First rig, First GPU looking for some guidance please

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

Dragoras

Honorable
Mar 10, 2013
13
0
10,510
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: By the end of this week. Saturday to be exact

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT:Gaming in order of WoW, SC2, Diablo 3, Skyrim, ME3, Dragon age, League of legends and GW2 would like to play these games on high setting as I am tired of dropping everything to low on my laptop in order to raid/play and even then my fps sucks on my laptop.

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY:This is my first build I dont have a gpu yet my psu is Corsair TX850

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS😛rocessor-i5 3570k, Motherboard-Asus Sabertooth z77, Hyper 212evo cooler, PSU-Corsair TX850, SSD-Crucial 256gb, HDD- Seagate 2tb, Ram-16gb Corsair vENGEANCE, case-cm storm stryker,

OVERCLOCKING:Yes / No / MaybeSLI OR CROSSFIRE:Yes / No / Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION:27 inch Acer monitor 1920x1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Kind of new to this not sure if I need dual or single card. As i stated I just want to play my games on high settings. I dont play First peron shooters much maybe once in a while. My budget is about i say 600 (for dual or single) max. if i need to go higher then please let me know I have no problem saving to get a one that will last me for a while. TY
 
Solution
s3anister

This is all truth.

This is also good advice. But in all...
Sort by date Sort by votes

If those are the only games you're going to be playing then the most graphically demanding game is going to be Skyrim and you do not need a GTX 680 or Radeon HD 7970 to max out skyrim; the only exception being if you plan on using mods that are graphically intensive in which case you should go the route of an HD 7970.

All things considered, you could easily get away with using a single Radeon 7870 2GB model and if you went that route you'd be able to get a second one to crossfire in the future if you get into more graphically intensive games.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


$600?

Assuming you're talking USD, last I checked the only $600 7970 is the 6GB Sapphire (which is complete overkill for a single monitor config).

Anywho, those games don't warrant top-of-the-line cards. Just because the OP has a budget that big, doesn't mean they should max it out for a GPU they don't need. (even if they did need them, recommending the most expensive versions of these cards off the bat is a bit naive.)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

Agreed, and if you're paying $600 for a Radeon 7970 you're overpaying by at least $200. No 7970 should cost a person more than $420 maximum.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
So the the 680 is overkill for single monitor max settings on these games I assume than running dual cards would be pointless unless im using 3 sxreens or something right
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

You've pretty much got it right. The only thing I'd add to that statement is that depending on what game you're playing the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition is faster in addition to being better at GPGPU in every aspect than the GTX 680.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

If I was in your place, I'd personally get the Radeon 7970 to future-proof my system but man honestly if you want to spend less you'd be fine with a Radeon 7870.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I always call out MSI GTX 680 Lightning, it's the superior card by design. If you want to save some money you can always get Asus GTX 670 DCUII. There are many other cards that will be very good as you're about to find out. Brace yourself.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


Nvidia's not doing too well at the high end in terms of price/performance this generation. As far as I've seen, with the revised AMD drivers, the 7950 packs the best price/performance ratio, especially if you know how to overclock, since you can send it right up to the 7970 GHz and save $150 in the process.

Echoing previous posts: You'd be perfectly fine with a 7870, but if you want some headroom for more demanding games, I'd wholeheartedly recommend getting a 7950 and learning to overclock.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


True, although Nvidia has its own perks and moments as well. From the AMD side I'd pick Sapphire Vapor-X 7970 3Gb GHz Ed or perhaps a Gigabyte 7970 Windforce GHz Ed.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

This is all truth.

This is also good advice. But in all seriousness just about all of the 7970s overclock the same and will hit 1.2GHz if you know what you're doing, the only reason I'd spend more for a better cooler would be to get less noise.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
all he needs is the 7850 and the new cata drivers that will max any game out and its only for $150'

and what is with everyone and when someone asks for a graphics card recommendation and everyone just suggest the top cards ? that's really noob i have a pair of 7770's and can max out nearly any game and they are good for another 2 years just because someone asks for a new card don't mean they have all the money in the world and will get a big card
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


600 thats crazy



if you plan to use mods for skyrim anything below 3gb vram will not cut it. i routinely run up to 2.7 gb vram usage.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I would like to add that if your computer is as important to you as mine is to me then I always believe in buying the best you can afford. A year and a half ago i could have saved a few dollars but i spent every penny i could. I have my 2500k and a gtx 560. i wish i could have gotten better but i am really happy 18 months later that i spent what i did. a better card today means even more 18 months later.

all consensus cards above are good choices but buying the best you can shouldn't lead to future disappointment.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


a 560 is a mid gaming card not a top card if you were replying about my post if not then he needs something better then a 560 its better to go with the cards these days then a card from the past
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

Read my post a little closer, that's why I said if he plans on using mods he will need the 7970.

No it's not "really noob". A pair of 7770s might get decent frame rates, however, the 1GB VRAM is vastly insufficient for using large textures, turning up Anti-Aliasing without a frame-rate hit, or running high-resolutions. Take what cbrunnem said as it's a good example; if you plan on using heavy AA on any game or mods with Skyrim (and why wouldn't you if you're playing it on PC) it's easy to go above 2GB of used VRAM which makes any card running 1GB of VRAM highly impractical and incapable of running AA/high res textures.

Don't forget, if you crossfire two GPUs that each have 1GB of VRAM you do not end up with a 2GB frame buffer, you still only have a 1GB frame buffer as each card only has the VRAM on-board to use (The frame buffer in crossfire/SLI is 1&1 not 1+1). It's not possible for GPU1 to use the memory on GPU2.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote



then explain why i max out bf3 on 1920x1080 same with other games when i say i max out nearly every game i mean i always play 1920x1080 but some games just need a little bit beefier gpu and so some small number of games i play high or medium its still good gaming but where did he say he was going to put mods in ?

and a 7850 dose sport 2GB of vram
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

Because Battlefield 3 doesn't need a large frame buffer unless you turn up Anti-Aliasing like I said already. As far as needing a "beefier GPU" this is only part of the equasion for GPU performance, the memory subsystem is equally important in getting good frames rates, and again like I said, especially when it comes to turning up AA or using mods/higher resolution. In any case, you don't get what I'm saying so I'm not going to argue with you.

The Radeon HD 7850 is available in both a 1GB and 2GB VRAM model.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


yes but who would get 1GB vram over 2Gb vram ? and well like i said i max out bf3 that includes anti aliasing
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
i know for a fact that if you get ANYTHING with 1gb of vram you WILL NOT be maxing out tooo many games these days. not crysis not bf3 not skyrim not many at all.

also i highly doubt anyone is maxing out most games with cf 7770 with good fps. Facts or its not true.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
he doesn't really play FPS so who cares about bfxxx. my post about the gtx 560 if you read is about when i bought it 18 months ago. i guess it was just midrange then also. the games he plays will need 2-3 gigs of vram and if he stays within the genre he is playing now that vram need will only go up. the days of 1 gig vram are gone. 2 is the new min and three will put you in a good place 18 months from now
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom