Computer parts is so hard to decide because you can never win on anything but price!
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You need to get on the Members Market for buying/selling cards mate. Most of the newer cards still have warranty left. MSI, Asus, etc usually all provide 3 year warranties. Some great bargains to be had.

Regarding the 8-series, the best estimates say March 2013, but you've got to remember that there is usually a price premium for the new cards for several months after release. IIRC a 7950 was over £300 for a while after launch.
 
Nuclear Fusion thanks this has helped me a lot, yes this is what im thinking, my full pc is dated now so it wont benefit a lot from 1 new part, but the 7850 is cheap as hell and if i can OC it just to last 1 year because ill just buy a full new pc with a massive discount on a top end card next year.

So with MSI AB i just slide them a little to match anyone else who has the same card and it should be fine?

I can see a MSI FT 7850 for £158 so its pennies really if i will see a decent upgrade in performance from my 285?

@ kissenger yeah i know i can remember when i got my gtx 7950gx2 paid a fortune for it then the 8xxx series killed it so bad lol, this is why i prefer to buy a mega rig every 2-3 years so i dont waste cash on parts but i cant until next year. The 7850 will still sell for around £50 i guess second hand so im only pay £100 really until around may 2013.
 
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Yeah, just have a look on these forums to get an idea of what to expect from your card. Remember though, that each card (even between two identical 7850 TF3s) will overclock differently- something we call the 'silicone lottery'. Some 7850's may be able to reach 1350MHz, some may only manage 1200MHz. It all depends on how good the silicone is, but you can't know whether you've got a good or a bad one until you buy it- hence why it is called the silicone lottery.

If I were you, try bumping up the core clock in increments on stock voltage until you reach instability (artifacting etc.) and then back it down by around 50 MHz. Do the same with the memory until the performance starts to decrease (as the memory starts having to correct errors, decreasing performance). Even if you end up with the worst overclocking 7850 ever, it will still overclock by a good amount. You can check performance with benchmarks like 3DM11 or Heaven, which is helpful for comparing with others (Gregster has set up a 3DM11 thread so you can see how your score compares with others).
 
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-154-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411

Also grab 2x games with it, i think?

£150 cheap? Meh the vat is after postage so £160

What you recon? its this week only.

Do i have to buy 3DM11 though?

Even if i can OC it a little bit so it plays shogun much better then the 285 and can reach high settings? I read somewhere some guy OCed his to be just under a 580s performance? This will be great as ive seen my bros 580 on shogun 2 and it kills it, but he does have a better CPU and more RAM then me.

EDIT:

Just found this same price

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-100-GI&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411

Get 1 more game free and it has higher clock speeds by default?

What do you think?
 
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Either is a good choice. A high overclocked 7850 could match 580 performance, though you would be held back by your CPU so you wouldn't actually be able to reach that level on your current rig.
 
Aslong as i can reach a decent level i dont mind.

So which one would you recommend? The gigabyte is UK RMA also better speeds and 1 more game, seems to have all the advantages
 
weehamish said:
So with MSI AB i just slide them a little to match anyone else who has the same card and it should be fine?
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No! Just use other peoples' settings as a rough guide to where you can expect to get. You will want to do the actual overclocking incrementally in 10-20Hz jumps from stock clocks. Turn up core, check temps and artefacts. If there's no problems, carry on. When you start getting artefacts, maybe turn up the voltage slightly, if temps will allow. You don't necessarily want to aim for a monster overclock, unless you want to risk damage to your card. A mild overvolt is fine so long as temps are reasonable, but don't push it!
 
weehamish said:
I ordered this one,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-100-GI&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411

£160 with postage, 3x games and UK RMA.

I read the post how to overclock it so its pretty decent, ill not get as high as them as i will keep the fans that come with it but it should do pretty good until may 2013, then ill sell it for however much i can then :)
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Thats a great buy, 3 year warranty with Gigabyte backing it up with Dirt 3 and Sleeping Dogs all for 150.
 
Yeah well lets hope it does what i want :) its only for 6 month or so then ill sell it, but i am gonna OC it as best i can on this current rig.

I doubt ill play the games tbh though lol, so is there anywhere i can sell them or must i use the codes?
 
weehamish said:
Yeah well lets hope it does what i want :) its only for 6 month or so then ill sell it, but i am gonna OC it as best i can on this current rig.

I doubt ill play the games tbh though lol, so is there anywhere i can sell them or must i use the codes?
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You could keep that card for 1.5 years and still be a happy camper at the end of it.
 
Well maybe a year but im getting a full new rig next year as its cheaper to buy a full rig then part by part so ill have to get rid of this when i get the new rig as it will have a much better card by then lol.

Im now trying to sell my 285 for cheap to someone, but seems impossable lol.
 
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.
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Ive got the CPU to 3.3 atm with 48c when playing games, hopefully this will help when my 7850 comes along, its here wed so ill update.

One more question though, ive always had nvidia well except one time, so to wipe the drivers i just uninstall all nvidia crap clean the drivers then pop in the ATI card?.

I know sometimes you can get corruption from drivers so someone who swaps from brand to brand a lot what do you do?
 
weehamish said:
Ive got the CPU to 3.3 atm with 48c when playing games, hopefully this will help when my 7850 comes along, its here wed so ill update.

One more question though, ive always had nvidia well except one time, so to wipe the drivers i just uninstall all nvidia crap clean the drivers then pop in the ATI card?.

I know sometimes you can get corruption from drivers so someone who swaps from brand to brand a lot what do you do?
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Great way to ask advice :(
 
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